Monthly Archives: February 2006

City Council

Times-Observer suggests Friedan tribute

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At the city council meeting last night, Barbara Van Auken requested that the publisher of the Peoria Times-Observer be allowed to present his suggestion for a tribute to Betty Friedan.  He suggested renaming Pioneer Parkway “Betty Friedan Parkway” because it’s a major thoroughfare and Friedan was a “pioneer” in the women’s rights movement.

I’m not really a proponent of renaming streets.  It used to be that you honored a person by putting up a statue to them in a prominent place.  Peoria has several statues; to name a few:  Abraham Lincoln (Peoria County Courthouse), Robert Ingersoll (Glen Oak Park), and Christopher Columbus (Uplands neighborhood).  Why not put up a statue to Friedan and leave the street names alone?

City Council, City of Peoria, Social Justice

Random act of kindness . . . from the city

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I found something almost heartwarming in Tuesday night’s city council agenda.

First, a little background:  There are some sewers in older parts of Peoria known as “wildcat” sewers.  These are sewers that were developed privately and do not conform to city code.  The city has a program, known as the Wildcat Sewer Program, that helps residents abandon their wildcat sewers and connect to the city’s sewer system by paying half the cost of connection.

Well, some Peoria residents on North Machin were connected to a wildcat sewer that had collapsed and was completely useless.  But these people were unable to afford even half the cost of connecting to the city’s sewer system, and had resigned themselves to living with the consequences. The city decided to go ahead and connect them to city sewers anyway and pay the whole cost of connection.  You can read a more detailed version of the story here.

I’m impressed that the city has been willing to treat this as an emergency repair and help these residents out.  Kudos to the city for their random act of kindness!

City of Peoria, Insight Communications

Cable franchise agreement update

I decided to go straight to the source and ask City Attorney Randy Ray what the status is of the cable franchise agreement. He was kind enough to write me back this evening:

We have a meeting scheduled with Insight next week. We hope to have an agreement by April 15. Our biggest local concern is to end the payments by the City for televising Council meetings live. Thank you for the question.

One of the pitfalls of using sarcasm as I occasionally do is that you always have to qualify when you’re being serious. This is one of those times. So, seriously, thanks to Randy Ray for responding to my e-mail and providing this update. Some may complain it wasn’t that newsy, but I know there isn’t a lot he can share while the city and Insight are still negotiating.  Hope the negotiations turn out well and in the city’s best interests.

Traffic

Drive 45 . . . Keep who alive?

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I drove 45 tonight through East Peoria, across the bridge, and up to the University Street exit and never encountered a worker, a lane reduction, or a dangerous situation to me or others at any time. Why is the speed limit still 45? I don’t mind driving slow when workers are present or there is some other compelling reason — any compelling reason. But driving slow for no reason at all is frustrating for drivers.

Why can’t IDOT use speed limit signs that say “Speed Limit 45 when flashing” and have those yellow construction lights connected to them? I’ve seen these signs used in other places, so I know the technology exists. Then at night, or other times when there’s no reason to drive slowly, traffic can legally go the speed limit of 55. Seems like a win-win to me.

Maybe someone on the council can ask Mr. Joe Crowe, Regional Director of Highways for IDOT, when he gives his presentation on the I-74 expansion project tomorrow night.

Blogosphere

WSJ on blogging

Jason Fry of the Wall Street Journal Online gives his opinion about the future of blogging. He covers everything from the number of blogs to blog measurement, including these recent Gallup poll results:

Beyond flat to declining blog traffic, it found just 9% of Internet users read blogs frequently, 11% do so occasionally, 13% rarely bother, and 66% never do. And “reading blogs” ranked last in a list of 13 common Internet activities, below things like emailing, checking news and weather, and shopping.

His prediction for the future, in a nutshell:

Within a couple of years blogging will be a term thrown around loosely — and sometimes inaccurately — to describe a style and rhythm of writing, as well as the tools to publish that writing.

As opposed to a “revolution,” which is what some bloggers still hope for.  If you have a couple minutes, read his whole article and tell me what you think of it.

Campaign Rhetoric, State of Illinois

My vote: “None of the above”

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PollyPeoria is sick of Gidwitz. I don’t blame her. But then, I don’t like any of the candidates for governor.

There are plenty of good reasons not to like Topinka. Here’s mine: she was the one who decided to give Jack Ryan the boot two years ago and import nutty Alan Keyes from Maryland to run on the Republican ticket for U.S. Senate instead of runner-up Oberweis. That kind of decision doesn’t instill me with much confidence in her judgement.

I had been a big Rauschenberger fan, but then, inexplicably, he decided to run for Lieutenant Governor and ally himself with Gidwitz. Most unfortunate.

I met Oberweis at an ice cream social (what else?) the last time he ran for Senate and wasn’t very impressed.

This is one of those elections where I wish they would institute my idea: have one of the options be “none of the above.” If “none of the above” gets the most votes, then those candidates who ran are all disqualified and a new slate of candidates has to be found. This would allow voters an “out” from having to vote for the “lesser of two evils.” They could use this process in both primary and general elections.

Illinois American Water

Reuters: RWE says IPO likely for American Water Co.

Just saw this news on Reuters:

German utility RWE AG . . . is more likely to have an initial public offering (IPO) for its American Water unit than sell it to financial investors, its chief financial officer said on Thursday.

Klaus Sturany said at an analysts’ conference that an IPO was “still the more likely case.”

RWE plans to make a decision in the first quarter of this year on how to proceed with American Water Works Company Inc. . . . .

American Water Co. is a subsidiary of RWE-AG of Germany and owns Illinois American Water Co. here in Peoria. Expect Grayeb to have something to say about this at next Tuesday’s council meeting.

City of Peoria, Insight Communications, Television

Question for council: How are cable negotiations going?

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I wonder what the status is of the city’s negotiations with Insight Communications for a new cable franchise agreement. Last June, the City hired the Varnum Riddering firm from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to help them negotiate a new agreement. The current agreement expires on April 15. It looks like these negotiations are not exactly a walk in the park, at least if Decatur is any indication.

According to the Decatur Herald & Review, the Decatur city council is still negotiating their cable franchise agreement, also with Insight, even though their previous agreement expired in 2003. The sticking point appears to be over how much money Insight should be forced to spend for public, educational, and governmental programming:

Brian Gregory, regional director for government relations for Insight . . . said a proposal calls for about $76,000 for new cameras and equipment for the council chambers. The city hopes to expand programming for other governmental and community groups, which could cost up to $300,000.

Money provided for additional cameras or equipment would raise rates, and Insight cable customers in Decatur would “bear the burden” of those costs, Gregory said . . . . City Manager Steve Garman said there is “nothing that we have asked for that is not ordinary and common for cities of our size.”

Peoria is expanding its own programming slightly — adding a new show called “Inside the City” which starts March 2 on channel 22. But, according to the Request for Council Action last June, they were only looking to save $32,000 when they hired Varnum Riddering. So maybe things will go better for Peoria. Still, it would be nice to hear an update.

City of Peoria

Pittsburgh paper pokes at Peoria

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Peoria made the Pittsburgh paper today.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “Morning File with Peter Leo” listed the winners in a Great Britain contest for the craziest parking tickets issued.  After giving the five winners, including “Four cars in a funeral cortege [who] were ticketed for stopping while mourners paid their respects,” Mr. Leo turned to America.  In a section titled “Dead man parking,” he had this to say:

Meter maids in Peoria, Ill., recently did the Brits one better: ticketing not a funeral but a dead man. They issued three parking tickets and a tow-away sticker to a black Mercedes SUV parked outside a hospital emergency room. Apparently, they were all business and didn’t take a close look. On Feb. 9, a passing pedestrian noticed the body of a 46-year-old man inside and notified the hospital, the Peoria Journal Star reported. He had been missing for three days. Cause of death is still a mystery.