It used to be that you could count on WCBU to cover any city council meeting held on a Tuesday night, including important budget discussions like the one happening tonight. But since former news director Jonathan Ahl left the station, coverage has fallen off. It appears now that only regular city council meetings (twice a month) are carried.
That’s unfortunate, because the council meeting tonight covers important budget issues facing the City of Peoria. What’s being discussed tonight is at least as important, if not more important, than the business taking place at the regular council meetings. Why have they stopped being covered?
Fortunately, there’s still one media outlet that’s covering the event live — Billy Dennis’ Peoria Pundit blog. All Billy needs to do is figure out a way to provide a live audio stream through his blog in addition to his running summary.
The agenda for Tuesday night’s Peoria City Council meeting is short — just two items. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it will be a short meeting.
It’s that time of year when the council starts discussing the dreaded budget. In keeping with the council’s desire to include more meaningful input from citizens, Tuesday’s meeting will offer residents a chance to comment on the budget after some pertinent information is presented:
A. REVIEW of CURRENT OUTSTANDING CAPITAL PROJECTS;
B. PRESENTATION OF OVERALL VISION/MISSION/CORE FUNCTIONS;
C. REVENUE REVIEW;
D. PUBLIC COMMENT Relating to the 2009 CITY BUDGET.
If you’re looking for information on the city’s budget, look no further than peoriabudget.com. City staff has assembled a number of helpful charts and graphs to give you a picture (literally) of the city’s revenue and expenditures, broken down a number of different ways. Here are a couple that will be germane to Tuesday’s meeting (click on the thumbnail to see the full graph):
These two graphs show the revenue sources for the city. They’ll come in handy when it comes time figure out how we’re going to raise more revenue for the city’s needs.
In honor of our “home run hero” Jim Thome, Mayor Jim Ardis and the Peoria City Council are declaring the City of Peoria “Thome Town.” This designation will be in place during the playoffs to recognize our home grown son and his many accomplishments.
Jim has hit 541 home runs and it was his home run against the Minnesota Twins that helped to clinch the American League Central Division crown, and secure the White Sox a spot in the playoffs.
Jim Thome and his wife Andrea have been true All-Stars in Peoria and other communities, and they are greatly respected for their generous charitable endeavors such as the Children’s Hospital of Illinois, Easter Seals, the United Way, Chicago Children’s Home + Aid, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, just to name a few.
This honorary designation recognizes Jim Thome not only for his big swing, but for his big heart. A resolution giving Peoria the honorary designation of “Thome Town” will be passed by the Peoria City Council at their October 14, 2008 meeting.
Does this mean I have to rename my blog “The Thome Town Chronicle” during the playoffs?
The City of Peoria will host the third Public Open House at the Council Chambers, Room 400, City Hall, 419 Fulton Street, Peoria, on Thursday, October 9, 2008 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The purpose of this open house is the discussion of the preferred alternative identified in previous open houses, and the review of the potential streetscape layout components and landscaping options, and to collect final comments on the Master Plan for the Form District known as the Sheridan Triangle Business District, before its presentation to the Peoria City Council.
The intent of the project is to revitalize the character of the streets in the study area to create urban, pedestrian-friendly streets through narrower travel lanes, wider sidewalks and a tree canopy, as well as other improvements to be determined through this public Master Plan process.
Rep. Aaron Schock held a press conference yesterday with Mayor Jim Ardis to announce he will “voluntarily” pay back the City of Peoria for costs incurred when President Bush visited Peoria for his private fundraiser. As far as I’m concerned, this matter is now closed. I agree we should move on and talk about more important issues.
I think it would be a good idea for the city council to settle the policy issue, just so we don’t have a controversy like this again in the future. But as far as the candidates are concerned, I think this issue is over.
