Daily Archives: May 16, 2006

Caterpillar, City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

Caterpillar to acquire Progress Rail

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PEORIA, Ill. – Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) has reached an agreement to acquire Progress Rail Services, Inc. (Progress Rail) for $1.0 billion in cash, stock and assumption of debt. Progress Rail is majority owned by One Equity Partners, a private equity affiliate of JP Morgan Chase & Company, Inc.

Based in Albertville, Alabama, Progress Rail is a leading provider of remanufactured locomotive and railcar products and services to the North American railroad industry. With 2005 sales of $1.2 billion, the company has one of the most extensive rail service and supply networks in North America. It operates more than 90 facilities in 29 states in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with about 3,700 employees.

Wouldn’t it be great if a new facility were to open in Peoria, say maybe in Growth Cell 2?  As long as Peoria keeps trying to kill the Kellar Branch and rely solely on Union Pacific service from the west, it ain’t gonna happen.

Peoria Journal Star, State of Illinois

Preemptive amendments only protection against activist courts

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The Journal Star’s editorial board either hasn’t been paying attention to recent events or simply can’t put two and two together.

In their editorial today, “Same-sex marriage referendum a divisive distraction,” they observe, “Illinois already has a law that defines marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman, so this is redundant.” But the newspaper of record surely knows that in an age of judicial activism, passing laws is not enough. Massachusetts had a law defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman, too, but the courts overturned it. So the only way to safeguard this law from judicial activism is to make it part of the constitution itself.

The editorial does mention that a constitutional amendment is the ultimate goal: “The November referendum is only advisory, intended to pressure Illinois lawmakers to put another referendum on another ballot to change the state constitution.” This is what happens when judges start legislating from the bench. The only recourse citizens have is to start writing laws directly into the constitution. And because this is such a long process, traditional marriage advocates don’t want to wait until the laws have been overturned to get started, like they did in Massachusetts.

The editorial goes on to say, “It’s a shame that petition organizers didn’t put their substantial grass-roots skills toward other family-friendly issues…,” as if the the definition of marriage is merely one issue in a litany of equivalent causes. Actually, marriage is the foundation upon which our definition of family is built, so “family-friendly issues” are dependent on our society’s view of marriage, not equal to it.

The editorial concludes with this admonition: “What Illinois is ready for is a focus on issues that make a real difference in people’s lives, not unnecessary and divisive distractions.” It’s actually quite practical to firmly establish the definition of marriage in Illinois. The very issues the Journal Star thinks are more important — health insurance, pensions — would be seriously impacted if same-sex marriage were legalized through some sort of court action, and Illinois would be ill-prepared for it.  Laws would need to be rewritten, financial projections would have to be completely refigured, and all within a short period of time.  Settling the issue of marriage by putting the definition in the constitution will provide stability both for families and the government.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Police, Peoria Public Schools

City pushes school district to build on current site

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Several City of Peoria department heads — including the police chief — met with District 150 representatives to strongly request Glen Oak School stay put, according to today’s Journal Star. Whether they refurbish or rebuild, the school should be in the center of the neighborhood, not on the fringe. The two biggest concerns with the Glen Oak Park location the school district is considering are (1) traffic on Prospect — every walking student would have to cross this busy street and dangerous intersection, and (2) crime at this corner — the convenience store at Prospect and Abingdon/Frye is a hotbed of crime, according to Peoria Police.

I wonder if the school board is getting the message…. The residents, parents, police, Heart of Peoria Commission, etc., all want to see Glen Oak School stay at its current site. It looks like the only ones who want to see it move are the school board members.

One concern I have from the article, though was this:

[Third District Councilman Bob] Manning said officials told Hinton the city is willing to close off streets around Glen Oak Primary School if a new school goes there [corner of Frye and Wisconsin].

Does he mean permanently or just during school hours, like they do near Kellar Primary? Either way, there is no justification for closing streets at that site. At Kellar, they have a split campus and children are crossing the street all day (or so they tell me), but Glen Oak is a unified campus and children only cross the streets when they come to school in the morning and when they leave for the day — and I’m pretty sure they already block off Frye during those times. The speed limit is only 30 mph — 20 when children are present. The school sits at a 4-way stop, and there are crossing guards when children are arriving and leaving. It appears the traffic situation is in control at that site without taking any further action.

Manning also offered to implement a façade improvement plan for the businesses along Wisconsin. That’s a great idea. So far, the current façade improvement plans have been well-received — there are two requests for grants on the council’s agenda tonight.