If there’s one phrase I could erase from all discussions about Peoria, it would be this one: “Well, isn’t it better to do something? Something is better than nothing!” I hear this all the time. Here are just a few high-profile examples:

• Regarding the proposed downtown museum: If we don’t put a museum there, it will just be a big hole forever! Isn’t it better to put something there? Something is better than nothing!
• Regarding the proposed charter school for District 150: What, should we just do nothing to improve the schools? At least by putting this charter school in place, we’ll be doing something. Something is better than nothing!
• Regarding plea bargains for murderers: We know he murdered a man in cold blood, but the jury might not believe our witnesses, so we’re going to let him plea down to an illegal weapon possession charge, so at least he’ll do a few years in the clink. Something is better than nothing!
• Regarding our new token recycling program: Of course they’ve reduced the number of pickups and you have to rent a special container now for no justifiable reason, but at least it’s something! Something is better than nothing!

It’s gotten so pervasive that I think they ought to make it the official tagline for the city of Peoria. I’ve gone ahead and added it to the logo, as you can see. Doesn’t it make you proud to be a Peorian?

My guess is that most people in Peoria would not want that to be our tagline. But why not? Especially when so many things around here are justified on that basis, why be ashamed to shout it from the rooftops?

I think the answer is obvious…. But not obvious enough to keep people from using it as an argument for their pet projects as if it were some sort of fabulous selling point. I would be embarrassed to try and sell some project or defend some decision of which I was ostensibly proud by declaring, “Hey, it’s better than nothing!”

But for those who are enamored with this bit of rhetoric, consider this:

1. Something is not always better than nothing. It depends on what that “something” is. Two pennies for a tip is not better than no tip at all — it’s a deliberate insult to the waiter or waitress. Projects like MidTown Plaza are not better than nothing; they’re worse. Now instead of the problems of vacant property, an unstable neighborhood, and a high crime rate, we get to have all of those things PLUS millions of dollars in TIF debt that we pay off with money that could have been used for police officers and road improvements. If we don’t seriously evaluate the “something,” we may end up worse off than we started.
2. We should be aiming higher than “better than nothing.” Why are we content with “better than nothing” in this city, anyway? Why aren’t we shooting for the best, the highest, the top? Who has bewitched us into having expectations so low that the only thing lower is … nothing? Is this what passes for pride in Peoria: “better than nothing”?

Speaking as a life-long Peorian, I think we sell ourselves short in this city. I think we settle for mediocrity. I think we expect too little. And I think if our city is ever going to turn around and grow, we need to change that paradigm.