Monthly Archives: June 2009

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Vallas returning to Peoria

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Education reformer Paul Vallas, who last visited Peoria in late 2007, is returning this Saturday morning to meet with Peoria City Council members at Mayor Ardis’s request. The Council has scheduled a full-day retreat this Saturday at the Peoria Civic Center’s Lexus Room starting at 9 a.m. The agenda for the meeting includes several guest speakers including Vallas, a representative from Mesirow Financial, and Heart of Illinois United Way Vice President of Community Investment Don Johnson.

Ardis says he didn’t ask Vallas to speak on any specific topic, but about reforming schools in general. “His experience in successfully reforming urban school districts should make his comments informative and relevant,” Ardis said Tuesday.

The last time Vallas was in town (also at Ardis’s request), the Journal Star reported (12/22/2007):

Vallas said if District 150 were to engage in reform efforts, he would spend his spring break in Peoria working with the district. He would recruit one or more persons to work on the project locally, and he would come back to Peoria periodically to monitor the progress.

He said Ardis has agreed to pay for his gas expenses driving to and from Peoria, along with occasional overnight hotel stays during his road trips.

But despite the City’s efforts to help improve the City’s schools, District 150 said, “no thanks.” Since then, the District has shortened the school day for several Wednesdays at a number of primary schools for no justifiable reason, fired their Comptroller/Treasurer for undisclosed reasons, decided to close four schools (including a high school yet to be named), and issue bonds for $38 million to dig out of a budget deficit. No need for outside advice from a proven reformer here, huh?

Museum Block

Why not put the Peoria museum in a trailer?

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A commenter at PeoriaIllinoisan’s site gave me a fantastic idea! Given the huge success of “Titanic: Treasures from the Deep,” why not use the same format for Peoria’s proposed museum? That’s right: put the whole thing in a trailer and park it in various parking lots in the tri-county area throughout the year! Think of the benefits:

  • It would be truly regional.
  • Using the Delta concept, the displays could change regularly, giving visitors a different experience each time it comes to a new parking lot.
  • It would be a lot cheaper than a $140 million building and would free up the land downtown for ventures that will bring revenue into the city.
  • There is no shortage of large surface parking lots to utilize for the traveling exhibits.
  • The county wouldn’t have to raise the sales tax rate; or, if they did, they could leverage the new income in such a way as to help plug the budget deficit.

I’m liking this idea more and more every time I think about it.

General News

Berean Bookstore reopening under new (old) ownership

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Well, it was less than four months ago that Berean Bookstore announced they were closing and had a big going-out-of-business sale. But now word comes that they’re opening again this Thursday. Here’s a letter that recently went out to folks on the old Berean mailing list:

June 5, 2009

Dear Faithful Friend,

It is with great joy and privilege that I am writing this letter today. After much prayer and clear direction from God, we have been led to open a new Christian bookstore in the community. We plan to open Hoerr’s Berean Bookstore on Thursday, June 11th in both Peoria and Decatur (located in the old Berean locations) and later in the summer in Bloomington (in a new location). Since you have been faithful friends of Berean over the years, we wanted you to know about this new bookstore!

My family had owned Berean back in the 80’s and 90’s. In light of Berean closing, we feel led to provide a lighthouse for the community again. A place of fellowship; where you can pick up a great book, grab a cup of coffee, sit down on a comfy chair, and meet a life long friend.

We want to thank you in advance for your support of our ministry and are eager to meet and serve you in yours. May God bless you and yours.

In Christian love,
Joe Hoerr
President

It will be interesting to see what changes are made under this new (old) ownership. Hopefully their stock will include more books/music and less tacky Christian gift product than the old store. Best of luck to them.

Peoria Public Library

New library branch uninspiring

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north-libraryThe Peoria Public Library’s architect for the new north branch has released an artist’s rendering of the site (see picture to right). The Journal Star reports that the design of the new library is “a collaborative effort between PSA Dewberry, the Farnsworth Group and Burnidge Cassel Associates”:

“You’re going to have something that this city can really be proud of,” said Rick McCarthy, principal architect of PSA Dewberry of Elgin. “These designs really make a statement about libraries.”

So I’ve been looking at the picture, trying to figure out what statement this makes about libraries. Frankly, if looks like a slightly-modified 1950s modernist-style building. If you didn’t know what it was, you might think it’s an office building or school. The round reading room is a miniature version of the planetarium being planned for the downtown museum. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not an architecturally-significant building. It’s neither imaginative nor inspiring, nor does it evoke a sense of permanence.

Hence, it will blend perfectly in the fifth district.

Crime

Crime creeps north

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Residents of North Peoria are “startled” by recent crimes in their neighborhoods. What an interesting word the Times Observer chose to describe residents’ reaction to crime: startled. It means “to frighten suddenly; to alarm; to surprise.” In other words, they didn’t expect there to be any crime up where they lived, and are shocked — startled — to discover that crime knows no boundaries.

Mike Wisdom, president of the Chadwick Estates Neighborhood Association, is quoted as saying, “We always felt isolated from crime.” Peoria Police captain Mike Scally said, “When you live in an area of low crime, a little bit of crime is alarming.” Peoria City Councilman George Jacob agreed that “crime in Peoria’s far-flung neighborhoods is ‘surprising.'”

The converse, of course, is that this crime wouldn’t have been surprising elsewhere in Peoria, such as the south side or on the bluffs. But because it’s all the way out here, it’s notable. Conventional wisdom is that these “far-flung neighborhoods” popped up as an effort to flee crime and deterioration (real or perceived) in the older parts of Peoria.

Incidentally, there are those who would prefer a Balkanized Peoria. I’ve heard the sentiment expressed that we should keep crime generally contained on the south side with the bluffs acting as buffers so that everyone living north of the bluffs can live in safety. Whether or not residents feel that’s the way it should be, it is generally accepted as the way things are.

Crime statistics support this view. A quick look at the CrimeView Community website shows the following total numbers of crimes by council district in the last 90 days:

  • District 1: 1,217
  • District 2: 507
  • District 3: 491
  • District 4: 370
  • District 5: 199

By now, you’re no doubt saying, “So what? Tell us something we don’t know. This is all so obvious.” And I guess that’s the point of my post. We’ve accepted this state of affairs in our city. It’s the way it is. It’s the way it’s been for so long, we’ve become complacent. I can hear the objections: “Every city has problems with inner city crime.” “We’re doing everything we can.”

Here’s a thought experiment. Ask yourself, if the property damage and home invasion crimes that happen on the south side suddenly started happening in the fifth district with the same frequency, what would be the City’s reaction? Would any additional pressure be put on the police department? Would they be given any additional resources? How about Code Enforcement? Planning & Growth? Public Works?

Should we be satisfied with the status quo? Are we really doing the best we can to reduce crime?

Uncategorized

Radio repair house calls?

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I have an old console stereo that I inherited from my grandfather. It’s a Zenith in a beautiful wood cabinet (I’m estimating about 3 feet high and four feet wide or so) with a turntable and AM/FM tuner. But it has lately developed an AC hum. I tried replacing one of the vacuum tubes I thought might have been the problem, but that didn’t work and, frankly, I have no idea what I’m doing. The thing is too heavy to take anywhere, and besides, where would I take it?

So, my question is, anybody out there know of a good electronics repair guy who makes house calls?

General News

Clifton Gunderson HQ moved from Peoria to Milwaukee

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The accounting firm Clifton Gunderson is has moved their firm’s headquarters from Peoria to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (well, technically Wauwatosa).

The move was announced over a year ago (April 2008), but was completed as of June 1 this year. In a statement, CEO Krista McMasters said “the decision will not have any immediate or long-term impact on the operations of the Peoria practice office.”

Peoria Public Schools

D150 approves charter school applications

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The Journal Star’s website is not up-to-date this morning, but 1470 WMBD has the story:

The board voted 7-0 to allow the application process to begin for non-profit agencies who may want to operate the school. But the school board will still have a say on what benchmarks should be met and how often it’s presented with progress reports….

Cindy Fischer, a former District 150 Associate Superintendent, who is a working as a consultant on the issue says the charter school will be open to all District 150 students. There will be 288 students in grades 5 through 8 the first year expanding to include all high school grades and a total of 576 students in five years…. It’s hoped the charter school will begin in the fall of 2010.

For more information on the Math, Science & Technology Academy, see my previous post. It will be interesting to see who steps forward to operate this proposed charter school. The teacher’s union is opposed.

In other news, District 150 also voted unanimously to join the Enterprise Zone so that tax incentives can be doled out to developers from Champaign to build student housing on Main Street.

Note: I’m moving all the D150-related comments from the previous post to this one.

Abortion, General News

You can’t stop abortion by killing abortionists

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Late-term abortionist George Tiller was killed at his church Sunday morning in Wichita, Kansas. Tiller was a controversial figure in the abortion debate. He was one of the few doctors to perform late-term abortions, and had previously been the victim of attempts on his life.

No doubt the murderer feels justified in killing Tiller because of Tiller’s actions in killing unborn babies. But he’s not justified. I agree with President Obama’s reaction to the killing:

Today Obama said he was “shocked and outraged” by the killing. “However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion,” he said in a statement, “they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.

My mother always taught me that two wrongs don’t make a right. Killing an abortionist is not a justified response to the scourge of abortion on demand in this country. I still have hope that abortion will be abolished through peaceful, legal means over time through persuasion, the way slavery was abolished in England.