Bloomington’s newspaper of record, the Pantagraph, has a new look to their website. It’s a nice improvement — attractive interface and easy to navigate.
One of the more risque portions of the site is under the “News” menu — a section called, “WTF?” I clicked on it, and according to the Pantagraph, that stands for “Weird Trivia and Facts.” Uh-huh.
Former Peoria resident and mayor Bud Grieves put pen to paper again this week and wrote to the Journal Star, this time about the Civic Center expansion and new hotel feasibility study. What I found most interesting was a passing comment toward the end of his letter:
Finally, the business community has a responsibility to pay a fair price for a quality room with good service in our town. Hotels simply cannot afford the continuous investment required to keep properties up-to-date, let alone pay their staff a living wage, if area businesses think they can pay less than $100 a night for a room. Unfortunately, that has been the case for far too long in Peoria, and it must begin to change if we expect room quality to improve.
What Grieves is referring to here is the common practice of large businesses in Peoria (e.g., Caterpillar) negotiating a “corporate rate” for hotel rooms for their clients. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this in theory — one expects to get a better price when one buys in bulk. In this case, large employers who bring in a lot of lodging business want to buy hotel rooms in bulk, as it were, and whatever hotel has the best rate gets the business.
The problem is, what if the only rate they will accept is one so low that it doesn’t allow the hotel to make enough money to pay for capital improvements? This puts Peoria hotels in a bit of a bind. They can reject the low corporate rate and lose so much business they risk going out of business themselves, or they can accept a rate that’s enough to keep them afloat but not enough to make substantial improvements to the property, thus perpetuating a downward spiral in rates.
Is Grieves right? Are the rates demanded by the business community in Peoria unrealistically low? If so, what can be done about it? And what would the implications of this practice be for a new hotel induced to locate here by tax breaks and other incentives?
I received the following as a comment to my blog and as an e-mail, and feel it’s worthy of its own post. If you agree with this letter, I encourage you to send it to school board and park board members as suggested:
This is a letter compiled by some East Bluff residents regarding the placement of the new school into the Park. If you still respect our position; are still willing to back us, please copy and send this letter to all Park/School board members listed below before Monday night’s School Board meeting. The School and Park Board state that they have not received e-mails from constituants disagreeing with their position. Wouldn’t you think that public comment during school and park board meetings would be enough…apparantly not.
Please include your name at the bottom of this letter….thank you for your help regarding this issue.
tcassidy@cassidymueller.com
rpallen4@insightbb.com
sbudzinski@aol.com
robertjohnsonsr@sbcglobal.net
petty7@aol.com
pcwrt2004@yahoo.com
david.gorenz@psd150.org
martha.ross@psd150.org
alicia.butler@psd150.org
sean.matheson@psd150.org
mary.spangler@psd150.org
jim.stowell@psd150.org
debbie.wolfmeyer@psd150.orgThe City of Peoria adopted the Heart of Peoria Plan, which states on page 13 that a school should be in the center of the community which it services. The way the Glen Oak School situation was handled from Day One, there has not been a full study done examining the cost of renovating and adding to the existing school site, compared to building a new school. Based solely on a preliminary study and letter of intent between the two boards, over $800,000.00 has already been spent acquiring adjacent properties, prior to either board having a signed legal agreement. Additional funds have already been spent with architectural firms designing a facility with only consideration of new construction at the new location, not revitalizing or new construction at the existing location. Neither board approached the citizens within the area covered, requesting input on the location of the new school. Both the City and the citizens have presented several workable footprint alternatives at the existing location. It is our contention, that thus far, the elected officials of both the District 150 School Board and the Peoria Park District Board, have no consideration for the position taken by its constituents on this matter. All direction has come from subordinate appointed staff members. The following have stated, both written and verbally, the dissatisfaction of placing this school within the boundaries of Glen Oak Park: Illinois State Senator George Shadid, U.S. Congressman Ray LaHood, City of Peoria (both Mayor and most Council), Peoria Fire Department, Peoria Police Department, Neighborhood Alliance, East Bluff United Neighborhood Association, Glen Oak Neighborhood Association, East Bluff Serenity Neighborhood Association, Gift Avenue Neighborhood Association, and East Bluff Housing Services. We, the citizens within the District 150 and Park District boundaries, request this situation be terminated by both District 150 School Board and Peoria Park District Board. Although there are many individual reasons not to put the new school at the park location, we feel the main concerns of ALL citizens is the protection of the children who will attend this school. Due to the busy Prospect, Frye, and Abingdon intersection, additional crossing guards will be required. The park location will continue to require additional costs exemplified by the busing of additional students. The busing will require additional buses, drivers, fuel, maintenance, and bus monitors. The City Police Department will need to provide additional protection due to the access to the bordering park area. Known sex offenders will be able to go into the adjacent park, zoo, and amphitheater. Should the school be required to have a major lock-down, the zoo, Children’s Museum and play area will also be required to go down to lock-down status. The continued loss of assets — Sunken Garden, Palm House, Log Cabin, Train, etc — is also a concern. This proposed school will further limit and cause public usage to diminish. Although the School District has suggested that there will be no loss of property by the park district, we have been told that only the parking lot will be utilized by both facilities. Where do you propose to put all the vehicles of the employees of both facilities? Nothing has been said regarding the requirements of movement of the park maintenance facility. The park belongs to ALL the Peoria tax paying citizens. If the proposed school is constructed, the bus and other traffic will increase. Will the East Street be relocated on park land, further reducing already limited park space? With the planned zoo expansion, along with the Children’s Museum, open free green-space will be unavailable to the public. Your consideration on this very important and sensitive matter will be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully,
The Concerned Citizens of Peoria