I attended the Peoria County Board meeting last Thursday night. Among other business, they decided to approve a contract between the County and PSA Dewberry to prepare bid documents for the proposed Peoria Riverfront Museum parking deck.
I spoke to the board during their citizen comment period at the beginning of the meeting. I had two concerns: (1) The City of Peoria should be part of the contract since they are the owners of the land on which the County wants to build the parking deck and, eventually, the museum itself. The contract calls for the County to provide site access, for instance. How does a body that doesn’t own the land provide site access? And there were liability insurance questions as well. (2) I reiterated the argument given in this post as to why the County shouldn’t start building until they count the cost and verify they have all the funds necessary to finish it.
When the item came up for discussion, one board member commented as to how our legislators “really came through” for us by getting so much federal funding for the parking deck. There were lots of accolades all around for that. Then board member Prather said we should just “get on with it” [i.e., building the museum]. Board member Widmer started to express his concerns over Lakeview’s most recent financial statement, which he said shows even more pledges have been cancelled, raising more questions about the level of private funding. Several board members laughed at him and cut him off. Then they voted to move ahead with the contract.
CJ,
Do you care to point out which BM’s gave out their accolades and which ones dismissed Widmer’s concerns with laughter… for the sake of the voters.
Ha ha ha! It is a really good joke… if you get it.
Ugh.
People wonder why everyone is leaving Peoria in droves. From the county all the way down to the school board – Peoria doesn’t stand a chance. I refused to sit in the middle of the burning building and watch it come down all around me and on top of me, so I moved to Woodford county. It’s not perfect over here either, but holy cow – Peoria is lost. I will never come back. There is no way I would EVER consider living in the city of Peoria, much less the county now. These morons don’t listen, don’t care, and do only what they want to do. They no longer listen to the will of the people. I too, would love to know which members laughed off the concerns. Mr Widmer must be very frustrated. This ain’t no “Field of Dreams” where “if you build it, they will come”. That’s been proven a failure several times already.
Bill Prather’s comment is especially troubling. He represents Chillicothe—which voted nearly 70% AGAINST the museum tax. This museum will have NO positive effect on Chillicothe. We’re just stuck paying for it—through county, state and federal taxes!
We all know politics is ugly, but this is downright nasty.
Once again… I would love to hear the reaction of all you pro-museum people out there. I made this point several times before -Anne hit the nail on the [politicians] head – this fiasco will be funded [in part] by a county-wide tax. The only ‘entity’ that stands to gain from any of this is the city; that is if there is ANTYHING to gain at all! I guess if the city looses its pants, they want to make dead sure they take the county down with it!
WHERE IS THE J STAR AND THEIR HARD-HITTING REPORTERS WHEN YOU NEED THEM? Did they NOT attend the same meeting C.J. did?
“I guess if the city looses its pants, they want to make dead sure they take the county down with it!”
If the City “looses” its pants and the County goes down with it I’m not seeing a museum metaphor.
nontimendum,
If you aren’t seeing the metaphor…you must be the only one.
The current museum plan is a terrible one – as far as museums go [content, context, etc]. The wrong people have been given free-reign to interpret Peoria’s history as THEY see fit. All THAT aside…
Most people who have railed against the museum have done so from an economic standpoint.
Let’s keep it SIMPLE for you:
1. Re-read C.J.’s initial post.
2. Everyone in the world knows museums are NOT self-sustaining. They ALL rely on outside funding – always have, always will.
3. The problem with the Riverfront Museum is… where will this ‘outside funding’ continue to come from? When operating costs begin to climb?
4. The museum group sold this [falsely I might add] as the economic savior Peoria was looking for – “that which will put Peoria on the map!”
5. Area employment? Right… a bunch of temp construction jobs, then 12 full-time, 30 part-time employees [and you can bet your butt that the full-timers will come from Lakeview!].
6. They were slightly over-optimistic about their projected attendance figures….. of course when they come by the hundreds of thousands, area hotels, restaurants, etc will BOOM!
7. In the end, like Anne said, what does Chillicothe [or any part of Peoria County stand to gain from this brilliant museum project? Nothing! Thus, the 70% NO vote coming from Chilli. If I recall, most of the outlying areas of Peoria County voted against the tax. Why? BECAUSE IT’S A TAX!! Why should the entire county pay for Peoria’s museum?
8. If funds begin to fall short in the future [and they will], what then? More taxes?
9. So……… I will re-phrase. If the city looses its [museum] pants, they will drag the rest of the county down with them.
10. Get it?
Earth to NV: turn on your spell checker ( the kind that knows the difference between “lose” and “loose”)
Water St reconstruction officially started today and the black painted wall is coming down. Let the building begin!
That figures…
The end of Peoria as we know it and ‘Dumb and Dumber’ both feel the need to comment.
It’s a shame Windows does not come with an ‘intelligence checker.’ Then maybe Precinct and his sidekick Peoriafan might add something worthwhile to this conversation.
Double clicked the ‘O’. Anyway… anyone up for more socialist bashing?
Yep
No need to call posters names. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is well worth the drive as is the Field Museum of Natural History. Both well attended museums. I say let them dig their hole, build their un-needed parking deck, then top it off with a Morton building type shed. Then when everyone in the county has seen the Peoria locker and crime museum and it folds….well we all can say; “We told you so!”
What a comfort that will be and that’ll show those politicians whose boss.
end/sarcasm
NV: Just trying to bring some levity to the table of commenting.
NV: Your misuse of the word created an inadvertent double entendre. Sorry if my pointing that out was too subtle for you.
Funny, Em… “whose”. Sometimes your subtlety goes over my head.
As for you NV, if you can’t rereed your posts and lern how to the use the edit function, you might as well start all your posts with… “I’m a Hooked on Phonics Kid”. Cuz them that can’t argue your points will certainly point and giggle at your grammar and spelling. (Although, I have no idea what that sweet old lady has to do with it…)
Nontimendum,
“Your misuse of the word created an inadvertent double entendre. Sorry if my pointing that out was too subtle for you.”
– Actually I did catch my type-o. Thanks for the proof-read. Perhaps what I did miss was your “subtle” reference to C.J.s post, and/or your response to my [April 12th, 2010 at 8:07 pm] post?
Emtronics,
Do you really think my “Dumb and Dumber” reference was out of line? COME ON!! Tell me Peoriafan doesn’t deserve a smack!
I recently attended a meeting that discussed how party division in the county board is a set in stone as it is in Washington. Please note that the party in control is doing the laughing, all the way to bankrupting all of us. The concern is not about the voters, the tax payers, or the citizens. I am discouraged as this continues to be the mentality at all levels of governmental bodies at the moment.
I disagree that party division is set in stone at the County Board level. I personally know people on the Board who are non-partisan.
Paul,
I am proud of you. I know how much that must mean to you.
Your brush is to broad…,
“…people on the Board who are non-partisan?”
Maybe. But their ‘voice[s]’ have been silenced; or beaten into the ground. Which do you prefer?
New Voice,
the question remains resolution. The only options are 1. a barrage of negative press, the only thing that many reps fear, or a change in the representatives, which is difficult as people have the memory of sheep and election promises seem to over shadow records. There is no recall ability. We have some great reps. but they are a handful and it is therefore difficult to facilitate change. I wish that more folks would do a little leg work before they vote and rally when/if your reps refuse to listen.
The county board used to be less partisan…go check some of the votes…eg” the asphalt issue, museum, etc.”
Paul,
Well said.
Democrat Bill Prather from Chillicothe is not running to retain his seat on the board. Democrat Randy Stevens, a strong union man, is running to replace Prather against Republican Jim Fennell of J. T. Fennell Company of Chillicothe.
Believe me when I say the Peoria County Board needs more business people on the board. We already have at least 10 card carrying union people on the board. Mayor Ardis recently called the financial position of Peoria County as “dire” (Minutes of an Open Meeting of the Peoria City Council and the GPACC) on April 8, 7:30 A.M.)
and the city council has too many soft hands on its board. so there, nahnahnah naaaa
sheesh Merle
Block the Block! Fail the Trail!!