Daily Archives: June 26, 2007

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Housing Authority, Peoria Public Schools

Time to shame Peoria’s most notorious slum lords

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Remember when the City of Peoria tried shaming slumlords by putting a sign in front of their rundown properties with the name and number of the owner? Maybe the city should put one of those signs in front of these properties:

Meyer Building small

Harrison Homes

Know who owns these properties? The top one is the old Meyer building in the Warehouse District, and it’s owned by the illustrious District 150, which is terribly concerned about losing tax revenue from the Warehouse TIF. Of course, their neglected property isn’t contributing to lower property values down there, right? Margaret Hanley, who owns A. Lucas and Sons right next door, called District 150 out on the condition of their property at a recent council meeting, and rightly so. I wish I could say this was an isolated case, but alas, it isn’t. The district has lots of neglected properties (not to mention their school buildings). They recently demolished one property on Prospect and plan to demolish two more. And they own about 10% of the property in the Warehouse TIF District, which was passed by the council tonight. So put up the sign in front of the Meyer building and others with District 150’s name and number; label it “slumlord.”

The bottom building shows a very small sample of the boarded up windows adorning Harrison Homes, owned by the Peoria Housing Authority. If you’ve ever been by this low-income housing complex, you will notice that just about every building has at least two windows boarded up, often many more. And if you saw the map I posted earlier, you may have noticed that a number of homicides and lots of aggravated discharges of a firearm take place within Harrison Homes. We’re not paying taxes for these people to run a ghetto. They’re supposed to be providing decent transitional housing for people. Allowing their properties to fall into this state of disrepair is egregious. Council members Gary Sandberg and Barbara Van Auken called PHA out on the state of their properties at tonight’s council meeting, and rightly so. Put up the sign in front of Harrison Homes with the PHA’s name and number; label it “slumlord.”

It’s time for these public bodies to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their role in lowering property values and providing havens for crime. If they don’t, then the city should go after them just like they would any other slumlord. If these public bodies moan and complain, the city can explain that they’re just cracking down on crime and trying to raise property values, for the betterment of all Peorians.

City of Peoria

The wheels of government turn slowly

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SnailOn the council’s agenda tonight is a request by the residents on West Melbourne Avenue for some ornamental lighting. What’s interesting to me is that this request was approved by the Board of Local Improvements on June 19, 2003. That’s a full four years ago. Why does it take four years for something like this to be implemented?

Delays like this cost money. Materials get more expensive, and labor gets more expensive. It’s more expensive for the city, which affects all taxpayers, and it’s more expensive for the residents of Melbourne Avenue who agreed to pay 50% of the cost of this improvement through a special tax assessment on their properties. Actually, only 52.98% of the property owners agreed to it (it takes a simple majority for approval), so for those who didn’t want the ornamental lighting, the increased costs add insult to injury.

If the city is looking for their next big Six Sigma project to make the city more efficient, they needn’t look any further than this process.

City of Peoria, Crime

Mapping Peoria crime

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Someone recently asked to see Peoria’s homicides plotted on a map. I had mentioned that would take some time; well, as it turns out, the police already have such a map, and it was included in the agenda for tonight’s council meeting. It shows not only homicides, but also “aggravated discharge of a firearm” violations. I don’t think this will surprise anyone:

Homicide Map

On tonight’s agenda is a proposal to help stem the violence — the Cease Fire program, which was suggested by fourth-district councilman Bill Spears. Kudos to Mr. Spears for looking for new ideas on how to solve our crime problem.

HOPC

HOPC to meet June 29

The Heart of Peoria Commission will meet this Friday, June 29, in the Twin Towers Suite 402 (front meeting room) to discuss this agenda:

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY 25,2007 – attached

3. CITY COUNCIL ACTION ON STATUS OF HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION – deferred until July 24,2007, see Attachment A, relevant minutes from City Council meeting

4. PREPARATION AND APPROVAL OF WORK PLAN TO SUBMIT TO CITY COUNCIL FOR JULY 24, 2007 CONSIDERATION – see Attachment B memo, which also includes attachments

5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS

6. NEW BUSINESS

7. COMMENTS: Public (5 minutes per person)

8. FUTURE MEETING(S)

9. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting will be from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Note the change in location; we usually meet in City Hall, but this time the meeting will be held in the Planning & Growth offices on the fourth floor of the Twin Towers.