All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
Nation/World

UMC social principles confusing

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UMC LogoThe United Methodist Church is concerned about Caterpillar selling bulldozers to Israel because they’re “used in an immoral way, such as bulldozing the homes of suspected terrorists, to help Israel maintain control over the West Bank and Gaza,” according to the Journal Star. The denomination’s General Board of Pension and Health Benefits owns 60,189 shares of Cat stock with a market value of just over $4 million according to this March 31, 2007, report on their website.

However, also on that report I see that they own 767,746 shares of Wal-Mart stock with a market value of over $36 million. What do the denomination’s “social principles” say about that? Unlike Caterpillar, which has no control over how its products are used once it sells them, Wal-Mart is directly responsible for this (courtesy of WakeUpWalmart.com):

Despite $10 billion in profit last year, more than 600,000 Wal-Mart workers and their families struggle with no company-provided health care. Even more troubling, nearly 1 out of every 2 children of Wal-Mart workers lives without health care or relies on a public program. Wal-Mart has repeatedly broken child labor laws. Wal-Mart is being sued by 1.5 million female employees for discrimination. And, Wal-Mart continues to pay poverty-level wages, forcing many of its workers to make the impossible choice between rent and health care.

And this (courtesy of WalmartWatch.com; also see this PDF from ChinaLaborWatch.org):

A China Labor Watch report detailed the mistreatment of workers in a factory making small toys for Wal-Mart. As of early December 2005, violations against workers at the Lungcheong factory were as follows: the systematic denial of maternity leave, work-related injuries leading to termination, illegally denying health insurance, mandatory overtime work, insane quotas and employing underage workers.

This Cat divestment threat looks like a political statement masquerading as social concern.

Peoria Public Schools

Royster lawsuit evaporates

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Kay RoysterI think everyone knows by now that former District 150 superintendent Kay Royster dropped her racial discrimination suit against the district. According to the Journal Star:

…a one-paragraph stipulation was filed Monday afternoon, stating both sides agree to dismiss the case. No mention was made to the merits of the case or any of the allegations.

I can’t help but wonder if this has any connection to the Alicia Butler scandal. Butler was going to testify as a witness for Royster’s claim, but she would have been a pretty easy witness to discredit due to the highly-publicized allegations that she did not receive the degrees from Bradley that she claimed on her resumé. Without her as an “inside” witness, could that have doomed Royster’s case? And could that be why an anonymous tipster told the Journal Star about the questionable resumé in the first place? Yes, I know it’s a conspiracy theory, but it is plausible.

I’m also wondering who’s paying the legal bills for District 150. According to the Journal Star, “Each party would bear its own cost. For District 150, that’s about $75,000 in legal fees.” But according to WEEK.com, “Attorney Dave Walvoord says no taxpayer dollars were spent in the matter.” So, who’s paying the $75,000?

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch, Peoria Park District, Village of Peoria Heights

Kellar Branch Update

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Kellar Branch RailroadThere have apparently been a lot of behind-the-scenes dealings lately in the City’s effort to convert the Kellar Branch to a hiking trail. I recently acquired a copy of the minutes of the last Recreational Trail Advocates (RTA) meeting. Under “New Business” was this interesting info (interspersed with my comments):

Bruce Brown reported that Randy Oliver, city manager, and Randy Ray, city attorney, have sent a counter offer to Central Illinois Railroad (CIRY) stating what would be required for them to continue to use the Keller Branch. The railroad bed must be brought up to a standard so that a train could operate at 5 miles an hour. This would probably cost $100,000 and the railroad company would have to pay 12.2 % of assessed valuation using the appraisal figures this annual rent would be between $160,000 to $190,000. The amount using the appraisal of Klopfenstein would be $204,960. The City offered to allow CIRY to use the western connection for $1.00. The railroad company dismissed this counter offer and said it would make a reply that has not yet been received. Dick Carver and Steve Van Winkle have volunteered to work with CIRY to get an agreement. The city has done everything that J.P. O’Brien and Dave Maloof have asked of them except the modified Public Convenience and Necessity (PCN) Agreement from CIRY.

So the City is putting pressure on Central Illinois Railroad Company (CIRY) to abandon the Kellar Branch by charging upwards of $200,000 annually for use of the right-of-way, plus requiring the line to be upgraded. Meanwhile, the City would subsidize use of the western connection by offering use of it for only $1 per year.

Also, Dick Carver has offered to work with CIRY — I wonder if the Park District is going to fly him into town at taxpayer expense again for that service.

I find this line rather disturbing: “The city has done everything that J.P. O’Brien and Dave Maloof have asked of them….” O’Brien owns O’Brien Steel and is still benefiting from the advantages of rail service via the Kellar Branch because he’s on the southern end of it which will not be converted to a trail. Maloof is a commercial realtor who has land interest in the Pioneer Park area. The City is taking marching orders from these two people whose businesses and livelihoods are completely unaffected by the fate of the Kellar Branch to the detriment of Carver Lumber Company and its fifty employees who are the only ones directly affected. So much for the City trying to shed its anti-business reputation.

Ray LaHood formally asked for a meeting with the Surface Transportation Board (STB), which would also include the mayors of Peoria and Peoria Heights and several city council members. STB turned Ray down stating that they didn’t want individuals appearing before them. We are still working with Dick Durbin for a favorable ruling from the STB. Bruce would like to arrange an opportunity for Randy Ray, Randy Oliver, Dick Carver and other government officials to see the 6 miles of the proposed trail.

There’s a clear, public process for making your case before the Surface Transportation Board. Having your congressman arrange back-room meetings with the board members is not part of that process. The board could ask for oral arguments if they were so inclined, but then they’d want both sides to be represented.

I think now the only political angle the RTA hasn’t tried is writing to President Bush asking for an executive order to discontinue train service on the Kellar Branch. I’m sure that will be next.

The Peoria Park District (PPD) has been asked to cut the weeds along the trail within the Peoria Heights section this fall. We will wait to hear from the PPD. The RTA might be responsible for doing one section of this area that is the flattest.

Why isn’t the Village cutting the weeds themselves? They own the property and it’s not a trail yet. Why should Park District resources be expended to cut the weeds? Does the Village not own weed cutting equipment?

Ray LaHood’s chief of staff, Tim Butler, is looking to the RTA for direction on how to proceed to further the cause of the trail. Mike Pula feels that someone needs to again talk to Carver Lumber about their opposition to using the western branch. It was suggested that perhaps Patrick Nichting and Randy Oliver could talk to them. Keith Bonds offered to contact Carver Lumber Company about its current position and what it would take to allow the Kellar Branch service to be discontinued.

Yes, by all means, keep trying to convince Carver Lumber to use the most expensive and least reliable transportation option available. As for “what it would take to allow the Kellar Branch service to be discontinued,” we’ve been over this a hundred times. Comparable rates, reliable service via the western connection. That’s what it would take, and what the City, Park District, RTA, Dick Carver, Ray LaHood, CIRY, Union Pacific, et. al., have been completely unable to deliver.

Mike Pula brought up the development off Knoxville (Trail Creek), which is touting their closeness to the trail as a selling point. We need to contact the developers on the north side and see if they would like to become more involved with supporting the extension of the Kellar Branch. Is there a volunteer to make contact with these developers?

Mike Rucker sent Rails to Trails magazine subscriptions to various government officials including Peoria City Council, Peoria Heights Trustees, Peoria Park District members and other park districts officials in the area and to Peoria and Peoria Heights libraries.

Tim O’Hanlon volunteered to get information from Rock Island and Champaign’s trail coordinators as they have been successful in the past few years implementing trails.

More lobbying. Just think what these people might accomplish if they were to put this much time and effort into something productive, like coming up with a way to keep the rail line and build the trail. I mean, they’ve been at this for, what, something like 13 years?

It seems to me that if the primary objective were to get the trail, they would have abandoned conversion of this rail corridor long ago and found an alternative route for the trail. Had they done that, they could have had the trail built years ago and been enjoying it all this time!

Keith volunteered to call Mike Friberg to try to get published a picture and information about the bridge over Knoxville Avenue.

The bridge over Knoxville — this is a pedestrian bridge that would be installed where the Kellar Branch crosses Knoxville at Junction City, near Prospect, if the trail ever gets the green light from the STB. It’s estimated to cost $2.6 million. It’s interesting that this is the only intersection that is planned to receive a bridge. At other major intersections, the Park District is planning to run the trail alongside the road to the nearest traffic signal before crossing. Why they aren’t planning to do that at Knoxville, I’m not sure, but it could have to do with the fact that Knoxville is a state route.

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for a decision from the STB on whether CIRY or Pioneer should be allowed to operate the Kellar Branch. There is still no request pending to discontinue service on the Kellar Branch (CIRY withdrew their request). So, it looks like we’re in for several more years of haggling over this. I guess all the parties in favor of the project feel this fight is worth the expense, effort, and ever-increasing time it takes to resolve. I can think of better ways to spend taxpayer money.

Uncategorized

Most unusual accident ever

My wife and I had just finished dinner, and our kids (Maggie, 4; Jackie, 6) were still sitting at the table; James (2) was in his highchair. We walked into the kitchen and were talking when Maggie walked in and started this bizarre exchange:

Maggie [walking into kitchen from dining room]: “Mommy, Jackie just licked Jamie’s foot.”

Mommy [talking to Maggie, but loud enough for Jackie to hear]: “Yuck. Why would Jackie lick Jamie’s foot?”

Jackie [yelling her explanation from the dining room]: “ACCIDENTALLY!”

Peoria Journal Star

Journal Star inflates homicide numbers

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Saturday brought news of another homicide in Peoria. The Journal Star reports that “Ronald J. Lewis Jr., 17, of 3418 W. Villa Ridge, died from a gunshot wound to the chest in the 200 block of Green Street.” Without taking anything away from the horror of this or other killings this year, I have an observation about how it’s being reported in the news.

I noticed that the Journal Star is reporting it as the eleventh homicide of 2007, whereas other news outlets like WHOI and WMBD-AM are reporting it as the tenth homicide. Why the discrepancy?

Well, the Journal Star actually explains later in their story. They say:

Among the 11 homicides in the city this year is the fatal shooting by police of a man armed with a gun when officers responded to a domestic disturbance call.

While the word “homicide” can be defined as a generic term for “killing,” it carries the connotation that the killing was done by a civilian, not law enforcement officers who are granted power by the state to use deadly force (unless the officer used such force unlawfully). It would be like including emergency vehicles in the statistics for moving violations because they go over the speed limit and run red lights. Or consider that the Journal Star doesn’t report the killings in Iraq as “homicides.” One would expect them to use the term consistently if they believed it to mean/imply nothing more than “killing.”

Just to give a little example of denotation versus connotation, I’ve deliberately chosen to title this post “Journal Star inflates homicide numbers.” After all, to “inflate” simply means to increase in size, right? But of course, there’s a negative connotation to that word as well. I’m being accurate, yet tacitly editorializing. One wonders whether the Journal Star is doing the same.

City of Peoria

The strain of city growth revealed in snow report

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If you’d like to read the Six Sigma report on how to improve Peoria’s snow removal process, here it is in PDF format (1.43M). To me, one of the more significant observations is this one:

The community has grown over 26 center lane miles in the past seven years and will be growing another ten center lane miles later this year due to new neighborhoods being developed. No consideration has been given for equipment or manpower needed to clear the streets.

This report is focused on snow removal, obviously, but I think the findings point to a more systemic problem in the city. That is that the city, when annexing land and expanding, has not adequately planned for or provided the additional resources needed for increased demand on public works, police, and fire service. Hence, all these basic services get stretched to the point where we read today about problems with fire personnel having enough manpower and equipment.

Peoria was about 39 square miles in 1970. By 2006, it had grown to over 48 square miles (a 23% increase) and will soon hit 50 as new land is annexed. During that time, police staffing grew by 24 people (9%, 263 to 287), fire staffing grew by 31 people (18%, 175 to 206), and public works staff actually has 13 fewer people (-9.7%, 134 to 121). I’m talking about total staff, not just officers, firefighters, and crew members; i.e., these numbers also include desk jobs and other positions.

Consider also that newer parts of town put a proportionately larger strain on city resources. From the snow report again:

Cul-de-sacs can take up to eight times longer to clear than a through street. At the current time, the city has over 900 cul-de-sacs and dead end streets, and new subdivisions are developing these in to their neighborhood planning processes.

Most of the older part of the city is on a grid system of streets — that is, through streets. By far the most cul-de-sacs are on the north end and in the expansion areas. Cul-de-sacs are not only a problem for public works, but fire and police as well, since access to those properties is limited and provide only one direction of approach.

Obviously, the city’s services need to be expanded to meet the needs of the growth areas. And given that annexation and development are supposed to be bringing in so much new income to the city, that should be no problem. Only the city is still strapped for funds — so much so that not only can we not add resources, we can barely maintain the status quo.

The city simply cannot sustain a pattern of growth that sees property values deteriorate and vacancies increase in the core of the city while simultaneously acquiring more and more land to the north. We have to increase the tax base in the southern part of the city.

Peoria Journal Star

Note to JSEB: We get it

22 Comments

Just a quick note to the Journal Star Editorial Board: We get it. You didn’t like Mayor Ardis’s comments in InterBusiness Issues. You want to defend your institution. Fair enough.

But now you’re going to write an editorial about it every day? Really? You don’t think that’s a little overkill or that it makes you look petty? And, more importantly, are there no more significant things happening in the world about which to editorialize?

Here’s my unsolicited advice: You’ve made your point. Now let it go.

Crime, Village of Morton

Software piracy costs Morton Metalcraft, et. al., $1.43M

34 Comments

Pirate graphicI heard this on WCBU this morning, but unfortunately, they don’t post all their news stories on their website, so I can’t link to it. Here’s the story from Huliq.com (emphasis added):

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) recently settled with manufacturing businesses totaling $1.43 million in settlements. The companies settled claims that they had unlicensed copies of Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft, SolidWorks and Symantec software on their computers. The settling companies included: American Spring Wire Corporation; AZ Automotive Corporation; Enpro Systems, Ltd; Interactive Health, Inc.; Morton Metalcraft, Co.; PDI; and Sure-Feed Engineering, Inc.

According to the story on WCBU, a current or former employee most likely tipped off BSA. I know someone who works at Morton Metalcraft. You don’t think…? Nah, it probably wasn’t him.