Category Archives: City of Peoria

City of Peoria

What’s wrong with Peoria?

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Peoria LogoI’m disturbed by what I see as a trend to de-emphasize the name of our beloved city, Peoria. The museum is only the latest in a long line of the name purging. Remember what CityLink used to be called? That’s right, GP Transit — where “GP” stood for “Greater Peoria.” The Journal Star stopped calling themselves the “Peoria Journal Star” decades ago. The Peoria Civic Center is looking to sell their naming rights, so it will likely lose the Peoria part of its name. Now, the Peoria Regional Airport is floating the idea of changing its name as well.

Why? What’s wrong with “Peoria”? Is it a lack of civic pride? Are people embarrassed to be associated with Peoria?

One argument I hear often is that many of these places want to have more regional appeal, thus they come up with more generic or regional names. Here’s my question: how’s that working out? Does CityLink have a large presence in East Peoria, Pekin, Germantown Hills, Metamora, Washington, Bartonville, etc., now that they’ve adopted a regional name? Has the Journal Star’s circulation risen since they de-emphasized “Peoria” in their nameplate? Has fundraising really taken off in the surrounding cities since the museum started calling themselves (temporarily) the Central Illinois Regional Museum? I’m highly skeptical that these efforts have resulted in any appreciable difference in revenues or attitudes toward the companies who’ve chosen to eschew the Peoria moniker.

Another argument is that Peoria supposedly has a bad reputation for whatever reason, thus making the name a marketing liability. First of all, I don’t believe people are that easily fooled. You still have to tell people where you’re located, so they’re going to find out that you’re in Peoria eventually. You can’t trick them into coming here. Secondly, hiding the Peoria name doesn’t help improve that reputation, if one concedes such a repuation exists. If the Peoria Civic Center is successful, then Peoria’s reputation is helped. If the Peoria History Museum gained national attention, then the Peoria name would shine. But if the AMAZEum prospers, or the ABC Company Civic Center is a popular regional attraction, what does that do for Peoria’s name? Nothing. It’s self-defeating.

So, I ask again, what’s wrong with Peoria? What’s wrong with showing a little pride in our city? Yes, I do my fair share of criticism of the city, but I consider around 99% of it constructive criticism, and frankly, I love Peoria. That’s why I live here. That’s why I’ve chosen to live right in the heart of the city. That’s why I call my blog “The PEORIA Chronicle.”

I’m tired of seeing “Peoria” get short shrift. Despite its challenges, Peoria has a lot going for it. We all know it. We can all quote chapter and verse about Peoria’s storied past and our progressive vision for the future. Why not flaunt it? We should be proud to put the name “Peoria” on our museums, civic centers, airport, buses, newspapers, etc. And we should be proud to be known as Peorians.

City of Peoria, Insight Communications, Television

TV ads promote national cable franchise agreement

Have you seen a commercial like this one lately?

In this ad, which I got online, it lists Tennessee senators, but I’ve seen this same ad locally (frequently) with Illinois senators listed. It leaves you with the impression that some nefarious “special interests” are sabotaging a chance to lower our cable bills and allow something called “cable choice.” But these ads are totally misleading.

What the ads don’t tell you is that they’re advocating a bill in Congress known as the Advanced Telecommunication and Opportunity Reform Act. The House version of the bill (HR5252) passed 321 to 101, and is due to come up in the Senate. If passed and signed into law, this bill would allow the federal government to award cable franchise agreements.

I first brought this up back in April when Peoria’s franchise agreement with Insight expired. Right now, companies who want to offer cable television to a community must negotiate a franchise agreement with the local municipality. Peoria is still trying to negotiate a renewed franchise agreement with Insight Communications; according to city attorney Randy Ray, Insight and the City will be meeting again September 11 to hopefully hammer something out.

By law, cable franchise agreements are non-exclusive. That means no one is keeping “cable choice” from happening. Any company who wants to offer cable TV to Peoria can come in and negotiate their own franchise agreement with the city. But big telecom congomerates like AT&T don’t want to have to negotiate with every municipality, hence the push for a national franchise agreement.

The telecom-backed www.WeWantChoice.com, which sponsored the above commercial and others like it, call the current franchise system “a lengthy, expensive process that just doesn’t make sense.” By having a national franchise agreement, it will make it easier for them to compete, they claim, and that competition will lead to lower cable bills.

The Illinois Municipal League (IML) sees it differently. Local governments and their advocates like the IML are undoubtedly the “special interests” to which the commercials refer. The IML believes this legislation “would harm consumers, cities and counties in many ways, including:”

  1. It fails to keep local govemment financially whole because it strips state and local governments of tax authority over broadband and wireless telecommunications services.
  2. It would permit local telephone companies to pick and choose the neighborhoods in which they want to provide video and broadband services, while allowing them to bypass other
    neighborhoods completely.
  3. It would replace strong state and local consumer protection and customer service standards with federal standards drafted by federal bureaucrats not accountable to state and local communities and consumers.
  4. It would unilaterally preempt other carefully crafted state and local laws that encourage competition and protect the public interest.

If this process is so expensive and burdensome, how is it that cable companies have figured out a way to do it profitably? Why should telecom companies be allowed a shortcut — an end-run around local control? This is not about leveling the playing field — it’s about very large telecom companies wanting an advantage over cable companies. This is not a process that needs to be nationalized. Cable franchises should not be a federal issue; they are a local issue, and they should stay local.

Incidentally, Randy Ray mentioned that the city has been lobbying our representatives in Washington concerning this, and “the Mayor has written several letters.”

No one has admitted it, but I’m guessing this legislation is one of the sticking points that’s delaying the new franchise agreement between the City and Insight. I’ll bet Insight wants language in the agreement that will allow them an “out” if national franchise agreements are permitted in the future. Otherwise, they would be at a competitive disadvantage.

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

Carver Lumber pleads for Kellar access

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Carver Lumber recently wrote the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and pleaded with them to let Pioneer Industrial Railway provide them service over the Kellar Branch. It’s technically called a petition for “Alternative Rail Service.” The idea is that everyone is kind of in limbo waiting for the STB to rule on whether service over the Kellar Branch should be discontinued or not, but in the meantime Central Illinois Railroad (CIRY), the city’s current carrier, refuses to run on the old Kellar Branch, even though they have an obligation to do so until the STB gives them approval to stop.

So, during this “limbo” period that CIRY is refusing to carry out their common carrier obligation, Pioneer is offering to provide that service instead. Clear as mud? Carver writes:

Several weeks ago Carver Lumber Company requested that the board restore our rail service over the Kellar Branch in Peoria County, Illinois. On July 27, 2006, Pioneer Industrial Railway Co. filed an Alternative Rail Service Request, which we support. To date, Central Illinois Railroad Company continues to refuse to provide service over the Kellar Branch, despite its common carrier obligation to do so.

Our business desperately needs reliable rail service. We urge the board to act as quickly as possible to grant Pioneer Industrial’s Alternative Service request.

It’s kind of sad that Carver has to appeal to the STB to get any relief. You’d think that Peoria, that’s supposedly trying to become more business-friendly, would be on Carver’s side, trying to get them the rail service they need. You’d think that Steve Van Winkle, who promised Carver in writing that “the City stands ready and willing to enforce all aspects of its contract with [CIRY]” would stand by his word and actually seek relief for Carver’s unnecessary expenses due to CIRY’s breach of contract.

But no. The city lied. The city wants Carver to go away. The city wants to throw away those 50 jobs, sales taxes, property taxes, and of course the $565,000 rail asset. All for a hiking/biking trail.

UPDATE: CIRY and the City have written the STB in response to Carver Lumber’s request. They point out that once a car is placed on the new western spur by Union Pacific, CIRY promptly delivers the car to Carver Lumber. Thus, they claim CIRY is fulfilling its common carrier service. Completely ignored is the fact that Carver could have gotten that shipment sooner had CIRY (or Pioneer) picked up the car downtown and taken it up the Kellar Branch instead of waiting for UP to place it on the western spur. It would be cheaper, too. Just one more example of how the City has no interest in dealing fairly with Carver Lumber Company.

City of Peoria, Museum Block

“Peoria” not a museum name choice

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WMBD 1470 has the scoop on proposed names for the new museum. Here they are:

  • ExploraSphere Museum
  • AMAZeum
  • Port of Exporation Museum
  • Museum on the Square

Noticeably absent: “Peoria” and “history.” These names illustrate my main criticism of the museum. From any of those names, do you know what this museum is supposed to be? What kind of museum it is? What kind of exhibits it has? Every one of them is nondescript.

The museum’s website has this description:

A new museum of art, history, science and achievement is coming to downtown Peoria. Its galleries will be full of fine art and Illinois folk art, Illinois High School achievements and replays, African American histories, plus oral and interactive history exhibits that tell the story of the entire region. There will be an Illinois River Encounter – from the Ice Age to today, a digital planetarium, and a giant screen theatre, all in a beautiful and environmentally cutting-edge new building on Museum Square.

Again, no mention of Peoria, other than its address. Perhaps the ambiguity of the museum is part of what’s hampering fundraising efforts. I have a suggestion regarding fundraising, though: If it’s going to be a place that “tell[s] the story of the entire region,” then they should ask for donations from the “entire region,” whatever that is, instead of just Peorians, who apparently aren’t worth mentioning in the museum’s name or description.

You can vote for your favorite name at www.namethemuseum.org.

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

It’s time for Peoria schools to be reborn

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The Journal Star reports this morning that Dunlap schools (District 323) have added 167 new students this year. More students means more federal dollars; it also means more people are moving into the Dunlap School District, bringing more property tax revenue into the system. Dunlap School Superintendant Jeanne Williamson is quoted as saying, “I welcome our growth, it says to us the school district is attracting families to Dunlap … and we’ll continue to serve them.”

But when she says they’re attracting families “to Dunlap,” she doesn’t mean more people are moving into the village, just the school district. Williamson was interviewed in a recent issue of Peoria Woman and had these interesting statistics to share (emphasis mine):

For the past two school years, we’ve tracked where our new Dunlap students come from. Only about 15 percent of our growth is a shift from District 150. The majority of our new students are from families moving into the Peoria area from other locations. There’s been extensive new construction and development of subdivisions in the City of Peoria that are located in the Dunlap School District; this enhances the decision for families to buy these homes. Since approximately 70 percent of our students live in the City of Peoria, it’s been a great marriage between the city and the Dunlap School District.

I would argue that it hasn’t been a “great marriage” for the city. It’s more like a divorce because it divides the city and damages our sense of community (and by “community,” I mean, “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals”). We now have a situation where the northern part of the city has an economically-advantaged student base with a growing school district budget, and the southern part of the city has an economically-disadvantaged student base with a growing school district deficit. District 150 is trying to educate the neediest, most at-risk children with dwindling resources while all the tax revenue from Peoria’s growth area is going to the least needy.

It’s the age-old story of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. And something needs to be done about it.

As readers of my site know, I’m a proponent of the Heart of Peoria Plan and related initiatives to revitalize our older neighborhoods in the core of the city. But everyone acknowledges that the biggest things we need to be working on in Peoria are crime and schools. We’ll leave crime for a later discussion; right now, let’s talk about what can be done to improve the schools.

I propose (and this is not original with me) that we consolidate school districts 150 and 323. Since 70 percent of the students in District 323 are from Peoria anyway, I don’t see any reason to have separate school districts that divide our city and cause an ever-increasing economic disparity that hurts the neediest of our city’s children. Our civic leaders should begin a campaign now to lobby for consolidation. I realize it will be an uphill battle and may take years to succeed, but someone needs to get the ball rolling.

I think it should start with the District 150 school board working directly with the District 323 school board. If those two boards vote to consolidate, a referendum can be put on the ballot. Otherwise, it would take petitions with 50 signatures from District 150 residents and 50 signatures from District 323 residents to get a referendum on the ballot. However, if the school boards were for it, I think that would carry more weight with the public.

Under a new law for school consolidation, the way it could work is that both District 150 and 323 would be dissolved and a new district formed with a new school board elected at the same time. Thus, it wouldn’t be like one district joining the other, but a new district with new leadership formed all at once. This could be the renaissance that Peoria needs to improve education for all the children of our city.

The last time Peoria experienced massive growth — back in the ’60s when Richwoods township was annexed — civic leaders (and the media, including the Journal Star) campaigned tirelessly and passionately about the importance of having a united school district, and they succeeded. I’m confident that it can be done again.

City of Peoria, Museum Block

Grieves: Peoria’s future teeters on Museum Square

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Former Peoria resident and mayor Bud Grieves has this dire warning for Peorians in his letter to the editor of the Journal Star yesterday:

If we fail to attract an increasingly mobile and demanding work force, our fine hospitals, Caterpillar and others will look for greener pastures, and Peoria will wither and die.

Now just reading that quote, wouldn’t you think he would talk about the importance of cracking down on crime, enhancing the school district, improving regional alliances, strengthening the city core, or something really important like that? Me too. But no. According to Grieves, the thing that’s going to bring the “high-quality employees” to Peoria in droves is the new regional museum:

First-class museums rank high on their list and, along with our other recent Downtown developments, create a cohesive and exciting environment.

First of all, he’s assuming facts not in evidence. What evidence exists that this still-going-by-its-supposedly-working-title “Central Illinois Regional Museum” is going to be “first-class”? They can’t even decide what kind of museum it’s supposed to be. Is it an art museum? history museum? natural history museum? science and technology museum? According to their website, it’s incredibly all four, all within about 70,000 square feet. That’s about 17,500 square feet to devote to each of those four types of museum exhibits. This is like one of those restaurants where they serve 23 different types of cuisine and none of them well. Trying to be the übermuseum is a recipe for third-rate, not first-class.

Secondly, the museum designers spurned the Heart of Peoria Plan, even though authentic urban character and historic buildings are also among those things “high on the list” of “high-quality,” creative-class employees. Not only that, the Heart of Peoria Plan was crafted to the specs of Peoria residents; perhaps fundraising would be going easier had the museum designers implemented any of the New Urbanist principles Peorians prefer for downtown redevelopment. Of course, as PeoriaIllinoisan points out, there are lots of projects attempting to improve the “quality of life” here in Peoria right now, and all of them need money.

Finally, I simply don’t believe that the museum project is the lynchpin of Peoria’s future, and trying to get people to donate to it out of fear, as Grieves tries to do, only proves the blindness (and desperation) of its supporters, not its critics.

City of Peoria, Peoria Police

Inside the mind of a Peoria thief

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One of my neighbors’ home was burglarized last weekend. The perpetrator(s) took lots of electronic stuff (two laptops, stereo equipment, iPod, speakers, etc.). But the most bizarre thing happened after that.

Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry’s car was stolen, and he called his car phone and the guy who stole his car answered? Well, truth is stranger than fiction. I just got an e-mail from my neighbor where he related this exchange:

And another interesting note, one of them used my wife’s computer today to get on the internet (her Windows Messenger icon came online). I had a chat with him and he actually responded. He actually told me he was using the internet in a public place—then later told me it was at a McDonalds. He told me that I could buy the laptop back off of him for $500. I agreed. He then backed off because he was scared I would call the cops. He then told me that I have too much confidence in our police and that they won’t do anything. He said that he could do the same thing again and still won’t be caught.

I suppose all criminals are cocky like that, believing they’ll never get caught. Still, according to witnesses, this crime was committed in the middle of the day, in broad daylight. And the shameless perp has no fear of having a conversation with the person from whom he stole. And, this particular perp’s confidence is not in his personal craftiness, but in his perception that the police department “won’t do anything.”

What could be giving Peoria thieves that impression? I’m afraid I don’t have any answers.

City of Peoria, Peoria Area CVB

When the going gets tough…

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…the tough get going — out of town? Steve Powell resigned as director of the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau yesterday and said he’s moving back to Missouri. Why? The Journal Star reports:

Powell acknowledged he was taking heat from some bureau board members, who include several hoteliers, about the fact he favors a new hotel attached to the Peoria Civic Center.

Just in case you don’t know who’s on the PACVB board of directors, here they are (according to their website, which I assume is up-to-date):

  • Dan Cunningham, EastSide Centre – Chairman
  • Ken Goldin, Bradley University – Vice Chairman
  • LaVonne Hamilton Klein, Stoney Creek Inn & Conference Center – Secretary/Treasurer
  • Rick Edwards, Caterpillar Inc.
  • Jim Garner, MultiAd
  • Craig Hullinger, City of Peoria
  • Honorable John Morris, Peoria City Council
  • Frank Pedulla, Radisson Hotel Peoria
  • Tony Pisano, Kouris’ Restaurants
  • Sami Qureshi, Holiday Inn City Centre
  • Debbie Ritschel, Peoria Civic Center
  • Mary Jo Schettler, PAR-A-DICE Hotel Casino
  • Honorable W. Eric Turner, Peoria City Council
  • Don Welch, Hotel Pere Marquette

Now, I’m not a proponent of the Civic Center hotel idea either. But if taking a little heat from the board over one of your ideas/positions causes you to take your ball and go home, there’s something wrong. There must be more to the story than that.

I don’t think it has anything to do with the recent flap over unauthorized redirection of funds because that took place under Keith Arnold, Powell’s predecessor. It’s hard to imagine how that could have hurt Powell, unless he was involved in some sort of cover-up after the fact.

Perhaps this quote from Powell provides a clue:

“The only thing I’ll say is that Peoria needs to be sold as a destination, then they can better sell the products that are offered within the destination. Some people didn’t understand that.”

It sounds like the differences between Powell and the board went deeper than a single hotel issue. That quote makes it sound like there was a fundamental difference of philosophy on how to “sell” Peoria, and that’s why Powell’s job may have been in jeopardy if he kept pushing his agenda. In that case, his departure may have been on principle.

Now they have to start searching for a new director, and the search committee comprises the bureau’s chairman (Cunningham) and vice chairman (Goldin), a representative from Caterpillar, and a representative appointed by the Mayor. Considering Cat is against a Civic Center hotel, and the city isn’t very warm to the idea either, I’ll bet the next director will be against it, too. Which begs the question, did Cat have anything to do with the pressure put on Mr. Powell?

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

City takes the high road

Despite having the school board spit in their eye over the replacement school for the Woodruff attendance area, the city asked for input from the school board regarding their plans to implement two new TIF districts along the Warehouse District and Southern Gateway.  It’s good to see the city taking the high road and showing some statesmanship in this matter.

At the same time, I was happy to see the city council not just throwing good money after bad in the name of cooperation.  At last week’s council meeting, there was a proposal on the agenda to replace sidewalks around one of the schools slated to close within the next year or so — clearly a huge waste of money.  They wisely deferred that item until they could get more information from the school board on their plans for that school.

Kudos to the Council for playing fair, but not playing the fool with District 150.

City of Peoria

The Plague has hit my house

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Monday morning, I got sick. Monday afternoon, my wife got sick. Tuesday, my son got sick. Last night, my youngest daughter got sick. Sick, sick, sick. That’s all that’s going on at my place this week. I’d like to go a good long time (like maybe forever) before being vomited on again, if that’s at all possible.

Maybe all this sickness could explain why I’m suddenly bored to death with my blog. Or it may be because I always talk about the same things… District 150… Kellar Branch… City Council… Blah, blah, blah.

I’ve thought about writing about other stuff, like my life. But my life isn’t a fount of entertaining first-person narratives, although I did want to share this:

My oldest daughter — the only one who didn’t get sick this week… yet — is learning to write, so all summer she’s been writing notes. My favorite one came to my wife after our little angel had done something especially disobedient. It read: “Dear Mommy, I love you and I want to obey you but I can’t.” Kinda says it all, doesn’t it? I believe the Apostle Paul wrote something similar in his epistle to the Romans.

But I digress. It’s time, once again, for me to step away briefly from the blogosphere and see if I miss it. Every time I’ve done this before, I’ve always come back. That either means it’s an enjoyable, worthwhile hobby, or it’s the fulfillment of that biblical proverb, “as a dog returns to his vomit….”

Nah, it can’t be the latter. Not after this week….