All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
Uncategorized

Today’s Stench Index: 8

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Peoria is especially stinky this morning.  I walked out my front door to get the paper today and literally gagged.  It smelled like a cross between burnt electrical equipment and body odor.  I think the radio stations really should warn citizens when it smells this bad outside. Maybe they could develop a “stench index” or “stink factor” with “1” smelling like a meadow of wildflowers and “10” smelling like your head is poked inside an ADM smokestack.

There’s quite a bit of talk about “quality of life” issues these days — mitigating the smell of ADM would be a good one to work on.  I understand I live in the city and don’t expect the stench index to ever be “1” where I live.  But can’t we find some reasonable middle ground?  Aren’t there any emission standards that regulate the smell of these plants?

Peoria Public Schools

As the stomach turns

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Polly ate lunch at a District 150 school recently.  Actual menu: breadsticks with marinara sauce.  Oh, and unidentifiable “fruit.”  You know, when I was in school, lo these many years ago, we used to make fun of the food (which I recall was more or less like a TV dinner), but we were never served anything as austere as breadsticks with marinara sauce.

I looked up the District 150 menu, and it appears Polly could have opted for the Turkey Ranch Pita Pocket, but wasn’t it the bread wrap that was suspected to be responsible for all the illnesses lately?  Can’t blame Polly for opting for the lesser of two evils.

You know, if I fed my kids breadsticks and sauce and they were going to the hospital with food poisoning every few weeks, how long do you think it would be before DCFS paid me a visit?  And possibly the police?

I’m generally in favor of preserving historic buildings if at all possible, and I’ve been critical of District 150’s plans to tear down eleven schools and build six more.  But I swear I would personally swing the sledgehammer into as many buildings as they want to level if it would give the district enough money to provide these children a decent meal.

And that means, one way or another, District 150 needs to dump Aramark (NYSE: RMK), the sooner the better.  Aramark says on their website (which, incidentally, touts their brand-new, 53,000-square-foot “Innovation Center”), “We understand the impact of good nutrition on student performance, and have been helping the K-12 market increase student productivity through high quality food service programs.”  If breadsticks with marinara sauce is “high quality,” I’d hate to see what they consider “low quality.”

Oliver Twist ate better.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Peoria Mayor

Despite Museum Square debacle, HOPC appears to be on front burner

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It’s no secret I’ve been disappointed with the Museum Square design and its complete lack of adherence to the Heart of Peoria Plan, which the city council adopted “in principle.” Nevertheless, I have been encouraged by Mayor Ardis’s “City Issues” articles for Interbusiness Issues the last couple of months.

In the January issue, Ardis mentioned his hope that the Heart of Peoria Commission (HOPC) would write and implement Peoria’s Form-Based Code. I went to a public meeting on this subject last October when Ferrell Madden Associates were in town. Form-Based Code is basically an alternative to our current zoning laws that allows for mixed use and puts tighter control on the form, or physical characteristics, of the built environment. The concept makes sense to me, but I can see why it would be a lot of work to actually write the parameters. Let’s just say I “appreciate the complexity of the task.”

This month, Ardis devoted the whole column to giving a complete overview of the HOPC. Granted, he didn’t write it alone, but at least he credited the new HOPC chairman, Bill Washkuhn, for “helping assemble this information.” Regardless of who did most of the writing, I think it’s significant that Ardis devoted the column to HOPC.

Jonathan Ahl predicted (during a year-in-review broadcast of “Outside the Horseshoe”) that the HOPC would be eliminated this year. I can understand why he might think that –they haven’t been terribly effective so far. But there has been quite a bit of turnover on the commission of late, several council members seem to be in favor of the HOP Plan, and Ardis appears to be pushing them to be on-task and productive. If the commission fails, it won’t be for lack of support from the city council.

Uncategorized

It’s Groundhog Day . . . again

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, so there will be six more weeks of winter.  Of course, we all know there are always six more weeks of winter whether or not Phil sees his shadow (March 21 is six weeks away), but it’s, um, fun (?) to go through this ritual every year.

As an interesting aside, while it’s still going to be winter here in the states, Canada is expecting an early spring, based on their forecasting rodents.  Not to be outdone by the U.S., they get a consensus of two woodchucks with whimsical, alliterative and difficult-to-spell names: Wiarton Willie (Ontario) and Shubenacadie Sam (Nova Scotia).

So, I’m not sure what a city like, say, Detroit should expect.  Three more weeks of winter, perhaps?

Peoria Police, Traffic

Peorians are passionate about their jaywalking

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Why the uproar over the crackdown on jaywalking? There can be no doubt that it’s rampant in Peoria. 

I see two little girls cross Forrest Hill about 20 feet west of Sheridan Road so they can get to their school bus stop at the corner of Forrest Hill and Sheridan.  Wouldn’t it be safer for them to cross at the light?  I don’t remember much from geometry class, but I think it’s pretty clear that they would be walking the same distance, and since they only cross when traffic is stopped for the red light anyway, they’re not saving any time either.

Then there’s Knoxville where little kids up to grown adults cross the street wherever they feel like it, often causing traffic to brake to avoid a collision.  Right around Cub Foods it’s especially bad, although the whole strip between McClure and interstate sees its fair share of jaywalkers.  Not long ago, a young boy on his bike lost his life at the corner of Knoxville and Forrest Hill for crossing against the light.

So what’s the big deal about the police enforcing jaywalking laws?  I mean, isn’t that why we have police — to enforce the law?  Isn’t that why we have a jaywalking ordinance — to keep people from jaywalking?

Greg and Dan on WMBD radio’s morning show scoffed — and I mean scoffed — at the idea of police enforcing these laws.  They’re defense? 

“Everybody does it.” 

“There are more important things the police should be focusing on.” 

“We’re adults and know how to cross the street; we needn’t be treated like children.”

“Pedestrians who get hit are punished enough; they don’t need a ticket.” 

Chief Settingsgaard came on the show just before 8:00 and even he agreed that jaywalking was a cultural thing in Peoria.  Residents here apparently don’t mind because they don’t complain about it, and the recent crackdown was only in response to a complaint.

Great! Can we please use this same logic on seat belt use?  I bet the police don’t get any complaints from citizens that other people aren’t wearing seat belts, and I bet most people wouldn’t care if that law were never enforced.  There are more important things the police could be focusing on, and adults should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to buckle up.  And certainly the schmo who gets in an accident without his seat belt on will suffer enough without getting a ticket.  If there were ever the perfect example of a nanny-state law, that’s it.

Yet in contrast, the police actually set up roadblocks to check motorists for seat belt use.  Last summer, there were numerous “safety checks.”  Where was the outcry then?  It’s surprising to me that Peorians hold jaywalking as a fundamental right, but are willing to tolerate invasion of their privacy on seat belt matters.

My suggestion:  if jaywalking is not important, repeal all ordinances making it a crime.  Problem solved.  Otherwise, I say let the police do their job and enforce it, and stop whining about it.  That’s what they tell me whenever I complain about seat belt laws. 

Peoria Regional Airport

Direct flights to St. Louis come to quiet end

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The last direct flight to St. Louis departed January 31, 2006, from the Peoria airport. Trans States Airlines, d/b/a American Connection, had operated two daily roundtrip flights to St. Louis.

I never would have known we were losing flights were it not for David Jordan’s blog. In addition to the loss of St. Louis service, I learned that service to Dallas/Fort Worth was cut in half as recently as December 14 (from two to one daily roundtrip flight), and Peoria-Atlanta service on Delta Connection dropped from four flights to three last summer.

I wonder, along with David, why these stories weren’t reported in the Peoria press.  They seem newsworthy to me.  The good news is that, despite cuts in the number of flights, the number of passengers is the highest it’s been in 27 years.  The Journal Star recently reported that ridership in 2005 was up 15 percent over 2004.

Peoria Regional Airport does still have service to Atlanta (Delta), Chicago (American, United), Dallas/Fort Worth (American), Las Vegas (Allegiant), and Minneapolis (Northwest).

State Legislation

Tempest in a teapot: HB 4130

Peoria’s Neighborhood Development Manager Leslie McKnight has sent an e-mail to all the neighborhood associations urging them to tell their Illinois legislators to vote “no” on House Bill 4130.  Here’s what City Manager Randy Oliver had to say about it:

HB 4130 Bill would require cities to pay for consolidated primary elections. Counties currently are required to pay. City tax payers pay the same taxes as County taxpayers. Consequently this bill is blatantly unfair and just another way to get into the City’s pocket. Please contact members of the House and encourage to just say “NO” to this unfair legislation. The language from the bill and background is as follows:
[…]
HB 4130 amends the Election Code requiring home rule municipalities within counties with a population less than 120,000 to reimburse the county for all of the costs and expenses of a consolidated primary election (now, counties required to pay). It also provides that if the county contains more than one home rule municipality, then those municipalities shall share the reimbursement proportionately based on population of the municipalities. In all, thirty-seven home rule municipalities are affected but all communities should be concerned with this type of legislation mandating that municipalities pay for what historically has been a county expense. IML [Illinois Municipal League] OPPOSES.

So, where did this “blatantly unfair” legislation come from?  Answer:  Macon County, home of the cities of Decatur and Forsyth.  According to the Decatur Herald & Review, Decatur held a primary election last February to “reduce the number of city council candidate[s] for the April election from seven to six.”  The cost to hold that primary was estimated to be between $80,000 and $100,000.  Who paid for it?  Macon County taxpayers. 

Rep. Bill Mitchell thought it was rather unfair for residents of the entire county, including his home town of Forsyth, to pony up the money for a primary election that only benefitted Decatur, so he introduced HB 4130, which would require a city like Decatur to reimburse the county for consolidated election expenses.

The bill was carefully crafted to try to exclude as many cities as possible, while still applying to Decatur.  For instance, it only applies to “home rule” municipalities (there are 167 of those, including Peoria).  But it doesn’t apply to counties that have a population over 120,000 — that means the law applies to Macon county (pop. 110,980 in 2004), but not Peoria county (pop. 182,418 in 2004).

Since it wouldn’t apply to Peoria, I wonder why neighborhood organizations here are being urged to take a stand on it.  Maybe they’re afraid once a bill like this gets through, all they need to do is fiddle with the numers a little and Peoria will be in the mix, too.

I have to agree that it sounds like a bad bill to me all the way around.  County residents don’t seem to mind taking tax money from city residents, but when it comes time to spend that money on a city election, they balk.  You can’t have it both ways, in my opinion.

It doesn’t look like it will matter to anyone now, since Rep. Bill Mitchell tabled his own bill in committee today.  It didn’t have much chance of passing with the Illinois Municipal League against it anyway.

Blogosphere, Peoria Mayor, Radio

Open Forum: What did you think of the State of the City address?

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WCBU (89.9 FM) is replaying Mayor Ardis’s State of the City address tonight at 7:00, followed by an interview with Bill Dennis and me on our reaction to Ardis’s address.

One of the things I love about blogging is the dialogue that takes place in the comments section.  I learn a lot from those who reply to my posts, so I want to open up this post for your reaction to the State of the City address.  What did you like about it?  Was there anything that disappointed you?  Do you think the city is on the right track?  Feel free to also comment on Bill’s and my interview on WCBU tonight.  I look forward to reading your insights.

Blogosphere

New Peoria Blogger

No one knows more about trains–specifically Peoria trains–than my friend David P. Jordan. I’ve been part of the PeoriaRails Yahoo Group for quite some time now and have enjoyed his insight into this little-reported part of Peoria’s transportation system.  Now David has established his own blog to report “news, information and analysis of local rail transportation issues.”  As a bonus, he will also be covering commercial aviation issues.

This is a very welcome addition to my blogroll.

Kellar Branch

Why hasn’t Peoria fired Central Illinois Railroad Company?

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Let’s recap Central Illinois Railroad’s less-than-stellar operation in Peoria.

The Contract.  On April 27, 2004, the City of Peoria signed a contract with Central Illinois Railroad Company (owned by DOT Rail Service of LaSalle, Ill.) to replace Pioneer Industrial Railway as the common carrier provider on the Kellar Branch.  There was quite a bit of delay as Pioneer contested this with the Surface Transportation Board, but the City won their case, partially on the premise that “[t]here is no evidence that [Central Illinois Railroad Company’s] rail service on the Branch would be inadequate in any respect,” and Pioneer left the line in mid-August 2005.

Solicitation for Murder.  On May 12, 2005, the owner of DOT Rail Service, Donny Lee Gibson, was arrested and charged with a Class X felony solicitation of murder for hire. Gibson, 65, wanted to have his 28-year-old girlfriend killed before his wife found out about her.  He copped a plea this past Tuesday, pleading guilty to a Class 1 felony solicitation of residential burglary charge instead.  That’s punishable by four to fifteen years in prison.

Runaway Train and Derailment.  On August 27, 2005, the Central Illinois Railroad Company, on their maiden voyage up the Kellar Branch to make a delivery to Carver Lumber, lost traction and sent the load backwards down the line at 30 mph — dragging the “engine” with it (they didn’t actually use a real engine, but rather a Trackmobile which has insufficient power for the Kellar’s steep grade).  The speed limit for trains within the city is 10 mph.  The runaway train went through several grade crossings — including such busy streets as Abington, Madison, Jefferson, and Adams – endangering Peoria motorists. Miraculously, no one was hurt.  The runaway train derailed when it hit other cars parked near the switch that connects the Kellar Branch to the Tazewell & Peoria line (TZPR).

Breach of Contract.  Since the derailment, no shipments have been made to Carver Lumber by Central Illinois Railroad Company.  That puts them in breach of contract, as their agreement with the city specifically states:

Article 11. Level of Service. DOT shall pick up and deliver cars within twenty-four (24) hours after being notified by the P&PU that the cars have been placed on the Kellar Branch.

Carver, in its filing with the Surface Transportation Board this month, said they’ve been forced to have their lumber delivered via truck — at an additional expense of $25,000 — because no deliveries are being made by Central Illinois Railroad Company. 

City Response.  In a letter from Peoria Public Works Director Steve Van Winkle dated November 10, 2004, he assured Carver Lumber there would be no interruption in their rail service, and that if there was, “[t]he City stands ready and willing to enforce all aspects of its contract with DOT….”  He went on to say, “The City has the ability, under its agreement with DOT, for all legal remedies up to and including termination which would allow the city to replace their service with another company.”

According to the contract, if Central Illinois Railroad Company does not perform its duties under the contract, and if that default continues for sixty days (two months) after receiving written notice from the city, the city can terminate the contract.  The derailment — the first instance of Central Illinois Railroad Company’s default — occurred in August 2005, a full five months ago. 

That means they’ve been in breach of contract for five months, costing Carver Lumber — a local business since 1946 — over $25,000 in extra shipping costs.  Why isn’t the city enforcing its contract with Central Illinois Railroad Company and fulfilling its promise to Carver that rail service would not be interrupted?

Why hasn’t the City of Peoria fired Central Illinois Railroad Company?