Monthly Archives: July 2008

City of Peoria

Peoria’s National Night Out: 9/16/2008

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From another press release:

On Tuesday, September 16th, neighborhood associations and neighborhood watch groups in Peoria will host celebrations during the 25th Annual National Night Out (NNO). The City is offering reimbursement of up to $200 for expenses for participating neighborhood associations. Registration forms have been sent to all registered associations and watch groups. The registration form is also available at the City’s website: www.ci.peoria.il.us: Government, H-Z Departments, Planning Department, Neighborhoods, Applications & Forms, or at Planning and Growth Management Department, Twin Towers Building, 456 Fulton St., Suite 402. Registrations are due by September 1, 2008. For information call Steve Fairbanks at 494-8603.

The purpose of National Night Out is to establish neighborly relationships, connect with neighborhood youth, and to strengthen collaboration between citizens and the police.

The traditional date for the annual NNO is the second Tuesday in August. In response to concerns about high temperatures in August, the City conducted a survey in Fall 2007 to gauge support for moving Night Out Against Crime to a later date. Survey results indicated overwhelming support by city leaders, neighborhood associations, and others for moving the event to September 16, 2008.

City of Peoria

Clean River Committee Considers Overflow Reduction Costs and Benefits

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From a press release:

Clean River Committee Considers
Overflow Reduction Costs and Benefits
Public meetings planned August 6 and 7

Peoria, IL – The City of Peoria Clean River Committee met today to review options for meeting state and federal requirements for reducing sewer overflows and improving water quality in the Illinois River.

The options reviewed by the ICR survey prep would involve make sure that a healthcare facility meets all the Medicare conditions of participation in infection prevention, building storage and disinfection facilities, new sewers and wet-weather treatment facilities at the Greater Peoria Sanitary District (GPSD) Wastewater Treatment Plant. The public’s input will also be sought during a 30-day comment period that begins July 21.

“The three options we’re looking at would capture overflows in underground storage facilities along the river or at the treatment plant,” said Public Works Director David Barber. “The primary question we’re asking is whether we should spend an additional $100 million or more to relocate overflows farther downstream from their current locations.”

The options being considered include:

  • Option 1: Storage and Treatment Along River and at GPSD Plant
  • Option 2: Eliminate Overflows Upstream of Bob Michel Bridge
  • Option 3: Eliminate Overflows Upstream of GPSD Treatment Plant

Under all the alternatives, overflows would be reduced from the current 28 or more per year to 2-6 in a year with typical rainfall. Overflow frequency predictions are based on a year with average rainfall. In wet years we expect more overflows and in dry years, less. The new storage units also would increase capture of sewer flows during wet weather from the current 55-74 percent to 93-99 percent.

“We need the public’s input because this project will be the largest investment in clean water infrastructure in Peoria’s history,” Barber said. “We must meet state and federal requirements and comply with the Clean Water Act, but the public’s input will help us decide what form our plan will take.”

Estimated construction costs for the three options are shown below. Costs do not include operation and maintenance requirements. These estimates could change as the city refines its analysis.

Overflow Control Option Estimated Capital Cost1 Cost per Gallon of
Overflow Captured
Option 1: Storage and Treatment Along River and at GPSD Plant $105-127 million 50¢ – 61¢
Option 2: Eliminate Overflows Upstream of Bob Michel Bridge $186-223 million 89¢ – $1.07
Option 3: Eliminate Overflows Upstream of GPSD Treatment Plant $218-262 million $1.04 – $1.26
1Capital costs include estimated construction, legal and engineering costs; in 2008 dollars.

In addition, the City is seeking public input on the potential use of green infrastructure to capture and treat stormwater, litter control programs to reduce trash in the river, and public education programs to improve the public’s involvement in efforts to improve and protect the Illinois River.

Public meetings are planned on August 6 and 7 at the following locations:

  • August 6: Gateway Building, 200 N.E. Water Street
  • August 7: Neighborhood House, 1020 S. Matthew Street

The open-house style meetings will be held from 4-8 p.m., with 30-minute presentations scheduled at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The public may come at any time to review project information and ask questions. Information will be available on the Illinois River’s water quality, recreational uses, studies of the sewer system and treatment plant, and options for reducing sewer overflows. Meeting materials and a questionnaire will also be available on-line by July 21 at the project Web site, www.peoriacso.org.

The Clean River Committee was formed in May 2007 to provide advice and recommendations to the Peoria Department of Public Works as it develops a long-term plan to control combined sewer overflows and protect the Illinois River.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency are requiring cities with combined storm-and-sanitary sewers, like Peoria, to develop long-term plans to comply with the Clean Water Act and state sewage treatment requirements. Peoria’s plan must be submitted by December 2008.

For updated information about the combined sewer project visit the project Web site at www.peoriacso.org. To get updated information on combined sewer warnings, go to the CSO Web site or call the CSO Hotline, 494-8873.

Peoria Pundit

Peoria Pundit evicted from hosting service

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I got the following e-mail from Billy Dennis. He’s moving his entire BlogPeoria Project to new hosting company. He’s in hopes that this will finally resolve the problems he’s been having with his sites going down so much.

It seems like my hosting company finally got sick of my constant emails. They suspended the Blog Peoria account and suggested I would be happier elsewhere. Since I was planning on doing that anyway, no problem. I was just waiting to get a few days off in a row. So, we’re moving to a new site with a bit more oomph to it. It all else fails, I’ll upgrade to one of their private virtual servers, which has a lot of ooomph, but I’ll need to learn how to run a server.

I am downloading a full back up and will re-install WPMu at the new site.

This may take a day or two to complete because there are always glitches. And the change in name servers will take time to resolve, too.

Bear with me. The result will be a much better-running site.

Good luck, Billy. We’re all looking forward to you being back on-line in your new, more reliable server space.

Springdale Cemetery

Gatehouse collapsing

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No, not the Journal Star’s parent company. This gatehouse:

That’s the lower gatehouse at Springdale Cemetery, and it’s in such disrepair that it could collapse at any moment according to the cemetery’s Management Authority. They’ve voted 4-3 to demolish the structure. They say the cost is too high — estimates are $800,000 or more — to repair it.

It’s a shame that previous owners of the cemetery didn’t take better care of the historic structures.

General News

All-Star waste of time

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I stayed up and watched the whole four-hour, fifty-minute 2008 All-Star Game. And the National League lost — again — making it a four-hour, fifty-minute waste of my time.

Ever since the tie game in 2002, the winner of the All-Star Game gets home-field advantage in the World Series. That’s the stupidest idea ever devised by the mind of Bud Selig. Home-field advantage should obviously be given to the World Series team with the best regular-season record. But leave it to Major League Baseball to eschew common-sense.

Of course, Cubs fans have been bragging for a couple weeks about all the Cubs players who made it to the All-Star Game. So, let’s take a look at their box scores:

  • A. Ramirez: .000 (0 for 0 with a walk)
  • K. Fukudome: .000 (0 for 2 with a strikeout)
  • G. Soto: .000 (0 for 2 with a strikeout)

Wow, I’m impressed. Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols went 2 for 3. (Ryan Ludwick went 0 for 2 with a walk, though). To be fair, the Cubs’ pitchers were good:

  • C. Zambrano: 0.00 (IP: 2.0, 1 strikeout, 1 hit)
  • R. Dempster: 0.00 (IP: 1.0, 3 strikeouts)
  • C. Marmol: 0.00 (IP: 1.0, 2 strikeouts)

In the end, it was the Phillies’ Brad Lidge that lost it for the NL in the bottom of the 15th inning. After the game was over, exiting Cubs fans were overheard to say, no doubt out of habit, “Wait ’til next year.”

City of Peoria

Comcast is the worst cable provider ever

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My television is equipped with a QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) tuner (as well as NTSC and ATSC tuners), which allows me to see digital cable channels without a set-top box. I get the lowest-cost cable there is because all I want are the local channels (including the must-carry digital broadcast channels) and a few cable channels such as C-SPAN and WGN.

Reception of digital must-carry channels is pretty poor. I often get pixelation, signal disruptions, drop-outs, and not infrequently lose the signal completely. So I called Comcast “customer service.”

After waiting on hold for five minutes, I got some flunky in another state that tried to convince me that I had to have a set-top box in order to get “pure digital,” even though a set-top box would be nothing more than an external QAM tuner for my application. Oh, and did I mention that a set-top box runs about $15 per month? I’m only paying about $14 a month for cable, so this would double my bill while giving me no additional services.

So I took my TV upstairs (it’s in the basement, normally) and hooked up rabbit ears and am happily watching the All-Star Game in HD without any dropouts at all. Which makes me wonder, why do I even have cable? I could get a roof-top antenna and distribute it throughout the house just like cable, but with better reception. Is C-SPAN and WGN really worth the Comcast headache?

Hmmmm….. Maybe it’s time to cut the cable.

Peoria Journal Star

GateHouse Media tanking (Updated)

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GateHouse Media, Inc., the company that owns the Peoria Journal Star, is in a heap of trouble, reports Editor & Publisher. The newspaper industry journal reports that Morningstar, a provider of independent investment research, has “reduced its fair value estimate for GateHouse shares to zero from $3 in its report in May.” Why?

“Because of the company’s exposure to a challenging advertising environment, a debt-heavy balance sheet, and declining cash flows, we think the equity shares could be worthless,” stock analyst Tom Corbett wrote. […]

Morningstar also said GateHouse is close to violating one or more of the covenants on its huge deb. “Should that happen, its debt could become due immediately, resulting in a possible liquidation scenario,” Corbett wrote.

Shares of GateHouse had been up to $19 per share in the last year, according to E&P. Today, it dropped below a dollar briefly and is at $1.02 as of about 3 p.m. This does not bode well for Peoria’s only daily newspaper.

UPDATE: The Boston Herald has a story on GateHouse’s woes. They say that the analyst’s report cited above caused the stock to drop to 98 cents at one point. GateHouse stock closed at $1.04 Tuesday.

2008 Campaign, State of Illinois

Perhaps the biggest vote this November

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The campaign is heating up now. No, not the presidential race. I’m talking about the battle over whether Illinois should have a constitutional convention, or “con-con.” Organizations and coalitions are forming, and we can expect to see political ads from both sides.

Yes

On the “yes” side, there’s a couple of groups I’ve found. One is called United Power for Action and Justice, which has a site advocating a con-con. Then there’s Yes for Illinois, an effort of the nonpartisan Illinois Citizens Coalition (ICC). Here is an episode of the Illinois Issues Forum where ICC founder Bruno Behrend explains why he’s a proponent of having a con-con, and refutes the arguments of opponents:

No

On the other side, we have the Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution. They apparently don’t have a website yet, but I expect they will soon. According to the State Journal-Register (Springfield), “the alliance expects to spend about $3 million getting its message out to voters.” Their message?

Members of the new Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution say that convening a constitutional convention in 2010 would cost an estimated $100 million or more and would do little to solve state government’s problems. The real solution, they said, is to elect better leaders.

And just who is part of this alliance?

Members of the alliance include the Illinois Business Roundtable, Illinois AFL-CIO, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and League of Women Voters of Illinois.

My Take

I’m for a con-con. I think it would be worth the money and the risk. The biggest surprise to me in that list of alliance members is the League of Women Voters. They have long decried the gerrymandering of Illinois’ voting districts. How are the people of Illinois supposed to “elect better leaders” when lawmakers choose their voters through gerrymandering? Or when Illinois limits ballot access to third party candidates? It’s naive to think that these problems can be rectified by anything less than a constitutional convention.

Interestingly, Presidential candidate Barack Obama is getting some heat over this issue. The Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Martin reports that Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod is lending the aid of his public relations firm to opponents of a con-con. Martin quotes this letter from United Power for Action and Justice to Obama:

“Our nonpartisan organization . . . was surprised to learn that David Axelrod’s public relations firm has negotiated a contract of at least $2 million to lead a campaign against the state’s best chance for change in 20 years — the upcoming referendum on whether or not the citizens of Illinois should call a constitutional convention to deal with the mess in Springfield. While your campaign manager is heading a presidential effort whose slogan is “Change you can believe in,” his firm is running a local campaign whose slogan should read, “Change we must fear and undermine.”

But then, cognitive dissonance doesn’t appear to be a problem for Obama, as his multiple flip-flops on issues show.

There appears to be a big disparity in money. Opponents have $3 million to spend convincing Illinoisans to vote against a con-con. I can’t find any figures on the two proponent organizations, but they don’t appear to have a lot of money. But they do have the Illinois legislature and governor on their side. Oh, not explicitly, of course. I just mean that as long as they keep displaying their dysfunctional and embarrassing antics down in Springfield, it only serves to stoke the fires of voter discontent. Maybe legislators can choose their voters, but the con-con vote crosses district lines.

Peoria Police

Dunnigan back on the force

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Last August, when Troy Parker was reinstated to the police force, I wondered aloud how that could happen to him and not Marshall Dunnigan, especially considering how much more serious Parker’s alleged crime was. After reading the public accounts of Dunnigan’s alleged crime, the whole case against him sounded pretty tenuous to the casual observer. I figured there must have been more to the story that wasn’t released to the public.

But today, we learn from the Journal Star that an arbitrator has concluded that “the city failed to establish that Dunnigan intended to commit theft or fraud when he cashed a $639 ticket from the machine at the [Paradice] casino, which actually belonged to another gambler, a retired Peoria police officer.” Now Dunnigan has been reinstated to the force and will receive back pay for all the time he was off for wrongful termination. All except a ten-day suspension for “fail[ing] to report that he was under investigation for a crime.”

Dunnigan was fired in March of 2007, so that’s going to be one mammoth check for back pay he’ll be getting from the city. Hope he doesn’t spend it all in one place, if you know what I mean.

Peoria Journal Star

Mike Miller leaving Journal Star

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Since I work at a church, I’ve had the opportunity to meet religion editor Mike Miller a couple of times when he’s covered the use of media in churches. I’ve always enjoyed talking to him, and I thought his religion coverage at the paper was interesting and thoughtful.

I was surprised to get an e-mail from him today saying that he’s leaving the Journal Star to go work for Samaritan Ministries International. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised anymore by people fleeing leaving the GateHouse Media-owned Journal Star, but it’s always sad to see good reporters go. On the bright side, at least he’ll still be in the area, since his new company is located on Altorfer Drive here in Peoria.

Godspeed in your new job, Mr. Miller.