Museum Block

Museum officials: “Focus on what we’re gaining”

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The museum partners unveiled the latest plans for Peoria Riverfront Museum at a news conference today. Are you ready? Here they are:


This is the view from Washington and Liberty Streets (above).


And this is an aerial view from above Washington Street (above).

Also, you can check out their slide presentation (in PDF format) by clicking here.

Museum officials were upbeat at the presentation, focusing on the positive. They explained that construction costs have risen at a much quicker rate than could have been anticipated based on historical data, and that’s the reason they’ve had to redesign the building. But, they were quick to add, they are not changing the museum-goer’s experience. The programming aspect of the museum has been maintained and, according to officials, even improved.

Lakeview Museum President Jim Richerson challenged those in attendance to not focus on the loss of square footage or various elements that have been eliminated, but rather “focus on what we’re gaining.” What we’re gaining, he said, was a more functional, efficient, and visitor-friendly museum with three times the space of the current Lakeview Museum.

The building facades are going to remain metal to blend with the “reflective quality” of the Illinois river. The 70-foot tall giant screen theater portion of the campus remains, as does the planetarium (though in a silo-shaped structure instead of the original design). The new footprint of the museum is bigger because all the exhibit space is on one floor now. The programming of the museum remains intact.

Officials are particularly proud of the the structure being what they call a “sustainable building.” They refer to its “green architecture,” its bioswales, and the fact that 90% of the material removed from the site has already been recycled (for example, used in the I-74 reconstruction).

The unique architecture of the building was held up as a compelling draw for tourists. Richerson stated “there is nothing cookie-cutter about it” and is “something we can be extremely proud of.” He also compared reaction to the plans with the initial reaction people had to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Museum officials believe that the structure has an “urban face” on the Washington side because it comes closer to the street than before and has the mass of the 70-foot-tall theater. But on the Water Street side, they’ve retained the plaza which “opens up and embraces the river.” Part of that plaza includes 15,000 square feet being reserved for future commercial/retail space. They’ve also lowered the elevation on the Water Street side to allow an additional entrance.

Not pictured above is a black cloud hanging over the museum: funding. Funding has stalled at $24.5 million according to officials, and it was stated that “these next six months will be absolutely critical” to getting some “momentum” in fundraising. One key part of that is the hope that the museum will qualify for New Market Tax Credits; they hope to hear something by the end of October or first part of November.

HOPC, Museum Block

HOPC finishes work plan, takes stand on Museum Square changes

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Once again, today may have been the Heart of Peoria Commission’s last meeting. On July 24, the city council will take up the issue of whether to change the commission’s status (that is, decommission it) or let it continue to meet. One question the council has is this: if the commission continues to meet, what work will it do?

That was the goal of the commission’s meetings last Friday and today: to develop a work plan to submit to the council. The top two goals the commission set were:

  1. Advocate and promote New Urbanism for transportation and public space.
  2. Assist in the implementation of the Land Development Code and Form District Codes.

On the first goal, it was recognized that the Land Development Code and Form District Codes primarily dealt with regulating private development (zoning, land use, etc.), and it was time to turn the commission’s attention to the public space. If there isn’t the public investment in “fixing the streets” (i.e., repairing deteriorating streets and sidewalks and, in doing so, improving them so that they accommodate a balance of uses — pedestrian, bicycle, mass transit, as well as automobiles), then the private development will be stunted. The commission can help facilitate progress in this area through the charrette process, education, input in the comprehensive plan, etc.

On the second goal, we also recognized that the work isn’t done yet with the form districts or the broader Land Development Code. We can work with the Planning department to develop a marketing plan for these areas, similar to what has been done on West Main with the Renaissance Park area through the efforts of the Renaissance Park Commission. We want to raise awareness of the opportunities that exist for redevelopment specifically in the form district areas but also throughout the Heart of Peoria Plan Area.

To help save staff time (and ultimately money), the commission agreed to reduce the frequency of meetings to every other month and disband its standing subcommittees. But in doing so, the commission also emphasized the importance of having the dual appointments of Heart of Peoria Commissioners on other city commissions (Planning, Traffic, Zoning Board of Approvals, etc.) as proposed in the original communication from the Mayor.

In other business, the commission also passed a resolution recommending to the city council that they deny the proposed changes to museum square and require that any future changes be in conformity with the Heart of Peoria Plan and the principles of New Urbanism. Specifically, the building mass on the block should be getting bigger, not smaller. If the museum portion needs to shrink, that’s understandable, but then part of the block should be reopened for private development, preferably mixed-use development that would include residential and retail components to keep the block busy perpetually and add more density to such a prime area of the central business district. The resolution passed by a 4-3 vote and marks the first time the commission has taken a position on the future of the former Sears block.

General News

A review of the fireworks

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Fireworks clipartMy family went to see two fireworks shows (like we do every year): the July 3 show at Glen Oak Park, and the new “Red White and Boom” show down on the riverfront.

The show at Glen Oak Park was excellent, as usual. This is actually my favorite show — it’s in a beautiful setting, the Peoria Municipal Band plays (they always put on a great show), and the fireworks display is superb. There’s a lot of variety in the types of shells that are shot off, and the pacing is perfect. I think the show lasted 20-25 minutes this year. The kids loved it, of course; my youngest (James, 2) just sat there looking up at the sky with his mouth open, clearly awed by the spectacle. This event always has that “small town” fireworks show feeling, even though there are thousands of people there and the show is way better than you’d see in an actual small town.

The show at the riverfront was also great, but for a different reason: it was big, as promised. This year, Peoria and East Peoria combined forces to produce the biggest fireworks show ever on the riverfront. It started a little early because storm clouds were starting to roll in. This show was choreographed to music and it was announced that 5500 shells were sent up. Believe me, it was big, and very impressive.

One thing I experienced this year that I never experienced before was fallout. We set up on the East Peoria side of the river (because in years past it’s been less crowded — not so this year), and the wind was blowing east, so the ash and exploded shell casings rained down on us during the show. I guess I always knew that something had to be falling back to earth, but this was the first time I saw it falling out of sky on the crowd. I had to brush myself off when it was all over.

I love fireworks, and here in Peoria we have a couple of the highest quality fireworks displays you’ll see anywhere. While I appreciate the combining of the Peoria and East Peoria shows, I hope the Park District continues to keep their show separate and on the third. It’s a great tradition, and I enjoy getting to see two shows on two different nights. Kudos to the organizers of both shows.

Caterpillar

CAT stock downgraded

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CAT LogoCAT stock is going down due to a downgrade by UBS AG, reports the Chicago Tribune:

Caterpillar stock retreated $2.46, or 3.1 percent, to $77.99, on the New York Stock Exchange, its largest drop since Feb. 27…. [New York-based analyst David A.] Bleustein reduced his rating on the stock to “reduce” from “neutral” and the price he expects the shares to reach to $70 from $78.

You can read more about it in Forbes and Barron’s.

Uncategorized

Happy Independence Day!

CREDIT: “U.S. Capitol paintings. Signing of the Declaration of Independence, painting by John Trumbull in U.S. Capitol, detail II.” By Horydczak, Theodor, ca. 1890-1971, photographer. From Washington as It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959 Created/published ca. 1920-ca. 1950. LC-H8-CT-C01-063 DLC Part of Theodor Horydczak Collection (Library of Congress) Horydczak, Theodor, ca. 1890-1971. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Bradley University, Ray LaHood

Logic apparently not a job qualification

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Ray LaHoodAccording to the Journal Star, Ray LaHood is still contemplating applying for a job for which finalists have already been chosen:

“I’m still considering the decision,” said LaHood, a Peoria Republican.

Asked how that could be, given that the search committee has selected its finalists to be interviewed shortly at an out-of-town location, LaHood responded, “I just told you where I’m at with it.”

Presumably, LaHood is also still considering a gubernatorial run for 2006. I wonder what he’ll decide?

Kellar Branch

Oh my Darling, oh my Darling, oh my Darling, CIRY

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Kellar Branch RailroadBack in February, former mayor Dick Carver came to Peoria (at taxpayer expense) to talk about options for the future of the Kellar Branch, including which railroad company would be the better rail carrier: Pioneer Industrial Railroad or Central Illinois Railroad Company. The president and general counsel for Pioneer showed up at the meetings, but no one from Central Illinois Rail bothered to make the trek down from Granville, Illinois. I also addressed the council at the time with what I thought was a well-reasoned argument in favor of the rail carrier who had provided better, safer service (Pioneer).

Nevertheless, the City chose Central Illinois Railroad, in no small part because of Dick Carver’s comments. One comment in particular (summarized below from the Feb. 13 council minutes) was especially swaying to the council:

Mr. Carver said he felt that Mr. John Darling, President of Central Illinois Rail Company, had a good relationship with the Union Pacific Railroad. He said Mr. Darling committed himself to making service more reliable, and more frequent, with a reasonable cost.

You see, without the Kellar Branch in operation, the western connection is only accessible from the Union Pacific line, so a good working relationship with UP (among other things) is essential if shippers on the western connection are ever going to get something close to a competitive rate.

John Darling, President of Central Illinois Rail, was the man of the hour that night, even though he wasn’t there at the meeting. Dick Carver talked him up, explained what a great working relationship the guy had with UP, etc. He wouldn’t come right out and say that Darling/CIRY was a better choice than Pioneer, but he might as well have. The implication was clear. So the council voted to get a contract with CIRY based on that recommendation and the promise of John Darling.

Fast-forward five months: The city is still unable to reach an agreement on a new contract with CIRY, and guess what? John Darling is no longer the president of Central Illinois Railroad. Randy Ray informed at least one councilman today, “Mr. Darling has left. Their new Chief Operating Officer is Jack Stolarczyk.”

Now that their pretense for choosing CIRY over Pioneer (Darling) is “lost and gone forever,” will they say “dreadful sorry, CIRY” and drop them in favor of Pioneer?

I think we all know the answer to that.

CityLink

Park ‘n Ride into the past, I guess

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I thought I might ride CityLink’s Park ‘n Ride service to see the fireworks at Glen Oak Park tonight. My wife and I did that last year and it seemed to work relatively well. So I wanted to get some info on where they would be picking up people and how much the fares were.

First stop, the website:

Park and Ride

If you can’t read it, it says this:

Park-N-Ride Services Hotline
Call 679-8333 For Recorded Schedules, updated regularly

There are no June Park & Ride and Special Events

Please check back to see more upcoming events in July

Okay, so their website is a little out of date. I’ll try calling the hotline. I kid you not, this is the entire recording, verbatim, recorded by me today, July 3, 2007, at 6:00 p.m.:

[audio:https://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/CityLink1.mp3]

Wow, thanks CityLink for your “regularly updated” Park ‘n Ride hotline! Now I know just where and when to catch the bus for events that happened in November and December of last year! Just one more thing, where do I find your time machine?

I think it’s funny that the telephone “hotline” is even more out of date than the website. And it’s even funnier that the recording cuts off at the end — indicating to me that even when this was originally recorded, it was only marginally helpful.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more comical, I tried pressing “0” for an operator. Guess what?

[audio:https://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/CityLink2.mp3]

Looks like we’ll be driving.