Daily Archives: October 18, 2006

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

Carver to City: We’re tired of being “sacrificial lamb” for trail project

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The heat of the rhetoric is on “broil” in the on-going Kellar Branch rails-to-trails fiasco. A couple weeks ago, Carver Lumber wrote to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) about Central Illinois Railroad Company’s (CIRY, the city’s hand-picked carrier) latest breach of contract.

Rail cars that were supposed to be delivered to Carver by CIRY within 24 hours took a week to be delivered. CIRY shot back a response to Carver and the STB stating that it wasn’t their fault — it was Union Pacific’s and Carver’s for not notifying them the cars were there. They further stated, “Carver’s unsubstantiated allegations to the contrary are being orchestrated by PIRY [Pioneer Railcorp], which is attempting to misuse the provisions for alternative rail service to negate lawful termination of its contractual and regulatory right to provide service over the rail line.”

Monday, Carver wrote back to the STB (2.8MB PDF) and had this to say about the situation:

Frankly, Carver Lumber is frustrated that we are being ignored, and outraged that CIRY is being allowed to continue to ignore its common carrier obligations and lie to the Board. At this point, it is quite clear that Carver is not being given adequate service, and that the abuse will continue unless the Board takes prompt action.

Subsequent to our Letter, I received a phone call from Union Pacific, that was followed up by a letter, dated October 3, 2006. In that letter (a copy of which is attached), Union Pacific confirmed that it is sending CIRY normal EDI interchanges of our cars, stating plainly that “Union Pacific Railroad does notify the CIRY via electronic data interchange when cars are delivered. This was verified with our own electronic records.”

Apparently unaware that UP would respond, CIRY filed a letter that same day, stating that the service failure was due to “the failure of Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) to notify CIRY, of placement of the railcars on the interchange track as required by the governing interchange agreement.”

In light of the UP letter, this appears to be an outright lie.

CIRY then has the unmitigated gall to suggest that Carver has an obligation to survey the interchange site and inform them of when cars are delivered, claiming that Carver, having been forced by CIRY to do this, has assumed an obligation as an “established custom and practice”. Carver takes issue with this assertion. Carver is a customer. We have no obligation to send employees out of our facility to observe what cars are interchanged to CIRY by another railroad, and then call CIRY.

You can almost feel the blood pressure going up as you read this, can’t you? It gets better. Later in the letter, Carver says this:

The situation is outrageous. Carver has had enough broken promises, distortions, and outright lies. In the fourteen months since PIRY’ s exemplary service was “replaced” by CIRY, the “service” has been abysmal. In fact, there was no service at all for half that time. Since March, CIRY has broken waybills and rerouted shipments off the Kellar Branch. This latest letter, in which they falsely blame the UP for their failure, and baldly assert that Carver, a customer, should act as their dispatcher, because we have been forced to do so by their patently inadequate “service,” is a direct challenge to this Board. CIRY is making a complete mockery of the regulatory system.

Currently, I am advised that there is a loaded car destined for Carver at the TZPR/CIRY (Kellar Branch) interchange (“TTZX” #561751), and two other cars (“BNSF” #563169 and “BNSF” #561751) being held at the TZPR yard. My shipper routed these cars via the Kellar Branch, because CIRY has seen fit to close the so-called “western connection” (“western fiasco”, would be a better term), for a crossing project. The materials on these three cars are critical to our operations, and has been “in transit” for some three weeks. We need our cars delivered. The Keller Branch is still a rail line in interstate commerce. We are, therefore, respectfully requesting that the Board enter an order, within the next 24 hours, either directing CIRY to comply with its common carrier obligations and deliver our cars via the Kellar Branch, or granting Pioneer Industrial Railway Co. (“PIRY”) an Alternative Service Order so PIRY can deliver our cars. PIRY has assured me they can have the cars to us within thirty-six hours of receiving an A.S.O.

In the absence of an A.S.O. Carver Lumber Company will have no alternative but to have the materials transloaded on an emergency basis. We are almost out of material now, and our business is risking the loss of a significant amount of revenue. We desperately need your immediate assistance to utilize the Kellar Branch. CIRY is never going to provide adequate-service, and we are tired of being a sacrificial lamb for the City of Peoria’s bike trail fantasies.

And the gloves come off. They’re fed up and they’re not going to take it anymore. The city suckered them into playing along, promising comparable service via the western connection, promising to take any legal action necessary to enforce CIRY’s compliance with their contract. And what has happened? The exact opposite. The city is paying CIRY’s legal bills instead and doing nothing — zero, nada — to help Carver Lumber receive adequate service.

I wonder where this falls in the Mayor’s Business Task Force report? Is “customer service” still the city’s “top priority”? Does the city honor its promises and enforce its contracts? Is there any integrity in the Public Works department?

Why does Carver Lumber, a local business since 1946, have to plead their case with a federal agency to get adequate transportation to their business? Why isn’t the City of Peoria admitting their western-connection strategy didn’t work and taking steps to honor their promises to Carver?

It’s time for the City Council to take action and direct city staff to stop jerking Carver Lumber around. The Council, if they really want to be pro-business, should immediately stop pursuing this rails-to-trails project and restore competitive rail service on the Kellar Branch. Actions speak louder than words, or task-force reports.

St. Louis Cardinals

Cards up 3-2! Can they make it to the World Series?

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I never would have believed that they would get this close. I was sure the Mets would win 4-0 or 4-1. They could still win 4-3 if they win the next two games in New York….

But of course I hope they don’t. Another trip to the World Series for the Cardinals would be sweet! Maybe they’ll even show up and play this year! The series two years ago against Boston was painful, just painful. It wasn’t painful just because the Cardinals lost; it was painful because the Cardinals just didn’t play like they had all year in 2004. You may remember they had the best record in baseball that year — in either league. They were smoking hot leading up to the series.

And then, it was like they were all replaced with minor-league lookalikes for the series. Something terrible happened. It was like they were tricked into the kyrptonite chamber and their baseball powers were sucked away. It makes me shudder just to think about it.

Here’s hoping for better luck this time. With Carpenter on the mound, I’m hoping the Cardinals can win this NLCS series 4-2 and head to Detroit for Saturday’s game, and maybe win a few against the Tigers.

City Council, City of Peoria

Council Roundup: Crime Issues Forum planned

Remember the “Target Peoria” TV special that aired not too long ago that featured a panel of city staff and neighborhood activists (hosted by WCBU’s Jonathan Ahl) discussing crime issues in Peoria? Well, Mayor Ardis promised there would be more forums in the coming months to continue that discussion, and the next one is scheduled to take place on Monday, October 23, 6:00-7:30 p.m., at Riverside Community Church downtown (the old Shrine Mosque building). The public is welcome to attend and join in the discussion.

Amtrak, City Council, City of Peoria

Council Roundup: Mayor Ardis’s Amtrak meeting

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Amtrak LogoCouncilman Manning took the opportunity under New Business to thank Mayor Ardis and Councilman Jacob for attending the Amtrak meeting in Champaign on Tuesday afternoon. He was glad to see Peoria pushing for Amtrak service to be restored.

Ardis reported briefly on his meeting with Senator Durbin and Amtrak President Alex Kummant. He expressed to them the fact that Peoria is the largest MSA (metropolitan statistical area, includes the tri-county) in the state outside of Chicago, that we have Caterpillar World Headquarters here as well as Bradley University, and a whole list of other reasons why Peoria should be considered for passenger train service. He also mentioned that Rep. LaHood and Sen. Durbin both support Amtrak service for Peoria.

Ardis also reported that IDOT will be doing a feasibility study on the costs associated with getting Amtrak service in Peoria again. It sounds like we’re seriously going to pursue the possibility of restoring passenger train service here.

And why not? The state recently doubled its funding for Amtrak from $12.1 million per year to $24.3 million. Besides rail service to 30 Illinois communities for 3.2 million travelers annually, Amtrak also provides 1,800 jobs in Illinois, $88 million in wages, $69.7 million spent annually by Amtrak on state goods and services, and over $250 million invested in high-speed rail. Illinois has shown a great commitment to Amtrak. Ridership is up on all routes the past two years (e.g., ridership on the Chicago-St. Louis route increased by 13.7% in 2005 and 8.3% in 2006), and so they’ve added more trains to accommodate the higher volume.

It’s time for Peoria to be back on-line.

City Council, City of Peoria

Council Roundup: 4 a.m. liquor licenses and living downtown

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The residents at 401 Water Street want to see 4 a.m. liquor licenses go away. Their first step in that process is to force any requests for a 4 a.m. liquor license to go to the entire City Council for a vote, thus allowing residents an additional public hearing, and possibly an override of a Liquor Commission recommendation.

Currently, if a business-owner already holds a liquor license, the Liquor Commissioner (Mayor Ardis) or Deputy Liquor Commissioner (Councilman Turner) can approve a change to a subclass 1 (4 a.m.) liquor license upon recommendation from the Liquor Commission. This new proposed ordinance would require the whole City Council to approve or deny it instead.

Also speaking in favor of this plan during “Citizen Requests to Address the Council” was Sandy Fritz of the organization Citizens for Community Values. She implied that if the council continues to give out 4 a.m. liquor licenses, she may try to organize a referendum on the matter to see what Peoria residents think of the practice, and predicted that 90% would say they don’t want to see any new 4 a.m. liquor licenses approved.

My take: I hope this doesn’t get me fired at church, but I personally have no problem with the 4 a.m. liquor licenses. They’re confined to a small area of downtown, and they’ve been in place considerably longer than 401 Water has been taking tenants. It’s not like the bars all had 1 a.m. liquor licenses and then, when the residents came in, the council changed them all to 4 a.m. licenses with a stroke of the pen and an evil laugh. The residents were fully aware of the bar/liquor-license situation downtown and they chose to live there anyway.

Janice Favus, a resident of 401 Water who spoke in favor of the motion, stated that residents only want the same rights that all other Peorians have, including the right to leave her windows open on summer nights and not have a lot of noise from bars outside.

Now, in one sense, I can understand her point. If there is a major disturbance outside — crowd-control problems, fights, generally rude and obnoxious drunks leaving the bars — that’s not acceptable. But there are already laws against such behavior, and from what I’ve seen from my days playing in a band at downtown bars, those laws are enforced.

But on the other hand, with all due respect, it is totally unrealistic for Ms. Favus and her neighbors to expect downtown Peoria to be as tranquil as the suburbs at night. This isn’t beachfront property. You’re not going to hear the silted waves of the Illinois River lapping up on shore as you drift off to sleep. And nowhere did the city promise any downtown resident the right to be undisturbed if they leave their windows open at night. They’re downtown.

If we’re going to have a downtown that’s “24/7” — like the Heart of Peoria Plan calls for, and like all the consultants recommend, and like the council has been saying they want for years — that’s going to mean having places that are open late. Very late. Maybe all night. And people on the street means noise. I’m not talking about disorderly-conduct noise, but more noise than one would expect in a suburban neighborhood, or even an urban one.

When people are downtown, they’re going to be talking at normal volume, not in hushed tones. They’re going to be laughing and having a good time. Their cars are going to make noise at odd hours of the night when they come in or when they leave. There are going to be places playing music into the wee hours of the morning to attract people down there.

I’d like to call on music legend Petula Clark to give the residents of 401 Water a description of what it’s like to be “Downtown”:

When you’re alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go – downtown
When you’ve got worries, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know – downtown
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown, things’ll be great when you’re
Downtown – no finer place, for sure
Downtown – everything’s waiting for you

Don’t hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows – downtown
Maybe you know some little places to go to
Where they never close – downtown
Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova
You’ll be dancing with him too before the night is over
Happy again

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown, where all the lights are bright
Downtown – waiting for you tonight
Downtown – you’re gonna be all right now

And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to
Guide them along

So maybe I’ll see you there
We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
So go downtown, things’ll be great when you’re
Downtown – don’t wait a minute more
Downtown – everything’s waiting for you

Noise, lights, traffic, places that never close — that’s downtown, 401 Water residents. That’s what you signed on for when you moved down there. You want to sleep with your windows open and have the robins sing you awake in the morning? Maybe downtown living isn’t for you.

City Council, City of Peoria

Council Roundup: What’s your sign?

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Adams Outdoor Advertising would like to put up billboards that change their message every six seconds. Right now, the zoning ordinance only allows billboard messages to change no more than once every hour. The Zoning Commission wanted to defer the request until March 1, 2007 — after the form-based codes are completed — because of staffing issues. The council thought that was too long to make a business wait for a hearing on this issue, so a recommendation will probably come back in December instead.

Electronic BillboardMy take: I’m not sure what kind of sign Adams Outdoor Advertising has in mind, but from the discussion on the council tonight I get the impression that it’s an electronic billboard similar to Proctor Hospital’s relatively new sign at their Knoxville entrance, or the Civic Center’s sign at the corner of Jefferson and Kumpf, or this generic one above that I found on the internet. Can you imagine billboards like that all around the city?

Councilman Spears half-joked that putting up such billboards around the city would eliminate the need for streetlights given the amount of light that would be emitted. Councilman Grayeb suggested writing into any new zoning ordinance a limit to how bright such signs can be. Not a bad idea. Although, I’d be just as happy if they outlawed all of them. Electronic billboards are a terrible source of light pollution and energy waste, and do we really want drivers — already distracted by their cell phones and other gadgets — having one more thing to arrest their interest while they’re supposed to be driving? I mean, we don’t allow television screens in the front seats of vehicles for this very reason; how are electronic billboards different, or any less of a distraction?

City Council, City of Peoria, Form-Based Code, Heart of Peoria Plan, Traffic

Council Roundup: Ferrell-Madden presentation leads to questions on group living, one-way streets

The City Council had two big questions for Ferrell-Madden and Associates after their presentation at Tuesday’s council meeting:

  1. Group Living — As stated in a previous post, the new Land Development Code includes general provisions for all of the Heart of Peoria, and specific form-based codes for the four “form districts,” namely, the Prospect Road Corridor, Sheridan-Loucks Triangle, Renaissance Park (or West Main corridor), and the Warehouse District. Within these form districts, there are stricter standards for the form of the building (i.e., the facade, how it fronts the street, etc.), but the use of the building is relaxed.

    For example, under our current zoning laws, any kind of residential group living (more than three unrelated persons living in the same house) is restricted; you have to get a special use permit to legally have a household so constituted. But under the form-based codes, such arrangements are allowed by right, without having to get a special use permit.

    What’s wrong with that? Well, one potential problem is right over in the West Main corridor — by Bradley. It sets up a situation where one side of the street may require a special use permit to allow, say, 4 or 5 Bradley students to share a house, but the other side of the street would allow that use without a permit. This can lead to inequities for landlords and headaches for neighbors who want to have tighter controls on that particular type of use.

    From the way the council was talking, expect there to be a revision to that part of the code.

  2. One-way streets — Ferrell-Madden made it very clear that there are two issues critical to the success of the form districts: (a) implementation of the form-based codes (the Land Development Code, or LDC), and (b) “fixing the streets.” We’ve already talked about the LDC. By “fixing the streets,” they mean slowing down the traffic to make them more pedestrian-friendly by widening the sidewalks, putting in street trees, and converting one-way streets to two-way.

    Councilman Sandberg specifically singled out Adams, Jefferson, and Washington streets and asked Ferrell-Madden what would happen if the council did nothing to improve these streets (including conversion to two-way on Adams and Jefferson), yet still implemented the LDC. Answer: very little. Private developers would not want to invest money in a business that would front a street that is unsafe or perceived as unsafe. There might be some investment on cross streets where there is less traffic, but overall the initiative would be unsuccessful.

    There’s a part that the public sector has to play and a part for the private sector. The council can’t put businesses in there form districts, obviously. All they can do is provide the infrastructure that will make it attractive to developers — and part of that infrastructure is streets. Streets that are “fixed” in the public’s eyes, and will lead customers to the doors of new businesses that open in these form districts.

Any neighborhood groups or other organizations that would like to have a presentation can contact the Planning & Growth department at City Hall to schedule one. They want to get as much public input as possible before putting a final version of the LDC before the council for enactment. Formal public hearings will be held Nov. 8, 29, and Dec. 6.