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The Journal Star finally cobbled together another pro-trail editorial. Apparently they wanted to save it for Sunday for maximum readership. You can read it here, but there’s not much new.
One revelation was that Congressman LaHood got Noble, Ardis, and Brenkman in the same room and basically told Brenkman that he was in favor of rails-to-trails, and Ardis agreed. That was a big disappointment. I thought Republicans were supposed to be pro-business.Â
The editorial also shed some light on the negotiations that are taking place between the city and Pioneer. Brenkman asked LaHood to “try to persuade the Union Pacific Railroad to him run his trains on its tracks” — this is apparently how Brenkman was hoping to continue to provide neutral access to multiple rail lines. However, LaHood and Public Works Director Van Winkle both said that UP would be unlikely to approve such an arrangement.Â
The city tries to make Brenkman the only bad guy. There’s no doubt he’s an obstructionist, but the city got into this mess by promising what they couldn’t deliver. They told the Park District it could turn the Kellar Branch into a park before they got clearance to do so from the Surface Transportation Board. Thus the Park District started applying for grants, and now they’re in a situation where they may lose their funding, all because the city jumped the gun.
But once again, I just want to point out the Journal Star’s empty and ridiculous defense for turning the Kellar Branch into an extension of the Rock Island Trail:
Losing this trail would be a public outrage. By conservative estimates, the Kellar Branch would attract at least 2,500 hikes, bikers, runners and walkers a week. Completion of the six-mile section would close a gap in a 45-mile recreational trail from Toulon to Morton. A linear park through the city would make Peoria a more attractive place to live and to visit. The city would no longer be liable for the tracks. And the one customer – one customer – that Pioneer serves over them could be served over the new spur.
I’ve said this all before, but these are not compelling reasons to shut down an operating rail line with the advantages and potential of the Kellar Branch. First of all, I’m not even going to address the spurious usage numbers they quote except to remind everyone that the Park District and Journal Star grossly overestimated how many people would use the RiverPlex when it was proposed.
Secondly, the idea that a linear park is going to “make Peoria a more attractive place to live and visit” is the most ludicrous thing I think I’ve ever seen anyone write about Peoria. Gee, all this time I thought crime and underperforming schools were the main factors in people moving to surrounding communities like Dunlap and Germantown Hills. Little did I know that the real culprit was the lack of a linear park! Why, if we could get that, people would be begging to live in Peoria. Can’t you just see the testimonials on television now? Young soccer-mom: “I was concerned about Peoria’s homicide and prostitution rates, several schools being on the state watch list, and recent shootings at one of Peoria’s high schools [black and white pictures of Larry Bright and other indicted felons flash on the screen while ominous music plays in the background]; [cut to lush orchestral music] but then I found out about Peoria’s beautiful linear park and I knew this was where I wanted to live and raise my family [color video of children laughing and running down a lilly-lined path].” Voice-over guy: “Peoria. Come for our linear park. Stay for our sewage problems and high taxes.”
Thirdly, if liability for the tracks were really a concern, the city could easily free themselves from it — by selling them to Guy Brenkman and using that money to do something that would really make Peoria more attractive, like hiring more cops or eliminating blight.
Finally, perhaps the saddest part of the Journal Star quote above is the last sentence, “And the one customer – one customer – that Pioneer serves over them could be served over the new spur.” This just shows their short-sightedness and lack of concern for existing businesses. Carver Lumber is the “one customer” the Park District, Journal Star Editorial Board, Ray LaHood, and the City of Peoria apparently couldn’t care less about. They talk about it as if it’s insignificant and not worth getting in the way of their precious linear park. (You can even hear them saying, “one measly old business,” in the tone of their editorial.)  Have they all forgotten that Carver Lumber was only in favor of converting the Kellar Branch if the city could guarantee comparable rail prices and service from the west? Without neutral access or cooperation from UP, they won’t get that.  Keep treating businesses like that and they’ll get the message that they’re not wanted in Peoria.
Funny thing is, the Pioneer Park area, the site of the old Pabst Brewery in the Heights, and several other locations as one gets closer to downtown would be attractive places to draw new manufacturing businesses to the Peoria area, if anyone were interested. But apparently jobs and tax revenue are not as important as a linear park to our congressman and mayor. And that’s the real public outrage.
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