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This eye-witness account is from Paul Wilkinson, president of the Altamont Park Neighborhood Association: Tonight, around 11 p.m., a group of at least 60-70 African American youth marched down one of the side streets (W. Thrush) to the 4 lane main drag (Sheridan). They were yelling threats to white residents. Things such as we [...] On the City Council agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting is a curious appointment by Mayor Jim Ardis to the Historic Preservation Commission: Steve Pierz. Pierz used to be the so-called “litter czar” in Peoria and by all accounts did a wonderful job. But then he got in a dispute with the City. He wanted [...] The Journal Star reports that East Peoria taxpayers are having trouble getting their money back from Gary Matthews. He borrowed $150,000 from the city in 2007 to help him build the hideous monstrosity we know as GEM Terrace. He’s been paying that money back, but not exactly on time. He owes $24,862 in late [...] Only a few people spoke at Tuesday’s City Council redistricting committee meeting, but those who did had one thing in common. They did not want to see their neighborhoods divided between two or more council districts. City staff was instructed to discard the maps that carved up the West Bluff and/or the Florence Avenue Neighborhood Association and come back with more alternatives that keep neighborhoods within a single council district. There was also a request for staff to quantify what kind of population growth the City expects over the next ten years — taking into account plans for the Warehouse District, East Village Growth Cell, Main Street Commons, and growth cells in the current fifth district — and use that information to assist in drawing new district boundaries. Here’s how this information helps: when drawing new boundaries, the city is required to make each district equal in population. But they don’t have to be exactly equal — they’re allowed a range of deviation of up to five percent. So, if you expect one district to grow faster than the others, you can make that district a little smaller in population, as long as it’s within the five percent range. This helps keep districts from getting too lopsided over the next ten years. The committee also recommended that the full City Council discuss whether to increase the number of council districts in the city and/or do away with cumulative voting for at-large council members. The committee felt that discussion was outside of their purview and should be taken up by the entire council. The next redistricting committee meeting will be Tuesday, July 5, at 4:30 p.m. in City Council chambers. The meeting time was moved an hour earlier so that third district councilman Riggenbach (who was unable to attend last night’s meeting due to an unexpected work assignment) can attend both the redistricting committee meeting and an East Village Growth Cell meeting at Glen Oak School that same night at 6 p.m. Continue reading Residents: Keep our neighborhoods together (UPDATED) Editor’s Note: This post was submitted by my father-in-law (and faithful Chronicle reader) Lee Tallman. All comments on this post will be forwarded to him. During the period of the Roman Empire, gladiatorial contests and executions were held in the coliseum. Their purpose was to entertain the public, and divert its attention from the [...] I think we would all agree that one shouldn’t run with scissors. It’s dangerous. You could trip and fall and impale yourself, or put out your eye. Worse, the scissors could fly out of your hands accidentally and injure another person. Anyone who runs with scissors does a very foolish thing. That’s a given. [...] According to MSN Real Estate, Peoria is one of the ten best places for starting over; i.e., Peoria is one of “10 midsize to large cities with the best job prospects and most affordable mortgage payments.” The list is: Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas Kalamazoo-Portage, Mich. Rochester, N.Y. Oklahoma City Peoria, Ill. Little Rock-North [...] City staff has created nine options for new Peoria City Council districts. You can see all the proposed maps in the Redistricting Committee June 21 meeting packet from the City’s website. I’ve also put a copy of the maps on my site here: 6-21-2011 Redistricting Maps Several different scenarios are included: columnar districts [...] Hello everyone. I’m here at City Hall, room 400, for the Peoria City Council meeting on this Flag Day 2011. It’s very warm in council chambers, and the windows have been opened to help cool things off. It appears that all the council members and mayor are in attendance, and there is a rather long agenda for this evening. As usual, I’ll be adding my comments about the proceedings under each item below (the consent agenda is a single item). Also in attendance are Chris Kaergard from the Peoria Journal Star, Tanya Koonce from WCBU-FM, and Shaun Newell of 1470 WMBD radio. Without any further ado, here’s tonight’s agenda: This is the best news I’ve heard all day: Because of staffing issues, the genealogy library was going to operate fewer hours than the rest of the library. That issue has been resolved, [spokeswoman Trisha] Noack said, in part with volunteer workers, and it will now be open whenever the Main Library is open, [...] |
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