Monthly Archives: November 2005

Kellar Branch

One more thing before I go….

Since I’ve been covering the Kellar Branch saga for several months, I can’t go on sabbatical without first reporting its predictable conclusion.

On November 21, 2005, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) made their final ruling on the Kellar Branch. Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY) will not be able to force a sale of the branch. It is abandoned, and now the city (or, technically, Central Illinois Railway, the city’s carrier) has been granted the right to discontinue service on it. Case closed, as far as they’re concerned.

Now there is only one thing that can stop the line from being converted to a hiking/biking trail: if Pioneer wins their suit against the city. Pioneer believes their contract with the city is still in force — that the contract never specified a termination date. But the chances of them winning that court case are pretty slim, in my opinion. It’s only a matter of time before they lose that case, and then the tracks will be removed.

And then . . .

People from all over the country will flock to Peoria to visit its beautiful trail! It will make our city the garden spot of the midwest and the envy of all other cities in Illinois! I can hear mothers and fathers in their family rooms, looking over travel literature now:

Father: “Where do you want to go this year, kids? There’s Disneyland, Busch Gardens, Silver Dollar City, Six Flags, or the Rock Island Trail in Peoria.”

Daughter: “The Rock Island Trail?! Hey, didn’t I hear on the CBS Evening News last night that they just completed a new addition that goes right through the heart of Peoria?”

Mother: “That’s right, dear. Everyone’s been talking about it. Aunt Frieda said there’s hardly a bicycle to be seen in Chicago since Peoria opened up their new trail.”

Son: “Wow! Dad, I don’t want to just go there for vacation. I want to live there!”

Father: [chuckle] “Well, son, I’ve been meaning to tell you. My boss offered me a job in Peoria. I was a little concerned about transferring there because I heard they have a lead poisoning problem, and small amounts of lead have been shown to lower children’s IQ levels. But seeing how excited you kids are about a goofy trail, it looks like your IQ is already in question, so I guess it won’t hurt to transfer there after all!”

Attention all hotels, restaurants, and retail stores: Start preparing now for the giant influx of people who will be frequenting your establishments once this trail is completed. If the Peoria Park District’s and Journal Star’s numbers are correct, it will be a regular boom town around here. Don’t be caught off-guard. Start lining up extra help now!

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Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

The first weekend each December, our church does a big Christmas program called “A Grace Family Christmas.” Portions of the program are broadcast on WEEK-TV 25 on Christmas Eve (10:30 p.m.) and Christmas Day (noon). Since I’m the video editor, that means I have just 19 days (including weekends) to edit the broadcast. And that means 10-12 hour days here in the studio.

So, I will not be blogging between now and Christmas. Everyone enjoy your holidays, and happy blogging!

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Bailey lashes out at his readers

Mike Baily, the Journal Star opinion editor, tells his readers what he really thinks of them today.
 
More than a few readers complained that the Journal Star chose to run a large picture of a half-dressed, half-drunk woman getting sprayed with squirt guns at a Mulligan’s wet t-shirt contest on the front page of the Veteran’s Day edition of the paper.  Instead of just apologizing and moving on, they ran a sort-of apology two days later, and today had Bailey implicity retract it.
 
The real trouble, it turns out, is not the Journal Star’s poor decision on photo inclusion and placement, but their readers’ bumpkinish reactions to it.  Let’s make a quick list of the insults he hurls at us simplemided little fools who read his paper:
  • They’re like rabid dogs (because they complained)
  • They shoot the messenger (because the JS was just doing its job showing us what’s happening in the city — maybe they’ll have a picture of a naked dancer at Big Al’s on the front page this Christmas)
  • They’re seethingly self-righteous and predictable, like Pat Robertson
  • They revel in darkness and damnation
  • They’re laughable
  • They’re socialists
  • They’re “selective in their outrage”
  • They make “sweeping, final judgments based upon a single performance” (as if the JS usually exhibits impeccable judgment)
  • They’re naive
  • They’re kidding themselves if they think the Journal Star’s actions weren’t totally appropriate
  • They’re shallow because they complained about this more than other, more important issues, such as the Iraq war, budget deficit, etc.
Bailey also says, “Allow me to defend the place that signs my paycheck.”  Actually, that paycheck only comes because those rabid, shooting, seething, self-righteous, predictable, laughable, socialistic, selective, naive, shallow, stupid rubes buy his fish wrapper and patronize the businesses that advertise in it. 
 
Now, in addition to insulting his readers with the original picture, he now owes his readers an apology for verbally insulting them.  Not that I expect him to do that.  It doesn’t sound like he has any shame.

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Who’s misleading whom?

Everything I said in my last post is true — except who is to blame. The publishing of faulty statistics is likely not the Journal Star’s fault, but the State of Illinois’ Department of Public Health (IDPH) itself. If so, my apologies to the newspaper of record.

I just ran across the State of Illinois’ Strategic Plan for the Elimination of Childhood Lead Poisoning, published in July 2004. It’s very possible that this is the document from which the Journal Star got their information. In it, on page 12, the IDPH claims “Illinois Ranks No. 1 Nationally in Blood Lead Levels.” However, they base that statement on the CDC report I analyzed at length in my last post. The conclusion is still faulty, regardless of who came to it.

City of Peoria, Peoria Journal Star, State of Illinois

Misleading statistics abound in Journal Star special series

The Peoria Journal Star recently concluded a three-part series titled, “Lead Poisoning: Our Silent Epidemic.” You can read reporter Clare Howard’s entire series online here. The report has already received accolades from the Peoria Pundit, who has gone so far as to suggest the City Council should act immediately on the recommendations from Dr. Brian Bostwick, the doctor quoted in the series.

Lead poisoning claims should never be taken lightly. It is a serious problem that should be looked at critically and objectively. What I’m about to talk about in no way diminishes the importance of lead poisoning prevention.

That said, let’s talk about statistics.

Someone once said, “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” That’s because you can get statistics to say just about anything you want them to say. The Journal Star has them saying that “Illinois leads the nation in elevated blood lead levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” To prove it, they reproduce this chart from the CDC on page A21 of the 11/13/05 edition of the paper:

This chart is from a report titled, “Surveillance for Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Children — United States, 1997–2001.” It’s available online here, at the CDC website. As you can see, the number of confirmed elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) is astronomically high in Illinois compared to the other states: 15,323 children were confirmed to have EBLLs — higher than Michigan and Pennsylvania combined. When this happens, they should have been checked by associates like Nephrology & Hypertension and gotten treatment. It’s unbelievable! So unbelievable, I didn’t believe it. So I did some investigating.

The raw data on which that chart is based is also included in the very same CDC report, Table 6. Reviewing this data, it became clear to me why Illinois was so high: a far greater number of children were tested in Illinois than in most of the other states. In fact, only Massachusetts and New York tested more children than Illinois. Illinois tested 187,385 children in 2001. In contrast, California only tested 15,040 children. Obviously, Illinois is going to have a higher number of children confirmed to have EBLLs when they test twelve-and-a-half times as many kids!

When the sample rates are that varied, you can’t make a meaningful comparison between states. In fact, the report explicitly says, “State-to-state comparisons of the numbers of children tested and confirmed with elevated BLLs should be made cautiously.” What you can do instead is compare the confirmed cases of EBLLs as a percentage of children tested.

And I’ll be darned, that data is already in Table 6 of the CDC report — they’ve even done the math for us. When you look at percentages, you get a different picture:

  • Oregon: 9.68% of children tested had EBLLs
  • California: 9.32% of children tested had EBLLs
  • Pennsylvania: 9.31% of children tested had EBLLs
  • Illinois: 8.18% of children tested had EBLLs

That’s right. When a proper comparison is made, Illinois does not lead the nation in EBLLs — it was fourth in 2001 according to the CDC’s own data from the very same report the Journal Star referenced in their series. (In case you’re wondering if perhaps Illinois reached No. 1 at a later date, the answer is no. In 2002 and 2003, Pennsylvania was No. 1, according to another CDC report, “Tested and Confirmed Elevated Blood Lead Levels by State, Year and Blood Lead Level Group for Children <72 mos.”)

You would also get the impression from reading the Journal Star articles that the problem must be getting worse, thus the need to take immediate and drastic action. Yet, according to those same statistics we’ve been looking at in Table 6, you may be surprised to learn that the number of Illinois children with EBLLs has dropped by more than half since 1997. In 1997, 32,061 children (17.87%) had EBLLs, but the number dropped steadily each year to 15,323 (8.18%) in 2001.

Things have continued to improve. That other report I mentioned from the CDC website shows that Illinois dropped to 9,379 children (4.78%) having EBLLs by 2003. If you exclude Chicago, it drops even further: 2,688 children (2.90%).

Like I said before, this doesn’t diminish the important work of eradicating elevated blood lead levels in Illinois. And when you see the statistics in proper context, it shows that we’re making significant progress toward that goal. But exaggerating the problem by the misuse of statistics (unintentional though they may be) hurts the credibility of lead-abatement advocates.

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Bin Laden: In His Own Words

Ever wondered what it would take to get Osama bin Laden to stop attacking the U.S.? A new book published today called Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden has the answers. It’s a compendium of all of his messages — in his own words (translated, of course) — from 1994-2004.

According to the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald:

Osama bin Laden wants the United States to convert to Islam, ditch its constitution, abolish banks, jail homosexuals, bar women from appearing in the press and sign the Kyoto climate change treaty.

. . . Bin Laden’s terms for America’s surrender appeared after the September 2001 suicide attacks. Alcoholic drink and gambling would be barred and there would be an end to women’s photos in newspapers or advertising. Any woman serving “passengers, visitors and strangers” would also be out of a job. The West must “stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you” and has become the “worst civilisation witnessed in the history of mankind”.

. . . In the book the terrorist responsible for killing 3000 civilians in September 2001 says that killing the innocent is wrong.

There’s something here for everyone. Liberals can make jokes about how Bin Laden sounds like conservatives with his fascist social policy. And conservatives can joke about how he sounds like left-wing environmentalists because he wants the U.S. to sign the Kyoto accord.

But once we get beyond the levity, it would be good for us to remember that when it comes to a terrorist like this guy, we’re really all on the same team regardless of our political persuasion. Even though we disagree on social and economic policy, we do so with words and reasoned argument. He seeks to persuade with mass murder and fear. And there’s nothing funny about that.

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Who is that unnamed 64-year-old man in the Journal Star?

Under the “Police, Fire, and Courts” section of the Journal Star today is this little blurb:

PEORIA – A 64-year-old East Peoria man was hospitalized Tuesday night after he jumped from the Cedar Street Bridge. Peoria firefighters on their rescue boat plucked the man from the water near the East Peoria shoreline. He was taken to Methodist Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition. Peoria and East Peoria rescue personnel were called to the bridge after the man was seen parking his truck in the westbound lanes, turning on his hazard lights and jumping over the side about 1:45 p.m. Police spotted the man floating near the bridge, which carries Illinois Routes 116, 8 and 29 over the Illinois River.

Does anyone not know who this is? It happened in the early afternoon yesterday, was reported on radio and television news, and even mentioned by Mayor Jim Ardis at the beginning of the City Council meeting.

In case you’ve been living in the same cave as the Journal Star, the 64-year-old man was Andre Bohannon, former city council member and former assistant city manager.

The good news is that he survived and is recovering in the hospital. Let’s keep him in our thoughts and prayers as he deals with whatever issues led to his actions.

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Council Roundup: 11/15/05

Most of the meeting last night focused on the budget. Each department head has been giving a budget presentation to the council, then taking questions from council members. Tonight, the head of the Economic Development Council presented, and all other department heads were in attendance in case the council had questions for any of them. All other business was dispensed with quickly.

The consent agenda passed with only one item pulled out by Sandberg for clarification.

The item I was most interested in — expansion of and traffic-flow changes to the Glen Hollow shopping center — was tabled. That passed unanimously, so obviously there was some sort of agreement to table it ahead of time, but I don’t know what the reason is.

I was pleased with the new towing ordinance. You may remember I was critical of the plan to charge people $25 whenever a police officer calls a tow truck for them. However, they have since changed the proposed ordinance and consulted with tow truck drivers on the issue, and everyone is happy now. Here’s the ordinance:

There is hereby imposed an additional administrative fee of $25.00 for each rotation tow for which a vehicle owner is required to obtain a release from the Peoria Police Department prior to reclaiming the vehicle or any personal belongings . The administrative fee shall be collected by the Peoria Police Department when the vehicle owner obtains its release . This fee shall not apply to unclaimed vehicles which are scrapped by the tow operator, tows paid for bythe City, or vehicle owners who are victims of theft or vehicular invasion of their vehicle.

“Rotation tow” just means that the city, not wanting to give preference to one tow company over another, will call tow companies in a rotation so they get equal business. That part is not new. The change is that the $25 fee will now only apply to cars that are abandoned or involved in illegal activity. It will not penalize the law-abiding citizen whose car breaks down or is stolen. Excellent compromise, and kudos to the council for taking the time to improve this ordinance.

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Peoria’s transportation infrastructure in top 20% of the nation

According to a new report by Expansion Management Magazine, “nothing is quite so important to a regionÂ’s economy than the transportation infrastructure upon which it moves. Without a doubt, transportation is the foundation upon which all logistics is built.” Thus, they compared 362 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S. on the basis of their interstate, water port, air cargo, and rail access and compiled a report they call “2005 Logistics Quotient: The Top Logistics Metros in the United States.”
 
How did Peoria* fare?  Overall, we made it into the top 20% which earned us a “five-star logistics metro” rating.  Specifically, Peoria did best in rail access (10th-best in the country) — in part because of the number of carriers that service our metro.  In other areas, Peoria scored:
  • 81st in interstate highway access
  • 116th in air cargo access
  • 178th in water port access 
Peoria fared worst in the category of “Vehicle Taxes and Fees”: 320th.  “This category includes highway user taxes and fees, as well as motor fuel excise taxes,” according to the magazine.  Being in Illinois, we’re already at a disadvantage, thanks to the governor’s increase on trucking fees.  But when you add Peoria’s city fuel tax, it’s easy to see how we can be one of the worst in the nation.
 
Peoria’s overall good rating is being promoted by the Central Illinois EDC and TransPORT (the Heart of Illinois Regional Port District).  TransPORT is an initiative “designed to aggressively promote the Peoria region as a center for intermodal logistics and as an attractive and logical business location,” according to Dan Silverthorn, Chairman, TransPORT board of directors.  Here’s to hoping it’s successful!
 
*Peoria’s MSA includes Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Marshall and Stark counties.  An MSA is an urban area that has a core city of at least 50,000 inhabitants within its corporate limits, or contains an urbanized area of at least 50,000 inhabitants and has a total population of at least 100,000 (defined by federal Office of Management and Budget).