I have a nasty head cold and haven’t felt like blogging much — especially today. So, consider this an open thread.
38 thoughts on “Sick”
RE: Math & Science Charter School
Good idea in concept, but . . .
First of all, can’t some other entity besides Dist. 150 sponsor the school??? What about Bradley?
From what little I have read, a Charter School, may not screen based on I.Q., academic performance, conduct, etc. To have a school that delivers a top notch math & science program you must have a student population that is poised and capable of learning such curriculum.
If the school was developed with some standards for entry into the program, I think it would be huge success and would further enhance and strengthen the areas around B.U. and beyond.
Feel better.
Ditto – feel better. Try two teaspoons of organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar in 16 oz of water plus a little honey. Works great!
Frustrated,
I believe some other entity has to sponsor the Charter school. District 150 cannot but… the school board does have to approve the charter. Hinton is leaving the door open to the possibility that if no such sponsor comes along, and thus no charter, that District 150 might make such a school on its own.
Personally, I would like to see something on the order of the current Illinois Math & Science academy in Aurora.
Ever heard of Zicam? The nose swabs – every four hours will kick your cold in one day. Guaranteed.
I can commiserate. Evidently you and I were in the same territory and caught the same head cold. Hope you feel better quickly and that some of these home remedies cure both of us.
Cold Eeze lozenges. Works wonderfully. Make sure you get a pack that gives you 50% more free. Worth every penny.
P.S. Go Cubs!
Korean Noodles…
Green tea enema and pudding.
Won’t help but I just couldn’t help giving unsolicited medical advice.
There was a nice segment on the show ‘History Detectives’ about the conspiracy theory that the auto industry had worked to shut down the electric trolleys nationwide.
American newspapers are in decline yet German newspapers are thriving? Hmm..
They just oil and chipped our road. It’s like we live in a flippin campground. Both the inventor of that sh** AND the Einstein who brought it to Peoria should be…oh, never mind.
Diane: The oil and chip is because we spend taxpayer dollars on bread and circus — think ball stadium, Riverplex, restaurants on stilts, parking decks, Gateway Buildings rather than quality roads.
Probably because the government has never figured out what the rich did long ago — An asset is defined as something which produces income rather than an asset being defined as something which has value that you can sell. Think Gateway Building — not much of an asset — still paying the bond debt, and annual liabilities via expenses (utility and otherwise).
Never has there been a more disgusting road material. Now I know how the Pompeiin’s felt.
Bring back brick pavers.
I found the following cost comparison conducted by one local government regarding the comparative costs and lifespans of various road resurfacing methods. Given the lower cost (substantially lower), you can see why we’ve gone to this as our primary method — we apparently can’t afford any other method to maintain the miles of roads we have.
“Oil and Chip $ 19,720 per mile 8 year life cycle
Skin Patch $108,592 per mile 15 year life cycle
Nova Chip $119,152 per mile 18 year life cycle
Overlay $125,849 per mile 20 year life cycle
Ms. Eisenhardt commented that there are problems with Oil and Chip verses other surfacing and that it should not be used in residential areas. She commented that it is an inferior surfacing treatment and we need to find a way to get out of the Oil and Chip business.”
I’ve seen other estimates that place the costs as follows:
Karrie E. Alms: I am not I understand you… are you saying we should be concerned about producing income or we should be concerned about selling stuff? (Which would produce income…)
And how does that speak to roads? Are they producers or commodities?
If you don’t like the oil and chip surface, move to a nicer neighborhood… isn’t that what we tell people who don’t like living in the ghetto?
We live in a neighborhood where the average homeowner pays $500 per month in property tax. Perhaps not Grandview Drive, but its plenty nice for us, KCDad. I’ve lived all over the country and I have never seen a city use this type of surface on any road other than 1. a campground or 2. a rural road that serves a few houses at the most. It messes up your car and your Kids knees. It’s only positive attribute is it’s cheap. So should that be our standard?
Check out this pic… it shows oil and chip being used on rural roads:
kcdad:
First: We have chip and oil roads because our elected officials spend our taxpayer dollars on the wrong items. And we allow this type of road in Peoria whether you live in Diane’s neighborhood or the ghetto — doesn’t really matter. And we all pay our taxbills based on what is asked — so your ghetto comment is tacky. (A former mayor once told me that I did not have a right to speak out on an issue because I did not pay a lot in taxes. I pay the amount billed which has no claim to my opinion being publically expressed on any given issue.)
Our taxpayer dollars have been spent on projects which were promoted to be self-sustaining and income producing. Did any of the projects I listed above produce any income? No. Did all of the projects listed above produce liability and expense? Yes, all of them.
Therefore, we have garbage roads because we spend money on the wrong items.
Second: I do not think that you understand the concept. The wealthy classify an asset as something which produces income. The lower and middle classes (and the dictionary) classify an asset as anything owned that has an exchange value.
Would you consider your home an asset or a liability? Most people would consider it an asset, perhaps even the greatest investment they will ever make. The wealthy would consider their home as a liability because it was not producing income.
So, we have garbage roads (planned obsolecent) because our taxpayer dollars have been frittered away on baubles which cost lots of money to build, financed by bond debt for 20-30 years, and the liability of maintenance, utility and other costs. We continue to ignor basic services for bread and circus expenditures (which are not the responsibility of governments to provide).
Third: Chip and Oil are esthetically unappealing and damaging to cars, people and image.
Diane: Pompeian roads are still in use today and better than chip and oil. More akin to brick pavers.
Give me a break. It’s tar & gravel. After a month or so it will be driven down and the street sweepers will wipe up the rest. Geez, our taxes are high enough, do you want them to pave every street!?
Yes.
Forget chips.. forget asphalt. Concrete has its uses on high volume roadways but not in residential areas. Bricks!!!
They are aesthetically pleasing.
They slow traffic.
They reduce rain runoff.
They increase groundwater absorption.
Easy to repair with a recyclable material.
The coming sewer overhaul presents a great opportunity to restore Peoria’s once magnificent brick roadways.
I’m all for bricks in residential neighborhoods. They’ll slow traffic better than speed bumps.
I consider my home an asset, because I have a roof over my head and the heads of my friends and family and place to prepare meals for friends and family… I should be upset because I am not producing income from it? That is pretty sick.
Perhaps it does produce income… incoming security, incoming peace, incoming closeness… just not the kind of income some people think is important, I guess.
Diane,
We live in a neighborhood where we pay about $425 a month in property taxes. Does that qualify us for paved roads? I’m curious as to where the cutoff point is.
They did the same things to the road here about a month ago. And you know what? After about a week, you didn’t even know it.
“It messes up your car and your Kids knees.”
I can only speak for myself, but our cars look no different after the tar and gravel process. Whatever gravel that’s on your car eventually falls off. And if not, there’s always a car wash.
And how would this affect your kids? If you’re living somewhere where you are paying $6000 yearly in property taxes, shouldn’t you have some sort of yard? My kids play in our yard and ride their bikes on the sidewalk, which solves the problem of skinning their knees in the street, which is the last place I’d let them play anyway.
Hell, there are neighborhoods in this city with bad or no streets, sidewalks or streetlights. I’d rather the city focus on them then pave every street.
This argument reeks of the “We live on Prospect, we demand speed bumps” argument.
P.S. I’m all for the bricks.
Mazr -I KNEW I would get blamed for that comment. You can thank KCdad for the suggestion that the amount of amenities in your neighborhood should be directly related to how nice of a home you have. My comment was defensive in nature. Nail your liberal buddy on this one 😉
Regardless, expecting the road in your neighborhood to remain PAVED is not too lofty of an expectation when you live within the city limits.
One more advantage regarding the brick pavers that Mahnko referred to… they appear to last over 100 years!
not too sure about the bricks slowing traffic down. I grew up on West Armstrong which is brick (and also has a boulevard) from Sheridan to North St and I don’t recall the cars going any slower. In fact, it was quite easy to tell when the cars were going too fast- bottoming out after crossing Ellis which was tarred & pea gravelled.
I’ll also say they weren’t much better after falling off a bike. I flipped over my bikes handlebars & kissed the brick. Have the pic on my fridge so my daughter knows falling off your bike is part of the bike riding process.
Oil and chips are ON TOP of a PAVED road, for crying out loud. The asphalt road will wear down exceedingly fast without the oil and chips. So, the demands for a PAVED road are crazy. The road is already paved, the chips and oil just protect the surface, and make the PAVED road last longer. Quit trying to roll around on the road, and just drive on it. You’ll find that it works just fine.
Prego, I’m going to have a backhoe come out and drop a big crapload of this in the middle of your living room 😉
… cause that’s where it all ends up.
Paved roads last longer when the foundation for the road bed is deeper. I read about an example of this in Toronto many years ago. The problem is our government spends money on the cheap for roads to have bread and circus projects. I would rather pay high taxes for substance (in this case roads) vs. buildings which keep draining taxpayer money.
kcdad: Clever and accurate response that your home is generating income. Just presenting an opportunity to you to think along a differnt line. You could achieve the same income in your list if you rented a home to and your liabilities or expenses may be less so you would have more financial income to do other activities with your incoming guests. Not meaning to provoke any hard feelings.
Money does matter — it is not the root of all evil. When used properly it can help a lot of people including oneself to actually live the life they want instead of forever being an employee who pays the government for the first six months of each year to spend your money on projects you do not approve.
Thanks for the discussion.
Ditto to bring on the brick roads — that would mean additional costs to get the curbs realigned because there is about an one to two inch layer of asphalt on top of the bricks — at least on our street. Not saying it should not be done — we need to allocate funds to make it happen.
And so that leads us back to the question — What is the actual vision for our fair city?
Any idea what the special use will be for Loucks school? The zoning signs were up this morning – hearing is September 4th.
I drove down Lincoln and noticed that ALL of the streets look great. If you want nice streets maybe you should move down into the Manual district.
Defensive in nature = knee jerk reactionism
Brick streets are extremely slick in icy weather. But I think that no matter what station in life we are and no matter how much we pay in taxes we all deserve decent paved streets.
Amen.
kohlrabi asked, “Any idea what the special use will be for Loucks school? The zoning signs were up this morning – hearing is September 4th.”
I e-mailed Gene Lear in the Planning & Growth Dept. He said, “U. S. Cellular is proposing to locate a cell tower on the property northwest of the school building.”
RE: Math & Science Charter School
Good idea in concept, but . . .
First of all, can’t some other entity besides Dist. 150 sponsor the school??? What about Bradley?
From what little I have read, a Charter School, may not screen based on I.Q., academic performance, conduct, etc. To have a school that delivers a top notch math & science program you must have a student population that is poised and capable of learning such curriculum.
If the school was developed with some standards for entry into the program, I think it would be huge success and would further enhance and strengthen the areas around B.U. and beyond.
Feel better.
Ditto – feel better. Try two teaspoons of organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar in 16 oz of water plus a little honey. Works great!
Frustrated,
I believe some other entity has to sponsor the Charter school. District 150 cannot but… the school board does have to approve the charter. Hinton is leaving the door open to the possibility that if no such sponsor comes along, and thus no charter, that District 150 might make such a school on its own.
Personally, I would like to see something on the order of the current Illinois Math & Science academy in Aurora.
Ever heard of Zicam? The nose swabs – every four hours will kick your cold in one day. Guaranteed.
I can commiserate. Evidently you and I were in the same territory and caught the same head cold. Hope you feel better quickly and that some of these home remedies cure both of us.
Cold Eeze lozenges. Works wonderfully. Make sure you get a pack that gives you 50% more free. Worth every penny.
P.S. Go Cubs!
Korean Noodles…
Green tea enema and pudding.
Won’t help but I just couldn’t help giving unsolicited medical advice.
There was a nice segment on the show ‘History Detectives’ about the conspiracy theory that the auto industry had worked to shut down the electric trolleys nationwide.
American newspapers are in decline yet German newspapers are thriving? Hmm..
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_34/b4097094901129.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business
They just oil and chipped our road. It’s like we live in a flippin campground. Both the inventor of that sh** AND the Einstein who brought it to Peoria should be…oh, never mind.
Diane: The oil and chip is because we spend taxpayer dollars on bread and circus — think ball stadium, Riverplex, restaurants on stilts, parking decks, Gateway Buildings rather than quality roads.
Probably because the government has never figured out what the rich did long ago — An asset is defined as something which produces income rather than an asset being defined as something which has value that you can sell. Think Gateway Building — not much of an asset — still paying the bond debt, and annual liabilities via expenses (utility and otherwise).
Never has there been a more disgusting road material. Now I know how the Pompeiin’s felt.
Bring back brick pavers.
I found the following cost comparison conducted by one local government regarding the comparative costs and lifespans of various road resurfacing methods. Given the lower cost (substantially lower), you can see why we’ve gone to this as our primary method — we apparently can’t afford any other method to maintain the miles of roads we have.
“Oil and Chip $ 19,720 per mile 8 year life cycle
Skin Patch $108,592 per mile 15 year life cycle
Nova Chip $119,152 per mile 18 year life cycle
Overlay $125,849 per mile 20 year life cycle
Ms. Eisenhardt commented that there are problems with Oil and Chip verses other surfacing and that it should not be used in residential areas. She commented that it is an inferior surfacing treatment and we need to find a way to get out of the Oil and Chip business.”
I’ve seen other estimates that place the costs as follows:
Chip sealing: $1.30 – $1.50 / sq yard;
Hot asphalt overlay: $3.50 – $5.00 / sq. yard; and
Reconstruction: $12 – $22 / sq. yard.
Karrie E. Alms: I am not I understand you… are you saying we should be concerned about producing income or we should be concerned about selling stuff? (Which would produce income…)
And how does that speak to roads? Are they producers or commodities?
If you don’t like the oil and chip surface, move to a nicer neighborhood… isn’t that what we tell people who don’t like living in the ghetto?
We live in a neighborhood where the average homeowner pays $500 per month in property tax. Perhaps not Grandview Drive, but its plenty nice for us, KCDad. I’ve lived all over the country and I have never seen a city use this type of surface on any road other than 1. a campground or 2. a rural road that serves a few houses at the most. It messes up your car and your Kids knees. It’s only positive attribute is it’s cheap. So should that be our standard?
Check out this pic… it shows oil and chip being used on rural roads:
http://www.martinpaving.com/oilchip.html
Oh yeah, btw CJ, hope you are feeling better.
kcdad:
First: We have chip and oil roads because our elected officials spend our taxpayer dollars on the wrong items. And we allow this type of road in Peoria whether you live in Diane’s neighborhood or the ghetto — doesn’t really matter. And we all pay our taxbills based on what is asked — so your ghetto comment is tacky. (A former mayor once told me that I did not have a right to speak out on an issue because I did not pay a lot in taxes. I pay the amount billed which has no claim to my opinion being publically expressed on any given issue.)
Our taxpayer dollars have been spent on projects which were promoted to be self-sustaining and income producing. Did any of the projects I listed above produce any income? No. Did all of the projects listed above produce liability and expense? Yes, all of them.
Therefore, we have garbage roads because we spend money on the wrong items.
Second: I do not think that you understand the concept. The wealthy classify an asset as something which produces income. The lower and middle classes (and the dictionary) classify an asset as anything owned that has an exchange value.
Would you consider your home an asset or a liability? Most people would consider it an asset, perhaps even the greatest investment they will ever make. The wealthy would consider their home as a liability because it was not producing income.
So, we have garbage roads (planned obsolecent) because our taxpayer dollars have been frittered away on baubles which cost lots of money to build, financed by bond debt for 20-30 years, and the liability of maintenance, utility and other costs. We continue to ignor basic services for bread and circus expenditures (which are not the responsibility of governments to provide).
Third: Chip and Oil are esthetically unappealing and damaging to cars, people and image.
Diane: Pompeian roads are still in use today and better than chip and oil. More akin to brick pavers.
http://transportarchaeology.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/roads-tracks-and-driving-in-pompeii/
Give me a break. It’s tar & gravel. After a month or so it will be driven down and the street sweepers will wipe up the rest. Geez, our taxes are high enough, do you want them to pave every street!?
Yes.
Forget chips.. forget asphalt. Concrete has its uses on high volume roadways but not in residential areas. Bricks!!!
They are aesthetically pleasing.
They slow traffic.
They reduce rain runoff.
They increase groundwater absorption.
Easy to repair with a recyclable material.
The coming sewer overhaul presents a great opportunity to restore Peoria’s once magnificent brick roadways.
I’m all for bricks in residential neighborhoods. They’ll slow traffic better than speed bumps.
I consider my home an asset, because I have a roof over my head and the heads of my friends and family and place to prepare meals for friends and family… I should be upset because I am not producing income from it? That is pretty sick.
Perhaps it does produce income… incoming security, incoming peace, incoming closeness… just not the kind of income some people think is important, I guess.
Diane,
We live in a neighborhood where we pay about $425 a month in property taxes. Does that qualify us for paved roads? I’m curious as to where the cutoff point is.
They did the same things to the road here about a month ago. And you know what? After about a week, you didn’t even know it.
“It messes up your car and your Kids knees.”
I can only speak for myself, but our cars look no different after the tar and gravel process. Whatever gravel that’s on your car eventually falls off. And if not, there’s always a car wash.
And how would this affect your kids? If you’re living somewhere where you are paying $6000 yearly in property taxes, shouldn’t you have some sort of yard? My kids play in our yard and ride their bikes on the sidewalk, which solves the problem of skinning their knees in the street, which is the last place I’d let them play anyway.
Hell, there are neighborhoods in this city with bad or no streets, sidewalks or streetlights. I’d rather the city focus on them then pave every street.
This argument reeks of the “We live on Prospect, we demand speed bumps” argument.
P.S. I’m all for the bricks.
Mazr -I KNEW I would get blamed for that comment. You can thank KCdad for the suggestion that the amount of amenities in your neighborhood should be directly related to how nice of a home you have. My comment was defensive in nature. Nail your liberal buddy on this one 😉
Regardless, expecting the road in your neighborhood to remain PAVED is not too lofty of an expectation when you live within the city limits.
One more advantage regarding the brick pavers that Mahnko referred to… they appear to last over 100 years!
not too sure about the bricks slowing traffic down. I grew up on West Armstrong which is brick (and also has a boulevard) from Sheridan to North St and I don’t recall the cars going any slower. In fact, it was quite easy to tell when the cars were going too fast- bottoming out after crossing Ellis which was tarred & pea gravelled.
I’ll also say they weren’t much better after falling off a bike. I flipped over my bikes handlebars & kissed the brick. Have the pic on my fridge so my daughter knows falling off your bike is part of the bike riding process.
Oil and chips are ON TOP of a PAVED road, for crying out loud. The asphalt road will wear down exceedingly fast without the oil and chips. So, the demands for a PAVED road are crazy. The road is already paved, the chips and oil just protect the surface, and make the PAVED road last longer. Quit trying to roll around on the road, and just drive on it. You’ll find that it works just fine.
Prego, I’m going to have a backhoe come out and drop a big crapload of this in the middle of your living room 😉
… cause that’s where it all ends up.
Paved roads last longer when the foundation for the road bed is deeper. I read about an example of this in Toronto many years ago. The problem is our government spends money on the cheap for roads to have bread and circus projects. I would rather pay high taxes for substance (in this case roads) vs. buildings which keep draining taxpayer money.
kcdad: Clever and accurate response that your home is generating income. Just presenting an opportunity to you to think along a differnt line. You could achieve the same income in your list if you rented a home to and your liabilities or expenses may be less so you would have more financial income to do other activities with your incoming guests. Not meaning to provoke any hard feelings.
Money does matter — it is not the root of all evil. When used properly it can help a lot of people including oneself to actually live the life they want instead of forever being an employee who pays the government for the first six months of each year to spend your money on projects you do not approve.
Thanks for the discussion.
Ditto to bring on the brick roads — that would mean additional costs to get the curbs realigned because there is about an one to two inch layer of asphalt on top of the bricks — at least on our street. Not saying it should not be done — we need to allocate funds to make it happen.
And so that leads us back to the question — What is the actual vision for our fair city?
Any idea what the special use will be for Loucks school? The zoning signs were up this morning – hearing is September 4th.
I drove down Lincoln and noticed that ALL of the streets look great. If you want nice streets maybe you should move down into the Manual district.
Defensive in nature = knee jerk reactionism
Brick streets are extremely slick in icy weather. But I think that no matter what station in life we are and no matter how much we pay in taxes we all deserve decent paved streets.
Amen.
kohlrabi asked, “Any idea what the special use will be for Loucks school? The zoning signs were up this morning – hearing is September 4th.”
I e-mailed Gene Lear in the Planning & Growth Dept. He said, “U. S. Cellular is proposing to locate a cell tower on the property northwest of the school building.”
Now you know. 🙂