Seeing the Sears block demolished is a dream come true for many, and it is exciting that we’ll be getting a Peoria history museum. But at the same time, it feels a bit like the graveside service for downtown retail in Peoria. Downtown shopping became ill and infirm in the 1970s and ’80s and finally died in 1998 when Sears moved to Northwoods; now we’re just burying the body.

I applaud the city’s efforts to lure tourists through the upgraded riverfront and this new museum. But downtown isn’t going to be really vital until you get large retail stores down there again. It’s the one huge piece of downtown revitalization that’s missing, and every consultant Peoria has hired has said the same thing.

But instead, the city gives incentives for large retailers to locate on the fringe of town while it works overtime to put money-losers like the Riverplex and Gateway Building downtown. When is someone — anyone — going to start working on a plan to draw new retail to downtown?

The Heart of Peoria Commission seems like a logical group to take on this issue, but I’m afraid they’d spend a whole year just “appreciating the complexity of the task.”

But seriously, why is nothing being done about this? Has Peoria just given up?

I thought it was cool that WHOI took the time to look at the history of the Sears block. I didn’t see any other stations do this. Here’ s the report as it appears on their website:

Sears Block Secrets
Oct. 7, 2005 – Peoria
by Brock Spencer

Nearly 200-years of Peoria history can be found on the spot where the Sears block now stands, and come Monday demolition crews will begin digging-up the old to make room for a whole new era. A look into the history books reveals that the Sears block has some secrets to share.

It was a time when farming was a way of life for American settlers. But even before the Sears block was a thought, historians say it was a treasured place in time.

Dr. Peter Couri with the Peoria Historical Society said, “When the first American settlers came in 1819 they settled right here. We know the Fulton Family and the Eaton Family where farming right on this spot.”

Around this family farm grew the city we now call Peoria.

Then as the 1850’s hit, the area became a hot spot for more businesses.

Couri said, “You had a hotel next to a carriage shop, you would have a pottery next to a fine china shop, and just businesses galore.”

One of the most famous businesses that existed on this block was actually run by Wyatt Earp and his brother in the 1870’s.

“It was actually a house of prostitution and they were arrested in the 1870’s and kicked out of Peoria to start their illustrious career in the Wild West,” said Couri.

Over the next 90 years, buildings remained similar in architecture.

That’s until the entire block at Water and Main Street was demolished to build the Sears Store in the 1960’s.

Couri said, “It was a wonderful way to keep retail business down in Peoria. There was Sears, there was Carson-Perry-Scott, and Bergners all formed in a triangle of retail.”

But as shopping centers started making the headlines, the Sears Store moved away from downtown and into Northwoods Mall in 1998.

Still, the history of this block is not finished.

“It was a really wonderful development. We hate to see it go, but progress comes on,” said Couri.

And soon the block will be open again for business with plenty of new history to write.

The Sears Company actually started business in Peoria in 1928, but didn’t move to the riverfront Sears block until 1965. The new museum and Caterpillar Visitor Center are expected to be completed by 2009.

I just love articles on Peoria history like this — so much so that I’ll forgive Mr. Spencer for misspelling Carson-Pirie-Scott. On the news, they actually showed quite a few historical photos of the block — none pre-Sears, however. But there were a couple that allowed you to see Carson’s and Bergner’s in the background.

For those of you unfamiliar with Peoria history, the old Bergner’s has been razed and replaced with the ugly boondoggle “One Technology Plaza.” The old Carson’s (formerly Block & Kuhl) was converted to a bank building — Jefferson Bank originally, now Bank One.

I’ve been hearing AmerenCILCO commercials on WMBD radio all the time lately telling me that electric rates are going to go up dramatically in 2007. I finally checked out their website, www.post2006.com, just to see what it was all about. Here’s the summary from their home page:

Ameren’s Illinois utilities are part of a competitive marketplace for electricity that began in late 1997, when the Illinois General Assembly joined a national movement and passed legislation to create an open and competitive retail marketplace for electricity.

Separate electric delivery rates were established under that legislation, and the regulated utility companies were encouraged to spin off or sell their power generating assets to expand the market for buying and selling energy. Today, selling electricity has become a competitive business. Illinois consumers have the right to choose a power supplier other than the utility. For those customers who choose not to select an alternative supplier, Ameren’s Illinois utility companies will continue to provide power at their actual cost, without mark-up.

Now, Ameren’s Illinois utilities own almost no generation. With the end of the transition into competition coming on January 1, 2007, we need to buy electricity in the open wholesale market to serve our customers.

This all sounds great, but what competition do we have in Peoria? “Illinois consumers have the right to choose a power supplier other than the utility,” the website says. How? What other power suppliers? By “Illinois,” do they mean Chicago? With the deregulation of telephone companies, I’ve had no shortage of marketing mail and phone calls asking me to switch carriers, yet with the power competition I haven’t heard anything.

If there’s no competition, it looks like we’ll be over a barrel when electricity rates go up 25-30%, as predicted. And when that happens, the Howerters of Canton won’t look so crazy for disconnecting from the power grid completely.

I was catching up on Bill’s blog today and read his post, “Gettin’ while the gettin’s good.” In it, he advocates two things: (1) he would like to see city-wide WiFi (short for “wireless fidelity,” a wireless local area network that would be used for internet access), and (2) the city should at least start it, if not run it — it “should be considered infrastructure, and hence a legitimate government fuction,” according to his post.

I agree with his first point. City-wide WiFi would be a plus for the MedTech district and be one more feather in Peoria’s cap for attracting high-tech business to our fair city. But to say the city government should run it is a mistake. I’m seeing a trend here… First he’s for the water company buyout, now city-run WiFi… Pretty soon we’ll have the city owning phone service (wired and cell), electric/gas service, and cable television! Then maybe they could take over gas stations and grocery stores, too. The city that does it all!

Internet service is a profitable industry. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have private companies provide WiFi service to Peoria? In fact, isn’t that the very kind of business we want to attract to the MedTech district? Considering they wouldn’t have to string cable to everyone’s house, the overhead should be considerably lower for such a business, making it easier for them enter the marketplace. Then we’d have a company that buys land, pays taxes (property and sales), and employs people — and we won’t have city resources tied up in something that should be privately run.

I understand the increasing role the internet plays in our business and personal lives, but I don’t think it’s an essential service right up there with police and fire protection. And it’s profitable enough that it doesn’t need to be subsidized by the local government.

I was listening to WMBD this morning before work, and Greg and Dan were grappling with a question I’ve heard several times now about Hurricane Katrina and now Rita. I’ll paraphrase it here: “Are these hurricanes God’s judgement on the sinfulness of the people living/partying there?” That’s a pretty heady question to tackle on the radio between Apple Blossom Farm commercials and and CEFCU Traffic One updates.

But I’ll take a stab in the blogosphere at answering this question from a conservative Christian viewpoint: I don’t think these hurricanes are specific judgements from God.

First of all, judgements from God are generally supernatural, not natural disasters. If New Orleans were to be destroyed by fire and brimstone falling from the sky, or if an angel of death were to smite the firstborn of every family there, then I’d say it was God’s judgement. But I don’t believe God was the direct causitive force behind the hurricane.

Secondly, something similar happened in Jesus’s time. In Luke 13:1-5, it says this:

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Isn’t that interesting? I think it’s completely in keeping with this scripture to imagine this conversation with Jesus today. It would go something like this:

Someone reports to Jesus about the people who were killed in the hurricane down in New Orleans, and Jesus says, “Do you suppose that these Americans were greater sinners than all other Americans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those 3,000 on whom the World Trade Center fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in New York? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus asks that penetrating question that people have been asking for centuries whenever disaster strikes: Did this happen because those people were worse sinners than everyone else? Was this divine vengeance on these people?

And Jesus, who often doesn’t answer questions directly, gives us a direct answer to this one: “I tell you, no.” I love the simplicity of that answer. “No!” By implication, “No, it’s not divine vengeance, and no, they’re not worse sinners than you. You’re just as sinful as they are.” And he follows that up with the ominous words, “but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus is exposing a judgemental attitude here. He’s saying, in essence, “stop judging those people just because they met a tragic end. Take a look at yourselves! You’re not any better than they are. You are the ones who need to repent.” It kind of reminds me of that other verse that is so often quoted, “Judge not, lest ye be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2)

So, I don’t think the hurricanes are a specific judgement of God on New Orleans or even the United States in general. But, the hurricanes do remind us of our own mortality and that life is short. That should give us pause to consider what our own fate will be when we die: is there life after death? Is there a God to whom I’m accountable? Am I ready to meet him?