Editor’s Note: The following editorial was written and submitted by Frederick E. Smith, a resident of the East Bluff. Fred has recently started his own blog called Take Back Peoria. The views expressed by guest contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor.
Yeah, apparently the old puns are the best ones. The City Council of Peoria apparently thinks so. Last night, amid a select few voices that chose to once again offer the opinion that moving Big Al’s in such close proximity to Myah’s Day Care, CityLink Bus Depot, Peoria Rescue Mission, and the Box Office of the Peoria Civic Center was an unsound idea, the City Council voted to allow a city parking lot to be sold to the owner of Big Al’s for the bargain basement price of $7.00 a square foot. Interesting, since Councilman Sandberg (the sole opponent and the only member of the Council who seems concerned with the desires of the people who elected him) pointed out that it cost the City of Peoria $8.00 a square foot to build the parking lot.
This Council is, with the sole exception of Mr. Sandberg, totally indifferent to the needs and desires of their community, opting instead to do things “For our own Good”. Funny how that kind of thinking always seems to get people in trouble. Manzinar was “for their own good”, or at least that is what we told the Japanese Americans during the second World War. Segregation of Blacks and Whites in the Southern United States and Apartheid in South Africa were “for their own good.” Here in Peoria, it seems, we citizens, taxpayers, and VOTERS are no more than children, who need to have things done FOR OUR OWN GOOD!
Perhaps it is time for us poor, simple, small town folks to wake up and smell the indifference and the corruption. Do you really believe that no one is making anything on the side for this sweetheart deal? Do you really believe that the Councilpersons at Large (with the exception of Mr. Sandberg, who continues to rail against the corruption and the greed) care about what is best for Peoria? This latest decision, like so many to date, is about money, pure and simple. It is another statement by the City Council that says, “WE DON’T MIND, ‘CAUSE YOU DON’T MATTER.” to the people of Peoria.
So what do we do about it? How about we choose to say WE MATTER with our votes on April 5th. There are several candidates who are NOT a part of the political network, candidates like C. J. Summers, George Azouri, Beth Akeson, Chuck Weaver, Chuck Grayeb, and Andre Williams are all viable, honest candidates who deserve our notice and attention. Personally, I am voting for Gary Sandberg, C.J. Summers, Beth Akeson, and George Azouri. Since there is one more position left, so I will be looking to the other candidates to see what they offer. I will not be voting for Turner or Spain.
IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE PEORIA, YOU NEED TO VOTE THIS ELECTION. TELL YOUR FRIENDS, TELL YOUR NEIGHBORS, TELL YOUR PASTORS AND YOUR CO-WORKERS. YOU NEED TO VOTE AGAINST CORRUPTION, INDIFFERENCE, AND ARROGANCE. YOU NEED TO VOTE!!!
The majority of current Council members have taken positions on various issues that raise doubts that their priorities align with those of average Peorians. They have raised taxes and laid off policemen, while voting to give a $37 million gift to a private developer and handing off one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the area (the former Sears block) for next to nothing. They have chosen to skewer the West Main Street Land Development Code to please developers, while ignoring the legitimate concerns of affected residents, and have chosen to repeat this behavior in almost every instance where developer goals and resident concerns collide. They voted to delist a historic property and their recent changes to the historic preservation code are so appalling, the Illinois Historic Preservation Association has placed the City on “probation.” The Renaissance Park and the Sheridan Triangle projects are still nowhere near complete, while Peoria taxpayers are footing the bill for the failed Midtown Plaza TIF. In the meantime, crime is up, the schools are bad and attracting residents and business to Peoria continues to get harder. Business as usual is just not working. I think it is time for a change. I encourage everyone to take a look at the candidates running this year and support those who champion fiscal responsibility, basic services, and transparency. We need to get people on the Council who want to work for us and with us to build a better Peoria, so please get out there and vote for a change.
Mr. Smith: you seriously need to see a doctor!!!
Unfortunately, the process of voting in Peoria will actually hurt the “basic services” candidates. What Mr. Smith just described is an example. In the past Gary Sandburg was typically the only one running on that platform and therfore those that support him were able to cast 5 votes for Gary. Today with so many other folks running under the same platform they may end up splitting the vote. I will only be voting for one candidate and giving him/her all 5 votes.
@conrad – right on!
@mnjdg1 – Well, I do have this pain whenever I read comments that are intended as personal attacks instead of actual rebuttals. If your ability to comment or express yourself is limited to sarcasm or school yard retorts, perhaps you could use a few classes in logic or English. I can refer you to several professors at Bradley University, if you would like.
Chuck Weaver seems as fake as a three dollar bill! I want to know what people have seen in him that I have not. He seems to be an inexperienced farm boy from Dunlap who would be better suited for the county board than the city council. I’d be willing to bet the guy’s never spent more than an hour inside olde south town.
While I’m on the subject of inexperience, what in the world are people noticing about George Azouri, other than his name!? His candidacy has all the signs of an MTV prank! He looks like a scared kid when he speaks. If it’s not a prank and he’s for real, I may give him more props in a few years, but ask yourself what a 19 year old college softmore knows about running a city, I didn’t even know what to major in by that time. Remember what happened with Ryan Spain, four years ago.
W. Hernandez ,
You might as well throw Schock into your mix. He hasn’t accomplished anything of note during his political career, yet he somehow managed to go from Dist 150 School Board to U.S. Congressman in….how many years?
I think Central Illinois has a great deal more to worry about then what ‘they’ are doing in Chicago…..
Hernandez: You are wrong. I live in “olde town south” and Mr Weaver came to my house and talked with me well over an hour. This was about 5 months ago when he was starting to announce his city council run. He knew I blogged and he seemed to like how I put my opinions out and he wanted some opinions from me. Yes, me. He took his time to find out exactly what he saw as average Peorian and how I felt about what is happening in Peoria. He is as real as a $1 dollar bill to be sure. I will probably split my 5 votes with him.
BTW, as for Azouri, I don’t know him nor ever seen him. But comparing him to Ryan Spain and then saying “look what happen with Ryan Spain” is apples and oranges. Ryan is a very smart articulate young man. I don’t agree with his politics and how he sees Peoria’s path, but at least he’ll sit down with you and discuss it in order to form a new opinion. He has with me many times. Heartland has a quality person working for them in Spain. It’s just that I don’t always support his council decisions.
“They have chosen to skewer the West Main Street Land Development Code to please developers, while ignoring the legitimate concerns of affected residents, and have chosen to repeat this behavior in almost every instance where developer goals and resident concerns collide.”
One very verbal and concerned affected resident but many equally as verbal affected residents who supported the project.
This is from the Journal Star article announcing the Weaver campaign:
“What I see starting to come together is a clear message for myself that fits well with my background (and that) is Peoria has to be business friendly,” said Weaver, past president of the Central Illinois Angels investment group and former owner of Weaver Enterprises “If we provide the basic services Peorians expect, we need to make our tax base larger to get more businesses into the city…”
This is what the city council is doing now, bending over backwards for the wasteful Hotel/Big Al’s debocle, much to the dismay of a large chunk of the citizens. Much is the same for the Museum & Midtown Plaza and other wasteful TIFs. Weaver is going to fit right in with Spain, Turner, Riggenbach, Van Auken and Irving.
Here are some of the items he’s selling his candidacy on:
-“was born and raised on the Weaver farm” (on the far outskirts of town)
-attends Northwoods community Church on the far north part of town
–former member of the Dunlap school district board and past president of the Youth Farm Board?
-Graduated from Dunlap High School
-Member of the Peoria Polo club.
Have you ever been invited to the Peoria Polo club, Emtronics? I didn’t even know we had one! The guy sounds like an elitist country club snob who’s going to keep up the destrucive practices of our current council in order to springboard himself into a bigger election like Montalongo tried to do.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong about the guy, since he’s buying this election like a 99 cent hamburger.
Heck no. I didn’t even know Peoria had a polo club. What do they do? Polo? Yes he has a silver spoon. Still, in my conversation with him, he comes off as a smart business man who as made money. I am considering a vote for him. I do know this. We can’t have the same people we have no back in.
I totally agree we can’t have the same people and so far, I haven’t seen anything in Weaver that I don’t see in Spain & Turner. I don’t doubt he came off well in your conversation. I’ve known con artists for years.
Remember the old wise words: “The best liars are the ones that get you to elect them.” I’m not calling him a liar yet, because he hasnt ha a chance to break any promises, but I also havent seen any promises! His proposals are vague business plans for the city. We don’t need businessmen in city hall, we need councilmen!
I just don’t trust him and I encourage anyone thinking of voting for him to use the vote(s) for someone more transparent and believable like C.J., Akeson or Sandberg. I also have high hopes for Andre Williams and Chuck Grayeb, even though Grayeb had made me a little suspicious in the past, but not nearly enough to not prefer a vote for him over Chuck Weaver or arrogant Mr. Stowell or to the two impulse shoppers (Spain/Turner) or the teenage phenom (Azouri,) who’s only mysterious because he hasn’t been alive enough years to have anything on record.
Weaver stopped by to holla at you Emtronics?
Curious – has Weaver reached out to any East Bluff bloggers? He has made zoning decisions that have hit us all directly during his stint on the zoning appeals board. Sometimes I wondered if he really understood the implications of the decisions he made.
Voting for (insert candidate name here) “for a change” sounds nice and looks good on paper, but it rarely works as well in actual practice. unfortunately, most voters never do any homework before they actually cast a vote for anyone, and they often cast their vote for a candidate only because they recognize their name. the short-term memory of the general public doesnt help either.
Hopefully Weaver gets elected because the wealthy business owner is underrepresented in this town. They need someone to speak up for them.
@big-n-italian. Right you are, and that is why we need more readers of this blog and others like it to encourage their friends and neighbors to read these blogs. Alternative journalism like this blog, the Peoria Pundit, Emtronics, Emerge and others give us interactive perspectives that the “main stream” media has yet to offer. I’ve even decided to enter into the pond with my new Blog Take Back Peoria. Talk to your neighbors, you church friends, your co-workers, anyone who will listen, and ask them to get involved.
Take Peoria Back to where Mr. Smith?
Candidate George Azouri said the city needs “a full review of ordinances that might be considered unfavorable to businesses.”
Dear George: There has yet to be a “city ordinance that is unfavorable to businesses”, not to worry, if we come across one, we will change it.
Beth Akeson, another candidate, says land use decisions are important to attracting economic development and making Peoria a distinctive place to live.
Dear Beth: Let’s focus on making Peoria a safe and healthy place to live and then let us be distinctive for that.
At-large City Councilman Eric Turner said the city needs to continue pushing to attract development, saying “we are in a fight for our future in the region.”
Dear Mr. Turner: What more can you “push to attract development”? We are all tiffed out.
Candidate Andre Williams stressed that his focus on economic development includes providing businesses with advice from the city.
Dear Mr. Williams: Exactly what type of advice does the city have that they can give a business? How to skirt zoning issues. Not to worry, most are already well informed.
@question – Take it back to the point where the voice of the residents actually makes a difference. That is what a vote is all about. Am I going to have to start a class in remedial democracy here?
I have read with much enthusiasm many of your comments and find them all to share the same basic premise: We can do better in our City.
Many candidates are running on a variety of issues. What I am looking for in a candidate is public safety first, revitalizing neighborhoods second, stopping private investment with taxpayers dollars, third, and creating a downtown that has something to offer to citizens of Peoria, fourth.
Many fine candidates running but many do not share what I am looking for in a candidate.
I am staying open minded to see which candidates shares the goals that I share.
I must say honestly that the candidate that has expressed to me a desire within his heart for this city is Councilman Ryan Spain.
While I do not agree with some of his votes on the council I do respect his reasoning for his votes.
Honest decisions from the heart can divide some but I find in it a quality that earns my respect. He has earned that respect.
I think I can safely say that most of us share your agenda, Don, and would venture to say that your first and second concerns are the heart of a “basic services” platform, one that Mr. Sandberg has been pursuing (with notable resistance) for years. I believe that C. J. Summers, Beth Akeson, and George Azouri will make a fine compliment to Mr. Sandberg on the council. As to Mr. Spain, I asked him last night at the American Legion what his reasoning was for supporting the Big Al’s move and subsequent sale of City property. The answer I received was that he wished they had gotten more money from the sale. In short, I asked one question, was given a different answer. Not exactly a bell ringer for me. While I do agree that Mr. Spain comes off in person as a sincere and idealistic young man, I am looking at his record at the council.
You are correct Fred that a persons record does speak for itself.
I will continue to ask Ryan to clarify in details the reasons behind his votes as we as taxpayers have a fundamental right to know.
Keep up the hard work for the interest of all citizens of Peoria.
I think most of us are people of good will. I personally like Ryan Spain. I also like Eric Turner. I don’t question that they are good people or that they care about the community. I do question their actions in the council chamber and believe that that the solutions they advocate are not right for the city. I also don’t believe they (and other members of the council) are really listening to the citizens they serve. There are a lot of talented people in this community; people who’s ideas for positive changes have been ignored by this council. I think this inability to tap into the community wisdom has led most of the council members to assume the “we know best” mentality that has robbed them- and us- of the chance to implement better solutions to the issues that plaque us.
Donald
1. millions of tax payer dollars for a museum that was pitched to be 70% private funding.
2. #37$ to a private developer for a hotel project.
3. selling public property at a loss for business for said hotel.
4. city logo costing 10’s of thousands all said and done
5. $20 million for Warehouse/Washington street.
6. the exact amount of the steps on riverfront escapes me at the moment I would guess that a contractor would have known we have floods and use salt in the winter on steps because of ice…
7. $209,000 for heating/cooling system for twin towers…a building we don’t own, but rent office space.
Just a few of your tax dollars voted upon and spent recently.
Mr. Smith. I still have not found anything of substance from George Azouri and can’t figure out why anyone who’s not related to him or a member of his uncle’s parish would support him. I was at a candidate’s forum last night and he, again, sounded like a frightened child when speaking and spoke strictly in political cliches like “clean up the streets” and “make Peoria a better place.”
He was also the only one of the 8 that were there to answer questions (Weaver & Spain were absent through large chunks of the debate) who didn’t answer questions from the audience. His bio had more information on his dad and his uncle than him!
I don’t doubt he’s a good upstanding kid, but he’s far too inexperienced and un-knowledgable for this kind of election. I don’t think he knows what he’s getting himself into.
I have spoken to George personally and found him to be honest and forthright. I have not had the opportunity to listen to him on the dais, but that will be corrected on the 16th when the Peoria 9/12 Project hosts the Meet the Candidate event @ 6 pm at the Peoria Theater on Dries Lane. PJS writer John Sharp will be our Guest Moderator, and we have confirmation that the Candidates will be there. We will also have the Board of Education Candidates for 150 Districts 2 & 3 during the later half of the evening. I hope to see you and the rest of these incredibly well informed bloggers there.
@mnjdg1,
I,m with you, Mr. Fred is pulling a Charlie Sheen right before our eyes. Winning?
EB, care to leave a real name? I would love to know what your connection to the East Bluff really is, or if you actually live here. As to my comment regarding @mnjdg1, please consider it extended to you. If you have something real to contribute, please do. If you just want to make off hand remarks and have nothing to add, well, I guess we are all able to see your inability to contribute in a meaningful way. Personally, if I had nothing to add, I would take Abe Lincoln’s advice and keep my mouth shut.
Mr. Smith: my sincere apologies to you; I blieve you are a good man tryng to do good things-keep it up.
I attended 2 candidate forums where I took notes. I would like to share my observations. Ryan Spain (although adorable) was too busy to stick around to answer questions but he did pop in. -my gut reaction is he does not want to be questioned or held accountable for the hotel mess. Jim Stoll could not stick around but left business cards with the D 150 email address; that way if a voter has any questions regarding the city council – just email him. [Isn’t that a violation? An elected official can not use the email acct from another body of gov’t for campaign purposes] DAH. Erik Turner is way too defensive. “don’t blam me”, “we did not LAY OFF policemen- we let attrition take place and did not replace them because they were NOT IMPORTANT, ESSENTIAL police jobs”. In my opinion Geo Azouri is an adorable boy. Boy politicians make boy mistakes. He lives with parents, is a student, does not have a job with responsibility…has not had any responsibility in life yet. Did not fully grasp the questions asked of the candidates. We can not afford his learning curve. Very nice child. I’d like to see him as a candidate after he grows up.
The remaining candidates [Weaver, Sandberg, Williams, Grayeb, Summers, Akeson] are being considered for my vote.
I went to two forums also – Chuck Weaver didn’t come to one at all ( he was at a coffee) and left the second before questions ( to go attend a coffee). He also co-opted something we had said to him before the event started as part of his opening remarks. Very slick.