All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
2009 Campaign, City Council, City of Peoria

Endorsement: Beth Akeson for City Council, Third District

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Three candidates are vying to be the Peoria City Council’s third district representative: Beth Akeson, Kelley C. McGownd-Mammen, and Timothy D. Riggenbach. There is a primary on Tuesday, February 24, to narrow the choices down to two. The Journal Star Editorial Board is correct in their endorsement of Akeson and Riggenbach for the primary.

Beth Akeson and her familyI’m going to go a step further, though, and give you my endorsement for the general election, which will be April 7. I’m endorsing Beth Akeson for the Peoria City Council’s third district seat being vacated by Bob Manning.

Motivational speaker Joel Barker once said, “Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference.” This is what sets Beth Akeson apart from the other candidates: She has that rare combination of action with vision. And she will make a positive difference for the citizens of Peoria, especially in the third district.

Vision

First, Beth has a specific vision for the future of Peoria. It’s a vision that’s shared by many because it was shaped from lots of public input. The Heart of Peoria Plan was formed through a public process that included hundreds of participants: residents, business owners, city staff, and other stakeholders. Unfortunately, many candidates and even council members have not read the Heart of Peoria Plan or taken the time to really understand the vision that Peoria’s residents have developed. The result has been a lot of action without vision.

Beth Akeson has gone beyond simply reading the Heart of Peoria Plan. She has done extensive study on urban design. An understanding of how cities work gives her a strong foundation from which to make decisions. It allows her to see how the little decisions made today will impact the future of the city. It allows her to see through expensive, ineffective “magic-bullet” theories for city revitalization and focus on long-term, time-tested methods of urban planning that will lead to real revitalization.

An important part of Beth’s vision is the principle of inclusion and consensus-building. The reason why the Heart of Peoria Plan has wide support is because of the process that was used to develop it. It was an inclusive process. All the stakeholders had a seat at the table from the beginning. Every participant’s concerns were heard and taken into consideration. The final plan was worked out through consensus-building among these stakeholders.

Beth’s vision for representing the third district is the same. She believes in giving residents a seat at the table early in the decision-making process so their concerns can be heard and have an impact on the final outcome. Most projects in the city are presented for public input too late in the process to make any difference at all (for example, the recent downtown hotel project). Beth would work to change this culture of exclusion to a culture of inclusion.

Action

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Beth from working with her on the Heart of Peoria Commission, it’s that she works hard. She took her appointment seriously and did a tremendous amount of research on the issues that came before the commission. She made phone calls, visited sites, sought out expert advice, talked to people who lived in affected areas, and more importantly, listened. Beth is a good listener; she seeks first to understand, then to be understood. I can tell you that I’ve personally witnessed this time and again — with city staff, business owners, residents, and other commissioners (including myself). She will bring this same level of commitment to her role as a city council member.

The Chairman of the Heart of Peoria Commission, the late Bill Washkuhn, recognized Beth’s hard work on behalf of the commission. He encouraged Beth to take her efforts to the next level. In an e-mail he wrote just this past December, he said, “Beth, continue to direct your energies toward the betterment of Peoria. Run for City Council.”

I lived in the third district for eleven years, from 1994 to 2005. It’s a diverse district with very diverse needs. I sincerely believe that Beth Akeson is the candidate that will make the biggest positive difference for her district and the city at large. I hope you’ll vote for her.

Museum Block

Fact-checking museum claims

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On February 17, Greg Batton and Dan Diorio talked to Bradley professors Dr. Robert Scott and Dr. Joshua Lewer on the Greg & Dan Show on 1470 WMBD (listen to an .mp3 of the interview here). The two professors volunteered their time to conduct an “independent economic analysis” of the proposed downtown museum project. Let’s take a look at what they had to say.

As the interview began, one of the first topics they hit on was projected attendance at the museum. In response to Dan Diorio saying that museum attendance is down across the country, Dr. Scott countered, “Actually, most everything’s down a bit this year because of the recession . . . but there’s more museum attendance in the United States than there is at all athletic events combined.” He followed up by saying, “So, if you think about all of the activity that’s so prevalent on TV athletic events, there are a lot more people going to these kinds of venues.”

Museum attendance figures are relatively easy to come by; the American Association of Museums (AAM) website states that “American museums average approximately 865 million visits per year,” based on a 1999 study. But the tricky part is defining what is meant by “all athletic events combined.” A November 24, 2008, NPR story regarding museums gave this example, which corroborates Dr. Scott’s statistic:

If you add up the attendance for every major-league baseball, basketball, football and hockey game this year, the combined total will come to about 140 million people. That’s a big number, but it’s barely a fraction of the number of people who will visit American museums this year.

Museums are big business, attracting billions of tourist dollars, advancing science, and educating and amusing more than 850 million people annually.

As impressive as that comparison sounds, it’s not a fair comparison. The total attendance for major-league baseball, basketball, football, and hockey games more specifically comes to 139,474,548, according to figures available on Wikipedia. But there are only 122 teams (32 NFL, 30 MLB, 30 NHL, and 30 NBA). If you divide that out, you’ll see that it comes to an average attendance of 1,143,234 people per team. In comparison, according to both the AAM and NPR, there are 17,500 museums nationwide. If you take the 865 million visitors reported by the AAM and divide it by the number of museums, it comes out to an average attendance of just 48,914 people per museum. And we won’t even get into the fact that museums are open year-round, whereas sporting events have a limited number of games per season.

Next, Dr. Scott said, “And here in Peoria alone at Lakeview, they get over a hundred thousand — something like 110,000 — attendees a year.” This is difficult to verify. In a May 2007 presentation included in material the museum gave to Peoria County, the Museum Collaboration Group said Lakeview’s past four-year average attendance was 87,000. On the other hand, Lakeview Museum’s website now says they get 125,000 visitors per year. So, who knows what the real attendance figure is?

Next up, the John Deere Pavilion: Dr. Scott said, “They [John Deere] get over 200,000 attendees a year.” County Board Member and blogger Merle Widmer called the manager of the John Deere Pavilion and asked for their 2008 annual attendance. She said it was 175,000 to 180,000.

In fairness, Dr. Scott did say later in the interview, “Joshua [Lewer] and I did not go into a detailed analysis of the attendance. We talked to the people who had done the detailed analysis.” So his information is only as good as what was given to him by “the people who had done the detailed analysis,” which would be the museum group.

But here’s the problem: if the economic analysis was substantially based on attendance numbers provided by the museum folks, then the deck was stacked from the beginning. The success of the museum is inextricably tied to its attendance forecast. If they don’t get enough visitors, they can’t operate in the black, and the economic impact would be lower as well. By accepting the museum’s high attendance predictions, they’re conceding that the museum will be successful before they even start the economic impact study. It should come as no surprise that a rosy economic forecast resulted from optimistic attendance figures.

Peoria Public Schools

Cahill not converted to digital

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In addition to saying goodbye to analog television on February 17, Peoria Public Schools Board of Education said goodbye to Controller/Treasurer Guy Cahill. Cahill won’t be making the transition to digital at the school district. 1470 WMBD radio reports:

The District 150 school board Monday, without comment, voted unanimously to give the Comptroller/Treasurer his 60 days notice. Cahill, who was making a base salary of $125,000 a year, has been placed on administrative leave the next 60 days – then his contract will be terminated. Cahill’s contract allows the district to terminate Cahill’s employment with 60 days notice and payment of six months salary. Cahill had been with District 150 since 2005. The board has selected Business Manager Carla Eman as temporary Comptroller while interviews for an interim Comptroller are conducted.

I had been hearing rumors that Cahill quit instead of being fired, but I don’t believe he would get the 60 days notice or paid administrative leave if he had quit. All appearances are that he was shown the door. And since there was no comment from the school board when taking that action, it doesn’t look like we’re going to know why… unless Cahill wants to tell us.

Regular commenter “Without Malice” wins the prize for correctly predicting Carla Eman would be the temporary Treasurer while the search is on for an interim replacement. Congratulations!

Television

Goodbye, analog

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I admit it, I stayed up until midnight last night to watch all the analog TV signals go off the air. WTVP had a short countdown just before midnight that said, “after 37 years” on their analog frequency, they were shutting down “in just a few moments,” but that programming would continue on 47.1, 47.2, and 47.3. Once the countdown hit 0, the signal was gone. Nothing but snow.

When I went to WMBD (31), they were already off the air. WYZZ (43) and WEEK (25) ceased regular programming, but kept their transmitter on to broadcast a public service announcement loop on how to make the conversion to digital television. WHOI (19) did not go off the air yet, opting to keep their analog signal on until the extended cutoff date in June.

There’s no question that the quality of picture and audio is far superior on digital television. The only thing I will miss is the ability to pull in weak signals of television stations from other cities. For instance, I could get an analog signal from channel 8 in the Quad Cities and channels 12 and 17 from Urbana and Decatur, respectively. They were a little snowy, but could still be watched. I cannot get the digital signals from these stations. Not a big deal; just a little something I’ll miss. When I was a little kid, I remember getting a snowy picture of channel 55 out of Springfield, and once — just once, on a freak night — channel 44 out of Chicago.

Farewell, analog. Welcome, digital. I’m looking forward to seeing the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series in beautiful high-definition glory!

2009 Campaign, Village of Peoria Heights

Welcome Mayor Allen to the blogosphere

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Village of Peoria Heights Mayor Mark Allen has started his own blog, The Peoria Heights Response. It’s appears to be primarily a campaign website, as he is running for reelection this year. But he’s also sharing other interesting information about the Heights.

One issue that may be of interest to Peoria residents is the recycling program the Heights has recently implemented. Peoria’s current garbage disposal contract with Waste Management expires this year. This is the time to negotiate a new contract, possibly with a different company, that will make recycling as easy here as it is in the Heights.

2009 Campaign

Mayor, Treasurer candidates face public questions

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Monday night at Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church, candidates for Mayor of Peoria and City Treasurer gathered to answer questions from the public. Running for mayor are Jim Ardis (incumbent) and General Parker. Several residents — mostly from Peoria’s older neighborhoods — asked questions of the candidates.

A resident of the South Side of Peoria wanted to know what the candidates were going to do about the deterioration of the South Side. She said she was tired of litter, poor schools, gangs, and the way she felt the South Side is generally neglected by the City. Mayor Ardis said that the majority of police and fire resources are focused on that area now, but that more resources can be shifted there “as needs dictate.” General Parker said he advocates going to a system of neighborhood police officers and would require police officers to live in the City. He said the problem with enforcement is that there’s a mutual “us vs. them” mentality between the police and residents of the South Side. By having neighborhood beat officers, officers become part of the neighborhood community and trust can be built between the officers and residents.

Bill Ordaz, a near north side resident, expressed frustration with the City’s code enforcement department. He cited specific instances when he had called to report serious code violations, only to be told that the offender was given a verbal warning or that his complaint was invalid. Mayor Ardis said that he believed over 90% of code enforcement is complaint-driven, so the officers don’t have the time to be proactive. Nevertheless, he said that the council members are working with the Director of Inspections to get as much production out of the code enforcement officers as possible. He suggested citizens talk to their neighbors directly to ask them to take care of violations. General Parker said he agreed that the code enforcement officers were good workers, but that it sounded like someone “dropped the ball somewhere” and he would do an efficiency check of the code enforcement department if elected.

Karrie Alms, another near north side resident, complained that storm brush had still not been picked up on her street. When she called the Public Works dispatch at 484-8867, she was told that the city’s policy was to start brush pickup in the north and work their way south. Mayor Ardis said that wasn’t true — that pickup actually went by garbage pickup route, not north to south. General Parker said it would make more sense for pickup to start at the river and work out from there, since the older neighborhoods have larger trees and thus more debris after major storms.

Diane Vespa, a North Peoria resident, asked if there was any point at which the city could step into the public school issue. General Parker made some general statements about the importance of the school system being strong in order to be able to get people to move into the city, but gave no specific recommendations as to what the city could do. Mayor Ardis said that the City had extended a hand to the school district more than any other council in the last 20 years. He cited the establishment of the Glen Oak Neighborhood Improvement Zone, the Peoria Promise program, and the educational liaison to District 150. He also said they had the opportunity to have education reform expert Paul Vallas come to Peoria, but that the offer was rejected by District 150.

Next came questions for the candidates for Treasurer. The current Treasurer, Reginald Willis, is retiring, so there is no incumbent in that race. The candidates for Treasurer are Patrick Nichting and Gary Shadid.

Gary Shadid started by giving his experience and qualifications: Bachelors in accounting from Arizona State University, CPA, work for various accounting firms including KPMG, the establishment of his own practice (Martin & Shadid). He said his motivation for seeking this office is that he’s (1) qualified, (2) experienced, and (3) loves and cares for this city.

Patrick Nichting then gave his qualifications: City Council member for 12 years, endorsed by two previous treasurers, trustworthy (i.e., he will deliver what he says he will deliver), and 26 years experience owning and operating his own business (Panco).

Both candidates said they would quit their full-time jobs if elected to the office of City Treasurer.

City of Peoria

City should be compensated for encroachments

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In any city, the land is divided into public and private space. Private space is land owned and maintained by individuals and corporations, and public space is land that is owned and maintained by public bodies (cities, counties, park boards, etc.). Streets and sidewalks, as well as the space above and below them, are examples of public space. Whenever private individuals or corporations encroach on public space, some sort of compensation is naturally due to the public body on whose land they encroach.

Thus, for decades there has been an ordinance on the books that requires the private owners of pedestrian bridges and underground vaults that encroach on public spaces to get a permit. In order to get a permit, they have to pay an annual fee and assume liability for any damage to the streets, alleys, and sidewalks as a result of their encroachment.

But according to a recent Journal Star article, the City of Peoria hasn’t collected any fees for these encroachments for decades. Upon discovering this oversight, you might think that the City — which is hurting for money — would jump on the chance to restore this income stream, modest though it may be.

But no. Instead, they’re thinking about just getting rid of it.

[Public Works Director David] Barber also said he’s unsure if it’s even worth the city’s trouble to assess the fee.

“We don’t have an inventory on these things since they go back so many years,” Barber said. “We would need access to the properties, we need to measure them and, frankly, we don’t have the time to do all of that.”

First of all, the city deserves to be compensated for private encroachment on public space. This is standard practice for all types of encroachment — for instance, the permit fees that street vendors have to pay to sell food from pushcarts on the courthouse square. The city doesn’t seem to have any trouble measuring how much space these vendors are taking up, charging them fees, etc.

Secondly, there’s a liability issue here that every city with skyways and underground vaults recognizes. These encroachments need to be inventoried and insured at the private owners’ expense for the safety of the city and its citizens.

Thirdly, it’s not unreasonable to recover the city’s costs for administering this permit process through a reasonable fee assessed to the businesses. The city needs to do the responsible thing and update their ordinance to raise the fees to 2009 dollars, and finally start enforcing this ordinance that has been neglected far too long.

Peoria Public Schools

Cahill out, but who’s in?

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So, right after I left town for the weekend, the rumor about District 150 Controller/Treasurer Guy Cahill leaving was confirmed. Figures. It will be made official Tuesday night at the regular school board meeting. The agenda reads:

17. TERMINATION OF CONTROLLER/TREASURER CONTRACT
18. APPOINTMENT OF TEMPORARY CONTROLLER/TREASURER

So, the question is, who’s going to be filling in temporarily? School board members are tight-lipped, citing confidentiality of personnel matters.

You might be interested to know that, according to District 150’s bylaws (2:110), a school board member can serve as treasurer:

The Treasurer of the Board shall be either an elected member of the Board who serves a 1-year term or an appointed non-Board member who serves at the Board’s pleasure. A Treasurer who is a Board member may not be compensated.

I believe Jim Stowell would qualify for this position. At least in the interim, this could help the school district save money while they’re looking for a permanent replacement for Mr. Cahill, since a board member can’t be compensated, but anyone else they appoint would have to be compensated.

City of Peoria, Energy Issues, Gary Sandberg, Peoria Police

City trying to cut down on idling vehicles

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The City of Peoria is going to try to persuade its employees not to leave their city vehicles idling for long periods of time. I wouldn’t say they’re “cracking down” on the practice, because there doesn’t seem to be much more than an awareness campaign planned at the moment. But it’s not a bad first step.

Several citizens, including councilman Gary Sandberg, noticed that some police officers who would eat breakfast at a local restaurant in Peoria left their squad cars on and idling in the parking lot the whole time they were inside eating — sometimes as much as an hour or longer. When the City’s Energy Efficiency Task Force submitted their report to the council, Sandberg asked interim City Manager Henry Holling to look into the idling problem, since that’s a huge waste of energy, not to mention unnecessary pollution.

After that, the police officers never came back to the local restaurant. They apparently eat breakfast somewhere else now. That prompted Sandberg to say at a recent council meeting that “moving the problem is not solving the problem.”

So now, according to this week’s “issues update,” the city is giving all its employees who drive a city vehicle an anti-idling brochure: “A change in behavior will be reinforced with flyers posted on bulletin boards and articles in the employee newsletters. Department Heads are also emphasizing in staff meetings the need to reduce engine idling.” It doesn’t appear, however, that there will be a policy instituted or enforced.

My take: This will be great for conscientious employees who probably aren’t letting their vehicles idle excessively anyway. For those who leave their cars idling for an hour while they eat breakfast, I doubt this will make any difference whatsoever, some of them even they go and find the best dash cam online so they car are secured while they’re apart of the car. Those employees already feel justified in leaving their cars on for excessive periods of time, and will likely change their behavior only if told by a superior to knock it off. So that’s precisely what needs to happen in addition to this public-awareness campaign for any significant change to occur.

If you witness excessive idling of a city vehicle, write down the vehicle number and location and e-mail it to me. I’ll pass that information along to the city.

General News

Time is right on newspapers; but will “younger generation” buy it?

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A recent Time Magazine article has some advice for newspapers: sell your on-line content instead of giving it away free. Ironically, this very same Time article is available for free on the web.

Nevertheless, it’s not a bad idea. Specifically, the author (Walter Isaacson) suggests coming up with a system similar to iTunes where readers can easily purchase an article for a small amount of money that gets charged to their credit card. Assuming there were such a system in place, the question is, will people pay for online news content like they do for online music downloads?

The 19-year-old college student who sat next to me on the train ride home from Chicago today says no. She’s a journalism major at Lincoln College. She said the “younger generation” (as opposed to my “older” generation, evidently) won’t pay for this kind of content because they’re “not really into reading that much.”

Not really into reading? Lord help us. If she’s right, then the economics of journalism is the least of our worries.