Olympic figure skater Matt Savoie was honored tonight by the City Council. The entire council chambers gave Matt a standing ovation, and Gary Sandberg — a family friend of the Savoies — read the proclamation. It was a very nice gesture of the city, and I think the council spoke for all of us when they told Matt how proud we Peorians are of him.
All posts by C. J. Summers
Did you see my letter to the editor?
Just in case you missed it, you can read it here. It was, of course, about the Kellar Branch. There have been several pro-trail letters to the editor lately, and I just couldn’t stand reading all the misinformation anymore. I hope my letter will cause some people to reevaluate their support for turning a viable rail line into a trail.
One interesting fact:Â the publishing of my letter is the first time the Journal Star has disclosed the amount of money Carver Lumber has lost (over $25,000) due to the city’s pursuit of this rails-to-trail debacle.
Renaissance Park gets new website
If you haven’t seen the new website for Renaissance Park, formerly the Med-Tech District, click here.
It looks pretty nice, actually. I notice there are a lot of stylized drawings and artists’ renditions of things, and very few real pictures of what the area looks like. I suppose that’s because, (a) right now there’s a big hole in the ground where the Innovation Center will be built, and (b) they’re trying to sell the vision for the area, not the current “look.”
Renaissance Park is part of the larger Heart of Peoria Plan, so it’s encouraging to see this part of the Plan progressing. Some may say what’s happened so far is all fluff, but I think good marketing is a key component of revitalizing that area, so this is definitely progress.
Click on “Read the rest of this entry” below to read the official press release:
Ankiel’s place on Cards’ roster a mystery
The St. Louis Cardinals are reporting that Rick Ankiel is injured:
In making the transition from pitching to playing the outfield, talent has scarcely been an issue for Rick Ankiel. A balky body, however, keeps protesting. On Monday, Ankiel sustained his third injury in the 12 months since he made the switch, suffering a strained left patellar tendon in an intrasquad game. He underwent an MRI at Jupiter Medical Center on Tuesday, and he will be held out for at least 10-14 days. The injury was characterized as a Grade 2 strain, the middle of three levels.
Here’s my question: why the heck is Ankiel still on the Cardinals’ roster? This kid imploded in the post-season six years ago and has never recovered. Yet they don’t send him to the minor leagues, but keep him on the 40-man roster and try to convert him to an outfielder.
Why? Is his dad on the board of directors or something? I’ve never heard of a team keeping a dead weight like this for more than half a decade. It’s time to cut the kid loose so he can pursue other interests while he’s still young.
Times-Observer suggests Friedan tribute
At the city council meeting last night, Barbara Van Auken requested that the publisher of the Peoria Times-Observer be allowed to present his suggestion for a tribute to Betty Friedan. He suggested renaming Pioneer Parkway “Betty Friedan Parkway” because it’s a major thoroughfare and Friedan was a “pioneer” in the women’s rights movement.
I’m not really a proponent of renaming streets. It used to be that you honored a person by putting up a statue to them in a prominent place. Peoria has several statues; to name a few: Abraham Lincoln (Peoria County Courthouse), Robert Ingersoll (Glen Oak Park), and Christopher Columbus (Uplands neighborhood). Why not put up a statue to Friedan and leave the street names alone?
Random act of kindness . . . from the city
I found something almost heartwarming in Tuesday night’s city council agenda.
First, a little background: There are some sewers in older parts of Peoria known as “wildcat” sewers. These are sewers that were developed privately and do not conform to city code. The city has a program, known as the Wildcat Sewer Program, that helps residents abandon their wildcat sewers and connect to the city’s sewer system by paying half the cost of connection.
Well, some Peoria residents on North Machin were connected to a wildcat sewer that had collapsed and was completely useless. But these people were unable to afford even half the cost of connecting to the city’s sewer system, and had resigned themselves to living with the consequences. The city decided to go ahead and connect them to city sewers anyway and pay the whole cost of connection. You can read a more detailed version of the story here.
I’m impressed that the city has been willing to treat this as an emergency repair and help these residents out. Kudos to the city for their random act of kindness!
Cable franchise agreement update
I decided to go straight to the source and ask City Attorney Randy Ray what the status is of the cable franchise agreement. He was kind enough to write me back this evening:
We have a meeting scheduled with Insight next week. We hope to have an agreement by April 15. Our biggest local concern is to end the payments by the City for televising Council meetings live. Thank you for the question.
One of the pitfalls of using sarcasm as I occasionally do is that you always have to qualify when you’re being serious. This is one of those times. So, seriously, thanks to Randy Ray for responding to my e-mail and providing this update. Some may complain it wasn’t that newsy, but I know there isn’t a lot he can share while the city and Insight are still negotiating. Hope the negotiations turn out well and in the city’s best interests.
Drive 45 . . . Keep who alive?
I drove 45 tonight through East Peoria, across the bridge, and up to the University Street exit and never encountered a worker, a lane reduction, or a dangerous situation to me or others at any time. Why is the speed limit still 45? I don’t mind driving slow when workers are present or there is some other compelling reason — any compelling reason. But driving slow for no reason at all is frustrating for drivers.
Why can’t IDOT use speed limit signs that say “Speed Limit 45 when flashing” and have those yellow construction lights connected to them? I’ve seen these signs used in other places, so I know the technology exists. Then at night, or other times when there’s no reason to drive slowly, traffic can legally go the speed limit of 55. Seems like a win-win to me.
Maybe someone on the council can ask Mr. Joe Crowe, Regional Director of Highways for IDOT, when he gives his presentation on the I-74 expansion project tomorrow night.
WSJ on blogging
Jason Fry of the Wall Street Journal Online gives his opinion about the future of blogging. He covers everything from the number of blogs to blog measurement, including these recent Gallup poll results:
Beyond flat to declining blog traffic, it found just 9% of Internet users read blogs frequently, 11% do so occasionally, 13% rarely bother, and 66% never do. And “reading blogs” ranked last in a list of 13 common Internet activities, below things like emailing, checking news and weather, and shopping.
His prediction for the future, in a nutshell:
Within a couple of years blogging will be a term thrown around loosely — and sometimes inaccurately — to describe a style and rhythm of writing, as well as the tools to publish that writing.
As opposed to a “revolution,” which is what some bloggers still hope for. If you have a couple minutes, read his whole article and tell me what you think of it.
Goodbye, Deputy Fife
Don Knotts
1924 – 2006