Daily Archives: September 7, 2006

City of Peoria, Television

Not just HOI, but all Peoria stations to broadcast “town hall” on Peoria violence

7 Comments

In case you don’t read the comments section on Billy’s or my blogs, here’s the information on the upcoming “Target Peoria: An Open Discussion On Crime” television event.

Jonathan Ahl wrote:

I will be the moderator for this special program, broadcast on WMBD, WHOI, and WEEK from 8-9pm [Wednesday, Sept. 13]. WTVP will tape it and play it at 11pm.

The reason there are not a lot of details is that the organizers are still working them out. I feel pretty strongly that it will be an important hour and a good broadcast.

And on Billy’s site, Ahl added:

The idea for the meeting came from discussion between the GM’s at WEEK, WMBD, and WHOI. Those three worked with Ardis to get things moving. […] Mayor Ardis et al will have a Sunday press conference at 2pm to talk about it.

My thanks to Jonathan for the information.

City Council, City of Peoria

Van Auken proposes higher fines for ordinance violations

4 Comments

In response to a couple of recent, over-the-top, raging parties around the Bradley area (well-reported by PeoriaIllinoisan), Second District Councilperson Barbara Van Auken is proposing raising the fines for noise violations and criminal activity to $1,000. She wrote in an e-mail to Uplands residents:

I want to update you on activities related to the riotous weekend you and your neighbors experienced. Uplands President Goitein has talked with Bradley Security Chief Baer who, in turn, is meeting with BU officials about what happened and why. I also spoke with VP Gary Anna who was very concerned about the events and promised to personally look into them. He is also supportive of […] hefty fines to property owners and party hosts. Additionally, Chief Settingsgaard is investigating the situation and plans to talk with Chief Baer about coordinating their efforts to put a halt to these raucous parties. He, too, is strongly supportive of the hefty fine suggestion.

I talked with both Randy Oliver and Randy Ray about fines to hosts and property owners. It cannot depend on how many calls we get about a party–one call is enough. If, in fact, there’s ordinance violations, e.g., noise, and/or criminal activity, e.g., underage drinking, at a party, I’m proposing a $1,000 fine for both the host(s) and the property owner if it’s owner-occupied. If the property owner is a landlord, I’m proposing that the individual–within 30 days– pay the $1,000 fine or present documentation to the Legal Department that eviction proceedings are in process or complete. While there are responsible landlords who almost never know about party activities at their property; once they know, they need to take immediate action–not just promise it won’t happen again. I’ve heard that too many times, and the problem goes on for months.

This is welcome news. I hope Van Auken’s proposal makes it to the council soon and is passed. There needs to be greater consequences for parties that involve “150 people fighting in the street” and require the use of pepperball guns to break them up.

City of Peoria, General News, Television

I’m really starting to like WHOI

4 Comments

Lately, I’ve been more and more impressed with WHOI as a local news channel. I believe they usually come in last in the ratings, but I’ve noticed quite a few stories lately that they’ve covered better than WEEK and WMBD, in my opinion.

Now, they’re planning a one-hour, commercial-free special report on fighting crime in Peoria. That’s ambitious — and exciting! Here are the details from HOI’s website:

On Wednesday, September 13 HOI-19 will air a special report on fighting crime in Peoria. It’s called “Target Peoria: An Open Discussion On Crime.” It runs from 8 to 9 p.m., commercial free.

I can’t wait to see who they interview and what the format of the show will be. Kudos to WHOI’s news department!

Museum Block

If only Peoria’s museum had James Smithson’s bequest

11 Comments

James Smithson“Museum officials defend names” was the headline on the front page of the paper this morning. Wait until you hear their defense!

Kathleen Woith likes to remind people that the Smithsonian likely meant nothing to people when the name was first adopted.

Today, most people immediately recognize that name as synonymous with one of the world’s most prestigious museums. They’ve forgotten, or perhaps have never known, that it was named after James Smithson, the illegitimate son of a French baronet who never lived in the U.S. but supported its ideals.

And maybe museum officials have forgotten, or perhaps never known, that the reason it was named the Smithsonian Institution was because Smithson founded it with the money from his estate:

In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he would in 1835), the estate should go “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.”

The estate was worth about $500,000. So, hypothetically, if someone named James Amaze wants to bequeath a half a million to Peoria for a multi-disciplinary museum with the stipulation that it be named the AMAZEum, I will have no quarrel with the name. You know why? Because then it would mean something.

That’s the reason Woith’s analogy doesn’t work. Whether or not people know who James Smithson was, the name nevertheless has intrinsic meaning. It identifies and memorializes the founder. In contrast, the names museum officials have presented are meaningless — not just to the uninformed, but in their very essence.

A more apt analogy would be to liken the naming to the Dada movement, “an early 20th-century international movement in art, literature, music, and film, repudiating and mocking artistic and social conventions and emphasizing the illogical and absurd.” (NOAD) In keeping with this philosophy, the name of the movement (Dada) was chosen randomly from a French dictionary.

Furthermore, Woith’s analogy, it seems to me, would bolster arguments to put Peoria in the name. Here was Smithson — an outcast because of his illegitimate birth in 19th century England — whose name is now revered because of this fine institution in Washington. Surely the name Peoria — whose only sin was that it didn’t “test well” in focus groups — can undergo a similar transformation if the museum is really going to be as unique and prestigious as museum officials claim.

Kellar Branch, Peoria Journal Star

Journal Star does it again

3 Comments

The Journal Star has another Kellar Branch editorial. I can’t help but respond to their erroneous assertions and half-truths:

The start out by saying, “Depending on how the federal government rules, Peoria’s decaying Kellar branch rail line may either become a hiking/biking trail or be forced to reopen for rail service.” Notice there’s no mention (of course) of Pioneer Industrial Railroad’s offer to provide rail service and help build the trail next to the rail line. In the Journal Star’s mind, it’s either/or, one or the other. Too bad they can’t be more open-minded.

Then they proceed to look at the many and various cost estimates for bringing the rail line up to operable condition. After glossing over the three different cost estimates the city submitted ranging from $50,000 to $2 million, they have this little gem:

Meanwhile, Pioneer Railcorp, Kellar’s jilted carrier, apparently thinks it can make the line shine for just under $10,000, which would just about cover a few bushes and some other landscaping in someone’s yard. It’s not credible. Removing the monster weeds alone covering the tracks would take an army, and you know what the military-industrial complex charges these days.

Ah yes, local employer Pioneer Railcorp — the one that wants to buy the line for over $500,000 which would sure come in handy down at City Hall, the one that wants to lure more businesses to Pioneer Park and Growth Cell Two by providing reliable rail service, the one that has offered to rehab the line at their own expense, the one that successfully and profitably ran the line for seven years, the one that provided an itemized and detailed quote for track repair — they’re the ones who are nothing more than a “jilted carrier” and whose repair quote is “not credible.”

But the city, who hired non-local carrier Central Illinois Railroad Co. — the company that couldn’t get a load of lumber up the Kellar Branch, the company that had a runaway train that endangered the lives of Peorians, the company that never successfully or profitably ran the Kellar line, the company that broke their contract with the city, the company that is costing Carver Lumber considerably more in shipping because of said breach of contract, the company that provided a vague, non-itemized, unsigned quote for track repair — their estimate for service is somehow more credible, according to Peoria’s newspaper of record.

It’s so ironic that the city is fighting so hard, spending so much money on lawyers, and for what? So they can waste more money by tearing out a $565,000 asset. Good grief!

As for the “monster weeds” the paper worries would be so expensive to remove — has the Journal Star ever heard of Roundup? I would think one trip down the tracks in a service truck with a sprayer would take care of that problem.

But perhaps the most hopeful comment is the final one: “The city and village should explain their math [to the Surface Transportation Board] in detail, pronto, to dispel the confusion and not risk jeopardizing their credibility or the trail’s prospects.” My friend David Jordan believes this indicates that the Journal Star is starting to worry that the city may not win their case with the STB. I just think it’s funny that they can’t see that the city has already “jeopardized their credibility,” and not just with the STB.