Last night (3/22), the ten candidates for five city council at-large seats stood by easels with flipcharts on them, marker in hand, and answered questions compiled by the Warehouse District Association. It was fun, but it really was a test — a test to see how much the candidates know about the Heart of Peoria Plan, the proposed Land Development Code, and the Warehouse District. Their answers will be graded and, while the answers won’t be published, their scores will. It’s just one more tool in evaluating the candidates.

Only part of the time was spent writing answers on paper, however. Interspersed were three or four rounds of questioning that required the candidates to answer verbally. Here are some of the questions and answers (remember, these are going to be specific to the Warehouse District because that’s the audience for this forum):

Q: Where should the next major development be in the city?

• Turner: Museum and CAT visitors center, Warehouse District and Eagle View area
• Thetford: Downtown, older neighborhoods,
• Spain: Downtown, riverfront, warehouse district, Renaissance Park
• Sandberg: Within the 8,000-acre Heart of Peoria area

Q: Would you vote for the Warehouse District TIF if elected to the council?

• Polk: Only if it’s not detrimental to District 150
• Montelongo: “I would want some strings attached to that as well.” (didn’t specify what strings)
• Jacob: Wants to complete the TIF study before making a final decision

Q: If elected, what value would you place on the Warehouse District?

• Irving: Extremely high; development needed in this area, especially retail
• Gillette: Important; outdoor malls, restaurants, night clubs, etc., needed to bring people to the area
• Cassel-Fitzgerald: Very high; supports Warehouse District

Q: How would you fix the streets in the Warehouse District and Downtown?

• Cassel-Fitzgerald: Procedures in place for owners to do something about the sidewalks; some streets need to be two-way; to some extent it depends on who moves there
• Gillette: Return some streets to natural character (e.g., many downtown streets still have brick underlayment); change one-way streets to two-way; change Washington Street to three lanes
• Irving: Change one-way streets to two-way; put in more ornamental landscaping; imperative that traffic be slowed down in order for Warehouse District to be successfully implemented
• Jacob: Make one-way streets two-way; slow traffic down; create diagonal parking; realize that this effort will require significant investments in infrastructure

Q: What is the city council’s role in economic development in the Warehouse District?

• Montelongo: “Set the tone” for business growth
• Polk: Find as many venues to make the city as progressive as it can; use Warehouse District to bring tourism in; provide whatever the need to make this a thriving area
• Sandberg: Adopt regulations that would promote investment; stand against development not in keeping with the vision for the Heart of Peoria Plan and Warehouse District

Q: (1) Have you ever walked the Warehouse District? (2) If so, do you think the city’s efforts to keep the streets/sidewalks clean and repaired is adequate?

• Spain: (1) Yes; (2) No, a better job needs to be done in this area for the Warehouse District to be successful; consider the “hidden costs” of doing this (e.g., added costs to clear the sidewalks of snow in addition to the street)
• Thetford: (1) Yes, portions of it; (2) Not as good as it should be, but better than some older neighborhoods; the city needs to work on the streets all over Peoria, not just in the Warehouse District
• Turner: (1) Yes; (2) Visited warehouse districts in other cities, so he knows the vision; here, “we have a long way to go.”

Q: Will you encourage establishment of the arts as a vital part of the Warehouse District?

• Turner: Yes; committed to Arts Partners
• Thetford: “Without question”; has a minor in theater and has acted at Cornstock, so is committed to the arts; our arts community distinguishes Peoria from among other cities in Illinois
• Spain: “Absolutely yes”; it is a critical part of our community; offered to have his jazz band come down and play a gig in the Warehouse District

Q: What do you think the [now-defunct] Riverfront Commission in the past accomplished?

• Sandberg: It was a waste of money that destroyed our riverfront; the scale is wrong, the architecture is wrong; it is a barricade to our river [after Sandberg’s comments, the audience applauded unprompted — the only time this happened]
• Polk: Disappointed in how our riverfront turned out; expected something different
• Montelongo: Got things started, but outcome was misguided; didn’t meet expectations
• Jacob: It’s easy to sit back and bash the Riverfront Commission’s work after the fact; yes, mistakes were made, but the opportunity now is to work with what we’ve got and come up with solutions; focus on the future

Q: What has the Heart of Peoria Commission (1) accomplished so far, and (2) what can they do in the future?

• Irving: (1) They have brought forth the form-based code; (2) communicate, publicize, and come up with more ideas for drawing people into the older parts of town
• Gillette: (1) They’ve completed basic studies on what can be done; (2) need to communicate and listen to the neighborhoods
• Cassell-Fitzgerald: (1) Commission has not done what it could have done; there are no resolutions to their recommendations; (2) Work closer with neighborhood associations; network with other organizations

Keep in mind that these questions and answers are just pulled from my notes. Some of the candidates talk very fast, and I just tried to get the basic gist of what they were saying, with a quote here and there when I could get it. In fairness, they had to talk fast, because the pace of the Q&A time was pretty peppy.

I thought these questions and answers gave some insight into the candidates’ knowledge of the issues that are important to the Warehouse District, and also some idea of how they view the council’s role in development. Jennifer Davis of the Journal Star covered the event, as did Kim Carollo of HOI News.