Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools, Public Building Commission

Why the PBC shouldn’t fund school construction

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I read a great argument against using the Public Building Commission to fund school construction. It came from an unlikely source: the Peoria Journal Star. Of course, it was from the PJS of 15 years ago, about two years before the state legislature took away the PBC’s power to bond for school construction. Take a look at this editorial from December 1, 1991, page A8 (emphasis mine):

What would you think of a business that advertised a product or service at a specific price, and then charged you almost 70 percent more when you got to the store? You’d probably think you’d been misled. You might not shop there again. You might tell your friends not to patronize that store, either. Even if the product you bought was of high quality, it would be the principle that mattered, because you’d been lured to that store under false pretenses.

In a way, that’s what Peoria School District 150 has done with its school facilities expansion and your tax dollars.

When District 150 pitched its blueprints to the public 18 months ago, administrators said the expansion would cost about $15.5 million, the second largest capital improvement in the school district’s history. Through a series of eight public meetings, that number was repeated time and again. Hardly any opposition was voiced. The school board approved the plan; the district hired architects and began tinkering.

Suddenly the expansion of eight schools costing about $9 million became nine schools costing $13 million. Suddenly the construction of two new schools at a cost of about $3.5 million each assumed price tags of $7 million and $6 million respectively. Suddenly a $15.5 million expansion has become an estimated $26 million expansion (pending the Public Building Commission’s approval for the two new schools), the largest in District 150’s history.

District 150 can do this because, unlike virtually every other school district in central Illinois, it does not need voter approval to issue bonds to pay for new construction. That’s because it has a rich uncle at the Public Building Commission, which is subject to no one’s authority but its own. Examples like this one are why this newspaper has a philosophical objection to PBCs and the way in which they allow local governments to circumvent the will of the people who pay their bills.

Continue reading Why the PBC shouldn’t fund school construction →

Peoria Public Library

Public meeting dates on library expansion set

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The Peoria Public Library, before going to the voters and asking for money for expansion, is holding several meetings soliciting public input. Some other public bodies in Peoria could learn from their example. The meeting dates are:

  • Thursday, October 19 – 4:30 p.m.
    McClure Branch Library, 315 W. McClure
  • Saturday, October 21 – 2:00 p.m.
    Lakeview Branch Library, 1137 W. Lake
  • Wednesday, November 1 – 7:00 p.m.
    Dunlap Middle School, 5200 Cedar Hills Drive
  • Tuesday, November 14- 7:00 p.m.
    Common Place, 514 S. Shelley
  • Tuesday, December 12 – 7:00 p.m.
    Main Street Branch -107 N. E. Monroe Street

I already have some questions I’d like to ask at one of these meetings. After reading the executive summary of their proposed plan (available on their website), I’m still a bit dubious that they can offer the same or better level of service at the main branch if they take some of the employees there and move them to a new North Peoria branch.

I understand the concept of having an open floor plan, thus fewer people can staff multiple departments. But won’t we lose expertise? If you have a specialist in Business and a specialist in Art & Music, and you take the Art & Music person and put them up north, then ask the Business person to oversee Business and Art & Music… aren’t you losing something? Or at least putting more strain on the existing staff?

I know they’re trying to keep costs down, and that’s commendable. But if they’re going to add a 35,000-square-foot branch, I think it’s only realistic to expect they’ll need more staff.

Peoria County, Peoria Disposal Company

Waiting for my PDC subpoena

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I see Peoria Disposal Company has sent subpoenas to opponents of their landfill expansion plans. That’s nice. I wonder if I’ll get one, since I, too, opposed the expansion. I wonder if all the letter-writers to the Journal Star’s forum who opposed the expansion will also have to testify.

It’s a shame that PDC, which has had such a good reputation in town, is now poised to throw that away in their effort to force more out-of-state toxic waste down our throats. Guy Brenkman sued the county and won his “right” to put his Fantasyland strip club on Farmington Road (another form of toxic waste), and now he’s universally reviled. I guess they care more about making money than having a good reputation. Too bad they couldn’t just graciously accept the County Board’s decision, like a good neighbor.

City Council, City of Peoria

It wasn’t “zoo money”

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The Journal Star’s headline this morning is a bit misleading. It reads, “Zoo money switched to demolition.” It was actually street improvement money that was switched to demolition:

The City Council took $100,000 once slated to help create a grander entrance to the new zoo and instead voted to use it to demolish vacant problem properties.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to move the money since 3rd District Councilman Bob Manning said there are no longer plans for a grand entrance in lower Glen Oak Park. Manning, who represents the park and the Glen Oak Zoo area, said the money is needed for demolitions.

There were preliminary plans to update the Glen Oak Park entrance at the corner of Abingdon Abington and Perry streets to make it a “grand entrance” to the zoo. Manning set aside $100,000 to help in that effort by updating the city’s portion of the intersection, perhaps putting in a roundabout.

But when the zoo scrapped plans to put a “grand entrance” there, it freed up that $100,000 to be spent on a higher priority elsewhere. Manning recommended, and the council approved, spending that money on demolition of condemned properties instead.

So, I understand the headline, but it certainly gives the wrong impression. It makes it sound like the city is taking money away from the zoo, which is not the case. It was never “zoo money.”

City Council, City of Peoria

Council not about to take fees off the books

Remember those underground storage vaults and pedestrian walkways that “encroach on the public way” downtown that was the subject of some controversy a couple months ago?

Well, there was some follow-up on that at last night’s council meeting. At the council’s request, staff reviewed the ordinance that charges fees for encroachments and gave the council some choices on what to do. They could (a) keep the current ordinance and fee structure, (b) keep the ordinance and modify the fee structure (to reflect inflation over the past 30 years), or (c) keep the ordinance but eliminate the permit fees.

The city, desperate for money, chose option (b) with little discussion or disagreement (although Mayor Ardis and Councilman Nichting voted against it). These updated permit fees are estimated to bring in over $100,000 per year into city coffers.

What happens now is city staff has to do an inventory of all the underground vaults in downtown and notify those businesses that they are going to start collecting permit fees on them again. Since these fees haven’t been collected since the early 1980s, the city’s records are woefully out of date and incomplete.

My take: This was the right decision. The city has been contemplating new public safety fees and raising property taxes because they are so short on funds, so collecting fees that are already on the books is a no-brainer. City staff should never have stopped collecting these fees in the first place, since they never received council authorization to do so. The council ought to enforce the ordinances they already have to raise money before they raise taxes or create new fees.

Peoria Public Library

Library looks north

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Is this the face of the new North Peoria branch of the public library? That’s one idea in the library’s $35 million plan:

A proposed new 35,000-square-foot branch would cost $11 million, and include a computer lab and large children’s area. Szynaka suggested a vacant building, such as K’s Merchandise, which is going out of business, could even be retrofitted.

I suppose it’s fitting for the suburbs to have a plain-vanilla building for their library. Still, it’s a shame that civic structures warrant no special architecture anymore. Architecture — especially for civic buildings — was supposed to inspire and delight; now most buildings are “designed” more by engineers than architects, always with efficiency being paramount and aesthetics being an afterthought or add-on. The library deserves better.

On the one hand, I appreciate their willingness to consider reusing an existing building. But that building was designed to be disposable; libraries should have an air of permanence. In short, it should look like a library. Maybe that’s part of the plan. I’ve called the library and asked for a copy of the consultant’s report.

The most unrealistic part of plan as it was reported in the paper is this: “If staffed more efficiently, library officials believe they can build a new North Peoria branch without adding employees.” All this means is they’re going to take staff from the downtown branch and move them to the North Peoria branch, meaning more work for each current staff person. I doubt the library is overstaffed at the moment; they’re always hopping when I’m in there, and I often have to wait in line at the reference desk. This “efficient staffing” will probably mean a longer wait time to talk to a librarian.

Now, I sound all negative here (hey, it sells papers, right?), but really, other than these two concerns, I’m actually excited about the prospect of the library getting a facelift. I’m a big fan of the Peoria Public Library and would like to see some money and new life pumped into it. Their research materials are excellent and they have a very helpful and knowlegeable staff. I’m looking forward to hearing more details about their expansion plans in the near future.

Restaurants

Restaurant Review: Carnegie’s 501 isn’t the Carnegie’s you remember

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Remember going to Carnegie’s in the Hotel Pere Marquette? The overstuffed chairs, the fine linen. The heavy drapes pulled back to reveal each booth. The well-dressed waiter who never let your water glass get less than half-full. The silver dome plate covers that were all lifted in unison to reveal everyone’s meal at once. The quiet, elegant atmosphere and slow, relaxed pace perfectly conducive for dining and conversing. The beautiful chandeliers. The grand piano providing soft dinner music. The sorbet between each course to cleanse your palate. The dessert display. The chocolate-covered strawberries that came with the bill. Remember that?

Well, that’s all it is now: a memory.

The new Carnegie’s 501 is your average hotel restaurant. Nothing special. The decor has been changed dramatically — gone are the drapes, the piano, the overstuffed chairs. Added: a salad bar and a couple of noisy beverage machines. My wife and I were fortunate enough to be seated next to the buzzing coffee and juice bar. Nothing reminds you that you’re eating in a hotel better than a sound that makes you feel like you’re in a hallway near the ice machine.

Our waitress, dressed in a half-tucked gray shirt with black apron and hairnet, looked as if she doubled as a short order cook when she wasn’t on the floor waiting tables. Her grammar could use some work (Question: “Is Jerry still managing here?” Answer: “Not no more”), but to her credit, she was pleasant and attentive.

We were seated promptly at a table for two with a black tablecloth and white linen napkins. We were given one-page menus in clear-plastic page holders. There was a wide selection; you could get a filet mignon or meatloaf, for instance — two beef dishes at opposite ends of the culinary spectrum. I got the filet; my wife got the ribeye. We both ordered the dinner salad with raspberry vinegrette dressing and baked potatoes with butter.

I will say this for Carnegie’s 501: the steaks were cooked to perfection and delicious. The salad was simple (iceberg and romaine, cucumber and tomato slices), but crisp and fresh. The dressing was thicker than one might expect from a vinegrette, but sweet and tangy. The potato was warm and probably could have been baked a bit longer. Even though we asked only for butter, we were given butter and sour cream.

Surprisingly, we didn’t receive any rolls. We asked our server if the meal came with bread or rolls, to which she promptly replied, “Sure, I can get you some,” then hopped over to the salad bar and grabbed a few pieces of sourdough bread and a handful of butter pats, put them on a plate, and served them to us. The rolls were cold — another departure from the old days of Carnegie’s when they would serve you a variety of hot rolls with chilled, molded pats of butter.

Since it was our anniversary, we did receive a complimentary dessert. That was a nice touch. We both got the cheesecake with strawberries. It was served in the most unusual way — in a humongous martini glass. The slice of cheesecake was standing on end, surrounded by a mixture of strawberries and melted ice cream.

Carnegie’s 501 really isn’t bad for what it is — a hotel restaurant. Unfortunately, anyone who’s lived in Peoria long enough to have experienced the old Carnegie’s will be hard-pressed not to have high expectations based on previous experience. So, be forewarned, despite the similar name, it’s not Carnegie’s anymore. It’s Carnegie’s 501 — good food, casual atmosphere, laid-back service, for about the same price as the old Carnegie’s.

St. Louis Cardinals

Cardinals: NLDS Champions

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Cardinals LogoBases-loaded jams, suicide squeeze, timely double-plays — it was an exciting game all the way around. And of course, for a Cardinal fan like myself, the ending couldn’t have been any sweeter — the third straight NLDS win for the redbirds.

It’s on to Shea Stadium Wednesday night for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. Can the Cardinals pull another upset and knock off the Mets? It wouldn’t be the first time they surprised their critics.

Uncategorized

On a personal note…

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A few personal tidbits:

Today my wife and I are celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary. On this day in 1994, we vowed to love, honor, and cherish each other until death do we part, and we are no less committed to each other today. I’d like to say we’re going to do something exciting to celebrate, but we have three kids, so, maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get to go out to dinner by ourselves for an hour.

I’m taking this week off from work to get some projects done around the house. With the electricity rate hike looming, I suddenly have a new motivation to insulate my attic. So that’s the biggest project I have on tap. Still, it will be nice having some time off work; I haven’t taken a vacation week since my son was born, about a year and a half ago.

On Friday I logged onto the city’s website to see the agenda for this Tuesday, as I usually do. As I was scanning down the consent agenda, I got a big surprise — I’m on it! Several months ago, I applied to be a part of the Heart of Peoria Commission at the suggestion of my city council representative. Shortly after that, they put a moratorium on commission appointments while Van Auken, Sandberg, and Morris did a thorough review of all the commissions. Sometime in the past few weeks, that moratorium was lifted and the mayor began making appointments again, and I’m being recommended for appointment to the HOP Commission. I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about it. It’s no secret that I’m a die-hard fan of new urbanism in general and the Heart of Peoria Plan specifically. This is an opportunity for me to make a real contribution to the implementation of the plan. There’s only so much you can do with a blog.

Finally, I’m hoping once again that the Cardinals can beat the Padres tonight behind Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter and advance to the NLCS to face the Mets. I’ll be honest, I’m very hopeful that the Cards can knock off the Padres, but I’m not very hopeful that they can beat the Mets. Of course, I want them to make it to the World Series, but realistically, the Mets this year will be awfully hard to beat. They can’t afford to have Chris Duncan miss a routine fly ball in left field against the Mets. Go Cardinals!

St. Louis Cardinals

Go Cardinals!

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Cardinals LogoIn a couple of hours, the Cardinals will be playing Game 3 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres at home in St. Louis. Of course, I’m hoping for another sweep, just like the Cardinals have done the last couple of post-season series against the Padres.

I have one beef with the game today — it’s on ESPN2. There are three baseball games being played today, and two of them are on FOX (that station I get). The one I really want to watch is on ESPN2 (not even ESPN — it’s on ESPN2! ESPN has college football). Just another reason to hate the wild-card system that forces this extra round of playoffs that doesn’t bring in enough advertising dollars to put all the games on broadcast television — all so a second-place team can get a second-chance at the post-season.