Daily Archives: April 1, 2006

Peoria Civic Center

As I was saying about the Civic Center….

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Remember when I wondered whether the problem with the Peoria Civic Center could be the management? Well here’s a story about poor management and a little warning to any brides-to-be: don’t believe any Civic Center advertising you see in bridal magazines.

In the 2006 Central Illinois Wedding & Celebration Guide published by LimeLight Communications, Inc., the Peoria Civic Center placed this ad:

Now, what would you think if you saw this ad? Would you think that they were going to waive the rental fee if you booked your reception and catering at the Civic Center?

Think again.

Despite the plain language of the ad and the absence of any exclusion disclosures, the Civic Center recently refused to waive the rental fee for a bride-to-be who is (was) renting the Civic Center theater lobby. Supposedly, the lobby is excluded from this promotion. Too bad they didn’t say that in the ad.

In fact, elsewhere in the same magazine, there’s this listing under “Banquet, Event & Meeting Facilities”:

Notice the wording here. They list their three large venues, then say that meeting and banquet rooms are “also available” — “also” means “in addition to” — and to “see [their] ad on page 24,” which is the ad displayed above.

The Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act clearly spells out what is considered false advertising. Section 2(a)(9) says it’s a deceptive trade practice to “advertise[] goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised.” The Civic Center advertises free rental if you book your reception and catering there, but they apparently have never had any intention of waiving the rental fee in certain parts of their facility. Since they didn’t disclose those exclusions in their ad, it sure looks like deceptive advertising to me.

They should show some integrity and honor their ad. Since they won’t, they will lose an $8-10,000 wedding reception, settling for a $200 cancellation fee. Way to go, Civic Center. Keep driving the business away. You’ll always have our HRA taxes.

Peoria Park District, Peoria Public Schools

Could Park Board’s illegal act doom school building plans?

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The Journal Star reported this morning that the Park Board violated the law by discussing, in closed session, plans to let District 150 use some of its park land to build a school.

What the article didn’t address were the possible consequences of the board’s illegal action. According to the Illinois Open Meetings Act, this opens up the park board to litigation in circuit court, and that court:

. . . having due regard for orderly administration and the public interest, as well as for the interests of the parties, may grant such relief as it deems appropriate, including granting a relief by mandamus requiring that a meeting be open to the public, granting an injunction against future violations of this Act, ordering the public body to make available to the public such portion of the minutes of a meeting as is not authorized to be kept confidential under this Act, or declaring null and void any final action taken at a closed meeting in violation of this Act.

Check out that last possibility: “declaring null and void any final action taken at a closed meeting in violation of this Act.” It would be interesting to know what actions were taken at those meetings, wouldn’t it? I mean, if they decided to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the school district at that meeting in closed session, then that action could be subject to reversal.

Circuit court may again be the answer. The Open Meetings Act requires closed sessions to not only take minutes, but have an audio or video recording of the proceedings, and the circuit court can examine those as evidence.

But there’s a time limit of 60 days from the discovery of a violation for action to be taken. When those east bluff residents meet this afternoon at 1:15, they may want to consider their options in light of the park board’s violation.