Rewind: History of City Council election process

Back in November 1987, the last time the City Council’s election process was changed, then-Journal Star reporter Paul Gordon wrote a very interesting story on the history of the process.

I’ve reprinted the complete article below, but here’s the summary, with some additional information to bring us up to 2011:

Years Election Process
Before 1845 Governed under township system, with a board of trustees and a board president
1845-1953 Mayor and, initially, eight aldermen elected from four wards, with elections held annually. The council grew with the city, and by 1951, there were 11 wards and 22 aldermen.
1953-1960 Council-manager form of government adopted; one mayor and all council members elected at-large.
1960-1972 In a special election, voters decide to reestablish the ward system. Ten wards are established with one councilman elected from each; terms are not staggered. There are no at-large seats.
1972-1991 Under new state legislation, a binding referendum was held that established five districts and three at-large seats (total of 8 council members, plus the mayor), with staggered terms.
1991-present As a result of the 1987 Voting Rights lawsuit settlement, our current system was established with five district councilmen and five at-large councilmen elected via cumulative voting. The first at-large election under the new system was held in 1991.

Now in 2011, there is talk of doing away with the current system and returning to possibly ten districts and no at-large councilmen, which would be essentially what we had in the 1960s. It’s also the resolution originally sought in the voting rights case of 1987.

In 1987, a lawsuit (Joyce Banks, et al. v City of Peoria, case number 87-2371) was filed against the City of Peoria, District 150 Board of Education, and the Peoria Park District, alleging that the method of electing at-large members “prevented minorities from getting elected to the boards because the number of white voters outnumbered minorities.” The suit originally sought to abolish at-large voting completely from all three boards. But in a settlement before the case went to trial, plaintiffs agreed to eliminate at-large voting from the school district and park boards, and develop a different solution for the City Council: a total of five at-large members (an increase from three) plus the implementation of a cumulative voting system.

Why? According to a Nov. 1, 1987, Journal Star article, one of the plaintiffs, Joyce Banks, stated “their original demand for across-the-board district voting was dropped because blacks reasonably could be assured of one seat on a district-only council…. With the agreed-upon changeover to cumulative voting for at-large seats on the City Council, Banks said a well-organized black community could capture two or three seats on what would become a 10-member council.”

That’s more or less how it has worked out. Today, there are two black members on the council: first-district councilman Clyde Gulley and at-large councilman Eric Turner. If the council were to change back to a ten-district system, it’s hard to say how minority representation would change. Minority population has increased over the past 24 years, so presumably more than one district could be made up of a majority of minority voters. Plus, it’s not as if white people only vote for white people or black people only vote for black people. For instance, Turner lives in the fifth district of the City, which is predominantly white, and he received a large number of votes from that area in the last at-large election. There’s no reason he couldn’t continue to win a seat in that area of town even under a district-only process.

It is interesting that changing to a ten-district council would be a trip back to the future, so to speak. One wonders if, in another ten or twenty years, there will be yet another group vying for a return to the good old days of cumulative voting, or perhaps a strong-mayor form of government. It seems we’re never satisfied with whatever process is currently in place.

Continue reading Rewind: History of City Council election process

Pro-Wonderful-Development letter-writing campaign continues

Investors, doctors, politicians, and other wealthy and well-connected citizens have been flooding the City Council’s mailboxes with letters of support for Gary Matthews and the downtown hotel project. Many of them are form letters, or at least incorporate boilerplate language such as this:

It is my [or “our”] understanding that EM Properties has worked closely and judiciously with city staff, Civic Center authorities, labor unions, construction companies, lenders, sellers and the well respected hotel group, Marriott, in order to piece together all of the parts of this intricate transaction. All aspects of the project have been vetted, reworked and vetted again to insure its success. It is crucial to the revitalization of our downtown and the future of our city and region that the project moves forward. Job creation and maintenance are vital.

The completion of this project will better position many companies in the area to better market our community and enrich our local economy in order to compete with surrounding areas.

In March of this year, ground was broken for a new Courtyard by Marriott in Newark, New Jersey. It will include 150 rooms and 14,000 square feet of retail space, and is “expected to generate approximately 175 construction jobs, and a total of between 50 and 75 permanent jobs through the hotel and retail operations.” How much money do you think the City of Newark contributed to this boon to their local economy? Answer: a $500,000 loan “to assist the Courtyard by Marriott with gaining site control.”

Meanwhile in Peoria, to get our own new 119-room Courtyard by Marriott, plus a renovation of the Pere Marquette with a gerbil tube to the Civic Center, it will take a gift of $37 million from the taxpayers. Does something seem a little off to you? Perhaps the reason is that our workers are not as efficient. According to a May 23, 2010 Journal Star article, “professor Bob Scott at Bradley University expects 840 construction jobs to be created when EM Properties and Marriott International team up on the $102 million Downtown project.” That’s nearly five times as many construction jobs as are necessary to build a hotel in Newark.

I think the letter writers and supporters of the Wonderful Development are missing the point. They’re all arguing the merits of an upscale downtown hotel in close proximity or connected to the Civic Center. That’s all well and good. But at what price? Should the City take on a third of the risk for this $102 million private development? Should a City taking on said risk continue to trust a developer that has demonstrated a consistent inability to meet deadlines and projections? Would doing so really be in the taxpayers’ best interests? If the developer is unable to meet short-term projections (like when he can start construction), how can we trust him to meet long-term projections (like the future profitability of the venture)?

This project has been approved for two and a half years. It was approved twice. It has been over nine months since the latest deadline was missed. Each time the developer has come to the table, he’s assured the council that he was ready to start. In May 2010, he said he was ready to start “immediately.” Everything was in place. All that was missing was the Council’s approval.

Sixteen months later, nothing has started, and the City Manager cancels the agreement. So now what do we hear? Here’s another sample from a pro-hotel letter to the Council: “All pieces are in place, as outlined in brief above, we just need the nod from the council, and the city to sell the bonds. We can close in 60 days.” Where have we heard that before?

The Wonderful Development must die.