Elections

Report: New Voting Machines

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I used one of the new voting machines today after work. I found the machine itself easy to use, and don’t have any complaints about it. It was actually quite intuitive. I imagine that older people and others who aren’t as computer-literate as I might take a little longer to have a good comfort-level with this new machine. But, overall, I don’t think there’s much of a learning curve.

I don’t know if this is the way my new precinct has always been or if this has to do with the new machines, but I noticed that the line went pretty slowly. There were only maybe four to six people there to vote, but it took about 15 minutes to go through the line. It never took me more than 5 minutes to vote at my old precinct, under the old system. Anyone else experience delays compared to past primaries?

I still maintain that there was nothing wrong with the old system, and that this was a case of solving a problem that didn’t exist.

Elections, Peoria Journal Star

JS really shines when it comes to election coverage

Have you ever gone to a political candidate’s website? Usually, they’re terrible. Oh, they’re good if your goal is to give money to their campaign — it’s easy to find your way to the contribution page. But if you’re looking for information — detailed information — on what they plan to do if elected, forget it. If they have anything, it’s usually little more than platitudes: improve schools, stop corruption, create jobs. All the candidates want to do those things.

In contrast, go to the Journal Star’s election guide, and there you’ll find a wealth of information on the candidates. For governor, there are video clips of the Journal Star’s interview with each candidate. There are links to many other election resources, too. But my favorite part is the questionnaire. The Journal Star mailed questionnaires to each candidate in contested races and published their answers. I find these to be the most valuable.

First of all, the questions are very good — no softball questions here. And secondly, you get a feel for what’s really important to each candidate. Some have long, detailed answers on one or two questions, then gloss over the other ones; that says something about their priorities. Others are flippant, almost like they don’t take the questionnaire seriously; and that says something about the value they put on communicating with the public.

For example, Republican gubernatorial candidate Andy Martin answers a question about school funding by simply saying, ” This is a complex issue and there are no easy answers. I would press the legislature to consider alternatives.” Wow, thanks for that insight, Andy. I had no idea it was so complex. Glad to see your “plan” is to push this one off on the legislature.

I was most disappointed to see that 2nd-district school board candidate (and incumbent) Garrie Allen didn’t even bother to fill out his questionnaire. I wasn’t especially impressed with his opponent and was leaning toward voting for him until I saw that. Why should I vote for him when he doesn’t have time or think it’s important to answer a few questions for the public?

But I digress. My point here is that the Journal Star consistently does an excellent job at election coverage. I’ve been voting since 1988 and have found the Journal Star’s election guide to always be one of the best sources, if not the best source, of detailed information on the candidates’ positions.  It’s an invaluable service, and I think they should be highly commended for it.

And if you haven’t gotten out to vote yet, the polls are still open as of this writing. Check out the Journal Star’s election guide and then do your civic duty.

Uncategorized

Where’s the wheelbarrow black market around here?

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I got an e-mail today from a neighbor working in her yard. She just went inside for a few seconds to get a drink, and when she came back her wheelbarrow was gone. That’s the second wheelbarrow in a month that’s been stolen from my neighborhood.

Am I the only one who thinks that’s a strange item to steal? Is there a large black-market demand for wheelbarrows in this city? Are the folks attending March Madness downtown being approached near shady alleys by guys in trenchcoats who say, “Psst! Hey buddy, wanna buy a wheelbarrow?” Or, to think the best of my fellow man, could there have been two recent gardening emergencies that demandeded the immediate commandeering of a wheelbarrow?

What’s the cash value of a wheelbarrow? Maybe we should call the pawn shops and see if there’s a trend — a spike in hot wheelbarrows. We could set up a sting operation. I wonder if it’s the work of a single bandit or if stealing wheelbarrows has become a new gang-initiation ritual. There are so many possibilities….

I really don’t mean to make light of this situation. I would be ticked off if someone stole my wheelbarrow. But I still think it’s the strangest item I’ve ever heard of being stolen.

Uncategorized

Mr. Mom

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My wife is at a “Hearts at Home” conference this weekend in Bloomington. It’s like a mini-vacation for her. She gets to hang out with grown-ups, not carry a diaper bag, talk about grown-up things instead of trying to arbitrate tinker-toy disputes, and eat in restaurants without having to cut up anyone’s food for them.

Meanwhile, I’m watching the three little urchins for a couple of days (right now it’s nap time). It’s been fun spending time with the kids, but it never ceases to amaze me how much time is spent preparing meals and cleaning up after them. I think if I had to stay home all day every day, I would accomplish little more than feeding my children and cleaning the kitchen. How my wife accomplishes anything else is a mystery to me.

As kind of a corollary to that, I don’t know why my wife’s hands aren’t chapped, cracked, and bleeding most of the time. After doing dishes all day and constantly having to wash up after wiping noses, changing diapers, and cleaning up poopy bottoms, my hands are raw.

After listening to my 5-year-old chatterbox all day, I also understand why my wife wants to call me at work frequently to have an adult conversation. It reminds me of Dave Barry’s contention that becoming a parent makes you stupider. He gave this example:

Albert Einstein Shortly Before The Birth Of His Son: “To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms — this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness.”

Albert Einstein Shortly After The Birth Of His Son: “Daddy’s gonna EAT THESE WIDDLE TOES!”

With a 5-year-old, you get peppered with questions that seem to come out of nowhere: “If you go to jail, do you have to stay there forever?” “Do bugs think I’m a giant?” “Can I poke you with this tinkertoy?” After you answer a couple hundred of those questions, you long to hear a grown-up question, like “you wanna beer?”
Well, I never doubted for a second that my wife was superwoman, but my belief has been reinforced once again. I think I’ll take her out to dinner more often.

And, I hear footsteps… I fear nap time is over….

Thank goodness the grandparents have taken pity on me and offered to have the clan over for supper last night and tonight. One less meal to prepare.

City Council, Peoria Disposal Company

A couple thoughts on the landfill issue

I’ll have more to say about this issue later, but I wanted to say a couple of things now.

First of all, thank you to my council representative Barbara Van Auken for taking the time to voice her opposition to the landfill expansion on behalf of the second district. Also thanks to at-large councilman Gary Sandberg for voicing his concerns as well. I don’t know if any other council members spoke, but I didn’t see any mention of it in this Journal Star article if they did.

Secondly, I’m not buying this argument from Les Bergsten:

But Les Bergsten, chairman of the Peoria City/County Landfill Committee which has taken no stand on the expansion, argued the county cannot afford to lose the business connected with the PDC landfill. American companies without convenient waste disposal will move elsewhere, he said.

If that’s true, then Peoria should be booming with new business, especially industrial business. I mean, PDC is one of only 15 such toxic waste dumps in the country. Why haven’t companies been knocking down our door the last fifteen years so they can be close to our coveted toxic waste dump?  PDC is accepting toxic waste from several other states — why haven’t the companies in those states moved to Peoria to be nearer the landfill?  That argument just doesn’t wash.

City of Peoria, Illinois American Water

French may buy American Water Co. from Germans

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Bloomberg reports that the French water company Veolia Environnement SA is “considering bidding for RWE AG’s water business in the U.S.,” which is American Water Co., of which Illinois American Water is a part.  This is the first company to consider purchasing American Water since RWE put it up for sale last November.

Veolia is a supplier of water to about 110 million people.  They have a presence on every continent.  In the U.S., they currently provide water for certain municipalities in Indiana, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, Texas, Florida, and even right here in Illinois — in Edwardsville.

Board of Election Commissioners, Peoria County

Pens too difficult; must have computers

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I got a card in the mail yesterday from the Board of Election Commissioners. It was instructions on how to use the new voting equipment.

I’ve been voting for a while now in Peoria. My first ballot was on those “butterfly ballot” machines where you punched a hole in a computer punchcard. I was only 18 when I used that for the first time, and even at that tender age, I was able to figure out the complex system of names and punch-holes.

Later, they started using a plain paper ballot and a felt-tip pen. All you had to do was complete the arrow; essentially the instructions were “draw a line next to the person’s name for whom you want to vote.”

Now, we have computers to make our lives easier. So here are the six simple steps for casting a ballot with our new voting equipment. This is verbatim from the Board of Election — I’m not making this up:

  1. Turn the SELECT wheel to highlight your language and press ENTER.
  2. Turn the SELECT wheel to highlight the first number of your ACCESS CODE. Press ENTER. Repeat for each number.
  3. Turn the SELECT wheel to highlight your ballot choice. Press ENTER. The box to the left of the choice changes to red. Repeat for each contest. You can turn pages on the ballot with PREV or NEXT.
  4. Read the Ballot Summary Page carefully. Only after you have made all of your desired choices, press CAST BALLOT from the final Ballot Summary Page to proceed to Ballot Verification.
  5. Read the Paper Verification Page carefully and verify your selections on the printed record. Only after verifying the printed record, turn the SELECT wheel to highlight Accept Page and press ENTER.
  6. After you have verified and accepted all printed pages, press CAST BALLOT to finish voting.

You have finished voting when you see the waving American flag. The printer displays “Ballot Accepted” and scrolls to a blank page to ensure voter privacy.

Pressing the CAST BALLOT button after you have verified all printed pages completes the voting process and records the ballot.

Oh yeah, that’s soooo much easier to understand and execute than drawing a line with a felt-tip pen. Thank goodness for modern technology.

City Council, City of Peoria

There will be a new hotel in Peoria, but not downtown (yet)

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A new 88-room Country Inn & Suites will be built close to TGI Friday’s on War Memorial Drive near the Grand Prairie mall if the council approves the rezoning request tonight.  Doug Currier got unanimous approval from the zoning board, and his request is part of the consent agenda for tonight’s meeting.  The hotel will include banquet facilities and meeting rooms and, amazingly, is not requiring any city funds to be built.

City Council, City of Peoria

Piano teachers may be permitted to forego permit

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Tonight’s council meeting includes an item to allow piano teachers (and other music instructors) to work out of their homes without having to pay $90 for a home occupation permit, but they can’t have more than four students at their house at the same time, and they can’t amplify their equipment.  Other home businesses that are not required to have a permit:  “computer operation,  . . . sewing machine operation, telephone operation, typing, and writing.” I could think of a few other occupations that shouldn’t require a permit, but at least they’re finally exempting musical instruction.  I hope this passes unanimously.