Monthly Archives: May 2008

City of Peoria, Economic Development

Hullinger spreading the good news

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I don’t think there’s a bigger cheerleader for Peoria than Economic Development Director Craig Hullinger. He’s trying to reach people through every method possible; he’s even using Blogger to set up a pseudo-blog for the Economic Development department. Now, he’s started directly e-mailing the media, including bloggers, with good economic news about Peoria. Here’s what he had to say:

The median home price rose in 10.4% in Peoria in the 1st Quarter of 2008, compared to the first quarter of 2007, according to USA Today on May 14, 2008.

Peoria had the second highest growth rate in the country, according to the article, which used data collected by the National Association of Realtors.

Nationally, the median home price fell 7.7% over the same period.

Thanks to all who helped make our economy so vibrant. Keep investing.

Now, if we could just get more mixed use development underway in the Heart of Peoria in the Warehouse District, Renaissance Park, and the Rivefront.

A great opportunity out there to start up the Heart of Peoria Development Corporation. Raise capital to make strategic investments in the City. Take advantage of the great Enterprise Zone, TIF, and historic tax credit incentives. Do well while doing good.

Keep the upbeat and positive news coming, Mr. Hullinger.

City Council, City of Peoria

Council preview 5/13/08

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The agenda for tonight’s meeting isn’t too exciting, although there are a few potentially volatile issues. There’s a really long consent agenda (A through GG, or 33 items), which is to be expected after the council hasn’t met for three weeks.

District 150 is on the agenda — there’s an item requesting the creation of a Neighborhood Impact Zone (NIZ) around Glen Oak School and revision of the timeline for implementing other such zones. You may recall that the NIZ plan is a partnership between the City of Peoria and District 150 (and possibly Tri-County Regional Planning) to “collectively provide resources to stabilize and enhance the two square block area surrounding the school site to provide a safe, vibrant, attractive neighborhood.” I wonder if any council members will take that opportunity to question the school board’s shortening of the school day for 12 primary schools. I mean, the city has committed no small amount of time, effort, and money toward this initiative, the idea being to stabilize neighborhoods and ultimately draw more families into District 150. If the D150 administration is going to undermine those efforts by reducing teacher contact time and arts and music programs, one has to wonder if this is the best use of the city’s funds after all.

The “Knoxville Crossing” strip mall is going to be taken off the table tonight. This project is way out north on the west side of Knoxville/Route 40, north of Alta Rd., south of Wilhelm Rd. It had been tabled a few weeks ago because the neighbors opposed the project. According to the Journal Star, they’re still unhappy about it, but feel the development is inevitable:

Liverpool Drive resident Tim Sander said on Wednesday, “I don’t think anyone really wants it. (Neighbors) know they can’t stop it, but they’re trying to get the best they can as far as keeping their quality of life.”

Developers have the public trained well, don’t they? Neighbors don’t even put up a fight anymore. They have plenty of reasons to believe such a fight would be futile (Glen Hollow, Midtown Plaza, to name just a couple).

One might question why we need more big box stores and strip mall storefronts when we have so many empty ones already. Does the city ever do any kind of cost/revenue analysis to see if this is going to be a net gain or loss for the city? This will put pressure on the city to use limited funds to upgrade the infrastructure in that area, and yet what new businesses will it be bringing into the area? How much tax revenue will it generate? If businesses are just going to move from one area to another within the city leaving vacant storefronts in their wake, the city ends up losing money because they’re not gaining enough net sales tax revenue to sustain all the northern growth.

Of course, the big thing on the agenda tonight is Elliott’s strip club asking for a liquor license again. If the council denies it as the Liquor Commission has recommended, you can bet that the taxpayers will end up paying dearly for it. I actually agree with the Journal Star’s editorial on this issue. The fact is, the strip club isn’t going away even if they don’t get a liquor license, and it will undeniably lead to a lawsuit that the city will almost assuredly lose. I’d rather not add insult to injury by having my tax money go to Elliott’s. Let this one go and work on some sort of ordinance that will keep this sort of thing from happening in the future.

Peoria Public Schools

D150 parents to try negotiation first

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Monday night there was a big meeting at Godfather’s Pizza to discuss strategies for getting the District 150 School Board to reverse their decision to cut 45 minutes out of the school day for 12 primary schools. The charge was led by Diane Vespa, who reports the outcome of the meeting on her blog:

Ultimately, we were persuaded to “call off the dogs” and place them on a back burner, for now. In the interim, we will meet a few more times to explore options for saving $600K. We don’t anticipate this to be too difficult of an undertaking given the fact that it is less than 1/2 of 1% of their budget. There is a meeting scheduled with the District for May 22. The goal: a full rescission of last Mondays vote.

If negotiations fail, things could get ugly. In the past week, there have been calls for everything from picketing to a city takeover of the school district. Those more extreme measures are on hold for now, in hopes that the board will reverse their decision and find a way to balance the budget that doesn’t rob kindergarten through fourth grade students of teacher contact time.

I think it’s a good idea to try negotiations first, but we must, at the same time, keep the heat up. We won’t let the administration razzle-dazzle us like they did the school board last Monday night.

Downtown Promises

Downtown Promises: One Technology Plaza

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One Technology PlazaI’m going to start looking at some projects that were promised to bring revitalization to downtown Peoria and see how they turned out. Did they deliver what was promised? Today, we’re going to look at One Technology Plaza, on the corner of Adams and Fulton where the old Bergner store used to be.

When that idea was first pitched in 1997, the Journal Star said the plan “to demolish the [Bergner] block and build an eight-story, $25 million career and technology center sounds precisely like the boost Peoria’s downtown needs,” adding the hopeful questions, “might this become a piece of an I-74 Technology Corridor?”

Many others sang the praises of the project, assuring us that this would be the catalyst to turn downtown around and bring in new jobs and industry. Here’s a sampling:

The L-shaped building, with main entrances on both Northeast Adams and Fulton streets “will reinvent downtown,” said commission Chairman Jim Baldwin.

“It will fill in the retail gap” in the downtown area with 17,000 square feet of street-level store space, said city Riverfront Development Director Tom Tincher.

–Peoria Journal Star, March 8, 1997

“This can truly make Peoria different from any community our size” in the nation, Mayor Bud Grieves said moments after the council voted 7-1 to accept a redevelopment agreement for the project with Prudential Cullinan Ltd….

At-large Councilman Charles Grayeb [said] that the tech center “embodies one of the most aggressive, visionary, public-private partnerships ever envisioned by our city. It will put Peoria in the (technology) development forefront and produce tax dollars quickly” through the jobs and industries it will attract, he said….

Its top floor will house both major and smaller technology-based firms that Cullinan expects to lure here. Its first floor will contain 17,000 square feet of retail space.

–Peoria Journal Star, July 2, 1997

One Technology Plaza opened in September 1999. Construction was paid for with the help of $9.6 million in general obligation bonds from the city. So now that it’s eight and a half years later, how have they filled the “retail gap” downtown? What new “major and smaller technology-based firms” have been lured here?

I took a walk downtown recently to find out. The retail establishments on the ground level are: Robert Morris College Bookstore, Jimmy John’s Sandwiches, Heartland Bank, Chase Property Management, and several empty storefronts, including the recently vacated Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe.

According to the directory in the lobby off of Fulton street, the businesses in One Technology Plaza are:

  • Caterpillar (several divisions, including Global Deployment Services, Remanufacturing Division, Cat University CTT, and World Trading Corp.)
  • Robert Morris College
  • Workforce Network (City of Peoria Workforce Development Department and Central Illinois Workforce Board)
  • U. S. Attorney’s Office
  • Howard & Howard Attorneys offices
  • Cullinan Properties
  • OSF Organizational Development
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation

Several of these are the original tenants. The Regional Office of Education used to be in One Technology Plaza, but moved to the Peoria County Courthouse. The building’s offices and retail stores are open 9-5 on weekdays, and aren’t open on Saturdays or Sundays at all. It would be interesting to see how much One Technology Plaza is contributing in tax revenue to the Downtown Business District TIF.

As I look over the list of tenants, I don’t see any retail gap being filled. How many people, when they want to grab a quick Jimmy John’s lunch, think about going to One Technology Plaza, especially considering there are three other locations in Peoria that are probably more convenient? The problem is that there’s no nearby residential component to drive retail development. Any retail that locates here only caters to people who work downtown and can patronize a place during lunch. Or they have to try to draw people downtown with something really unique. Nothing unique here at One Technology Plaza.

And I certainly don’t see any new high-tech companies that have located in Peoria as a result of this multi-million dollar investment by the City. Caterpillar already has its world headquarters downtown, which is a huge asset, of course. But the promise was that new companies, large and small, would be “lured” here. Hasn’t happened. I see a lot of empty space in a soulless building.

This Downtown Promise: Unfulfilled.

Peoria Public Schools

New Math

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Hmm, let’s see. $1.14 million for four Edison schools. We’re closing one, so the total number of Edison schools is dropping by 25%. If we take $1.14 million and divide by four (or multiply by .25), we get $285,000.

But according to the Journal Star today, the school district negotiated only “about a $200,000 savings.” That’s about 17.5% of the total contract.

Well, let’s look at percentage of pupils. The 2007 enrollments, according to the Illinois Interactive Report Card, were:

Loucks 374
Rolling Acres 312
Franklin 386
Northmoor 462
TOTAL 1534

So, 374 divided by 1534 is: 24.3%. But the contract was only reduced 17.5%.

Sounds like a great deal… for “New York-based Edison Schools,” that is. I suppose the administration will say that there are certain fixed administrative costs, so one can’t just cut the contract by 25%.

Or maybe they’ll try to tell us that 17.5% savings is just as good as 25%. After all, they’ve already told us that an 11.5% reduction in the school day provides exactly the same amount of teacher contact time, with music and art thrown in.

It’s the new math.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Streets

Roundabout

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A little over a week ago, the Journal Star reported that a roundabout is being considered for the intersection of Sheridan, Loucks, and Gift in the “Sheridan Triangle” form district. This was surprising to me. I have nothing against roundabouts, but they’re not the only option or even the best option for every intersection.

You may remember that there was a public meeting back on March 5 to discuss options for improvement of the public space in this form district. Keith Covington was there along with other engineering and street design experts with experience in creating new urban streetscapes.

Everyone I talked to that night — to a person — said that a roundabout was not the best solution to this particular intersection, although they all affirmed they liked roundabouts. The problems here, it was explained to me, were several.

First of all, there wasn’t enough space. Because it’s an intersection of three streets, there’s a minimum radius that’s required to accommodate all the “legs” that would be coming off the roundabout, and that space simply isn’t available at that intersection, I was told.

Secondly, they were concerned with creating dead space in the middle of the roundabout. Going along with that big required radius would be a lot of space in the middle of which pedestrians would get no practical use.

Thirdly, no roundabout was suggested at the charrette for this area. If you look at the drawings that were produced by the neighbors and business owners during the charrette process, the vision then was to have Loucks intersect with Gift before the intersection with Sheridan on the east side (just like Loucks intersects with Forrest Hill before the University intersection), and have Gift intersect with Loucks before the Sheridan intersection on the west side. This would create a four-way intersection at Sheridan instead of a six-way, and a pocket park could even be put in on the southeast corner, which would be usable by pedestrians.

Suffice it to say, there was a compelling case made that night for no roundabout. But now, suddenly, a roundabout is a serious contender for this intersection. It would be interesting to discover how decisions are being made, but the district councilperson is keeping attendance at these meetings under tight control.

For more information on roundabouts in the United States, see the excellent resources at the Transportation Research Board’s site. Hat tip to Beth Akeson on providing the TRB info.

Peoria Public Schools

Once again, D150 parents’ pleas fall on deaf ears

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Brick WallNote to District 150 parents: The next time you feel compelled to express your concerns to District 150 board members, just go find a brick wall somewhere and talk to it. There are a number of benefits: you can hit it and not get arrested, you can do it any time instead of just 6:30 every other Monday, and the most important thing of all — you’ll get the exact same results.

The school board voted 5-1 (Linda Butler was absent) to shorten the school day by 45 minutes next year. Jim Stowell was the lone dissenting vote. Kudos to him.

Feel free to use that brick wall to beat your head against after yet another poor, ill-advised decision from our illustrious school board.

Peoria Park District

Still waiting for the Park Board televised meetings report

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From the April 27, 2007, Peoria Park Board minutes:

Mr. Christopher J. Summers read from a letter he wrote to the Park Board regarding the question of whether or not to televise Park Board meetings on the public access channel. VICE PRESIDENT CUMMINGS MOVED STAFF PREPARE A STUDY OR REPORT WHICH WOULD GIVE THE BOARD A SUMMARY OF ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH TELEVISING OF ALL PARK BOARD MEETINGS, OR ALL BUDGET SESSIONS. REPORT TO INCLUDE ALL THE BENEFITS OF SAME AND DISADVANTAGES OF SAME. STAFF TO INCLUDE THEIR SUGGESTIONS OF POSSIBLE DONORS WILLING TO CHAMPION THIS EFFORT IF COSTS ARE HIGH. Motion seconded by Trustee Petty. Deliberation followed with questions raised regarding who pays for the televised service, the previous history of this issue, and possibility of staff doing the taping of meetings and giving pre-recorded tape to Insight Communications public access channel. Motion carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 6 Ayes; 0 Nays)

It’s been over a year now. Still no action.