Category Archives: Peoria Journal Star

2008 Campaign, Aaron Schock, Peoria Journal Star

JSEB weighs in on Schock

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Aaron SchockWell, I predicted that the Journal Star wouldn’t show that editorial cartoon that was unflattering of Aaron Schock. I was wrong. Not only did they print it, they also published a scathing editorial of Schock’s foreign policy blunder.

Of course, Karen McDonald’s piece on Schock’s admission that he made “a mistake” was full of quotes from experts who thought he could overcome this setback and still win the nomination. “Though Schock’s statements undoubtedly damaged his campaign for the 18th Congressional District seat, area analysts say he can recover,” she reported. The article ended with this upbeat take on the situation:

“Everybody’s going to stumble, it’s how a person reacts to problems that really can demonstrate character,” [UIS prof Christopher] Mooney said. “If a candidate has a problem and then bounces back from it, it shows that they’ve got strong character and will be more likely to succeed in the long run.”

See? Sure he may have been mistaken about how his foreign policy could spark World War III, but, darn it, he’s got character! He said he was sorry — quit pickin’ on him! He’s so cute!

2008 Campaign, Aaron Schock, Peoria Journal Star

Is McDonald a Schock supporter?

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Okay, that headline is needlessly provocative, but hey, I haven’t gotten many angry comments lately. 🙂

Journal Star reporter Karen McDonald covered Aaron Schock’s candidacy announcement event, but didn’t mention his proposal to sell nuclear arms to Taiwan. Then, when a Springfield reporter picked up the story, she attended challenger Jim McConoughey’s press conference reacting to the news, but didn’t write about it. Instead, the event was covered by Adrianna Colindres of Gatehouse News Service.

McDonald, on the other hand, wrote an article on Schock visiting public schools yesterday, but apparently didn’t ask about (or if she did ask, didn’t report on) Schock’s response to the foreign policy controversy. Yes, Schock had issued a press release that was in Colindres’s report, and yes Colindres did a phone interview with Schock’s campaign manager Steve Shearer. But McDonald had access to the man himself, and could have gotten a candid, rather than canned, answer. In fact, she could have followed up on his press release, pressing him on his clear flip-flop on this issue (he says in the press release that he doesn’t favor selling nukes to Taiwan). Instead, all we got was a puff piece.

Maybe I’m being too critical, but I think the local reporting on Schock’s campaign lately has been dismal and a disservice to those who are paying over $200 a year for Peoria’s only daily.

UPDATE: Great minds think alike. Independently, Billy Dennis and Rich Miller each commented on basically the same thing.

UPDATE 2: The Pantagraph has a much better report than the Journal Star on this story.

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools

Jellick checks on Chronicle post, gets different answer from State

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Clare Jellick, intrepid education reporter for the Journal Star, followed up on my previous post. She spoke to “Illinois State Board of Education spokesman Matt Vanover.” He gave her a different answer than the one I got from Lou Ferratier in the Illinois State Board of Education’s School Business and Support Services division. Now the State Board of Education says that District 150 does indeed have to close the school buildings.

I have no quarrel with Jellick’s post or with the new information provided by the ISBE, per se. But I am irritated that I was evidently given false information by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Jellick says, “Vanover said the state official quoted in C.J. Summers’ blog was likely speaking in generalities.” Well he shouldn’t have been. When I called, I identified myself, where I was calling from, that this was regarding School District 150, and I referred specifically to the certificates I had received through a Freedom of Information Act request from the district. I told Mr. Ferratier that I had a copy of the HLS documentation in front of me — I don’t know how much more specific or pointed I could have been in asking my question. I quoted verbatim from the certificate, told him that school board officials have been claiming the state requires them to close schools, and asked Mr. Ferratier if that was true. Answer: No; they don’t have to close them. They can close or repair them. If Mr. Ferratier was “speaking in generalities,” it wasn’t for lack of me asking for specific information.

Bottom line, though, Jellick and I agree:

All that being said, I’m not arguing that the closures were a decision handed down by the state, and District 150 was a helpless bystander. District 150 picked the schools that it wanted to replace. It knew full well that the schools would have to close if the replacement funding was granted.

And that was my main point anyway — that it really wasn’t a state decision, but a District 150 decision, and that the school board is trying to use the state as a scapegoat. The ISBE’s flip-flop doesn’t change that.

Kellar Branch, Peoria Journal Star

PJS editorial: same old disinformation

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At this time, the Journal Star’s editorial is not available online, but you don’t have to read it to know what it says. It’s about the Kellar Branch, and the editorial writers always write the same misleading and blatantly false information about the issue every time. This time, it’s in the form of an open letter to Senator Dick Durbin, imploring him to “be a powerful ally” and “light a fire under the Surface Transportation Board.”

Along the way, they lay out their case for removing a working rail line in favor of a hiking trail:

  • “It’s a cooperative regional effort.” Yes, they’re all cooperating to pursue something they have no legal authority to effectuate. The municipal governments have no authority to remove a working rail line without Surface Transportation Board authorization, which they don’t have. Since the local governments can’t convince the STB to violate their mission by taking action that will harm rail shippers, the Journal Star is now asking Senator Durbin to abuse the power of his office to pressure the STB to do just that. How civic-minded of them.
  • “It’s a public health matter.” Say the Journal Star editors, “We think the Kellar line would enjoy heavy use from runners, dog-walkers, parents pushing strollers, cyclists, etc.” The people who will use the trail are people who are already exercising. They’re already running, walking their dogs, pushing their strollers, cycling, etc. Furthermore, they have plenty of opportunity to participate in all of these activities on streets, roads, parks, and miles of existing trails. People with a sedentary lifestyle are not suddenly going to rise from their easy chairs and start exercising because a new segment of trail in the middle of town becomes available.
  • “It’s a push for redevelopment.” The Journal Star blithely argues that customers on the line “long ago bailed.” The fact is that the threat of the line’s imminent demise is the reason the line has not gotten more rail use. Keep telling people the line’s going to be removed and it’s amazing how businesses needing rail service shy away from locating next to it. It’s also amusing that they say, “As for potential rail use, we’ve heard little more than speculation.” I would simply say, as for potential trail use and the assertion that the trail will raise property values, I’ve heard nothing but speculation. The fact is, there are potential shippers located on the line. The proof of this is the fact that Central Illinois Railroad is fixing up the line at their own expense to serve those shippers — why would they waste their money repairing the line if there were no shippers?
  • “Finally, it’s a property rights issue.” Ah, they’ve saved their most ridiculous argument for last. “Despite the fact that Peoria and Peoria Heights own the line, they have distressingly little say in its fate.” They’re shocked — shocked, I say — that a unit of government can tell a property owner what they can and can’t do with their own property! It’s so unusual, you know. Let’s see, the only other examples I can think of are, oh I don’t know, every zoning law in the nation. Since the Journal Star had so much fun dissecting Barbara Van Auken’s logic the other day, should we spend some time dissecting the Journal Star’s logic here? I guess if property owners should have unfettered rights to do what they wish with their property — no matter who it might hurt — one has to wonder why the Journal Star does not oppose zoning laws, health department restrictions, rental inspections, code enforcement, and the recently-passed smoking ban. See how much fun it is?

Bottom line, the Journal Star doesn’t think the city should have to follow federal rules that are in place to protect rail shippers from just this sort of abuse by rail owners.

I have a better idea. I’d like Senator Durbin to light a fire not under the STB, but under the Peoria Park District. Tell them to stop wasting time and money trying to get a working rail line abandoned, and instead build the trail around it. They can use part of the right-of-way where feasible, and put the other parts of the trail adjacent to the street (asphalt sidewalks), just like they do elsewhere in Peoria and surrounding communities. Part of this regional trail runs right next to the very busy Route 150, so I know it can be done.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Journal Star

$5.5 million bathrooms

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The Journal Star’s editorial today is dedicated to criticizing Councilwoman Van Auken and her remark that the city should sell the Gateway building because “Government should not own buildings or property except for government use.” Granted, that wasn’t the best argument she could have given, and the editors of the Journal Star have fun dissecting her logic.

But what the editors don’t do is give any good reason for keeping the Gateway building. Here’s the best they can come up with:

And we’d add that, in fact, Gateway does serve a civic purpose: That building and its restrooms were built for the benefit of the public, specifically visitors at riverfront events.

The Gateway Building is a convention and banquet facility. The only way the public gets any benefit out of it is if they rent it from the Peoria Park District for somewhere between $600 and $1,500. The public is not under-served for convention and banquet space. Besides the River Station, Packard Plaza, the Pere Marquette, and a host of other private places to rent, there’s always the gigantic expansion of the Civic Center. How much more tax-subsidized banquet space do we need?

The only things the “visitors at riverfront events” really “benefit” from for free are the public restrooms. So the question is, don’t you think $5.5 million is kind of a steep price for public restrooms? I think so. I bet if they could sell the building, they could use a small fraction of the proceeds to build some really sweet public restrooms elsewhere along the riverfront.

Peoria Journal Star

Goodbye Jenni, Hello John

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Also from today’s Word on the Street column is the big announcement of who will replace Jenni Davis on the City Hall beat:

“Word on the Street” first appeared in the Journal Star on Oct. 11, 1999. City Hall reporter Jennifer Davis has been the column’s only constant face, but she is moving on to a new position as Lifestyles Editor for the Journal Star.

John Sharp will take her place covering the City Hall beat, and his face and voice will appear in this column shortly, joining political reporter Karen McDonald.

My congratulations to both Jenni and John on their new posts. I’ll miss seeing Jenni at the city council meetings and reading her excellent reports, but I’m happy she’s gotten a promotion at the paper. As for John, I wish him the best of luck as he works to get up to speed on his new assignment.

Museum Block, Peoria Journal Star

PJStar: Museum “slightly less impressive”

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The Journal Star’s Editorial Board has low expectations. How do I know that? Because they say in their editorial today that recent changes to the proposed downtown museum make it “a slightly less impressive facility, from a size and architectural standpoint.”

Slightly?

Since the original plans came out, the size of the museum has shrunk by over 25% (110,000 to 81,000 square feet), yet the price tag has remained the same. Fundraising has been stalled for months. The only architectural feature that could have been considered “impressive” — the floating globe in the glass box — has been axed. What’s left? This:

I would say the JSEB is easily impressed. They’re like the proverbial frog in the stove pot who lets himself be boiled to death because he doesn’t notice the gradual increase in temperature. The downtown museum has changed dramatically for the worse from what was originally proposed, yet the JSEB, et. al., focuses only on the incremental change and says it’s not that bad. It’s only “slightly less impressive.”

No, it’s not impressive at all. It’s not what Peoria was promised originally. It’s a bait and switch. It’s basically just moving Lakeview Museum downtown and adding a few permanent exhibits. And on top of it, they want to remove the retail portion of the plan — the only remaining vestige of the Heart of Peoria Plan (or Demetriou plan or any consultant’s plan for downtown).

As a friend of mine would say, “God love ’em for trying.” But that’s not the vision for the Sears block. That’s not even “slightly” the vision. If we’re going to focus on the “big picture,” as the JSEB exhorts, then let’s commit to getting the best development for that block instead of settling for mediocrity. I think we have enough mediocrity in this town.

Peoria Journal Star

Nice guys finish last

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So, on Friday morning, Jenny Davis announced to the Heart of Peoria Commission that she was promoted to Lifestyles editor at the Journal Star and would no longer be covering city hall.

“Can I put that on my blog?” I asked.

“I’d rather you didn’t,” she said, “because it hasn’t been posted yet at work.”

Sure, I’ll be happy to play nice. When someone asks me not to blog about something, I’ll respect that.

So, what do I see today? Jonathan Ahl gets the scoop. He didn’t ask Jenny if it was okay; he just blogged about it.

Lesson learned. Nice guys finish last. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

City of Peoria, Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools

Journal Star blindly supports more money for D150

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Peoria Public Schools logoThe Journal Star Editorial Board thinks District 150 deserves more support from the City. They think the proposal on tonight’s agenda to “share inflationary revenue growth from those properties in the [Eagle View] TIF that don’t participate in the redevelopment program” is too stingy.

They start off by saying, “The Peoria City Council should have no trouble approving an agreement with District 150 tonight that, for the first time locally, would allow the city’s largest school system to share in the proceeds from a tax increment financing district before its term is over.” First time, eh? Apparently the JSEB is unaware of or has forgotten about the $236,000 the school district receives annually from the Southtown TIF.

“That said, it’s little more than a toe in the water of the city-school cooperation that is so desperately needed if Peoria is to be an attractive place for young families,” they continue. By “cooperation,” they mean “giving money to District 150.” Never mind that the city already gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to the school system every year. Never mind that District 150 is its own taxing body — it takes the lion’s share of our property taxes every year. Never mind that, after figuring in all sources of revenue, the City of Peoria’s budget is only about $10 million more than District 150’s to start with (~$160 million vs. $150 million, respectively).

That’s not enough for the JSEB, or District 150.

If anyone at City Hall wonders why Peoria’s overall population is at best flat, and why its status in Illinois is declining even with all the new subdivisions sprouting on its northwest side in a different school district, Peoria’s core public school system is a big reason, followed closely by violent crime.

They’ve got that right. But naturally the JSEB blames the school district’s failure on the City and their TIF districts. Has the Journal Star Editorial Board ever considered the possibility that District 150 might be in the mess it is because of their own mismanagement? That maybe paying for four superintendents to do the job of one is a wee bit of a waste? That spending almost a million dollars on property they can’t use might be contributing a tad to their woes? That low testing scores and their inability to make adequate yearly progress is negatively affecting their funding more than the City of Peoria’s tax increment financing districts?

Yet some local voices are still urging the city to sever any relationship with District 150. It’s mystifying, because all involved would only be punishing themselves.

Heh. We’re being punished either way; why not save the money?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m all for true cooperation — but cooperation works both ways. The School Board (and evidently the JSEB, too) seems to believe that a “give and take” relationship with the city means that the city gives and the school board takes. It doesn’t work that way. I don’t think it’s asking too much for the school board to work with the city on, say, siting of an East Bluff school. Or, say, focusing on improving their test scores so they stop driving people out of the city.

More money is not the answer for District 150. Better management is. And sadly, the City has no control over that.

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools

This is why we have the press and FOIA

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Kudos to Clare Jellick for her investigative report on the Roosevelt Magnet School field-trip scam. Her persistence in getting information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has brought to light a very disturbing situation — shaking down district parents for money that they don’t owe:

The requested information shows that the district considers there to be a “total outstanding balance” of $17,391 to cover the cost of the trip – even though the figures provided show Roosevelt families actually owe only about $8,800. […]

With all the contributions from kids, families and community members added together, $40,491 has been raised to cover the trip. This is about $8,800 short of the total cost.

So the district is saying the parents owe $17,391, but the numbers reveal the families only owe $8,800 — a difference of $8,591. That’s a huge chunk of change. Who is going to be held accountable for this? Where is Mr. Hinton’s public statement on this issue?

The school board members should be demanding an explanation from the school administration. Will anyone have the cajones to confront Hinton at the next board meeting?