UPDATE: Here’s the audio from the meeting, as promised:
[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/Policy-Session-07192011.mp3]
There’s a special meeting (policy session) of the Peoria City Council tonight, and I’ll be live-blogging it. I’ll also put a recording of the meeting up once the meeting is over. All the council members are here except second-district council member Barbara Van Auken. The purpose of the meeting is to talk about the Washington Street corridor — specifically, what section of the street to work on improving first. After a short introduction by Patrick Urich (City Manager), the floor is opened to anyone who wants to address the council.
Continue reading Peoria City Council Special Meeting 7-19-2011 (Live Blog) →
Sad news:
Looks like it’s time to close the book on Borders.
The bankrupt bookstore chain will likely begin the liquidation process after it couldn’t come to terms with a bidder that would have kept its 399 nationwide stores operating.
The second-largest book chain behind Barnes & Noble is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to approve a proposal from Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers to buy store assets. Liquidation sales could begin Friday.
Borders in Peoria is located in the Shoppes at Grand Prairie.
The house that burned down Monday in the North Valley wasn’t any ordinary house, a reader tells me:
517 Green street was torched early [Monday] morning by some cowardly arsonists. Everyone should know that this wasn’t just any random abandoned house. It was believed by many to have been the oldest standing house in Peoria, dating back to 1837 and challenged in that claim only by the Flanigan house on Glen Oak. It has been passed down generation to generation through the same Peoria family since the late 1800s. It was left un-attended last year (temporarily) because the owner had some medical issues to deal with and has been staying with family out of state. In the time since he left, it has been raided by hooligans and bums, squatting there and wreaking havoc with no regard to the age and historic value of the structure. In recent months, with the help of the owner’s family, Councilman Weaver, the Peoria Historic Society, Northside Housing Services and some local preservationists, I’ve been working on getting it preserved and turned into a public museum for everyone in Peoria to enjoy. I guess that wasn’t meant to be. I just wanted you to know that there was more to the story of this house than the PJStar knew to report today.
The house will likely be demolished because it now poses a safety hazard, according to published reports.
News and Comment about Peoria, Illinois
