All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
Annexation, Peoria History

A little annexation history

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During the latest annexation of 715 acres, I heard more than one media outlet describe it as “the largest annexation since the city added Richwoods Township.” I wasn’t even born yet when Peoria annexed Richwoods Township, so that meant nothing to me, but I figured it must have been a big addition of land.”Big” doesn’t begin to describe it.

I spent some time at the library familiarizing myself with some annexation history tonight and was shocked at the size of the Richwoods annexation. It more than doubled the physical size of the city, expanding it from 15 square miles to 35 square miles. The additional land extended from just north of War Memorial Drive (south of Lake) all the way past Detweiller Park to Ravinswood Road to the north. It also added about 21,000 residents.

And it almost didn’t happen. The residents of the township had to vote for annexation, and pro-annexation voters won by only 336 votes. There was quite a bit of debate leading up to the big vote, which took place on November 21, 1964. Most of the arguments centered around the then separate Richwoods school district which did not want to join Peoria’s District 150. Proponents of annexation pointed out all the city services Richwoods would enjoy: storm sewers, water (provided by the Peoria Water Works Co.), buses, increased law enforcement, the replacement of volunteer firefighters with “city firemen” (lowering their fire insurance bills), garbage collection, street repair, street lights, etc., etc., etc. One of my favorite quotes was, “Speakers for annexation have told prospective voters to consider the long range view, that a bigger city could attract more industry by showing evidence of a growing, vibrant city.”

It’s growing, alright–but only in size. Check out these numbers:

Year
 Square Miles
 Population
1960 15 103,162
2006 49.26 112,936

The physical size of the city is over three times as large as it was 46 years ago, yet our population has increased only 9.5%. Is it any wonder that we’re having trouble balancing budgets? Why is our population stagnant despite the immense increase in land mass, strip malls, retail stores, etc.?

(One interesting side note: the city next tried to annex Peoria Heights in February 1965, but it was roundly defeated by voters there.)

PeoriaNEXT

Judging websites

Bill quotes a study that says, “In just a brief one-twentieth of a second–less than half the time it takes to blink–people make aesthetic judgments that influence the rest of their experience with an Internet site.”  I agree with him that this is taking “style over substance” to an extreme.However, I think some criticism of websites is warranted.  For instance, there’s something ironic about a site that touts Peoria’s scientific and technological expertise, yet can’t get their own website updated.

I looked up the website for PeoriaNEXT, “a not-for-profit regional development and commercialization collaborative for science and technology,” and found it interesting that Kay Royster is not only on their Board of Directors, but is still the Superintendent of Peoria Public Schools District 150! 

Now, I understand how hard it is to keep a website up to date.  Almost as soon as you put information out, it’s out of date.  For instance, elsewhere on the site they tout District 150’s various academies.  Those were just cut by the school board, so technically, that information is also out of date.  But I don’t blame them for not having that changed yet — that just happened within the last couple of months!  

But Kay Royster was ousted in 2004.  When I see a site that’s more than a year out of date, I assume it’s been abandoned.  I wonder if PeoriaNEXT is still operating.

City Council, Illinois American Water

Council Roundup: Water buyout defeated again

Last night, the city council voted down a proposal to pay $37,500 in consultant fees toward an effort to get RWE AG to sell off Peoria’s portion of Illinois American Water Company.

There was so much spin put on this issue at the meeting, I started getting dizzy. The item itself seemed pretty straightforward to me:

Communication from the City Manager Requesting Authorization to Enter into a CONTRACT with CLARK-DIETZ, in an Amount Not to Exceed $50,000.00, for the CITY OF PEORIA to EXPLORE the COOPERATIVE PURCHASE of the WATER SYSTEM from ILLINOIS AMERICAN WATER COMPANY with the CITIES of PEKIN, URBANA, and CHAMPAIGN, and the UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

Sounds like they want to explore purchasing the water company, doesn’t it? But to hear the discussion last night, it appeared everyone agreed that this wasn’t going to work. Nevertheless, one argument after another popped up to go ahead and spend the money anyway:

  • It will show we’re good neighbors and help us build bridges to other Illinois cities
  • It will “get us on the radar screen” of the guy at RWE who makes the decisions on how to sell the company — perhaps he’ll have a change of heart
  • It will force RWE to disclose to a potential buyer that Peoria has an option to repurchase its portion of the water company every five years, and that may change the amount RWE is able to sell the company for
  • It’s not that much money — some council members drove to the council meeting in vehicles that cost more than $37,500

Boy, those are compelling. When you’re going to be spending over eight billion dollars for a company, I’m sure Peoria’s 1.5% share ($122 million on the private market) is going to be a huge consideration. Ironically, knowledge of Peoria’s buyout option could actually sweeten the deal, once the buyer learns that selling the water company to Peoria means they get an extra $100 million than they would get in the private sector.

But my favorite is the last one — “aw, shucks, 37 grand ain’t all that much money. Heck, let’s just put it in a Valentine’s Day card and mail it to Champaign-Urbana as our way of saying, ‘gee, you guys are swell!'” As long as the city’s feeling so friendly, can you send me $400 to help me pay my Ameren bill? I’ll be happy to send you a letter telling you RWE isn’t interested in selling the water company in pieces. You’ll get your rejection and save $37,100! It’s a win-win!

Wiser council members prevailed. The vote was 8-2 against spending the money.

Television

PR: Insight Communications Announces Family Tiers

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 17, 2006–Insight Communications Company today announced that it will launch a new family-friendly programming tier throughout its footprint this summer. The digital package will include 15 channels of programming at a cost of $13.00 a month. Michael S. Willner, president and CEO of Insight, made the announcement.

The new tier of programming will include Home & Garden Television, Food Network, DIY Network, C-SPAN 2, CNBC, CNN Headline News, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, Discovery Kids, Discovery Science, Nick Games & Sports, The Disney Channel, Toon Disney, PBS KIDS Sprout and Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

“We have been exploring for quite some time the possibility of adding a new family-friendly tier of services to the numerous digital offerings that we already provide,” said Mr. Willner. “We believe that the package we are introducing will meet the needs of those consumers who only want to watch programming that has a “General Audience” rating or is known to have content that is generally acceptable to families.”

The new tier of services will be available to customers as an add-on to their Basic service, which includes approximately 21 channels. The number of channels on Basic service varies slightly in different areas. A digital set-top box is required to access the tier.

Insight customers who subscribe to other packages of programming will continue to receive all the channels they are accustomed to receiving, including those carried on the Family-Friendly tier. 

My Take: Cable companies are scared to death there may be legislation forcing them to offer cable channels à la carte, so this is an attempt to placate legislators and their constituents by offering a bundle of family-friendly channels.  The biggest agitators for mandating à la carte cable are advocacy groups like the Parents Television Council (PTC).  The PTC is unimpressed with cable companies’ efforts to offer a “family tier,” saying that it’s “designed by the cable industry solely to appease Washington lawmakers, not to give a real solution to families concerned with harsh cable content.”  They’re likely right about that.  Nevertheless, I have a feeling the offer of “family tiers” will succeed in turning down the heat from Washington for à la carte cable.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Museum Block

Museum Square — does it fulfill Peoria’s vision?

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This is an artist’s rendering of what the former Sears block (now “Museum Square”) could look like under the Heart of Peoria (HOP) Plan, which the council adopted “in principle.” As far as I know, that plan is still the vision for Peoria’s urban renewal. Since the Sears block is perhaps the most visible piece of property in the Heart of Peoria boundaries, the plan paid considerable attention to this development and recommended these principles:

First, it is important that each component of the redevelopment be designed with appropriate street frontage, since the site controls at least three crucial links to the riverfront.

Second, the site should incorporate a mix of uses that will bring activity to the area both day and night. For this reason, the inclusion of a residential component is particularly important. At opposite ends of the block, the scheme includes a hotel and a condominium, both of which would have dramatic views of the river and downtown Peoria.

Third, the scheme needs to repair the connection to the riverfront along Fulton Street, which currently comes to an undignified end on the west side of the Sears block. In the proposed scheme, the Fulton Street axis is continued as a pedestrian walkway through a central plaza. This scheme has several powerful advantages: it continues the view corridor from the downtown to the river; it re-establishes an attractive pedestrian route from the Civic Center to the riverfront entertainment district; it establishes a dramatic sequence of views for pedestrians as they pass through the museum plaza, potentially defining one of the most memorable and imageable locations on Peoria’s improved riverfront.

Now, let’s take a look at the site plan that was adopted by the council in November:

Sorry I couldn’t find a cleaner image than this one, but it’s good enough to serve our purpose. Anything here fit the Heart of Peoria Plan? Nope.

Let’s looks first at what the plan calls “appropriate street frontage.” Later in the plan document it says:

The street frontages of the buildings of the Sears Block must be active. Water Street should have the highest level of pedestrian activity; Main and Liberty should provide support in their pedestrian connection between the Downtown and Riverfront; and Washington Street should allow a proper location for service access while remaining pedestrian-friendly. Significant gaps in the street edge, low-laying structures, service uses and blank walls at the street edge all contribute to a hostile environment unsuitable for street life.

In contrast, the approved site plan has the main entrances off of Washington Street, and no entrance facing Water Street at all. There are “significant gaps in the street edge,” which is one of the things that contributes to “a hostile environment” for pedestrians. Test one, failed.

As for “a mix of uses that will bring activity both day and night,” that was left completely out. If downtown is going to thrive, it’s going to have to be active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is the single most damaging flaw in the design. The plan should have included residential and retail/restaurant components to keep the block hopping long after the museums close. As it is, at night this block will be no different than it is right now — dead.

Finally, it doesn’t “repair the connection to the riverfront along Fulton Street” the way the plan envisioned it. It continues to block one’s view of the river. However, it is a glass arcade, making it conceivable one would be able to see through it to the river, so perhaps this is partially fulfilled.

One of the later recommendations is to “[d]evelop a plan that makes optimal use of the whole block.” The approved site plan is very inefficient in that regard. In fact, the whole feel of the approved plan is a suburban one. This would look right at home at the corner of Lake and University, where Lakeview Museum sits now. But downtown, it looks out of place.

I can’t help but feel this is another opportunity lost. The so-called “crown jewel” of Peoria, Museum Square, will become yet another impediment to the broader vision of downtown revitalization. It will continue to make downtown a place to visit during the day, and retreat from at night.

City Council, Illinois American Water

About that water buyout plan….

Even if I were in favor of the city buying the water company, which I’m not, I would still think this was a fool’s errand:

The City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to spend up to $50,000 to hire Clark-Dietz, a Champaign-based engineering firm, to represent all of the entities in discussions with Illinois American . . . Though [the franchise agreement’s] buyout option will resurface in 2008, some Peoria officials believe there may be a chance to buy back the waterworks before then and perhaps for less than the $220 million pricetag set by appraisers.

Note to city council: do a Google News search on “RWE American” and see what articles come up. You’ll find that cities in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and elsewhere have all looked into the possibility of buying a piece of RWE’s American Water Company. All have been rebuffed by RWE.

Lexington, Kentucky, has a familiar story. Back in December, their city council “approved setting aside $50,000 for the city’s water committee to do its work in examining the possible purchase of Kentucky American Water from RWE AG . . . Last week, the water committee decided to hire Coady Diemar Partners, an investment bank that provides strategic financial advice and corporate finance services, to guide the committee through the process.”

And for that money, they got this response from RWE: “The record is clear, that neither RWE nor American Water have expressed any interest in selling Kentucky American Water.”

Now, wasn’t that worth $50,000?

Not to be outdone, Peoria is also poised to spend $50,000 — perhaps up to $113,000 — to be told essentially the same thing.

I just don’t understand the council. Can’t they get it through their heads? RWE is not going to sell American Water Company in pieces. I think RWE has made that abundantly clear from the beginning. What part of their stance doesn’t the city understand?

I guess after dozens of years of ignoring Peoria residents on this issue, they’ve just become deaf to water-buyout opposition.

Kellar Branch

Pioneer appeals STB ruling

Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY) is appealing the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) December 22, 2005, decision to allow the Central Illinois Railroad Company (CIRY) to discontinue service over the Kellar Branch. That ruling was to take effect January 22, 2006. Pioneer filed its appeal on January 12 in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

It’s getting hard to keep up with all the legal action taking place. Pioneer still asserts that its contract with the city to provide service on the Kellar Branch is still in force — they have litigation in state court to decide that issue. Then there are two actions they’re taking with the STB — first, they’re requesting a stay to keep the STB’s Dec. 22 decision from taking effect on Jan. 22. Second, they’re appealing the STB’s decision to the U. S. Appeals Court.

Pioneer has been trying to delay the city’s plans to turn the Kellar Branch into a trail for quite a while now. What’s different this time is they have a new ally of sorts. Up until now, Carver Lumber has not objected to the city’s plans to take out the branch and provide alternative rail service from the Union Pacific line to the west. But now they’ve broken their neutral stance because of numerous broken promises from the city, including their failure to continue providing rail service over the Kellar Branch until the new western spur is built.

Since the STB’s decision was largely based on the belief that no businesses on the rail line would be harmed if the Kellar Branch were closed down, Carver’s filing with the STB changes the complexion of the case.

In any event, the Park District and other trail enthusiasts had better not count on deconstructing the Kellar Branch rail line any time soon.

City Council, Illinois American Water

Dream On

The cities of Urbana and Champaign are planning to join forces with Peoria and Pekin to explore acquiring Illinois American Water Company assets in their respective communities. … Urbana Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Walden disclosed the effort at Monday night’s meeting of the Urbana City Council, saying the city managers and attorneys in the four communities have been talking on a regular basis.That’s the news from the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette (hat tip to Bill).  All I can say is, “dream on.”  I’m sure whenever they approach RWE, parent company of Illinois American Water Company, they’ll get an almost identical answer as the city of Lexington, Kentucky, received:

The city has misinterpreted RWE AG’s intentions to sell American Water Works as a sign that Kentucky American Water is for sale, an executive with American Water wrote in a letter to Mayor Teresa Isaac.  RWE — the German utility conglomerate that owns American Water, the New Jersey-based parent company of Kentucky American — is not interested in selling Kentucky American, wrote Daniel L. Kelleher, senior vice president external affairs for American Water Works.  “The record is clear, that neither RWE nor American Water have expressed any interest in selling Kentucky American Water,” Kelleher wrote in his Dec. 29 letter.

The city continues to waste time and resources on this quixotic quest to own the water company.  And now, they’re going to waste more of our money.  Check this out (additional quote from News-Gazette):

Walden said the four cities have tentatively agreed to the following joint steps:

  • To budget $1 per capita ($37,000 in Urbana’s case) for hiring a consultant to advise the cities.
  • To enter into an intergovernmental agreement to organize the joint efforts.
  • To pursue state legislation to permit the sale of water company assets . . .
  • To contact other Illinois communities served by Illinois American Water to determine their interest in joint efforts.

Did you catch that first one?  They’re going to budget $1 per capita to hire a consultant to advise the cities.  That’s $1 for every person in the city of Peoria, or $112,936.  That’s almost enough money to hire two firefighters for a year.  Where is that money going to come from?  Out of their hat?

You gotta love our city council.  They’re so creative, persistent, collaborative, and willing to spend money on something that has been rejected by their constituents, defeated by the council for decades, and highly likely to fail.  Yet they’re seemingly unable or unwilling to apply that same creativity, persistence, collaboration, and willingness to spend money to things that their constituents have been screaming for:  fully staffing the fire and police departments, repairing roads and sidewalks (esp. in older neighborhoods), alleviating the storm water problems in Rolling Acres, and other basic city services.

Still waiting patiently for the new council to live up to their “basic services” campaign promises . . . .

Kellar Branch

Pioneer to STB: Stop Kellar Branch closure

I mentioned in my last post that Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY) also sent a petition to the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Here’s a copy of their filing (large PDF file). It’s a “petition for stay pending reconsideration or appeal.” It’s been filed not by the company attorney, but Washington, D.C., attorneys Baker & Miller, PLLC, who specialize in transportation matters, including proceedings before the Surface Transportation Board.

They present a compelling case. From reading their petition on behalf of PIRY, you can tell they’ve really done their homework. They’ve gone back and looked at every one of the cases the STB cited as precedent for their decision and, of course, drawn different conclusions than the STB.

Their strongest argument is the letter from Carver Lumber that “refutes the main factual premise which led the board to authorize discontinuance”; namely, that “[t]he shippers served by CIRY . . . do not object, and will continue to be served from the north or from the south . . . .” We now know that’s not true.

In fact, Carver isn’t being served at all. Carver Lumber’s letter makes clear that since the City’s carrier, CIRY, took over last year, not one shipment has been made to Carver Lumber. The one time it was attempted, it was with inadequate equipment, resulting in a runaway train (through several grade crossings at 30 mph, threatening public safety) and a derailment.

The filing also claims that a proper environmental impact study was not completed, and that Pioneer was unjustly refused the opportunity to purchase the Kellar Branch from the city. I think there’s a good chance the STB will grant the stay and hear the appeal for the sole reason of Carver Lumber’s concerns.

All this leaves me with several questions. Why is the city making it so difficult for Carver Lumber to do business? Do they not care about small, locally-owned Peoria businesses? What does this action say to potential businesses who might consider locating in Peoria? What does it say to potential businesses who might consider locating in or near Pioneer Park? What does sacrificing Carver Lumber’s business for the sake of the Park District’s trail extension say about the city’s priorities? And where are the Peoria Journal Star reporters on this story? Isn’t it news that the City of Peoria is directly responsible for over $25,000 in additional transportation costs for one of its local businesses? Isn’t that outrageous enough to warrant an editorial, or at least a front-page story in the local section? I sure think so.

This whole project has been outrageous from the beginning, and the City Council should put a stop to it. The filing by Pioneer concludes:

There is a way by which CIRY can be relieved of its operating obligation, the City compensated for the use of its tracks, the environmental impacts adequately studied, and service to shippers maintained. That way is by granting the stay, reconsidering the Board’s decision, and then allowing PIRY to file an OFA [“offer of financial assistance,” i.e., allowing Pioneer to purchase the Kellar Branch from the city]. Granting the stay provides an opportunity for the Board to reconsider its decisions in light of the new evidence submitted by Carver, and correct its decision. The public as [a] whole will benefit.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Kellar Branch

Broken promises resurrect Kellar Branch saga

Carver Lumber was promised some things by the city. The city promised that Carver would continue to receive rail service via the Kellar Branch until the new western spur could be completed. The city promised it wouldn’t stop service on the Kellar Branch until service via that western spur was in place and operating smoothly. And the city promised Carver that it would receive comparable shipping rates via the west.

The city broke its promises.

Now Carver Lumber has petitioned the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to overturn their ruling and force the city to reinstate service on the Kellar Branch. Pioneer Railcorp is also filing a motion to stay the STB’s ruling pending appeal in light of this new development.

You can read Carver Lumber’s grievances here. The STB ruling makes it possible for the city to start dismantling the Kellar Branch any time after January 22, 2006. However, the promised western spur is not yet complete, and the corners being cut in its construction will add to Carver’s shipping costs.

To make matters worse, they have received no shipments via the Kellar Branch since September, resulting in over $25,000 in additional shipping costs to truck the lumber from the rail yard to Pioneer Park. Why? Because the company the city hired to work the line, Central Illinois Railway (a subsidiary of DOT Rail in Granville, Ill.), is unable to haul the rail cars up the Kellar line. You may remember the last time they tried — and the whole load slid backwards down the hill and derailed.

Furthermore, even once the western spur is completed, the city has been unable to pursuade Union Pacific (the only line the western spur will access) to allow CIRY to use their tracks to make deliveries to Carver Lumber. Without trackage rights, they may be left without service entirely. That’s the trouble when you don’t have neutral access — the kind of neutral access they have via the Kellar Branch.

And why is all this nonsense going on? Because the Park District wants to remove a working rail line to put in a hiking trail. They’ve already driven potential business away from Pioneer Park because of this ceaseless quest to remove competitive rail service. Now it’s almost as if they’re trying to run Carver Lumber out of there as well.

The city could make things a whole lot easier on everyone if they would just kill this ill-conceived trail project and sell the rail line to Pioneer Railcorp. Then the Park District could use their grants to build a trail along a different route to connect the Rock Island with the Pimiteoui — a route that wouldn’t hurt Peoria businesses.