More historic landmark applications a good thing… mostly

According to this week’s “Issues Update” from the City, historic landmark applications in Peoria are up.

“In the past two years, 2007 and 2006,” the report states, “a total of two landmark applications were filed for Irving School and Glen Oak Park.” In 2008, however, there have been four: Amvets Post #64 (237 NE Monroe), Hamilton Boulevard, 401 NE Monroe, and Family House Peoria (1509 N. Knoxville).

For those of you who can’t picture these buildings, here they are — respectively, the Amvets building, Family House, and 401 NE Monroe:

Generally, I see this as a good thing. Too much of Peoria’s history has already been razed. What’s left really should be preserved — presuming, of course, that it meets reasonable standards for preservation. Most of these properties do.

The one exception would be Hamilton Boulevard. This is on the council’s agenda for Tuesday night. What they are actually proposing be given landmark status is “the built median component of the right-of-way, located within Hamilton Boulevard, from Monroe Street to Glendale Avenue, and Randolph Avenue to North Street.” To which I ask, The median? Really?

The justification for this appears to be the fact that the street was laid out by William S. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton (you remember Alexander Hamilton — the guy on the $10 bill, first Secretary of the Treasury, died after famous duel with Aaron Burr). Okay, sure, William Hamilton is a prominent historical figure in Peoria. But he also laid out Water, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Liberty, Main, and Fayette. Should we also landmark all of those streets?

Besides, they kind of undercut their whole preservation argument when they removed the portion of Hamilton that is slated to be changed for the Methodist Hospital expansion. Les Kenyon of the Central Illinois Landmark Foundation (CILF) is quoted in the Historic Preservation minutes as saying:

…they [CILF] are satisfied that Methodist Hospital will provide a beautiful environment for patients, medical staff and visitors as they travel on the Hamilton corridor. He went on to say that for this reason, they have amended their original position with regard to Methodist Hospital’s plans and withdraw any objection to the Methodist Plan regarding landmarking Hamilton Boulevard through the Methodist campus and want to remove the Methodist campus from their landmark request.

But Methodist Hospital is removing the built median that CILF wants to see landmarked on the rest of the boulevard. So, is it historic or not? And Methodist is narrowing Hamilton where it passes their institutional zone. So, is the width of the street worth preserving or isn’t it? If Methodist’s plans for Hamilton don’t destroy the historic nature of the boulevard, then nothing does, and thus it needn’t be landmarked.

But don’t get me wrong. Even though I question this one landmark request, overall I think preserving Peoria’s built history is important. I was recently reading some newspaper clippings about the razing of the Rialto Theater to make way for the Civic Center, and it made me sad. It was one of Peoria’s original vaudeville houses. Originally called the Hippodrome, it housed many famous acts, as did the Palace Theater which was also razed about the same time. Whereas other cities, like Chicago, preserve their historic theaters, Peoria tore theirs down and felt the Civic Center theater was an adequate replacement. What a shame.

I’ve often joked (morbidly) that any history museum in Peoria should include an interactive exhibit where visitors can sit in a little crane and swing a wrecking ball into models of Peoria’s historical landmarks. It would be an object lesson in how little we value our history.

Updated budget information now online

Want to know what’s happening with the City’s budget? You’re in luck (the following is from a press release):

The City’s budget website – www.peoriabudget.com – has been updated to include the entire preliminary budget documents. The Mayor and City Council charged staff with creating a budget process that was more transparent, more open to public involvement and built more alignment with Council goals and priorities. For the first time in the City’s history, the preliminary is available for download by citizens, businesses and other interested parties.

The updated website includes the following information:

  • Budget message (the transmittal the accompanies the presentation of the preliminary budget)
  • Overview Presentation to Council (given 10/7 by Henry Holling)
  • Revenue Presentation to Council (given 10/7 by Jim Scroggins)
  • Budget tables for the operating, debt service and Community Investment Plan portions of the budget
  • Budget calendar

In addition, the entire preliminary budget packet for each department has been placed on-line. This is normally a document of over 400 pages, but has been broken into individual files by department.

The Peoria City Council is committed to gathering citizen input on the upcoming budget. In addition to the recently released “Report on Citizen Budget Input” (also available on the website), citizens are invited to address Council at any budget meeting. Upcoming meetings include:

  • October14—Regular Council Meeting (City Hall, 6:15 pm): Community Investment Plan (CIP) budget
  • October 21—Special Council Meeting (City Hall, 5 6:15 pm): CIP budget, operating budget
  • October 28—Regular Council Meeting (City Hall, 6:15 pm): Operating budget

What’s your sign?

Whatever it is, if it was placed in the public right-of-way, chances are it’s now at the City’s Public Works facility:

City crews have picked up a total of 69 signs that were placed in the public right of way. The signs are being stored at the City’s Public Works facility on Dries Lane. Signs can be retrieved from Public Works over the next 10 days. After that time, the signs will be discarded.

Pride is picking up in Peoria.

Peoria Promise Foundation hires executive director

From a press release:

PEORIA PROMISE FOUNDATION HIRES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Peoria Promise Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of Tara Gerstner as the organization’s first Executive Director effective October 1st.

Tara brings a strong marketing and leadership background in both corporate and nonprofit management to this position. She has led the revitalization of established programs and has experience in the creation and implementation of both marketing and development programs. She has a number of honors from past assignments and is consistently recognized for her intelligence, passion, and energy.

Tara is a native of Chester, IL and comes to Peoria with her husband, Dr. Greg Gerstner, and their two young children. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2001 and obtained an MBA in marketing from University of Texas at San Antonio in 2004.

“We are very excited and fortunate to have Tara as our new Executive Director. She will significantly increase awareness about Peoria Promise in the community and increase the much needed community investment and support we need to grow and be successful”, says Mayor Jim Ardis, President of the Peoria Promise Foundation Board of Directors.

Ken Zika, Treasurer of the Peoria Promise Foundation Board of Directors, states, “The hiring of Tara demonstrates the Peoria Promise Foundation’s commitment to the future opportunities of this remarkable program which provides stimulating economic growth potential to Peoria and its residents.”

For more information on the Peoria Promise Foundation please visit www.peoriapromise.com.