77 thoughts on “Beth Akeson to run for Third District council seat”

1. Again, I am not attacking Beth Akeson.  I will even consider voting for her. 

   What many of you say about Beth might even be true.  I guess the truth will be in the pudding.  I hate being cliche. 

   What  am asking is that you all stop acting like a bunch of hypocrites.  Like I  already said, everyone of you has been CRITICAL of one or more members of the council [or other local poltician].  You are all obviously friends of Beth.  I believe because of this you are ALL willing to start waiving her flag.  Anyone who speaks out be damned! 
   C.J. – NO.  I do not see Tulips comments as insulting.  You know that it is difficult to really have a meaningful exchange on a blog site.  I did not see any name calling.  I see no derogatory comments of any kind coming from Tulip.  I see no accusations  I see only the verbal slamming by people like 11Bravo, who plays by the very same [playground] rules he says he holds in such contempt.  Tulip may not be a local political whiz [sorry if I presume to much], but she speaks from the heart…WITHOUT being abusive.   

   Between Billy’s “pissing contest,” and 11Bravo holding us all up to HIS high standars of community service, I am about ready to write Santa. 

   Believe me…what I ask him to put in your stockings will NOT be a lump of coal.

2. I think this blogging ‘dialogue’ illustrates that many citizens (those commenting here and those who do not) are fed up with the status quo.  Yes, I am a friend of Beth’s and yes, I have been critical of city council members.  I am criticial of the closed ears and eyes and the lack of common sense displayed by the decisions of our elected officials.  You live in any given neighborhood and tell you council person what you need but he/she knows best and the opposite if anything is done about your situation.  Or, you discuss the options with your city council person and he/she agrees as in gives you his/her word and then proceeds to knife you in the back by reversing course on the council floor.  As candidates, they are all too willing to listen and nod their heads in agreement.  When elected, their resolve and backbone to stand up to the status quo dissolves like gelatin in hot water. 

   What Beth tells you is what you get — she does not purse words and schmooze you to your face and then turn around and knife you in your back.  Beth is concerned about our city and is well prepared with knowledge and equally important skills which involve respect for others which we see all too lacking in our elected officials.  Minority viewpoints/issues important to others such as the tenant issue described above usually become marginalized because the citizen is not represented once their vote has been obtained.  This citizen is usually not considered to be high enough on the social and economic foodchain to be treated with respect and have their issues addressed let alone resolved.
   So, I would encourage you to send your issues and concerns to Beth — perhaps Beth’s website will allow you to post questions or issues and she will respond to them.  In that manner, you can remain anonymous without any fear of retribution to have your issues addressed with her approaches and answers to resolve your issues.  I know all too well, that being in the political arena carries real and perceived risks of retribution.

   This is the time, more than ever for us to work together and develop a common strategy to repair our city and rebuild for a positive future.  We have many issues, people and relations with and among each other, race, economic, social, city planning and development, neighborhood stabilization and so on —- we need to roll up our sleeves and prepare to engage in messy discussions to resolve these issues and work together instead of ignoring what is so obvious and uncomfortable to address.  We need a common plan.  We can no longer afford to ignore our problems and we need to creatively plan for a better future rather than continue with the status quo or bury our heads in the sand or complain about the sky falling and let our problems fester like an angry boils waiting to burst. 

   Let’s work together and be builders not destroyers! 🙂

3. New Voice: In regards to downtown development, Beth is guided by the principles of New Urbanism in general, and the Heart of Peoria Plan in particular.  So she’s been critical of the museum, as I have, because of its single-use form, its suburban setbacks, etc.

4. Fair enough.

   Lets remember, there are many who do not know Beth like you do.  They may remain skeptical until her platform becomes clearer.  I for one, am more than willing to give her a chance. 

5. charice:”The landlords in this city are corrupt” Thanks for the blanket statement there. I am a landlord with very low turnover due to the fact I care about my tenants and am always fair. Such a biased comment makes me very angry.

6. I want to get on this… but I have nothing to say on the matter… can we fight about something else?

   I think Gary Sandberg should run for Caesar of Peoria, unifying the city manager and mayorial positions.

7. Wow, as review this thread I am shocked at how quickly this devolved. I thought I made a valid point that the following is pathetically vague and sounds self “right”eous. To assume there is a right action and a right way is to oversimplify some pretty tough situations.

   I look forward to a positive campaign as I champion Peoria’s older neighborhoods, advocate for doing the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way.

   I’m sure those who are Freinds of Beth Akeson read this with a different eye. I want you to see how someone with a different POV sees it. I would think that would be valuable feedback for any fledgling campaign. Why do Beth’s supporters assume this is a personal attack? I think your attacks against me suggest that this is more about personalities than issues. Which strikes me as odd because C.J. usually presents such thorough information about issues that affect older neighborhoods. I’d support him for office in a heartbeat based on my knowledge of how he approaches an issue. All I ask is that BA and FOBA realize that you have to come out with plans not platitudes. I am truly sorry if you find that insulting. As for C.J.’s request that I speak directly to BA on a blog – I’m not sure that this forum lends itself to that sort of dialogue.

8. I look forward to the candidate debates. As a resident of the East Bluff and one who jokingly has said, “I pray for eminent domain”, well, it hasn’t happened so I guess I am staying. I want to hear where the candidates stand on the issues.
   1. The Glen Oak “Impact Zone” – both 1 & 2
   2. Development of the Wisconsin Street “commercial area”.
   3. Landlord licensing (there are a some who are not like Lancer).
   4. Crime and quality of life issues – vandalism, litter, gangs, noise, unsupervised minors roaming in packs, trespassing on private property, and many others
   5. Investment in youth – alternatives to some of those issues listed in #4.
   6. Taxes – Peoria is sending me to Washington to shop.
   7. Forget buying the water company, at least until Peoria can run itself.
   8. Where would the candidate have stood on the logo debacle?
   9. Specifically, what are the three top priorities of the candidates?

   There are more questions, but this is a start. I would ask that the answers come in as few words as possible, each of those words valuable in conveying the message. The four C’s of communication would be welcome here – clear, complete, concise and correct. I would ask that the candidates leave the filler out for awhile.

9. Kcdad: Yes, I’d like to get back to District 150–the new Edison cyberspace virtual classroom pilot–the one where students will be sitting in front of computers instead of being taught by teachers (who would become “helpers”). I find it ironic because teachers are constantly being told to “engage” students and interact for the full class hour–now students will just be staring at a computer with no interaction with teachers or fellow students (at least, no appropriate interaction). Hinton is definitely excited about this program. Martha Ross seems excited, too.

10. I also want to vote with someone I can agree with on building the block and library expansion. One can probably guess that I do not favor a museum occupying most of the old Sears block and I voted “No” on the library referendum.

11. Ramble-
    When I lived on Peoria Ave., just pulling out of the driveway could be a challenge. Kids on bikes would sit in the way. Refusing to move. Or, if they moved, they’d threaten to swerve into your path. My neighbors would “borrow” tools and then say, “oh, I put them on your porch. Guess someone stole them.” SlimeLords bought up the properties in the decaying neighborhood and rented them out to people who seemed to have a tenuous hold on economic viability. I remember seeing a line of rats parading into a huge hole in the outer basement entrance in the rental house next door.

    One night, two men tried to enter my back door. Thank God I had a dog that scared the piss out of them as they tried to pry open the door.

    This is all just to say that this experience gave me a good idea of the problems these residents of an “older neighborhood” face. Living in such an environment can be frightening as hell. Ramble, your item #4 needs to be addressed squarely by any candidate for the third district. A successful candidate needs to be tough as nails.

12. Tulip — Thank you for the compliment.

    I didn’t find your initial comment insulting — rather, I thought you were inferring a bit too much from it, considering she hasn’t laid out her platform yet. As the conversation progressed, I got the strong impression you weren’t serious about finding out what Beth’s specific stands on the issues are. If you were serious, you would have taken the opportunity to ask her, either on the blog where you could remain anonymous, or by calling her. Since you instead ignored her (which is the thing I found insulting), I concluded that you weren’t really interested in learning what she stands for or open-minded about her candidacy.

    If that’s not the case — i.e., if you are open-minded about her candidacy and interested in hearing her platform — then I apologize for jumping to conclusions.

13. I come from hardscrabble. That might not be something many of you can relate to. Rats in the floorboards. Empty cabinets. An embarrassing running tally at the corner grocery. Working as a young child to help the family survive. Delivering papers and working nights and weekends at the drive in. Maybe that’s why I’m so class and neighborhood conscious. And so suspicious of people who
    know what is “right.” When I know that real people out there know better.

14. What is this “real people” crap?? Well boohoo you had a rough childhood you’re family had to barely scrape by when you were a child. Welcome to the club, I can remember having little to no money for food or clothes while all the other kids got the things I wanted to have. The difference is I didn’t grow up despising those people.

    Since you have already said you don’t even know Beth, and neither do I just for clarification, how do you know she isn’t from the same upbringing as you? This whole us vs. them social mentality is a product of ignorance, laziness, and a desire to blame others for your own lack of “success” in your own life. (I use success in parenthesis because everyone has a different definition of success for themselves.)

15. Tulip — A person’s character is not determined by his or her economic circumstances. Beth is sincere in her desire to help older neighborhoods. She’s been advocating for Peoria’s older neighborhoods for years now. You might want to consider what she has to say with an open mind.

16. It is not difficult to be skeptical of people running for office in Peoria, or anywhere else for that matter. There has been a lot of promise much, deliver little. Invest in the city’s core seems to turn into another subdivision is the Dunlap school district. Support local businesses becomes Shoppes at Grande Prairie. I also understand why Tulip reacted to “right thing”. District 150 thought they knew what was the RIGHT thing for the residents of the East Bluff. I sincerely hope that whoever represents us at council does the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. I just hope that candidate and ultimately that representative listens to us and stands by us and helps the quality of life here in the East Bluff and other older neighborhoods begin to approximate the quality of life enjoyed in the 4th and 5th districts. Many of us in the older neighborhoods – homeowners and renters alike – care deeply about our homes and our neighborhood. Again, I look forward to hearing from all the candidates.

17. Geez Bravo,
    Who crapped on your Wheaties this morning?
    If your last post is any indication of the person YOU have become…I’m digging a bomb shelter.

18. Yeah my bad, I guess I should be more tolerant of ingnorance and prejudice.

19. That’s ignorance.

20. There’s no point in being tolerant when you’re right.

21. I’m sure glad I decided not to run! 😛

    I like to think of my blog as a place of civil discourse, but we (myself included) haven’t done a very good of that on this post. What do you say we try to be nicer to each other from here on out? We should all be able to disagree without being disagreeable, right?

22. Ramble on: Where you living on the East Bluff during the Glen Oak School Siting Debacle? Perhaps you will remember the indepth presentations which Beth Akeson gave at those meetings regarding the lack of foresight at siting the school in Glen Oak Park? Why was the D150 Board not listening to the East Bluff neighbors? I have a copy of the official court reporter (think foolishly spent taxpayer dollars by D150) transcript of said meeting if you would like to read Beth’s comments. Or did you attend the PPD meetings where Beth gave other presentations or or or?

    Tulip: I very much understand your POV — lip service from rich people knowing what is best while we live next drug dealers, thugs, disrespectful neighbors, noise, trash and so on. If one more such person verbally pats me on the head and tells me to sit down — I think I will scream.

    At the same time, you may wish to seek to understand Beth before being understood. Perhaps Beth made an unfortunate choice of words by using ‘right’. On deeper reflection, I feel and know that we do have to do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way. We have not done that in the past in Peoria, not very often in the past 15 years in which I have lived here. We rush and shove projects down the citizens throats — recently the logo — vote on it — and then pick another — why vote if they know best? — the hotel — three days —- 72 hours for the public to weigh in on a $40 million subsidy to a new hotel project — absurd and so on and so forth. And the right way will not necessarily be pretty — a lot of public discussion needs to occur — what was the purpose of the charettes? To engage the public — then the city council goes another direction — that is betrayal and mistrust created — more devisiveness — that is not what Beth advocates — quite the opposite.

    I have heard Beth say that everyone in Peoria regardless of where they live, should be able to open their front doors and come out into the public space and it should be attractive and appealing — not a war zone, not a trashcan, not noise zone, …. I do not state it as well as Beth — I hope you get the idea.

    As for having money, I would tend to agree that many moneyed folks in our fair city do not get it or advocate and advance poor public policy which is self-serving and weakens our city as a whole. They have no concept of what goes on in an older neighborhood.

    Beth is not in that class which is refreshing in itself. She goes to neighborhood meetings, she talks with citizens, she knows what is going on in our older neighborhoods. Also, she is willing to pull up her sleeves and get to work unlike many others who talk and talk and talk and rush to the microphone to take credit while the project is going good but blame others when the project falls short and then disappear into the wordwork like termites.

    We need citizens like yourself who want to have hope and faith that there is an honorable candidate who will actually represent them. We need to become engaged on an individual basis and turn the tide to rebuild our city. I agree that so many candidates turned elected officials become disconnected from the citizenry once ballots are cast. Suddenly, without continuing to meet and talk with constituents to keep current with issues to accurately represent their constituency. Instead, they suddenly know what is best because they have been elected to public office. I only wish that I had such a candidate as Beth to vote for in the 1st District.

    Bring on the debates.

23. I say write-in candidacy for CJ in the 2nd! 🙂

24. There goes the party.

    I’ll tell you what……

    I am MORE than willing to accept Bravo’s apology [and Christmas present].

25. Better late than never…
    Tulip-
    When Beth said , “Ask yourself why would Beth be investing time advocating for older neighborhoods if she did not care about Peoria’s future?”, you criticized her for speaking in the third person. In actuality, Beth spoke correctly. Apparently, you wanted Beth to say, “Ask yourself why would I be investing time advocating for older neighborhoods if I did not care about Peoria’s future?”. This would have been quite confusing. Who is the one investing the time in older neighborhoods? The “I” makes it unclear. Is it you? Is it Beth? Is it me? She was making her sentence as clear as possible.
    That’s all… It just gets on my nerves when people are quick to criticize when a) the subject is trivial and b) when they’re not correct in their criticisms in the first place. Out of respect for C.J., let’s try not to turn serious conversations into high school drama.

26. I took Beth up on on her invitation to call her. We talked close to an hour about what she thought were issues in Averyville.I wanted to hear her ideas first so I could compare them to what my reallities are.Our conversation was very informative for us both.I needed to form my opinion of Beth and the only way was to speak with her,give it a try. Good day.

27. I have known Beth Akeson for almost 25 years, There is no doubt in my mind that Beth, would be a asset on the Third dist. council seat. I have lived in Peoria all my life, an it is sad , what is happening in a town that you to be a safe place to live. Beth will not just sit an listen to opinions, She will speak up an take action. Beth Akeson, is my only choice for the 3rd Dist. council seat. She will get the job done.

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