Monthly Archives: July 2010

Radio

WAZU simulcasting Cabool station

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There’s a new radio station on Peoria’s dial: WAZU 90.7 FM. Since I read about it in Steve Tarter’s column in the Journal Star, I’ve been checking it out regularly. It’s “a non-commercial station operated by Illinois Central College.” The format is community radio, which is described by Wikipedia as “a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial and public service.”

The station is just getting started, which is obvious from all the signal drops over the past few weeks (it’s gotten much more stable in the past week or so). Tarter quoted ICC President John Erwin as saying, “We’re in the beta stage working out all the engineering pieces.” During this “beta stage” they are also doing no original broadcasting, but instead simulcasting KZGM (KZ-88) out of Cabool, Missouri.

The programming is pretty diverse (in type and style, if not political viewpoint). Unlike commercial and public radio stations, community radio doesn’t limit itself to one musical format. Music on WAZU/KZGM runs the gamut from Bing Crosby (who has a whole one-hour show dedicated to him Saturday mornings), to rock ‘n roll of the 50s and 60s, to Trance Music and progressive music, to folk music, to local musicians.

There are also a number of local (for Cabool) music and talk programs; in fact, more local programming than anything we’ve seen around Peoria in decades. The talk programming is not just news, but also gardening, puzzles, schools, health, etc. The news programming is decidedly liberal; they make NPR sound like Fox News. National news shows include Pacifica Radio’s “Free Speech Radio News” and “Democracy Now.” The narrow political viewpoint is a concern to at least one listener who has contacted me, saying:

From the December 17, 2009, ICC Board of Trustees meeting minutes, page 3, “Dr. Robert Ehrich commented that he is concerned with political views, and Dr. Erwin responded that the commentator is restricted from giving political opinions.” […] So far, it’s the only thing that I’ve heard on WAZU FM. I’m curious if WAZU will program a wide variety of political viewpoints, or not.

I don’t know if this answers my reader’s question, but according to WAZU’s new website:

WAZU hosts, who are referred to as “programmers”, are to be accorded the maximum amount of editorial freedom possible. The only requirement is that they adhere to WAZU’s mission statement, all programming must be educational and non-commercial, must serve the cultural welfare of the community, and must contribute (or at the very least not be a detriment) to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors.

I’m looking forward to hearing what kind of local programming will be produced here in Peoria. So far, I’ve found community radio to be a welcome addition to Peoria’s radio dial, offering something completely different from existing radio stations. The Cabool hosts are interesting and entertaining; hopefully Peoria hosts will be also.

In other radio news, Peoria Pundit is reporting that four local FM stations have changed ownership recently.

City Council, City of Peoria

Firefly bankruptcy may cost taxpayers “only” $2.5 million

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I received this press release from the City of Peoria this afternoon:

Peoria, Illinois, (July 23, 2010) – We have placed on the City Council Agenda for July 27, 2010, a request for approval to satisfy the City/County obligation to PNC Bank by jointly paying $500,000 to the Firefly Bankruptcy Estate and jointly paying $2 Million to PNC Bank. We believe that this course of action will result in considerable savings to the taxpayers of the City and County of Peoria.

We would like to point out that the $500,000 settlement with the Bankruptcy Estate remains subject to approval from the Bankruptcy Court. The proposed agreement with PNC Bank and a third-party buyer also remains contingent to sensitive negotiations which are on-going. We are optimistic that those negotiations will be successful and that the Firefly matter may be resolved quickly, and that the City and County will have to pay substantially less than the $6.6 Million that had been at risk.

So, we’ll be losing $2.5 million instead of $6.6 million. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, yes, I’m glad our losses appear to have been greatly mitigated. But on the other hand, we’re losing $2.5 million! I wonder what the City will do to make up their $1.25 million share of the loss….

Still no word from David Leitch.

City Council, City of Peoria, Comcast, Television

City to temporarily extend Comcast franchise agreement … again

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Comcast’s 20-year cable franchise agreement with the City of Peoria expired in April 2006. Since then, that franchise agreement has been extended temporarily numerous times while the City and Comcast have been negotiating a new agreement. Tuesday, the council will consider a request to extend it once again — this time until November 30, 2010. The reason is so we can see what kind of agreement Comcast makes with other communities in Illinois (Rockford, Champaign, and Urbana). City staff believes this will somehow be advantageous to Peoria.

Meanwhile, Comcast has jettisoned oversight and execution of public access (technically known as “PEG”) programming, off-loading it to the City, which has in turn outsourced it to a third-party organization. Comcast has also closed their local customer service center. And Comcast can, at any time, get a franchise agreement from the State of Illinois, thanks to legislation pushed through by AT&T.

Comcast, thanks to the complicity of the State, has the City over a barrel. So, all these extensions appear to be only delaying the inevitable: a franchise agreement on Comcast’s terms. It’s hard to see what good these temporary extensions are doing.

City of Peoria, General News

Fresh Market plans to open August 25

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The new Fresh Market grocery store in Westlake Shopping Center recently told the City’s Liquor Commission that they intent to open August 25. The store will be 23,000 square feet, with 500 to 800 feet (approx. 2-4%) dedicated to liquor sales. There will be no requirement that they hire an off-duty police officer to act as a security guard from 2:30 to closing, like the liquor commission and City Council requires for south side grocery stores. Surprisingly, this question did come up at the commission meeting: “Liquor Investigator Jordan stated [the security guard was required on the south side] because of neighborhood group requests and there had been no such requests with this [Fresh Market] application.”

City Council, City of Peoria, Elections

City to comply with HB3785

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You may recall that the State passed HB3785, which says political signs can be displayed on residential property at any time. The law takes effect January 1, 2011, but the City of Peoria will be bringing it sign ordinance into compliance this coming Tuesday. The text amendment leaves intact size restrictions for all political signs, as well as the requirement they be removed from public property and commercial property within seven days after an election. Residential properties are excepted from the post-election removal requirement.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Police

We want to celebrate you! That will be $19,500, please.

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The International Association of Chiefs of Police wants to showcase the Peoria Police Department’s “best practices and leadership in law enforcement” at its annual conference to be held in Orlando (Fla.) this year. They want to produce a five-minute video that will highlight Peoria’s Armadillo and ELITE programs and show it to an audience of “up to 15,000 police chiefs from around the world.” Peoria would be one of only ten to fifteen communities showcased.

There’s just one catch: It will cost us $19,500.

Yes, it turns out that they want to showcase us, but they want us to “offset the costs of the production and other expenses.” City staff is requesting that we pay it out of Federal Asset Forfeiture funds, which according to staff will have “no impact upon either the City’s operational or capital budget.”

How can this be? Do we have a fund that can only be used for video showcases? Can this money not be used to offset other expenses in the City’s budget? Are these funds not fungible?

According to the U.S. Department of Justice website, “The Attorney General is authorized to use the Assets Forfeiture Fund to pay any necessary expenses associated with forfeiture operations such as property seizure, detention, management, forfeiture, and disposal. The Fund may also be used to finance certain general investigative expenses. These authorized uses are enumerated in 28 U.S.C. §524(c).” Looking through the list of approved expenses, a couple things cross my mind: (a) there seem to be a lot of useful, crime-fighting expenses that could be paid with these funds, and (b) I don’t see where “showcase video” is an approved expenditure, although I’m sure it falls under “training” or some miscellaneous category.

I’m all for celebrating our successes, but we are looking at a $10+ million budget deficit and potentially more officer layoffs at a time when we’re on a record pace for murders. Perhaps this request is . . . ill-timed. While I grant that it’s a relatively small amount, the accumulation of “little” expenses can (and do) make a big contribution to the deficit.

Peoria Public Schools

D150 comes clean: Ending live broadcasts had nothing to do with cost

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Back in April when the District 150 Board of Education decided to discontinue live broadcasts of the board meetings, they presented it as a cost-saving measure. I had this to say:

In other words, this move has little to do with cost savings. It’s simply a further manifestation of the district’s desire to minimize, if not eliminate, public input and public access to the school board meetings.

Last night, board members admitted that was indeed the case. From Peoria Story:

Board members acknowledged that the reason they stopped the broadcasts was not, as was initially reported, to save money, but because they objected to negative comments from the public during the public comment portion of the meeting. “It (the money) was never my reason,” Jim Stowell said. “Nor mine,” board president Debbie Wolfmeyer said.

And the Journal Star adds these quotes:

“. . . The board has tried, but I think the board has the responsibility to try to shape the message they want to convey to the public. . . . I’ve heard the same four people at 70 percent of those meetings. . . . and I doubt that very few of them, if any, have any children in the district.” . . .

“I was in favor of taking the broadcast off until we could do something about how to answer people or how to tell our own story – we don’t answer people or questions or rebut anything, so all the public really hear is what other people are saying,” board member Martha Ross said, wanting to revisit the idea because community members have asked her to do so. “It’s their only connection to what’s going on at the school district.”

I would submit that these board members don’t quite understand the concept of petitioning the government for redress of grievances. They think they should get to take our money and feed us back a message they “shape” and “want to convey to the public.” All dissenting opinions should be censored or effectively hidden from the public.

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Mayor

Journal Star judges Ardis by his own measure

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On Sunday’s editorial page, the Peoria Journal Star looks back at Mayor Jim Ardis’s first election campaign — the one in which he blamed then-mayor Ransburg for increased crime in Peoria — and judges Ardis’s performance by the same measure. They couch it in language of “getting beyond politics,” but make no mistake, this is a new smackdown of Ardis’s campaign tactics, of which the paper was harshly critical at the time.

City of Peoria, Crime, Peoria Police

Another murder, but immediate arrests

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The Peoria Police Department issued the following press release last night:

RELEASED BY: Lieutenant Vincent C. Wieland – Criminal Investigations Division 673-4521
DATE: July 17, 2010
SUBJECT: Homicide & Arrests –– 10-17329

At 0958 hours, on Sunday July 18, 2010, the Peoria Police Department responded to 1215 N. Frink on a reported shooting. Upon arrival officers found three gunshot victims (43 YO male, 28 YO male, and a 40 YO female). All three were immediately transported to OSF Medical Center.

As officers responded, witnesses described to dispatch the suspect vehicle and its direction of travel. This information was broadcasted to responding officers and officers observed the vehicle travelling down Main St. hill at a high rate of speed. A vehicle pursuit ensued and the suspect vehicle then turned from Main St onto Perry and continued on Perry until the driver lost control and crashed at Lincoln Middle School. At that time two suspects bailed from the car and were shortly thereafter apprehended. A handgun was recovered.

Both suspects, Skyler Jordan (24 YOA) and Taurean C Gregory (24 YOA) were brought to the Peoria Police Department where they were interviewed by detectives. Jordan was arrested for First Degree Murder, 2 counts Attempted Murder, Unlawful Use of Weapons, Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm, and Criminal Defacement of a Firearm. Gregory was arrested for First Degree Murder and two counts of Attempted Murder.

The 43 YO shooting victim died in surgery and the other two shooting victims sustained non-life threatening injuries. A crime scene was located in the 1200 Blk. N Frink and police are continuing to attempt to locate witnesses.

This case remains under investigation and the Peoria Police Department urges anyone possessing any knowledge of this incident to contact the Peoria Police Department at 673-4521 or Crime Stoppers at 673-9000.

City of Peoria, State of Illinois, Streets

Orange Prairie Road extension: State-funded sprawl

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On Thursday night (7/15), the City of Peoria hosted an open house for the Orange Prairie Road Extension project. They distributed a handout which you can see by clicking here (PDF).

The first question to ask is: Why are we building a new road in the middle of a cornfield on the northwest end of town? The handout states that the “primary purpose of this project is to facilitate … development along the Orange Prairie Road corridor….” In other words, they want to incentivize the conversion of more farmland to primarily residential subdivisions, plus a little commercial development.

The next question is: How can Peoria afford this given our current budget woes? The answer is that it’s being funded by the State of Illinois to the tune of $17.5 million. Once the road is complete, the plan is to move the Route 91 designation from its current alignment to the new road. The old Route 91 would become the responsibility of the City. Thus, even though the state is picking up the capital outlay of building a new road, the City picks up the ongoing maintenance expense of the old road. We’re not getting a new road for free.

The conventional wisdom is that Peoria will come out ahead because the land will be developed, which will lead to property and sales tax increases. But the City hasn’t done a cost-benefit analysis to substantiate that belief. The City’s future use plan calls for this area to be primarily residential. Modern residential development means low-density development. That is, houses are pretty far away from each other, connected by meandering streets that all terminate in cul-de-sacs. This increases the costs of maintaining the streets while not raising enough in property taxes to cover the costs of increased services. And land that is developed by non-profit organizations will mean no additional property taxes to the City.

This extension has been touted as sustainable in at least one local magazine. An article in InterBusiness Issues said:

When complete and operational, [the Orange Prairie Roadway extension project] will encourage and support further development in the Greater Grand Prairie area, but in a carefully and thoughtfully planned manner. And, it may serve as a model for how such suburban and exurban developments can be greener and more sustainable. Using the State of Illinois’s new I-LAST (Livable and Sustainable Transportation) rating system, Orange Prairie designers are currently considering such items as protected bicycle and pedestrian pathways along the route, sustainable stormwater detention and wetland creation, introduction of street trees and landscape buffer zones, and energy-efficient street lighting. In addition, efforts will be made to maximize the use of local and recycled materials while minimizing the earthmoving operations in the entire project area.

It will provide a bike lane and sidewalk, which is good. So you can now purchase your Trek road bike online to save gas. Given the low density of development, the area will be unable to sustain public transportation. But these and any other critical issues get little or no discussion in City Council meetings, especially when the State is waving $17.5 million under their noses. We’ll just build it and pay the consequences later.