Category Archives: North Valley

Crime, North Valley

Fire destroys what may have been oldest standing house in Peoria

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The house that burned down Monday in the North Valley wasn’t any ordinary house, a reader tells me:

517 Green street was torched early [Monday] morning by some cowardly arsonists. Everyone should know that this wasn’t just any random abandoned house. It was believed by many to have been the oldest standing house in Peoria, dating back to 1837 and challenged in that claim only by the Flanigan house on Glen Oak. It has been passed down generation to generation through the same Peoria family since the late 1800s. It was left un-attended last year (temporarily) because the owner had some medical issues to deal with and has been staying with family out of state. In the time since he left, it has been raided by hooligans and bums, squatting there and wreaking havoc with no regard to the age and historic value of the structure. In recent months, with the help of the owner’s family, Councilman Weaver, the Peoria Historic Society, Northside Housing Services and some local preservationists, I’ve been working on getting it preserved and turned into a public museum for everyone in Peoria to enjoy. I guess that wasn’t meant to be. I just wanted you to know that there was more to the story of this house than the PJStar knew to report today.

The house will likely be demolished because it now poses a safety hazard, according to published reports.

East Bluff, North Valley, Peoria Public Schools

Neighbors spar over school sites

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Terry Larson at District 150 ForumI attended the first of four public forums hosted by District 150 last night. This one was held at Woodruff High School. The school board is trying to convince the public that they’re listening and seriously considering public input in the siting of a new school for the Woodruff attendance area.

And that is indeed “a new school” — singular. District officials said last night that there is funding to build only one new school. That school will replace Glen Oak, Kingman, and Irving primary schools, and White middle school. That covers the east bluff and the north valley, and basically sets up a scenario in which neighborhoods will be competing against each other for the new school.

Generally speaking, those who live on the bluff want the school to be up on the bluff. Those in the valley want the school to be in the valley. Some suggested putting the school near Woodruff and Lincoln schools, saying it’s the most centrally-located site for those above and below the bluff, but others insisted it would not be a good idea to mix Kindergarteners and high school seniors on the same campus.

East bluff residents are still divided between the current Glen Oak School site and the now-defunct Glen Oak Park site. Terry Larson (pictured above) presented 400 signatures from people wanting the school adjacent to the park, and several other people in attendance spoke in favor of the park site. That brought objections from other neighbors, who pointed out that the ground rules specifically stated that the Glen Oak Park site was off the table, and didn’t feel it was appropriate to be arguing for/against a site that is specifically excluded from consideration. Their complaints fell on deaf ears, however, as both the facilitator Brad McMillan and school board president David Gorenz encouraged all neighbors to speak freely on any site they wanted, claiming they wanted to “welcome all comments.”

But it soon became clear that not all comments were welcome. When people started suggesting the school board build two smaller schools (one on the bluff and one in the valley) instead of one large school, McMillan chastised the crowd, saying that they should be “realistic” since the school board had already said there is only funding to build one school. It’s unclear why he didn’t feel it equally unrealistic to suggest a site that has been officially blackballed by the park district and completely out of the school board’s control.

Those who live in the valley suggested the Morton Square Park site and the current Kingman school site.

Most people spoke off the cuff, but a few had prepared their presentations in advance. Terry Larson, whom I’ve already mentioned, was one. Another was Mike Standish, 1515 NE Perry, who put together a PowerPoint presentation with Aaron Moore advocating the Woodruff/Lincoln site. Roberta Parks spoke on behalf of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and said the school board should consider sites that have “better spin-off potential” or potential for economic development around the new school, both residential and commercial. Steve Katlack, 709 E. Frye, put together a handout that advocated the current Glen Oak School site, and addressed all of the school board’s stated criteria for site selection.

The next meeting will take place at Irving Primary School on Thursday, Sept. 27. After that, there will be meetings at Von Steuben on Oct. 4 and Glen Oak on Oct. 18. A final report will be prepared by Nov. 9, which the school board will deliberate on Nov. 19. A final decision will be made by Dec. 3, and that decision will be announced on Dec. 17.