Category Archives: City of Peoria

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

How much does it cost to rehab Kellar rail line?

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On July 24, the City of Peoria stated in a filing with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) that, according to a 2000 estimate from IDOT, it would cost approximately $2,015,469 to rehabilitate just 6.29 miles of the Kellar Branch rail line.

On August 2, just a week and a half later, the City of Peoria stated in a filing with the STB that, according to a 2006 Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) inspection report, it would only take $50,000 to rehabilitate 8 miles of the Kellar Branch rail line.

That’s a difference of about $1,965,469.

It sounds like the city is not only not putting forth a good-faith effort to provide Carver Lumber the level of service they promised, but is also reporting outdated and misleading estimates to the STB to make the track rehabilitation costs sound worse than they really are.

Banking, City Council, City of Peoria

Corporate welfare on council agenda

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First, a little background: It’s apparently the latest thing in the banking industry. Banks have quite a bit of money tied up in real estate — their bank buildings, like the beautiful and historic Commercial National Bank building downtown. Until recently, that building was owned by National City, but they sold it (as of 3/1/06) to a company called First States Investors 4500, LLC (Delaware), a subsidiary of American Financial Realty Trust (AFRT), headquartered in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

Commercial National Bank buildingAccording to their website, AFRT is “a self-managed, self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring, managing and operating properties leased primarily to regulated financial institutions.” Put simply, they buy bank buildings and lease them back to the banks at rates that are mutually beneficial. That frees up more money for the bank to lend.

The sale was sort of reported in the Journal Star (3/20), buried in an article about downtown revitalization and listed as an example of downtown deals that “go unnoticed by the general public.” It’s mentioned in the city council agenda for this Tuesday because there’s a pedestrian walkway and underground storage vaults that “encroach on the public way,” and AFRT wants the council’s explicit blessing on their continued use of these, fee-free.

That’s right — here’s where the corporate welfare comes into play. The bank paid property tax on the walkway and vaults, but for some reason the city had not charged them (nor had the bank paid) the ten-cents-per-square-foot annual fee dictated by the city’s municipal code for such encroachments. Because the city didn’t charge National City, city staff wants to essentially “grandfather in” the new owners under the same policy. They see that as fair.

Considering the financial condition of the city and the upcoming budget negotiations, I would want to know a few things before I rubberstamped this transaction. First, why hasn’t the city been charging this fee? Was it purposeful, or has the staff been negligent? Do they charge it to other businesses, do they use form 205? How much money are we talking about that the city is losing by not charging it? And are there other fees that the city has just stopped charging for no apparent reason? And if there are, can we add the garbage tax fee to that list? Why should we allow a multi-billion dollar company to get out of this fee while the residents don’t have a fully-staffed fire station 11 or adequate police protection, despite paying an extra six dollars a month on their water bills for things their property taxes are supposed to fund?

The answer to that last question is, according to staff, because it would be “unreasonable …given the number of years the encroachments have existed.” So, apparently, there’s a statute of limitations on how long they can charge for encroachments? Where is that in the municipal code?

I suppose someone could say that this is just an exception. That’s great. I want to know how many exceptions we have and how much money the city is losing because of them. We’ve had a rash of shootings lately and basic services are suffering. We can’t afford to keep allowing exceptions unless there’s a darn good reason for each and every one. So far, I haven’t heard a good reason for this one.

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Library

Can new director breathe new life into library?

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Peoria Public LibraryThis is old news that I somehow missed a couple of weeks ago, but is worth mentioning in case you missed it, too. The Peoria Public Library is getting a new director. Edward M. Szynaka will take the reigns August 14 and earn $100,000 a year (I’m clearly in the wrong business).

Szynaka was fired as director of the Indianapolis-Marion Public Library three years ago, but Peoria library officials are satisfied that it was all political and not a reflection of Szynaka’s performance or abilities.

The new chief will have his work cut out for him here. The most recent statistical report that the library filed with City Hall shows 4% fewer people visited the city’s libraries between January and June this year than the same period in 2005. Despite the fewer visits, 5% more books are being checked out, thanks to the Bookmobile and the Lakeview branch (all other branches declined). Perhaps as a sign of the times, over 45,000 computer users have been signed up so far this year, up over 10% from this time last year.

The Journal Star reports that he oversaw a 30% increase in library usage while in Indianapolis. We’ll see if he can work the same magic here. I hope so. The library is such a wealth of information and invaluable resource to the community. I think a lot of people simply take it for granted. There’s a lot of information you won’t find on the internet, but is available at the public library.

I personally love the library and visit the downtown branch frequently, mostly because of all the reference materials they have — especially newspapers on microfilm, genealogical aids, and Peoria history archives. It’s a great place to check out movies and documentaries, too. I don’t contribute much to the circulation totals since you can’t check out reference materials, but I occasionally check out a book I want to read, but don’t want to buy.

Now that my daughter is learning to read, she has just started to discover the wonder of the library’s children’s department. You gotta love borrowing — if I had to buy all those books, I’d be broke and we wouldn’t have anyplace to keep them. Thanks to the library, she has hundreds of books at her reading level to choose from, and we just return them when she’s done. It helps her learn to read and my taxes pay for it whether we use it or not, so might as well use it!

The library has a new five-year strategic plan coming out soon. Hopefully, with Szynaka’s influence, it will be just the shot in the arm needed to draw people back to the library.

City of Peoria, East Bluff, Peoria Park District, Peoria Public Schools

Questions and Questionable Answers

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Peoria Public Schools logoThe Journal Star provides on their website a copy of the “Questions and Answer” sheet Ken Hinton distributed at the special District 150 School Board meeting on Monday. On pages three and four, it says this:

9. What is the actual size of the property being acquired at the park site. DW

ANSWER: A total of 10.47 acres is being acquired at the Park site either by actual purchase by the School District or subject to the 99-year Intergovernmental Agreement. In addition, however, Glen Oak Park is 110 acres and all of the facilities will be available for school use subject to mutually agreed rules and regulations (scheduling, etc.) The general Park site includes such things as Centennial Playground, the theatre bandshell, baseball/softball diamonds, Children’s Museum, Zoo, soccer fields, nature areas, numerous tennis courts (some of which are currently being used by Woodruff High School) and Botanical Gardens and Conservatory.

At the Park District Board meeting tonight, East Bluff United Neighborhood Association president Marty Palmer asked the board members about that answer during the public comments period. I wasn’t personally there to hear it, but he reports to me in an e-mail that “the board denied all of the answers” to that question, and “they (board) have not talked to #150 at all since the letter of intent was signed.”

So it does appear that District 150 is (once again) jumping the gun on their site plans. Until they have an actual intergovernmental agreement (not just a letter of intent), they can’t assume all of the things they’re proposing in their question and answer document.

But there’s something else that’s questionable about their answer to this question and question 18 (“Would the city be willing to cover the cost of going to the park if the current school site is chosen”). Please bear with me as I set this up:

One of the big selling factors for the park site is that the kids will be able to utilize the park because they’ll be immediately adjacent to it. Specifically, the document mentions such things as the baseball diamonds, zoo, children’s museum, tennis courts, and botanical gardens. Has anyone looked at how far away from the park site these features are?

The land the school wants to build on is on the corner of Frye and Prospect. Even assuming the school building would sit on the farthest northeast corner of the proposed site (which would be unlikely), the approximate distances from the building to these wonderful amenities are:

Feature Distance
Baseball Diamonds 380-700 feet
Zoo 750 feet
Children’s Museum 900 feet
Tennis Courts 1000 feet
Botanical Gardens 1300 feet

For comparison, a city block in that area is about 350 feet. So, the closest baseball diamond is about a block away, and the botanical gardens are almost four blocks away — almost as far as it is from the current Glen Oak School to the park. Are we to assume that these children are going to walk from the new school building to these features?

I’ll buy the baseball diamonds. But do you really see 30-60 six-year-olds trapsing across the park to the zoo when it’s 94 degrees outside or raining? Or walking two and a half blocks to the children’s museum in the snow in 25 degree weather? Or ever walking to the botanical gardens even if it were 72 and sunny?

My point is that it’s very likely these kids are going to be loaded up on buses and driven to many of these different parts of the park anyway (which makes their question 18 moot). And if that’s the case, why can’t they do that from the current Glen Oak School site now? Obviously the cost of transportation to the park would be far less, even given the price of gas these days, than the cost of either building on the park site or creating a 10-acre campus at Wisconsin and Frye.

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

It’s all over but the budget busting

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I wasn’t at the school board meeting last night, but I didn’t need to be. It was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. I’m not quite sure why they’re continuing the charade of “evaluating” the two proposed school sites; they’re not fooling anyone.

The school board decided on this site long ago, and nothing is going to stop them now. If they want to make unilateral decisions and ignore the city, parents, and residents — not to mention budget realities — that’s their prerogative, but a very foolish course of action. The school board fancies itself as the Lone Ranger, a vigilante board that can save Peoria singlehandedly. But they’re really more like Don Quixote: idealistic and impractical, mistaking friends for enemies, well-meaning but delusional.

They’ll build their school on the park site, and they’ll congratulate each other in the shadow of their burned bridges.

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

Carver asks city to reimburse $41,000 in shipping costs

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As I mentioned last Friday, Carver Lumber has filed its report to the Surface Transportation Board regarding the service it has been receiving via the newly-built western spur. You can read their letter here (84KB PDF file).

They give a lot of details, but the basic facts are these:

  • Deliveries that used to take 1-2 days via the Kellar Branch hauled by Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY) are now taking 4-8 days via the western spur hauled by CIRY — a 400% increase in delivery time.
  • The cost of delivering rail cars via the western spur is double what it cost for PIRY to deliver the same cars via the Kellar Branch.

Slower delivery, higher costs. But here’s the kicker (emphasis mine):

As I believe the STB knows, service to Carver via the Kellar Branch was interrupted due a CIRY [Central Illinois Railroad Co.] runaway/derailment/collision during their first delivery attempt to Carver forcing us to transload material for a period of nearly 5 months […] resulting in costs to date of $41,605.10 which neither the City or CIRY have been willing to reimburse. We are currently seeking the aid of independent legal counsel in an effort to collect these costs. […] [W]e believe the City of Peoria is obligated to provide Carver Lumber with sufficient rail service, and that the disruption in rail service experienced by Carver Lumber should be compensable.

The city, which has $60,000 to spare for decorative garbage cans, millions for a museum, and no limit to TIF districts for local developers, is unwilling to reimburse $41,000 to Carver Lumber — a local business for over 60 years — for increased shipping costs that were the direct result of the city’s own negligence and unwillingness to enforce its contract with CIRY. And the city wonders why it’s perceived as not being business-friendly.

Carver further states they have “tried to work with both the City of Peoria (CIRY) and the Union Pacific to address the issue of guarantying minimum levels of service and rate stability to no avail.” That’s a far cry from Public Works Director Steve Van Winkle’s November 10, 2004, letter to Carver Lumber that stated (emphasis mine):

This letter is, in part, to tell you that the City has no intention of discontinuing service over the Kellar Line until the western connection is fully operational. These two projects are currently timed to coincide well. In the event that either is delayed, the City assures you that it will make an adjustment in the timeframe so that there is no interruption of your rail service. We will not discontinue service over the Kellar Line until the western connection is fully operational.

As for the ability of the City to intercede on your behalf should issues of service andlor cost arise in the future, we call to your attention that we have contracted with DOT [parent company of CIRY] for service from the West. Article 14 of that contract specifically provides that DOT shall pick up and deliver cars within 24 hours after being notified by the UP that the cars have been placed on the Peoria Pioneer Spur. The City stands ready and willing to enforce all aspects of its contract with DOT and with the Union Pacific Railroad. 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.

CIRY never did make a successful delivery over the Kellar Branch, thus service was discontinued before the western spur was completed, resulting in the $41,000 in extra shipping costs.  Furthermore, their deliveries have been taking 4-8 days instead of the 24-hour turnaround promised by the city and specified in CIRY’s contract. Yet not only does the city not enforce their contract, which CIRY has demonstrably breached in most egregious manner, it won’t even reimburse Carver for the results of that breach of contract!

Carver concludes their report by asking that the Kellar Branch be reinstated and that Pioneer Railcorp be allowed to provide service over it, due to CIRY’s “demonstrated inability, and stated unwillingness, to provide service over the Kellar Branch.”

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Civic Center

City to consider another consultant for Civic Center hotel

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On the council’s agenda for Tuesday night is a request to hire yet another consultant to determine whether Peoria needs a hotel connected to the Civic Center. This one costs $21,000 and will look at demand for hotel rooms, what impact the proposed Civic Center hotel would have on existing hotels, and the quality of existing hotel space downtown.

According to Paul Gordon’s column in the Journal Star yesterday, every one of the requests for proposals for a new hotel connected to the Civic Center said such a hotel would require public assistance, such as a TIF district. I’m no business genius, but that would indicate to me there is not enough demand for hotel rooms to make a new hotel profitable.

If there’s not enough demand for a new hotel, and if a new hotel were built with the help of public money, what kind of an impact do you expect that would have on other downtown hotels? The new hotel could leverage its room rates on the taxes the other hotels are paying. Is that fair?

The last criterion is the most curious: the quality of existing space. What purpose does this serve, exactly? And how is quality going to be measured? And suppose the consultant finds that existing hotels don’t meet these quality standards? Would that be used as a justification for building a competing hotel with the help of public funds? Why not use those public funds to help the existing hotels instead?

I think the RFPs speak for themselves, and this consultant is unnecessary. Until a hotel can come into Peoria, attach itself to the Civic Center, and be profitable under the same conditions as Peoria’s other hotels, we don’t need one. The city shouldn’t waste its money on the hotel or the consultant.

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

Source: Carver Lumber asks STB to keep Kellar Branch

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On April 25, the Surface Transportation Board ruled that the city couldn’t tear up the Kellar Branch for at least another 90 days so Carver Lumber had time to evaluate the service they receive from Central Illinois Railway (CIRY) over the new western spur. Carver and CIRY were expected to report back to the STB at the end of that time, and that time has come.

It’s not posted on the STB’s website yet, but I’ve heard from a reliable source that Carver has submitted their report, and it’s not a good one. Their freight costs have doubled and their service has deteriorated, thus they want service via the Kellar Branch restored. I’ll have more specifics to report once I see the actual filing.

It’s unlikely that the STB would side with the city after getting such a report from an active shipper. This could be the death knell for the city’s plans to replace the Kellar Branch rail line with a hiking/biking trail. On the other hand, Pioneer Railcorp has had a standing offer for the past two years to help build a trail next to the rail line in exchange for letting them purchase or lease the Kellar Branch.

If the city were smart, they’d take Pioneer’s deal now, before the STB’s decision. Selling or leasing the line would provide some much-needed cash to a city looking at big budget holes, plus they would still get their beloved trail to boot. What do they have to lose?

City of Peoria

The city’s proposal to District 150

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You may remember I said I wasn’t going to comment on the city’s proposal until I was able to get all the details instead of just some sketchy reports. Well, I now have a copy of the letter that was sent to the district, signed by Bob Manning and Mayor Jim Ardis. You can read it here (PDF file): City’s proposal to District 150.

The most impressive part of the letter is the last page — the one that shows all the money and other assistance the city already gives to District 150. Remember, District 150 is its own taxing body and the city isn’t obligated to give them any money — not one penny — yet they receive or benefit from $311,105 from the city’s operating fund (truancy officers, crossing guards), $575,000 from the city’s capital fund, and $236,000 from the Southtown TIF (Valeska Hinton School). Total: $1,122,105.

In the city’s proposal, the city would provide another half-million dollars for property acquisition on one condition: the new school for the Woodruff attendance area is built at the current Glen Oak School site. Coupled with the $1 million the district still has budgeted for property acquisition and their ability to sell the properties they’ve already purchased by the park, that should be more than enough money, even if they have to acquire some of the homes for 10-20% over market value.

That’s one heck of a deal. It would be very foolish for the school board to turn it down, considering they could stand to lose more than just $500,000 for property acquisition.

The city is in a budget crunch. There are two fire houses in Peoria that are understaffed, and the police force could use some boosting, especially given the increase in crime lately. That $300,000 a year from the operating fund that goes to the school district is going to be a mighty tempting target for the chopping block, especially if the school district continues to treat the city as an adversary instead of an ally.

There’s a lot to be said for the argument that the city should just play hardball instead of trying to woo the school district with more cash. But I think this deal is a good one, nevertheless. The city is taking the high road — trying to work with the school board, show their willingness to compromise, and put their money where their mouth is.  It shows a good faith effort to work things out amicably.

If the school board rebuffs the city, it will make it just that much easier for the city to balance its budget, and that much harder for the district to balance theirs.

City of Peoria, Peoria Fire Department, Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Police

Journal Star: Better to burn to death than be murdered

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Does that headline sound silly to you? Me too. But the Journal Star’s editorial Tuesday argues just that. Instead of fully staffing Fire Station 11, we should spend that money on police protection, they said. “Firefighting and other emergency response are important, but every penny spent on reopening Fire Station 11 is one that won’t go to added police protection.”

Fire and police protection are both among the most essential, basic services a city can provide, and their funding comes pretty much exclusively from the city. So police and fire protection should not be pitted against each other for funding. Something is wrong in a city that can’t fully staff their fire stations and provide adequate police protection at the same time.

There must be other places where the city could cut truly unnecessary spending. (Fire protection is not what I would call “unnecessary.”)

This may sound like sour grapes, but the more I think about it, the more I question the money the city spends on District 150. Think about it. The school district is its own taxing body, and the city has gained nothing by trying to cooperate with the school board, so why are we sending them over a million dollars a year in operating, capital, and debt service support? The fire and police departments can’t tax the public directly for their needs, so it would seem to me that the city’s money would be better spent on fire and police instead of the school board.

If we have to start picking and choosing, I don’t know how the city could responsibly cut fire protection while still spending money on a school district that is essentially double-dipping our tax dollars.