28 thoughts on “Question of the Day”

1. 1 Liquor store
   2 Title Loan place
   3 Starbucks

2. What, no strip club?

   Okay, now that that’s out of the way, anyone have any serious suggestions?

3. Perhaps a specialty grocery?

4. I live close to this area. How about a small grocery, maybe a coffee shop type of restaurant, like Gebby’s or something?

5. As long as you have the one of the city’s 2 crime cameras poised at McClure and Sheridan with a liquor store and gas station that has bars on the windows (like a jail) it is going to be hard to attract any serious small business there. What the city is doing now for that area, while anything is an improvement, is basically putting lipstick on a pig. This “element” that has taken over the nearby neighborhood is why the city never invests a dime in the south end. I don’t count the now out of business grocery store on Adams.
   So, what to do? First the city needs to come down on the gas station and have them clean that place up and make it look more consumer friendly, same with the liquor store. Then, the police need to get serious and start harassing those that loiter on the corners and make some harassing busts. Not all these crack heads have lawyers so the limits need to be pushed. Then, maybe other businesses will take advantage of the city’s enterprise zone or whatever and move in.

6. BTW, I grew up near this area and remember the old station 11 firehouse and the German guy’s grocery store located at Loucks and Sheridan. Riechart’s?? or something like that.

7. I agree – I live near the “triangle” and some kind of a small specialty grocery (Alwan Meats) would be great, maybe a non-chain pharmacy (again, think Alwan’s), a small 5&10 type store (Yeah, I’m 27 & I remember them being called 5&10s!), more family type eating establishments that are open year round, etc.

   Emtronics, I agree with you… the gas station needs to be cleaned up along with the liquor store. Shoot, COP forced the grocery store down on SW Adams to pay off duty cops to be security because of liquor (which was largely why they closed, I hear), why not do something similar with McClure Liquors… or just have an off duty cop patrolling that particular area and have all of the businesses share the cost of paying the officer equally.

   I love living where I do because I’m central to everything. Also (if I had the tire fixed) I could ride my bike to Walgreens, Wal-Mart, etc from where I live. But if COP wants the Sheridan Triangle to work, they’re gonna have to make some kind of major investment in security or else any business that moves there will be closed in a heartbeat.

8. There’s a Butternut Bakery on the triangle that sells milk, bread, some groceries.

   What the place needs, IMHO, is a decent breakfast restaurant.

   Peoria, as a whole, needs more 24-hour eateries … which would require more police protection to keep them from being ruined by druggies, drunks, etc.

9. Maybe it would be cheaper to just allow concealed carry — then we wouldn’t need additional officers.

10. On topic, I think this would be a great area for some smaller speciality shops of the type you find in MetroCenter (though smaller). These are the type of shops that I think can be a draw to this area. Along with a nice restaurant (mid level, local, and unique). While the area does need amenities for the local area, IMHO the only hope of retail type facilities surviving there is to draw from the whole city and to do that they need to be unique and special. I’d love to see this area make it – and spread the redevelopment into the surrounding area – but general more of the same retail establishments aren’t going to do it.

11. I think they definitely need another restaurant or two to get more foot traffic. There is a restaurant that opened next door to Dudley’s (building owned by Dudley’s owner) – but it seems mainly geared to take out. There is also a Wings place on corner of McClure that is within the new Triangle boundary. South side of McClure (Liquor store) isn’t in the boundary.

    The upholstery business is attractive and a good anchor but it won’t generate that much traffic.

    New and used bookstore or a general store or a few specialty stores – maybe a specialty grocery store like German store on Sheridan or Mexican grocery on Wisconsin or Cedar’s bakery on Virginia – that sort of thing – would be good.

12. The problem is that area is mostly a low end market. I have just signed a new lease for my shop 3,500 sq.ft. for $2,800 month on N. University. If you were to give me the same footage there for $2.80 I would pass. Most people just will not make the drive over. Many people are scared to death or just do not want to deal with the people in that area. Giving the buildings pretty face lifts will do little to change that. Lippmans moved for a reason. Look at what they must be paying in rent now compared to what they would of had in that area. Even with the higher rent I bet they are making 5times the money. That is life, it all comes down to dollars and cents. A shop out on this side of town people will see and stop at. A shop in that area, even if you can get people to make the drive over, you will go belly up trying to pay the add bill to let people know were you are at and that you are open. To change that the city needs to get more “normal” people to move into homes in that area. If the residents change the shops will follow.

13. How snooty of you. Many people are scared to death of downtown. Scared to death of the downtown library. Many people are scared to death of Peoria for that matter. Many people find the N. University fast food, quick loan sprall utterly depressing

    I don’t live in the Sheridan Triangle but I walk through it on a fairly regular basis. I’d personally be happy with the widened sidewalks, narrowed streets, treescape, etc. improvements that are proposed – and don’t honestly care what shops are there or not. I find the neighborhood generally pleasant now- especially the brick street portion of Gift Ave. off of Sheridan – I believe there are even some normal people living there. Check it out. Perhaps if the selection of shops change more normal people will follow.

14. I grew up on W. Thrush Street,went to Loucks grade school and Peoria High. Bought a house on W, Nowland owned it for 15 years till 1999. I have friends who still in the hood. They can’t walk down the street at night and feel safe. I moved an account of the constant gunshots at night. I Loved Peoria when I was growing up and I loved the home I bought there. You couldn’t pay me to live there now. The city council have made a number of mistakes over the years in the name of Progress. Where I grew up is the Inner city now and all the progress has moved to the outskirts. Thank You So Much Peoria city council. :~(

15. Sorry I was not trying to be a snoot but was just painting reality as many people see it. As to the concept that nice shops will bring home owners back, most shop owners have shops to make money, sitting in a rough neighborhood simply does not pay the bills. Look at all the new construction, shops follow the homes, not the other way around.

16. Maybe if we put a museum somewhere in the “Triangle”……………………………

17. Jo,I think you were right on and not even close to snooty. The fact is, that neighborhood, because of the element that has taken it over is a hazard with or without wider sidewalks and tree lined streets. The sorry fact is that some people, a few on the council included, think that to throw some money at it, put up new face fronts on the stores and the problem is solved. It is not. The real answer to fix this type of problem is tough and there is no magic button to push to do it. It is simply getting people who rent homes to be responsible and hold them to it and to enforce it on them and to get people to take pride in ownership. Is the city to blame? Yes, a little bit they are. They tore down a blighted area with the promise of new afforable homes and that never happened. We now have factories, offices, and doctor’s buildings in that area. (The old fifth, fourth, and 3rd street area) Some blame the downfall of the economy in the 1980s. I blame the city leaders for selling out thus that displaced a lot of people which ended up in the mostly rental homes which is now Nowland, McQueen, and Brons all the way over to McClure. It’s too bad that we don’t have laws that say if you sell drugs out of a house, the house will be confiscated by the city and sold to someone who will take ownership. Plain and simple. That’ll make property owners who live else where and do nothing but collect rent sit up and listen and then maybe pick their tenants carefully. Imagine that, having to be a responsible landlord. You sell your crack, then you are out on the street. Plain and simple. Ahh, never will happen because even though some landlords are responsible, some are the same big money pushers that advocate building out north and could care less about who lives in their houses as long as the rent check shows up.

18. I agree with jo, Emtronics, etc on this issue. You can’t put lipstick on a pig and call it playboy centerfold. The area needs to be revitilized but new facades won’t do it. They need to consider what was was done in Chicago’s Lincoln Park back during the ’60s – urban renewal.

    Emtronics I thought you grew up near War drive and Knoxville?

19. Chicago’s Lincoln Park during the ’60s:

    In 1954 the Lincoln Park Conservation Association was organized to cover the entire community area. LPCA pursued neighborhood renewal by encouraging private rehabilitation of property and the use of government tools such as federal urban-renewal funds and enforcement of the housing code. In 1956, Lincoln Park was designated a conservation area, and in the 1960s the city began implementing its “General Neighborhood Renewal Plan.” Although the LPCA had consciously tried to avoid the wholesale clearance that took place in Hyde Park, it incurred the wrath of poor people who lived in the southwestern quarter of Lincoln Park. The Concerned Citizens of Lincoln Park argued that Puerto Ricans and African Americans were being displaced from their homes and priced out of the renewing neighborhood. Developers bought land near the park and built high-rise apartment buildings, to the consternation of LPCA, which had hoped to keep the district congenial to families.

    In the last quarter of the twentieth century, land values increased dramatically, making it difficult for people and institutions in financial straits to remain in Lincoln Park. Most of the poor left. In 1973, the struggling McCormick Seminary sold its land to DePaul and moved to Hyde Park. Single professionals and childless couples moved into the new high-rises and rehabilitated old houses. By the end of the twentieth century, the combination of public and private urban renewal efforts had made Lincoln Park one of the highest-status neighborhoods in the city.

20. Ruth: I grew up on Twelve Oaks Dr. Across from Thomas Jefferson Grade school which is just a short bike ride to Loucks. 🙂

21. This is Sheridan Triangle that CJ asked about – not any and every other neighborhood that you deem not worth investing any money in.

    Emtronics: “I blame the city leaders for selling out thus that displaced a lot of people which ended up in the mostly rental homes which is now Nowland, McQueen, and Brons all the way over to McClure.”

    Chris: “I grew up on W. Thrush Street,went to Loucks grade school and Peoria High. Bought a house on W, Nowland owned it for 15 years till 1999. I have friends who still in the hood.”

    The Sheridan Triangle project is Sheridan from the north side of McClure to Hanssler – cross streets are Virginia, Wilcox, Gift, Loucks, Hanssler. Not Nowland, not Brons, not McQueen, not Thrush. Sheridan Triangle – about a block on either side of Sheridan. Within a short bike ride of TJ school .

22. There is no such thing as new ‘affordable’ housing. You can’t even build a smallish house in a price ranger that is ‘affordable’. Let’s be honest.. most of those wanting ‘affordable’ housing either have unrealistic expectations for where they want to live or really can’t afford to own a home in the first place.

23. correction – Wilcox is north of Hanssler.

24. IF you check most of the towns the size of Peoria across the country that have tried this “new facade” program to enliven a neighborhood, it has failed miserably. New clothes don’t change the person underneath. You have to fix the infrastructure first before you can dress it up and make it workable. Small shops and little restaurants have a horrible failure rate. There is simply not enough revenue to sustain them. The same old people coming in every morning for coffee and eggs will not do it. The cost of goods has gone up and the restaurants can’t afford that and the new minimum wage and still keep their heads above water. The entire triangle area news a whole new thought process before a penny is spent.

25. The sad truth to all of this is that the city does not want to the Sheridan Triangle fixed. They (the council) will throw out a bit of chump change and talk a good line then sit back and watch it rot. For a long time I did not understand this but I have now come to the understanding that it all comes down to money. Much of the power base of Peoria is in property development. To make money they need to get us to move into NEW neighborhoods of NEW houses with NEW shops. Thus crime goes up, the quality of Peoria schools go down, and we all move out. When the neighborhood has fallen enough the developers will come in with government cash and level the old to build NEW and it all starts over yet again. Look at Southtown, or Downtown, or what is going on with the bluffs. Now compare that with the far north side, Germantown hills, Washington, ect. Follow the trail of money into the pockets of developers and their friends at the city and you will see why this city rots.

26. Get rid of the liquor store. Have the gas station stop liquor sales or never get them. Put a coffee shop in the Lippmans building, using the courtyard as a outdoor cafe.

27. Voting the precinct dry so the liquor store has to close or move would clean up the neighborhood. Cleaning up the gas station would also help. I am close to there, but not in the triangle district. I am in it daily going to and from work, church, etc and have never felt threatened. I would not, however go to the corner of McClure and Sheridan at night and get out of my car though. The lowlife that hangs out on the corner has to be gotten rid of.

    Write an anti-loitering ordinance like Chicago has.

28. Breakfast restaurant sounds nice. Used book store — something I can walk to when I’m bored, and browse. One really nice aspect of that area, with its on-street parking, is the ability to stop in on the way to or from work while driving down Sheridan — Tony Ghantous was recommended to me as a tailor, but one of the reasons I tried him FIRST out of the recs I got was that I could stop in his shop on my way downtown to have lunch with my husband and make my husband pick up my alterations on the way home from work. Businesses like that would work well there, stop-in places you could patronize on the way to and from work, especially personal services.

    (As for liquor, a mini version of Friar Tuck’s where you could pick up a bottle of wine on your way home from work, maybe paired with, I don’t know, packaged appetizery things and cakes, that’d be perfect. “Shoot, honey, we’re having the Joneses for dinner, could you get a bottle of wine and some pita chips and hummus?” And if you want to close that existing liquor store, just go bust them for violating the state indoor smoking laws repeatedly. The clerks are ALWAYS smoking.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.