The City Council wants to see if all or part of the East Bluff recently dubbed “East Village” qualifies as a redevelopment area and tax increment financing (TIF) district. The council will vote tonight on whether to pursue a feasibility and housing impact study of the area that stretches from Arcadia to Adams, spanning three council districts. It surrounds, but does not include, the existing MidTown Plaza TIF. Since OSF St. Francis Medical Center is paying for the consultant, this item will pass easily.
Tag Archives: OSF St. Francis
Sigma Nu suit against Van Auken, Rand and Ruckriegel dismissed
On October 1, Associate Judge Katherine Gorman dismissed without prejudice the trespassing lawsuit brought against Second District Council Member Barbara Van Auken, District 4 County Board Representative Andrew Rand, and City Historic Preservation Commissioner Sid Ruckriegel by the Sigma Nu Fraternity and Caleb Matheny.
While the ruling allows 28 days for the complaint to be refiled, attorneys representing Sigma Nu and Matheny stated Monday that they will not pursue the matter further.
“We have consulted with our clients and they have elected to not amend the complaint within the 28 day period,” Attorney Jeffrey R. Hall stated. “Since the lawsuit was filed, they met with Bradley University officials and have become satisfied with the results of that meeting. While they filed a lawsuit to speak out against the unexplained behavior and trespass of private property on the part of Ms. Van Auken, Mr. Rand, and Mr. Ruckreigel, they feel satisfied with the dialogue that resulted with University and City officials.”
When asked for her reaction to the ruling, Van Auken said, “I think the actions here speak for themselves.” Rand and Ruckriegel could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit stemmed from an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of September 20, 2008. Van Auken was attending a dinner party when she received a call from a constituent complaining about noise coming from the Sigma Nu Fraternity, 1300 W. Fredonia Ave. At about 12:30 a.m., Van Auken, Rand, and Ruckriegel walked over to the fraternity and confronted the students. Alleging that Van Auken was drunk and trespassing, fraternity members called the Peoria Police on her. Van Auken was not ticketed, but then-president of Sigma Nu, Caleb Matheny, was given a citation for violating the city’s noise ordinance. The citation was later dismissed.
In March 2009, a little more than five months after the incident, Sigma Nu and Matheny filed suit for trespassing, and alleged that Van Auken abused her power as a council member. The suit was filed during the heart of Van Auken’s reelection campaign to the City Council. Despite the negative publicity, including the release of an embarrassing video clip of the incident, Van Auken easily won reelection. Lawyers for Sigma Nu said at the time that the lawsuit was not political, and the delay in filing was due to the city being uncooperative in providing information requested through the Freedom of Information Act.
Circuit Judge Stephen Kouri recused himself from the case; no reason was given. The case was then assigned to Associate Judge Katherine Gorman. Gorman disclosed at a September 21 hearing that she had a connection to Rand. Court documents did not specify what that connection was, but Hall stated that, “based on what she [Gorman] related in court on the record, that her husband has served on a committee of some sort with Mr. Rand in the past.” Gorman’s husband is Dr. Jim Hubler, an emergency medicine physician at OSF St. Francis Medical Center. Rand is the Executive Director of Advanced Medical Transport, the city’s ambulance provider. The hearing was continued until October 1 to allow time for the plaintiffs to confer with their clients on the matter. It appears that the connection was a non-issue, as no objection was filed.
Hall believes the outcome was a positive one for his clients: “Even though the lawsuit was dismissed, we feel the process has benefited the Gentlemen of Sigma Nu, Caleb Matheny, and all Bradley students because they finally were allowed to have a voice. And, we can confidently say that Ms. Van Auken, Mr. Rand, & Mr. Ruckriegel will not set foot on Sigma Nu’s property without first obtaining permission from this point on.”
Miscellaneous
Just a few miscellaneous things of note:
- The City’s Planning and Growth Department is considering combining the Planning Commission (PC) and Zoning Commission (ZC). The PC considered it at their September 16 meeting, and the ZC is going to discuss it at their October 1 meeting. The ZC agenda gives this explanation for the request:
Request by Staff that the Zoning Commission discuss the merits of combining the Planning Commission and Zoning Commission and determine if there is potential to create more efficient service delivery. This request is being made due to the potential reduction of a part-time position in the Planning and Growth Management Department, which represents an estimated 20 hours per week of duties. Those responsibilities would be re-assigned to existing staff reducing staff support to both commissions.
The ZC meets at 3:00 p.m. Thursday in City Council chambers.
- Speaking of the Zoning Commission, they are also scheduled on Thursday to consider allowing cell phone towers to be erected at Expo Gardens, Columbia Middle School, and near Von Steuben Middle School. However, the Journal Star says this item “will be postponed as officials representing AT&T Mobility gather more information requested by the city’s Department of Planning & Growth Management. The commission will be asked to take up the matter during its Nov. 5 meeting.”
- I’ve been seeing ads for OSF St. Francis Medical Center lately that say they OSF is “preferred 2 to 1” over all the other hospitals in the area. If you go to their website, they will even show you the survey results with colorful little graphs. It reminded me of Maggie Mahar’s film “Money-Driven Medicine,” which I saw on the PBS show “Bill Moyers Journal.” She talks about the differences between “consumer-driven” and “patient-centered” health care. One of the things she mentions is why competition among hospitals doesn’t improve health care:
Typically, 4 or 5 hospitals within a 5 mile, 10 mile, 15 mile radius will all buy the same technology because they’re competing with each other…. One time Dr. Donald Berwick called a hospital in Texas and said, “We’ve heard you have a very good procedure for treating a particular disease. We’d like to learn more about your protocol so other hospitals can use it.” And the hospital said, “We can’t tell you that. It’s a competitive advantage in our market that we’re better at treating this disease and it is very lucrative. So this is proprietary information.”
…A physician takes an oath to put his patient’s interests ahead of his own. A corporation is legally bound to put its shareholders’ interests first. And this is part of the inherent conflict between health care as a business, part of our economy, and health care as a public good and part of our society. Health care has become a growth industry. That means higher health care bills. That means more and more middle class people cannot afford health care in this country.
It’s a thought-provoking film. It’s enough to make me look at those OSF ads in a different light. It makes me wonder why a fundamentally charitable institution like a hospital would want to compare itself to other hospitals. I mean, can you imagine St. Jude stating it was preferred 2 to 1 over the Salvation Army and Easter Seals? It’s a very strange marketing campaign.