Tag Archives: City of Peoria

City of Peoria, Redistricting

New maps move downtown, Warehouse District to District 3

12 Comments

The latest proposed maps from Peoria’s Planning and Growth Department show downtown and the Warehouse District being moved from the first to the third district, and the West Bluff moving from the second to the first district. You can see the maps and population information on the city’s website, or here:

07052011-Redistricting-Maps

The City’s Redistricting Committee had asked staff to put more emphasis on keeping established neighborhoods together, and also to take into consideration the future growth predictions for the city. Each district needs to have relatively equal population, but can have up to a 5% deviation. Based on the deviations on these new maps, the City evidently expects to see the most growth in the first and second districts, and the least growth in the fourth and fifth districts. In 2000, the City accurately predicted the most growth would be in the fifth district.

The next redistricting committee meeting is Tuesday, July 5, at 4:30 p.m. in City Council chambers. Also, the West Bluff Council will host an open forum for West Bluff neighbors to discuss the importance of redistricting at 7 p.m. Monday, July 18, at the Bradley University Student Center.

City of Peoria, The Peoria Chronicle

Blog interrupted

46 Comments

I’ve closed the comments on my previous post because it looks like any constructive discussion that might have taken place there has been exhausted, and now I’m getting a number of racist comments. I’ve tried to delete the worst of them; if I missed any, I apologize.

As you all know by now, the previous post was picked up by The Drudge Report, and the increased traffic to my site led to my blog being shut down. Just so you know, there was no government conspiracy or censorship going on. My blog is hosted on a shared server, meaning other websites and blogs are hosted on the same computer, and when I got over 300,000 hits that first day I was on Drudge, it used up all the network connections to that server. That meant that I was hogging the whole server and not allowing any traffic to the other sites, which is technically a violation of the terms of service. Thus, my hosting company shut down my site.

I could have gotten the site back up sooner if I had moved the site to a virtual private server or took some other action to increase my bandwidth. But let’s face it, my blog is a local blog, not a blog of national interest. So I just waited it out, and within a couple of days my traffic counts were pretty much back to normal. My hosting company was very understanding and got the site back up as soon as traffic died down. It took a few days; thanks for your patience.

I’ve been taken to task somewhat for publishing the previous post. All I can tell you is that I consider Paul a reliable source. He was an eye-witness to the event; police radio traffic confirmed that there were calls about a disturbance on Thrush that evening, and so I went with the story. Despite subsequent attempts to discredit Paul, his description of the events that night have been corroborated. True, not all neighbors heard racial threats being yelled, but some did.

There is no dispute from anyone that there was indeed a large group of kids going down Thrush, stopping traffic, running on lawns and porches, and making a lot of noise at 11:00 at night. I would submit that this is unacceptable behavior regardless of what they were yelling. It is not “kids being kids,” and I don’t believe we should condone it, even tacitly. If you had a family with small children, this would be very disturbing. It certainly does not make anyone want to move into the area and raise their family there. This issue needs to be addressed, not swept under the rug or brushed off with unsubstantiated accusations of exaggeration.

As far as the national exposure, I did not seek it out, and I didn’t find it particularly helpful. It appears that there are some who are claiming that there are race riots going on throughout the country, and my post was supposed to be proof that it’s happening here, too. Nobody locally has said or intimated such a thing. My interest in the story was purely local. My regular readers know that I’ve expressed concern over the City Council’s cutting of police protection and other basic services while raising taxes for expensive, needless capital projects. This story was relevant to those concerns.

City of Peoria, East Bluff

Peorians living in fear

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This eye-witness account is from Paul Wilkinson, president of the Altamont Park Neighborhood Association:

Tonight, around 11 p.m., a group of at least 60-70 African American youth marched down one of the side streets (W. Thrush) to the 4 lane main drag (Sheridan). They were yelling threats to white residents. Things such as we need to kill alll the white people around here. They were physically intimidating anyone calling for help from the police. They were surrounding cars. Cars on the main drag had to slam on their brakes to either avoid the youth blocking not only all four lanes, but a large section of the side street as well. fights were breaking out among them. They were rushing residents who looked out their doors, going on to porches, yelling threats to people calling the police for help.

Cars were doing U turns on the streets just to avoid the mob, mostly male. One youth stated his grandfather was white and several assaulted him on the spot. One police officer answered the call. The youth split into two large groups, one heading north, the other south. They were also yelling racial threats to the police officer but he was outnumbered. Another police car did not show up until after the youth finally dispersed and the patty wagon (van) also eventually showed up.

Residents are very shaken, both black and white alike. This is the fifth large mob action in about a month with smaller groups of 10-12 are out threatening children and adults a few evenings a week or later into the night. The times vary, even occuring during the day. In talking to the police officer, they are short staffed. Residents were advised to simply keep inside and to lock their doors. In other words buckle down, it’s not even safe to sit on your porch or go into your yards.

“The fifth large mob action in about a month.” Wow. This is really outrageous. Why is this neighborhood having to put up with this? “Residents were advised to simply keep inside and to lock their doors”? Seriously? That’s the best we can do for our fellow citizens’ safety?

This needs to be addressed, and quickly.

City Council, City of Peoria, History

A curious appointment

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On the City Council agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting is a curious appointment by Mayor Jim Ardis to the Historic Preservation Commission: Steve Pierz. Pierz used to be the so-called “litter czar” in Peoria and by all accounts did a wonderful job. But then he got in a dispute with the City. He wanted to put vinyl siding on a house he owns in an historic district on High Street, but was denied by the Historic Preservation Commission.

So he sued them.

Mind you, he didn’t just sue the City. He sued each commissioner on the Historic Preservation Commission personally, many of whom are still on the Commission today. He ultimately prevailed. The City reached a settlement with him and his wife and reversed the Commission’s decision.

So now the mayor wants to appoint Pierz to the very same commission he sued, to work with the same commissioners he personally sued. Won’t that be a little awkward? And counter-productive, considering Pierz’s demonstrated contempt for the commission?

It’s just another indignity for the Historic Preservation Commission, which has seen its ordinance eviscerated and its attempts to preserve Peoria’s architectural heritage regularly thwarted by the City Council.

City of Peoria

Peoria has the perfect solution to Matthews’ inability to pay loans back on time

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The Journal Star reports that East Peoria taxpayers are having trouble getting their money back from Gary Matthews. He borrowed $150,000 from the city in 2007 to help him build the hideous monstrosity we know as GEM Terrace. He’s been paying that money back, but not exactly on time. He owes $24,862 in late payments.

The City of Peoria isn’t going to let that happen to taxpayers here. When Matthews finally builds The Wonderful Development, Peorians won’t have to worry about him making late payments. Why? Well, because the City isn’t loaning him any money. They’re planning to give him $37 million ($9 million of which will go directly into his pocket as a “developer fee”) as a grant. No repayment necessary. Aren’t we clever? While all the citizens have to check out HardMoneyLendersBoston.com and beg for payday advances and loans, Matthews continues to bumble about.

Matthews’ inability to hit deadlines has actually worked to Peoria’s advantage. We haven’t had to sell the bonds yet to come up with that $37 million because the Wonderful Developer has been unable to get the project started by the dates required on either of the redevelopment agreements he inked with the City in 2008 and 2010.

I, for one, hope Mr. Matthews continues his deadline-missing ways. It’s saving the taxpayers here a lot of money.

City of Peoria

Starting over? Come to Peoria

19 Comments

According to MSN Real Estate, Peoria is one of the ten best places for starting over; i.e., Peoria is one of “10 midsize to large cities with the best job prospects and most affordable mortgage payments.” The list is:

  1. Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
  2. Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas
  3. Kalamazoo-Portage, Mich.
  4. Rochester, N.Y.
  5. Oklahoma City
  6. Peoria, Ill.
  7. Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, Ark.
  8. Kingsport-Bristol, Tenn.-Bristol, Va.
  9. Columbus, Ohio
  10. Fort Wayne, Ind.

Here’s what they had to say about our fair city:

Employment gains in Peoria are setting it apart from some of its Midwest rivals. The city is working to grow small businesses with a technology incubator that opened in 2007.

A new entertainment project, The Block, with an interdisciplinary museum, theater, planetarium and The Caterpillar Experience will open along the downtown riverfront in the fall of 2012.

With an average home price of just $140,666, residents here can afford to take in all that the city has to offer on the weekends.

I think it’s interesting that they didn’t mention (for example) the recently-expanded Civic Center, which we have, but did mention “The Block,” which won’t be opening for more than a year. Regardless of what I think about the museum, this write-up makes Peoria sound like it doesn’t have much in the way of entertainment — and won’t until next fall. Why not highlight some of the amenities we already have?

Hat tip: homemade and happy

City Council, City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan, Zoning Commission

But is it a ‘state of the art’ McDonald’s?

24 Comments

The Journal Star reports that McDonald’s wants to rebuild their Knoxville restaurant the same as their University location. But there’s a catch:

The McDonald’s proposal calls for 14 waivers from the city’s land development code on items such as reducing the parking lot’s setback from properties along Arcadia, increasing the size of a sign, allowing a drive-through window adjacent to a nearby residence and eliminating some landscaping requirements, among other things.

As such, the city’s Planning and Growth Management Department opted not to recommend approval of the McDonald’s site plan. The [zoning] commission will consider the request during a 1 p.m. meeting Thursday.

The article went on to say that the second district council member, Barbara Van Auken, was unavailable for comment. But two years ago, when Taco Bell asked for nine variances — making it completely non-compliant with the land development code (LDC) — she voted for it along with a majority of the council, even though the zoning commission and City staff recommended denial. She called it a “state of the art Taco Bell,” and said it was unfair to require a business completely rebuilding its property to comply with the LDC. (If not then, one wonders when it would ever be “fair” to enforce it.) I expect she will throw the LDC (and nearby residents) under the bus again this time, too.

Van Auken and a majority of the council have consistently voted against enforcing the LDC, continuing a pattern of development that has been detrimental to the older part of town. My suspicion is that this largely done out of ignorance — that most of the council members have never read nor understood either the Heart of Peoria Plan or the LDC. Perhaps with former Heart of Peoria commissioner Beth Akeson on the council now, she’ll be able to persuade more council members of the long-term benefits of enforcing the LDC.икони

City Council, City of Peoria

No liveblogging tonight (UPDATED)

8 Comments

I’m unable to attend the council meeting this evening, but will report the highlights (or, more likely, lowlights) later tonight.

UPDATE: I recorded the meeting tonight (many thanks to WCBU 89.9 FM for faithfully broadcasting the meetings all these years), so now I’m going to play it back and comment on it as though it were live under each agenda item as follows:

Continue reading No liveblogging tonight (UPDATED) →

City Council, City of Peoria, Economic Development

Council to address pervasive poverty on Brandywine Drive

26 Comments

I’ve talked about the misuse of Enterprise Zone status on several occasions here at the Chronicle (e.g., “A New Kind of Poverty,” “Discussing Incentives with Craig Hullinger“), so there’s no need to go into another lengthy explanation. Here’s a quick summary: the Enterprise Zone is supposed to be used in “depressed areas,” defined as areas “in which pervasive poverty, unemployment and economic distress exist” (20 ILCS 655/3(c)). But the City of Peoria completely disregards this qualification and uses the status indiscriminately throughout the city. See for yourself:

By taking this tool and using it in growth areas, greenfield sites, and other non-depressed areas, the City has not only eviscerated its effectiveness, it’s put depressed areas at an even further disadvantage.

It looks like that trend will continue at tonight’s City Council meeting, as the Council will probably approve extending Enterprise Zone status to the horribly depressed area of — yes, you guessed it — Brandywine Drive. Yes, when one thinks of pervasive poverty and economic distress in the City of Peoria, the first place that pops into my mind is “across the street from Northwoods Mall.”

I don’t want to minimize the challenges faced by all parts of town, but having just come off a huge recession, it’s not surprising to find vacancies throughout the city. We certainly want to do what we can to encourage reinvestment, but misusing incentive tools is poor public policy. It’s dishonest — the wording of the statute is unambiguous that this should only be used in areas of pervasive poverty. It’s unfair — it puts poverty-stricken areas at an even greater disadvantage.

The Journal Star ran an article on this agenda item, and the council members they interviewed (the usual suspects) were all in favor. They have regularly defended the misuse of EZ status by saying “everybody does it,” so those responses were expected. I was disappointed to see new council member Beth Akeson’s response, however:

“I kind of question the use of the enterprise zone in the city, but the city has already set a precedent,” at-large City Councilwoman Beth Akeson said. “Once you set precedent, and once you extend an enterprise zone to (particular) properties, you are hard pressed to do other things than continue on.”

What is she saying? That past misuse of economic development tools has somehow become binding precedent, obligating the council to future misuse? That someone could sue the City for not giving one property the same economic development incentives as another property? If that were true, then every hotel in Peoria should be suing the City for their own pot of gold based on the Wonderful Development incentive package.

The city is under no obligation to extend the enterprise zone to a single additional property. We need not continue every bad precedent set by past councils. We are not constrained to keep repeating past mistakes.

But we will. That’s what we do in Peoria.

City of Peoria, Streets

People are richer in the fifth district

17 Comments

At the last City Council meeting, the council discussed the Pioneer Parkway extension project, which would extend Pioneer Parkway from Allen Road three miles west to Trigger Road, crossing Routes 6 and 91 along the way. The objection was raised that we’ve been unable to adequately maintain the streets we currently have (in all districts, incidentally), and perhaps a better use of our limited funds would be to maintain our current assets before they deteriorate further. In fact, there has been no sealcoating or overlayment of our city streets (not including roads maintained by the state or federal government) since 2009.

In response, Councilman Spain had this to say:

I’ve never been one that really thought that an activity taking place in one part of our community has to come at the expense of another location. And I think we have a lot of things happening in Peoria that are positive for all parts of the city. And to say that a project like this that we’ve been working on for a long time shouldn’t move forward is pretty disappointing to me. And when you think about the activities and successes that we’ve experienced with growth in the northern parts of the city, I think that has been important. That doesn’t mean we should stop our efforts to grow the older parts of the city.

But the reality of our current tax base is that the real estate taxes paid in Councilman Irving’s district are about equal to all the real estate taxes paid in all four other districts combined. And so I think it’s important that we acknowledge that, and I appreciate your leadership on this issue, Councilman, and I think this will be another project that is important for the city and something that’s used to sustain services throughout the city so that we can continue investing in all parts of the community.

I first wanted to find out if it’s true that the fifth district generates 50% of the City’s real estate tax revenue, so I went looking for some sort of report that breaks down real estate tax receipts (or at least equalized assessed valuation information) by city council district. I checked with the Finance Department, the County Assessor, the City’s Planning & Growth and Economic Development departments, and even the Heartland Partnership — none of them had such a report. So I asked Mr. Spain how he came up with his figures, and he was kind enough to provide me with a detailed explanation:

My comments are based on preliminary work we have been doing with available EAV [equalized assessed valuation, or property value] information. The current EAV in the City is more than $2B. The D150 [Peoria Public Schools District 150] EAV is about $1.4B, about 70% of the total City. In Peoria, council districts 1-4 are almost exclusively within D150 (The exception to that is a small part of the 4th in Limestone). So at a maximum, the total real estate taxes of districts 1-4 is 70% of the City total. But we also know that there are large areas of the 5th district that are also in D150. Neighborhoods like WeaverRidge, High Point, Hawley Hills, Edgewild, Lynnhurst, Huntington, Oak Crest, and Charter Oak. I’ve attached a map that overlays our current council districts with Peoria County school districts -its a pretty good sized area of the 5th district that is still part of D150. We think there is enough property included in both the 5th district and D150 to represent about 20% of total City EAV.

Plausible, but I don’t know that I’d put it on the record as a fact without qualification the way Spain did at the last meeting. His analysis is based on some big assumptions. And, ultimately, it won’t matter much once the district boundaries are redrawn in a few months.

The bigger question is, what difference does it make? The issue at hand was whether we should use our limited funds to build a new road or maintain our existing roads. Existing roads are in poor condition all over the city — including the wealthy fifth district. I’m unclear as to what the relative wealth of the fifth district had to do with the item under consideration.

Mr. Spain, who lives in the fifth district himself, says he doesn’t think “an activity taking place in one part of our community has to come at the expense of another location.” True, but nobody said it does. Money given to one project, however, does indeed come at the expense of another project. Money spent on new city logos can’t be spent on police or fire protection. Assets given away for the downtown museum and hiking/biking trails cannot be used to generate tax revenue. And money spent on a study to extend Pioneer Parkway can’t be used to sealcoat existing streets.

Mr. Spain was no doubt trying to make the point that this proposed new road would open up more land for development, which would generate more tax revenues, which could then be used to benefit the whole city. And he probably was trying to say that finishing the study puts the city in a position to take advantage of state and federal grants for road construction (i.e., it makes the project “shovel-ready”). Those are reasonable, if not persuasive, arguments.

Unfortunately, what Mr. Spain actually said was, “the real estate taxes paid in [the fifth] district are about equal to all the real estate taxes paid in all four other districts combined” and that “it’s important that we acknowledge that,” which sounds like class discrimination, pure and simple. I don’t think he meant it that way (at least, I hope not), but I do think it was a poor choice of words.

In his e-mail to me, Mr. Spain also said one other thing in his defense, so I’ll give him the last word in this post: “Since it was not mentioned in your live blogging, I want to reiterate my position that investment in older parts of the City is just as important as investment in growth areas. I’ve really worked hard to find dollars for the older areas of the City -I was disappointed you didn’t acknowledge that.”