Can’t maintain the roads we have. Let’s build more!

On the City Council agenda Tuesday night is a request to spend another $87,369 toward the Pioneer Parkway Extension project.

The extension of Pioneer Parkway is a planned, new, major arterial roadway that will support projected development of the area identified for coordinated, beneficial growth management by the City of Peoria, Peoria County, and the Greater Peoria Sanitary District. The proposed roadway extension will begin at the intersection of Allen Road and Pioneer Parkway and continue west to intersect Trigger Road.

The project has been in the planning stages since 2001, and over $2 million has already been spent ($1 million of that came from a federal grant secured by Ray LaHood). The $87,369 is to cover more “bridge, intersection and environmental engineering studies” to complete the Design Report.

While we continue to pursue building a “new, major arterial roadway,” our existing roads continue to deteriorate as they are starved for maintenance funds. According to the City’s website, Peoria has 450 miles of City streets, and “the majority of these streets have a chip sealed surface.” They go on to say Peoria has “approximately 63 miles of asphalt surface, 36 miles of concrete pavement, and 5 miles of brick streets.”

If you do the math on those numbers, that comes out to 346 miles of roads that have a “chip sealed,” also known as “sealcoat,” surface. Yet the City has not done any sealcoating of residential streets or any overlay of arterial streets since 2009. Any road work you’ve seen here lately is for state routes or interstate highways which are not maintained by the City. The reason we haven’t been doing sealcoating or overlays? Budget. The 2010 budget has a big “0” for this maintenance. The 2011 budget has $750,000 in it for “arterial streets overlay,” but still no sealcoating of residential streets. I honestly think they need to start utilizing project management tools.

Keep in mind that sealcoating itself is a cost-saving measure, since it’s cheaper than doing an asphalt overlay of all residential streets and is considered “preventative maintenance.” The Federal Highway Administration finds that $1 of preventative maintenance when roads are in good to fair condition “will cost $4.00 to $5.00 or more for rehabilitation … to get the same pavement condition from [preventative maintenance]” when roads are in poor to failing condition.

In 2007, the City sealcoated 65 miles of streets. In 2008, they sealcoated 66 miles. And in 2009, 59 miles. That’s an average for 63 miles a year. That means Peoria is about 63 miles behind on their sealcoat plan after skipping 2010. And after putting off preventative maintenance this year, too, the City will be 126 miles behind. How much money will we really have saved once we have to rehabilitate poor and failing roads as a result of this neglect?

But, you may object, we simply don’t have the money to budget for it. As necessary as sealcoating is for preventative maintenance, if we can’t afford it, we just can’t do it.

And that brings us back to the Pioneer Parkway extension. If our budget is so tight that we have to neglect necessary maintenance of our existing streets, what is the warrant for spending any money on planning or building a new arterial road? How many streets would $87,369 sealcoat? If we have that money in the budget, we should put it toward maintaining streets, not building new ones.

An extended Pioneer Parkway would be nice. It might cut five minutes off a drive from Allen Road to Route 91. But it’s a want, not a need. It’s been estimated that this new road will cost $50 million to complete. Is your driving convenience worth $10 million a minute? Is it worth keeping the rest of the City’s streets (maybe even yours) in a perpetual state of disrepair?

When funds are tight, the Council needs to make “tough decisions,” as councilman Eric Turner reminded us frequently during the campaign. I hope he and the other council members make the “tough decision” to vote “no” on the Pioneer Parkway extension, and put that money instead toward maintaining our existing streets.

Council to meet Saturday for strategic planning (UPDATED)

There’s a special meeting of the Peoria City Council on Saturday, May 7. The “leadership and strategic planning” session will be facilitated by consultant Lyle Sumek, who has been meeting with individual council members during the weeks leading up to the planning session. Here’s the time, location, and agenda for the meeting:

SPECIAL MEETING
PEORIA CIVIC CENTER, 201 S.W. JEFFERSON, ROOM 135
10:00 A.M. TO 3:00 P.M.

ROLL CALL
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PETITIONS, REMONSTRANCES & COMMUNICATIONS

ITEM NO. 1 New Realities for Cities: Leadership During Turbulent Times
A. National Trends and Their Impacts on the City of Peoria
B. Realities for Peoria, Illinois

ITEM NO. 2 Strategic Planning for the City of Peoria
A. Document
B. Process

ITEM NO. 3 City of Peoria’s Successes for 2010 – 2011
A. City Achievements and the Values for Residents
B. Actions by the City to Reduce Costs/Respond to Service Demands and Requirements
C. Departmental Successes

ITEM NO. 4 Looking to Peoria’s Future
A. Mayor and City Council View: Success in 2016, Major Challenges, and Action 2011
B. Departmental Perspective

ITEM NO. 5 City of Peoria’s Mission

ITEM NO. 6 City of Peoria’s Core Beliefs

EXECUTIVE SESSION

CITIZEN’S OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS THE CITY COUNCIL/TOWN BOARD

ADJOURNMENT

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UPDATE: All the council members were in attendance except Barbara Van Auken (who reportedly “didn’t feel well”), Gary Sandberg (who had a previous engagement), and for the most part Chuck Weaver (who also had a previous engagement, but was able to attend the last 45 minutes or so of the meeting). John Sharp of the Journal Star has some initial reports posted on his blog here and here.

If you’re interested in seeing the strategic plan from the last time Lyle Sumek and the Council did some strategic planning (about eight years ago), it’s still available on the City’s website here.

EBNHS not in good standing with state, but it’s not a big deal

The East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Service’s (EBNHS) status as an Illinois corporation is “not good standing,” according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s website. That means the not-for-profit corporation is past due in filing their annual report and paying the related filing fee. The report was due March 1.

EBNHS Board member Tom Stone said he believes there has been a delay in filing the necessary paperwork due to the organization’s annual audit being conducted, but referred me to the group’s Executive Director, Peggy Shadid, for an official comment. Shadid said the accountant has finished preparing the annual report and she (Shadid) will be sending it in to the state.

What’s interesting is that the state doesn’t appear to require an annual financial report, but rather this form, available from the Secretary of State’s website, which simply asks for the names and addresses of the corporation’s officers and directors, and can even be filed online. The filing fee is $10. The EBNHS has been incorporated since 1986 and, presumably, required to file these annual reports for up to 25 years.

City Attorney Randy Ray said that the EBNHS’s failure to file their annual report with the state in a timely manner was “not a big deal,” but did add that they should remedy the situation as soon as possible. Both he and the Secretary of State’s office said that, once the report is filed, the organization’s status will be restored to “good standing” once again.

Missing this deadline might be a small matter except for the fact that this organization has a history of poor record-keeping and lack of transparency, which resulted in quite a bit of controversy when its revenue source came up for renewal a year ago. Since then, the group has been trying to improve its image and regain the trust of its East Bluff neighbors.

The EBNHS gets its funding from an extra tax that is levied on properties within the EBNHS Special Service District area. The annual levy amounts to roughly $67,000. Starting in 2010, the City Council decided to vote on collection and distribution of that tax revenue on a year-by-year basis, “to assure all required reporting was complete,” Councilman Tim Riggenbach explained at a March 23, 2010 council meeting. Riggenbach did not immediately return a call for comment.

City redistricting committee to meet next Thursday

From a press release:

Peoria IL, (May 4, 2011) — The 2010 Census data will cause changes to the City of Peoria Council Districts. As a result, the City of Peoria has formed a Redistricting Committee comprised of the District Council Members and chaired by Council Member Bill Spears. The Committee is charged with facilitating a public process for drafting changes to the Council Districts and making a recommendation to the City Council. The Committee will hold a series of meetings to provide opportunities for the public to participate in the process of redistricting.

The first meeting will be held on Thursday, May 12, 2011, at 5:30 P.M. in City Hall, Council Chambers (Room 400), 419 Fulton Street. At this meeting, residents will have the opportunity to review maps depicting 2010 Census data, understand the legal framework for redistricting, and provide input on the criteria that is most appropriate in determining City of Peoria Council District boundaries.

Information regarding the City of Peoria Redistricting process can be accessed at http://www.ci.peoria.il.us/redistricting. For more information, contact Council Member Bill Spears, Chair, (309) 688-0960.

Weaver picks up Montelongo’s mantle

One Thursday morning a month, councilmen Eric Turner and Jim Montelongo would hold a breakfast chat at City Hall where all citizens can come and talk about their concerns. It appears newly-elected councilman Chuck Weaver is going to continue that practice. A city press release states that Weaver and Turner will be in City Hall Room 112 this morning, May 5, starting at 7:30 a.m. All citizens are invited and encouraged to attend.

No live blogging tonight

I’ll be at the council meeting tonight, but will not be live blogging the event. My wife and I were invited to attend tonight’s swearing-in ceremony as guests of newly-elected council member Beth Akeson, so I’ll blog about the event afterwards. If you want live coverage, I recommend WCBU (89.9 FM), Comcast Cable channel 22, or the Peoria Journal Star (pjstar.com) which will be live-streaming the event this evening.

Of course, the big news tonight will be the return of George Jacob to the horseshoe for the first time since his motorcycle accident. This is also his last meeting as a councilman, as his term expires this evening. Godspeed, Councilman Jacob.

Deadlines? What deadlines?

From today’s Word on the Street column in the Journal Star:

The mayor, meanwhile, said the hotel project – which has yet to begin – could be finalized by the Fourth of July. He said Marriott representatives were in Peoria a couple of weeks ago. He said progress is being made toward demolition work on the existing parking deck and the businesses attached to Big Al’s later this summer.

The City Council has to vote on changes to the redevelopment agreement, which are likely to take place in July.

That quote, of course, is about the downtown hotel project that City Attorney Randy Ray dubbed a “wonderful development” during the time the city was suppressing public information about it. It was rushed through the council in December 2008 with only one business day of public disclosure. The information was released on a Friday afternoon, and the council voted for it the following Monday evening. The timing was so crucial, they couldn’t wait a couple of weeks, or one week, or even a few days extra. It had to be passed that night — December 15, 2008 — or else the whole project would have fallen apart.

Interim City Manager Henry Holling (during his first interim appointment) explained, according to the council minutes, “although the proposed development would not be completed until 2012, the timing of the project was critical because convention and meeting planners were making decisions for events three to four years from now.” Councilman Spain said, “time was of the essence.” Mayor Ardis said, “as soon as the Agreement was signed, the hotel could begin booking events
as many events were booked two to three years in advance.” It was all so … urgent.

And now it’s Monday, May 2, 2011, and nothing — zero, zip, nada — has happened to the site. The original deadlines were never met, so the developer, Gary Matthews, returned to the city council on May 25, 2010 — nearly a year ago — to get those deadlines extended and make some major changes to the design and scope of the project. The council obliged.

One of those new deadlines, from section 3.1 of the agreement: “The Redeveloper shall commence construction of the Project not later than one (1) year from the date of the execution of this Agreement….”

That means construction is supposed to commence before the end of this month. But now Word on the Street tells us the Mayor says the project won’t be finalized until July. And Matthews will be coming back to the council for more changes to the redevelopment agreement.

That’s right. The Mayor has essentially announced that the second agreement’s deadlines will also not be met. Instead, a third redevelopment agreement will have to be drawn up and approved this July, more than two and a half years after that time-critical first vote.

One wonders why the council ever bothers writing deadlines into these agreements when they are never, ever enforced.

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD (Updated)

If you don’t have the TV or radio on, you’ll find most programming has been preempted for a special news report: Osama bin Laden has been killed. President Obama is expected to make the official announcement soon.

UPDATE: Here is a transcript of President Obama’s address, delivered Sunday night:

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory — hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.

And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.

On September 11, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together. We offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other, and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family.

We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda — an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.

Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort. We’ve disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. In Afghanistan, we removed the Taliban government, which had given bin Laden and al Qaeda safe haven and support. And around the globe, we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of al Qaeda terrorists, including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot.

Yet Osama bin Laden avoided capture and escaped across the Afghan border into Pakistan. Meanwhile, al Qaeda continued to operate from along that border and operate through its affiliates across the world.

And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network.

Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.

Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.

For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda’s leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.

Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will — remain vigilant at home and abroad.

As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.

Over the years, I’ve repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we’ve done. But it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.

Tonight, I called President Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations. And going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates.

The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who’s been gravely wounded.

So Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done.

Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice.

We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day.

Finally, let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 that we have never forgotten your loss, nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores.

And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people.

The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.

Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.