Councilman Irving charged with three felony counts

Here’s what we know so far:

[From the Journal Star:]

Peoria 5th District City Councilman Dan Irving was charged Thursday with patronizing a prostitute, a felony that could send him to prison for up to three years.

Irving, 43, of 10708 Alex Drive faces three felony counts accusing him of engaging in sexual activity with an 18-year-old whose alias is Jazzie Summers, “a person not his spouse, for money or anything of value.” […]

A $5,000 arrest warrant was issued for the felony counts and a $2,500 warrant was issued for the petition to revoke Irving’s probation. In all, he must post $750 to get out of jail plus any fee imposed by the sheriff.

[From WEEK-TV 25:]

We have learned the councilman will be in jail as early as tonight.

The Peoria County Sheriff’s Office began conducting an investigation into the councilman last week.

Each felony count carries a possible sentence of probation to three years in prison.

If convicted of any felony charge, Irving would be automatically removed from the Peoria City Council.

Irving is the 5th District council representative. He was elected in April 2009 with 80% of the vote against Gloria Cassel-Fitzgerald. His term expires in 2013, or when he resigns, or if/when he’s convicted of a felony, whichever comes first.

I wonder if his mugshot will appear on the City’s Prostitution and Related Offenses page, where they post the mugshots of those accused of prostitution and solicitation with a disclaimer that says, “The following individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.” It will be interesting to see if any favoritism is shown.

The Wonderful Development, Day 955

Since December 15, 2008, when the City Council first passed the $39 million redevelopment agreement for the Marriott Hotel deal downtown, 955 days have elapsed. That’s a little over 2.6 years for a project that had to be passed that night — after only two days of public disclosure and without any public input — because “time [was] of the essence,” according to Councilman Spain.

On May 25, 2010, a revised $37 million redevelopment agreement was passed by the Council. Developer Gary Matthews said at that time that construction “would begin immediately,” according to the official minutes of the City Council. It’s been 429 days since then. Note that the dictionary defines “immediately” as “without lapse of time; without delay; instantly; at once.” This does not appear to be Mr. Matthews definition, however.

On May 1, 2011 — 88 days ago — the Journal Star reported that the hotel project “could be finalized by the Fourth of July,” according to Mayor Ardis, and that “City Council has to vote on changes to the redevelopment agreement, which are likely to take place in July.” The last City Council meeting of July was two days ago, and no revised redevelopment agreement has come before the council, nor has any work begun on the Hotel Pere Marquette block.

955, 429, 88, 2 — what does it all add up to? Failure. The council should officially notify the developer that they are terminating the agreement by its own terms, “immediately” — by the dictionary’s definition, not the developers’.