Daily Archives: September 20, 2007

Peoria Civic Center

Civic Center FY2008 Budget

3 Comments

You may remember that I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Peoria Civic Center to get a copy of their “itemized budget.” Here’s the response I received from them in today’s mail:

PDF Link PCCA FY2008 Budget (PDF, 1.3M, 35 pages)

Actually, I got it in a nifty blue report cover with colorful dividing tabs. One page is even in color. What you will see, though, is a black and white PDF copy of it with the dividers removed (however, if you use the “bookmarks” feature on Adobe Acrobat, you can see where the divisions were and what they are titled).

The original information the Civic Center Authority gave the City Council included:

  • Budget Highlights
  • Statement of Income
  • Schedule of Events
  • Capital Expenditures Budget

The information I received today has all of that, plus this information:

  • Budget Ordinance
  • Budget Narrative by Shaun Schoonover, Director of Finance
  • Statement of Cash Flows
  • Indirect Expenses
  • Capital Expenditures Budget [Detail]
  • Fiscal Year 2008 Business Plan Narrative

It certainly is more detail than was disclosed before–especially the “Indirect Expenses” page. Take a look at it and let me know what you think. Have they come clean and vindicated themselves?

Peoria Police

Cameras don’t cow mob violence

25 Comments

Peoria LogoIn the “Police and Courts” section of the Journal Star today (couldn’t find it online to link to it), there’s this story:

Customers at Peoria store attacked by about 12 men

PEORIA — A group of about a dozen men attacked three customers at an East Bluff convenient store with metal poles and a bottle Wednesday night, according to police and witnesses at the scene.

Three young men were inside the Short Stop Food Mart, 1302 E. Frye Ave., about 10:05 p.m. when the group rushed inside and began beating two of the the three, a witness said. During the fight a display of candy and food near the cash register was knocked over and bits of glass were left upon the floor.

The third victim, believed to be the youngest of the trio, ran to the back of the store and was reportedly unharmed. After the brawl, the dozen or so men left the store and drove off in two vehicles in unknown directions. Police and witnesses said the two older victims suffered what appeared to be nonlife-threatening injuries.

This story caught my eye because it’s one of only two locations in Peoria where police surveillance cameras have been deployed. In fact, if you click here, you can see a live picture of the Short Stop Food Mart. These cameras are supposed to deter crime and assist the police in solving any crimes that might occur.

I don’t think anyone expected that all crime would stop once the cameras went up, but now that there has been some blatant violence right in front of one of them, I wonder how the camera will play into the investigation of this crime. It apparently isn’t sharp enough to help officers know exactly how many perpetrators there were (“A group of about a dozen men…”), or which direction they made their getaway (the men “drove off in two vehicles in unknown directions“). Another question is, was police response any quicker because of the camera?