Monthly Archives: July 2006

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Library

Can new director breathe new life into library?

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Peoria Public LibraryThis is old news that I somehow missed a couple of weeks ago, but is worth mentioning in case you missed it, too. The Peoria Public Library is getting a new director. Edward M. Szynaka will take the reigns August 14 and earn $100,000 a year (I’m clearly in the wrong business).

Szynaka was fired as director of the Indianapolis-Marion Public Library three years ago, but Peoria library officials are satisfied that it was all political and not a reflection of Szynaka’s performance or abilities.

The new chief will have his work cut out for him here. The most recent statistical report that the library filed with City Hall shows 4% fewer people visited the city’s libraries between January and June this year than the same period in 2005. Despite the fewer visits, 5% more books are being checked out, thanks to the Bookmobile and the Lakeview branch (all other branches declined). Perhaps as a sign of the times, over 45,000 computer users have been signed up so far this year, up over 10% from this time last year.

The Journal Star reports that he oversaw a 30% increase in library usage while in Indianapolis. We’ll see if he can work the same magic here. I hope so. The library is such a wealth of information and invaluable resource to the community. I think a lot of people simply take it for granted. There’s a lot of information you won’t find on the internet, but is available at the public library.

I personally love the library and visit the downtown branch frequently, mostly because of all the reference materials they have — especially newspapers on microfilm, genealogical aids, and Peoria history archives. It’s a great place to check out movies and documentaries, too. I don’t contribute much to the circulation totals since you can’t check out reference materials, but I occasionally check out a book I want to read, but don’t want to buy.

Now that my daughter is learning to read, she has just started to discover the wonder of the library’s children’s department. You gotta love borrowing — if I had to buy all those books, I’d be broke and we wouldn’t have anyplace to keep them. Thanks to the library, she has hundreds of books at her reading level to choose from, and we just return them when she’s done. It helps her learn to read and my taxes pay for it whether we use it or not, so might as well use it!

The library has a new five-year strategic plan coming out soon. Hopefully, with Szynaka’s influence, it will be just the shot in the arm needed to draw people back to the library.

Books

Mayflower

I’ve spent the weekend reading “Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War” by Nathaniel Philbrick, and just finished it tonight. What an interesting history!

Mayflower Book JacketWhile it does follow the Pilgrims from Leiden to Plymouth Rock, the most interesting part of the book to me is its history of King Philip’s War (1675-1676), a war I had never studied in high school or college. Like Philbrick states in his epilogue is common, my view of American history jumps from the 1620s to the mid-1700s unaware of this conflict and its profound effect on the future of Native Americans’ way of life and English-Native relations.

Philip was the Christian name of a Native sachem, or chief, of the Pokanoket tribe. He earned the title of “king” (derisively) among the English when he claimed to be equal to King Charles (since he was the supreme ruler of his people and the Pilgrims were subjects of their king). The war started after repeated injury and disrespect to the Natives drove Philip to try and organize a pan-Indian war with the settlers.

The exploits of the daring Benjamin Church were almost beyond belief, sounding more like a screenplay for a movie than a historical narrative. For example, once when chasing Totoson, “the sachem who had attacked Dartmouth and the Clark garrison,” through a swamp, imagine what this scene must have looked like:

While the Sakonnets [Natives who fought with the English] guarded the others [prisoners], Church chased Totoson. It looked as if the sachem might escape, so Church stopped to fire his musket. Unfortunately it was a damp morning, and Church’s musket refused to go off. Seeing his opportunity, Totoson spun around and aimed his musket, but it, too, failed to fire. Once again, the chase was on.

Church momentarily lost him in the undergrowth but was soon back on the trail. They were running through some particularly dense bushes when the Indian tripped on a grapevine and fell flat on his face. Before he could get back up, church raised the barrel of his musket and killed him with a single blow to the head. But as church soon discovered, this was not Totoson. The sachem had somehow eluded Church, and filled with rage, Totoson was now coming up from behind and “flying at him like a dragon.” Just in the nick of time, the Sakonnets opened fire. The bullets came very close to killing the person they were intended to save (Church claimed “he felt the wind of them”), but they had the desired effect. Totoson abandoned his attempt to kill the English captain and escaped into the swamp.

Wow! There’s a lot of action like that related in this book, making it a fast read. I was also surprised to learn that the English didn’t yet use forks in the early 17th century, so the first Thanksgiving was eaten with the aid of only their fingers and their knives (my children would have fit right in). But the weightier matter of the book is how it only took a single generation after the establishment of peace and mutual respect between the Pilgrims and the Natives for it all to fall apart. In the end, it truly is a tragic story.

If you’re looking for a good book to add to your reading list, I would highly recommend this one.

Kellar Branch

Pioneer offers immediate relief for Carver Lumber

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Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY) filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) today to provide alternative rail service to Carver Lumber over the Kellar Branch.  Pioneer argues that, since the city and Central Illinois Railroad (CIRY) are providing inadequate and overpriced service via the western connection and refuse to route cars over the Kellar Branch any longer, the STB should allow Pioneer that service instead.  The STB has the authority to make such a determination if it so chooses.

This is a little technical, but in this particular filing, Pioneer is not asking to restore service permanently on the Kellar Branch (that falls under a different petition that is still pending).  What they are asking is to provide service over the Kellar Branch in the interim — that is, until the STB rules on whether service over the Kellar Branch should be permanently discontinued.

The city contends that the Kellar Branch is in such a state of disrepair that it would take over two million dollars to fix it.  Pioneer disputes that claim and offers to repair the trackage out of its own pocket if allowed to provide immediate service to Carver by the STB.

The STB could decide on this petition any time, since it’s not contingent on the outcome of the city’s request to discontinue service over the Kellar Branch.  Their answer to this request from Pioneer might be an indication of which way they’re leaning on that larger issue.  Stay tuned.

City of Peoria, East Bluff, Peoria Park District, Peoria Public Schools

Questions and Questionable Answers

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Peoria Public Schools logoThe Journal Star provides on their website a copy of the “Questions and Answer” sheet Ken Hinton distributed at the special District 150 School Board meeting on Monday. On pages three and four, it says this:

9. What is the actual size of the property being acquired at the park site. DW

ANSWER: A total of 10.47 acres is being acquired at the Park site either by actual purchase by the School District or subject to the 99-year Intergovernmental Agreement. In addition, however, Glen Oak Park is 110 acres and all of the facilities will be available for school use subject to mutually agreed rules and regulations (scheduling, etc.) The general Park site includes such things as Centennial Playground, the theatre bandshell, baseball/softball diamonds, Children’s Museum, Zoo, soccer fields, nature areas, numerous tennis courts (some of which are currently being used by Woodruff High School) and Botanical Gardens and Conservatory.

At the Park District Board meeting tonight, East Bluff United Neighborhood Association president Marty Palmer asked the board members about that answer during the public comments period. I wasn’t personally there to hear it, but he reports to me in an e-mail that “the board denied all of the answers” to that question, and “they (board) have not talked to #150 at all since the letter of intent was signed.”

So it does appear that District 150 is (once again) jumping the gun on their site plans. Until they have an actual intergovernmental agreement (not just a letter of intent), they can’t assume all of the things they’re proposing in their question and answer document.

But there’s something else that’s questionable about their answer to this question and question 18 (“Would the city be willing to cover the cost of going to the park if the current school site is chosen”). Please bear with me as I set this up:

One of the big selling factors for the park site is that the kids will be able to utilize the park because they’ll be immediately adjacent to it. Specifically, the document mentions such things as the baseball diamonds, zoo, children’s museum, tennis courts, and botanical gardens. Has anyone looked at how far away from the park site these features are?

The land the school wants to build on is on the corner of Frye and Prospect. Even assuming the school building would sit on the farthest northeast corner of the proposed site (which would be unlikely), the approximate distances from the building to these wonderful amenities are:

Feature Distance
Baseball Diamonds 380-700 feet
Zoo 750 feet
Children’s Museum 900 feet
Tennis Courts 1000 feet
Botanical Gardens 1300 feet

For comparison, a city block in that area is about 350 feet. So, the closest baseball diamond is about a block away, and the botanical gardens are almost four blocks away — almost as far as it is from the current Glen Oak School to the park. Are we to assume that these children are going to walk from the new school building to these features?

I’ll buy the baseball diamonds. But do you really see 30-60 six-year-olds trapsing across the park to the zoo when it’s 94 degrees outside or raining? Or walking two and a half blocks to the children’s museum in the snow in 25 degree weather? Or ever walking to the botanical gardens even if it were 72 and sunny?

My point is that it’s very likely these kids are going to be loaded up on buses and driven to many of these different parts of the park anyway (which makes their question 18 moot). And if that’s the case, why can’t they do that from the current Glen Oak School site now? Obviously the cost of transportation to the park would be far less, even given the price of gas these days, than the cost of either building on the park site or creating a 10-acre campus at Wisconsin and Frye.

Uncategorized

I’m the old guy

Our church has a praise team made up of people roughly my age that leads worship most Sunday mornings. This Sunday, the high school worship team will be playing instead (although the regular praise team’s guitar player and I will be joining them). Yesterday I got to practice with them for a little while and was reminded again that I’m the old guy.

At one point, I really felt like we made a connection. They started singing “Hope to Carry On,” which is one of my favorite Rich Mullins songs. I sang along, then told them I had seen Rich Mullins perform that song in concert. They looked at my sort of blankly and said, “That’s not a Rich Mullins song, is it? I’ve only heard Caedmon’s Call do it.”

Hey, everybody, look at the old guy!

The Caedmon’s Call version of that song came out in 1997, which is old (to them) in itself. But I was thinking of Mullins’ original which came out in 1989 — ancient. As far as they were concerned, I might as well have been talking about dancing to the Glenn Miller Orchestra and seeing movies at the Bijou.

Where’s my cane?

Blogosphere

Enjoy your final week of anonymity, E.M.

Eyebrows McGeeAs most of you know, anonymous Peoria blogger, attorney/theologian, and avid gardener “Eyebrows McGee” has been raising money for the Peoria Playhouse. She said if she raised at least $1000, she would reveal her true identity.

Well, she made it to a grand and, true to her word, the big revelation will take place on television next Tuesday night at 9:00 (News 25 at 9 on My59). There’s no city council meeting to compete for her 10 minutes in the spotlight, so everyone be sure to tune in!

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that just because she’s met her personal goal that doesn’t mean the Playhouse has met theirs. Feel free to keep the contributions coming — click here for information on how to donate.

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

It’s all over but the budget busting

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I wasn’t at the school board meeting last night, but I didn’t need to be. It was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. I’m not quite sure why they’re continuing the charade of “evaluating” the two proposed school sites; they’re not fooling anyone.

The school board decided on this site long ago, and nothing is going to stop them now. If they want to make unilateral decisions and ignore the city, parents, and residents — not to mention budget realities — that’s their prerogative, but a very foolish course of action. The school board fancies itself as the Lone Ranger, a vigilante board that can save Peoria singlehandedly. But they’re really more like Don Quixote: idealistic and impractical, mistaking friends for enemies, well-meaning but delusional.

They’ll build their school on the park site, and they’ll congratulate each other in the shadow of their burned bridges.

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

Carver asks city to reimburse $41,000 in shipping costs

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As I mentioned last Friday, Carver Lumber has filed its report to the Surface Transportation Board regarding the service it has been receiving via the newly-built western spur. You can read their letter here (84KB PDF file).

They give a lot of details, but the basic facts are these:

  • Deliveries that used to take 1-2 days via the Kellar Branch hauled by Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY) are now taking 4-8 days via the western spur hauled by CIRY — a 400% increase in delivery time.
  • The cost of delivering rail cars via the western spur is double what it cost for PIRY to deliver the same cars via the Kellar Branch.

Slower delivery, higher costs. But here’s the kicker (emphasis mine):

As I believe the STB knows, service to Carver via the Kellar Branch was interrupted due a CIRY [Central Illinois Railroad Co.] runaway/derailment/collision during their first delivery attempt to Carver forcing us to transload material for a period of nearly 5 months […] resulting in costs to date of $41,605.10 which neither the City or CIRY have been willing to reimburse. We are currently seeking the aid of independent legal counsel in an effort to collect these costs. […] [W]e believe the City of Peoria is obligated to provide Carver Lumber with sufficient rail service, and that the disruption in rail service experienced by Carver Lumber should be compensable.

The city, which has $60,000 to spare for decorative garbage cans, millions for a museum, and no limit to TIF districts for local developers, is unwilling to reimburse $41,000 to Carver Lumber — a local business for over 60 years — for increased shipping costs that were the direct result of the city’s own negligence and unwillingness to enforce its contract with CIRY. And the city wonders why it’s perceived as not being business-friendly.

Carver further states they have “tried to work with both the City of Peoria (CIRY) and the Union Pacific to address the issue of guarantying minimum levels of service and rate stability to no avail.” That’s a far cry from Public Works Director Steve Van Winkle’s November 10, 2004, letter to Carver Lumber that stated (emphasis mine):

This letter is, in part, to tell you that the City has no intention of discontinuing service over the Kellar Line until the western connection is fully operational. These two projects are currently timed to coincide well. In the event that either is delayed, the City assures you that it will make an adjustment in the timeframe so that there is no interruption of your rail service. We will not discontinue service over the Kellar Line until the western connection is fully operational.

As for the ability of the City to intercede on your behalf should issues of service andlor cost arise in the future, we call to your attention that we have contracted with DOT [parent company of CIRY] for service from the West. Article 14 of that contract specifically provides that DOT shall pick up and deliver cars within 24 hours after being notified by the UP that the cars have been placed on the Peoria Pioneer Spur. The City stands ready and willing to enforce all aspects of its contract with DOT and with the Union Pacific Railroad. The City has the ability, under its agreement with DOT, for all legal remedies up to and including termination which would allow the City to replace their service with another company.

CIRY never did make a successful delivery over the Kellar Branch, thus service was discontinued before the western spur was completed, resulting in the $41,000 in extra shipping costs.  Furthermore, their deliveries have been taking 4-8 days instead of the 24-hour turnaround promised by the city and specified in CIRY’s contract. Yet not only does the city not enforce their contract, which CIRY has demonstrably breached in most egregious manner, it won’t even reimburse Carver for the results of that breach of contract!

Carver concludes their report by asking that the Kellar Branch be reinstated and that Pioneer Railcorp be allowed to provide service over it, due to CIRY’s “demonstrated inability, and stated unwillingness, to provide service over the Kellar Branch.”

Peoria Public Schools

School board meeting tonight at 5:30

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Peoria Public School District 150 will be meeting tonight at 5:30 to discuss the new school for the Woodruff High School attendance area. You can join them at 3202 N. Wisconsin Ave. and let your voice be heard, or you can watch them on cable channel 17.

I’ll be on a date with my wife tonight, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend. The options were The Fish House and a movie, or the school board meeting. Can you believe she chose the former?

Of course, I’ll tape the meeting for later.

UPDATE: I was mistaken about the TV coverage — they only broadcast “regular” school board meetings, and this one is a “special” meeting. So, you’ll have to go in person if you want to see it. I guess I’ll have to read about it in the paper tomorrow….

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Civic Center

City to consider another consultant for Civic Center hotel

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On the council’s agenda for Tuesday night is a request to hire yet another consultant to determine whether Peoria needs a hotel connected to the Civic Center. This one costs $21,000 and will look at demand for hotel rooms, what impact the proposed Civic Center hotel would have on existing hotels, and the quality of existing hotel space downtown.

According to Paul Gordon’s column in the Journal Star yesterday, every one of the requests for proposals for a new hotel connected to the Civic Center said such a hotel would require public assistance, such as a TIF district. I’m no business genius, but that would indicate to me there is not enough demand for hotel rooms to make a new hotel profitable.

If there’s not enough demand for a new hotel, and if a new hotel were built with the help of public money, what kind of an impact do you expect that would have on other downtown hotels? The new hotel could leverage its room rates on the taxes the other hotels are paying. Is that fair?

The last criterion is the most curious: the quality of existing space. What purpose does this serve, exactly? And how is quality going to be measured? And suppose the consultant finds that existing hotels don’t meet these quality standards? Would that be used as a justification for building a competing hotel with the help of public funds? Why not use those public funds to help the existing hotels instead?

I think the RFPs speak for themselves, and this consultant is unnecessary. Until a hotel can come into Peoria, attach itself to the Civic Center, and be profitable under the same conditions as Peoria’s other hotels, we don’t need one. The city shouldn’t waste its money on the hotel or the consultant.