My fellow commissioner Beth Akeson took these pictures yesterday:
It wasn’t long ago that there was some controversy over students at Manual High School walking in the street to get to school. The problem near Manual is that sidewalks are in poor repair or nonexistent in several places, forcing children to walk in the street. In these pictures from around St. Philomena school in the West Bluff Central Peoria, evidently the problem is that homeowners block their sidewalks one day a week with garbage cans and bags. Combine that with on-street parking, and where else can children walk but near the middle of the street? (Incidentally, Waste Management’s policy is for the garbage cans to be placed at the curb on the street, not on the sidewalk.)
Yea, put the cans on Sheridan road and see how quick someone calls the city to complain not to mention you will have cans and trash all over the middle of the street.
Is this a new issue? Some of these neighborhoods are 100yrs old. The neighborhoods that were built later without alleys- the residents have put their trash on the sidewalks since day one. The kids will manage to walk around them. I did as a kid and I’m still alive. I think someone is trying to create an issue here.
Biltmore Heights, not West Bluff.
And it’s not that bad — there’s hardly any traffic, and the entire neighborhood revolves around the schools. (And most of our sidewalks are so rotten when the kids ride their bikes, skateboard, rollerblade, etc., they ride on the street anyway.) I don’t think there’s anyone in the entire neighborhood unaware of when school goes in and lets out.
Peoriafan says, “…you will have cans and trash all over the middle of the street.” So, pedestrians can just walk around the trash cans, but cars are incapable of driving around them without hitting them? Interesting.
One could also say that kids have been walking in the middle of the street around Manual for quite a while and they’re still alive, so I guess it’s okay, eh?
And what about people with disabilities? How do they get around them?
Your comment illustrates the prevailing attitude toward pedestrians in Peoria: they’re not important. Thus, it’s okay to inconvenience them or completely ignore them and their needs. And we’ll only complain when they get in the way of our cars.
Eyebrows — Call it what you wish. Many of the locals consider south of War Memorial, west of Knoxville, north of the bluff, to be the West Bluff.
Thanks for pointing out the condition of the sidewalks. That only furthers my point that pedestrians are undervalued.
Peoriafan,
The photos speak for themselves –no one is “trying” to “create” an issue. Blocked sidewalks, crumbling sidewalks, sidewalks going nowhere or no sidewalks are issues we face as a city. The “excuse” that it has always been this way is also an issue. Our city defines itself based on how well we care for our most vulnerable citizens. The pictures show that at best, people are just not thinking about who may need to use the sidewalk. I do not think people are intentionally trying to make life difficult for the child who needs to walk to school or the worker who needs to walk to a bus stop. Or the disabled person who would find it impossible to push a wheel chair through the grass or over the curb into the street. They just haven’t thought much about how important sidewalks are to the lives of people who don’t or can’t drive a car.
If you believe children, older citizens and the disabled should be relegated to the street because some people are either ambivalent or oblivious about the importance of sidewalks then we have a bigger problem than I realized. I prefer to believe most people would want to do their best to keep the sidewalks clear and in good shape and the majority of citizens appreciate the value of sidewalks.
Those lane widths in the photos can easily accommodate both auto travel and trash cans at the curb. Drivers who can not manage to drive successfully without hitting a trash can placed at the curb are either driving impaired or need to go back to drivers education class.
The photos I sent to CJ and the other Heart of Peoria Commissioners were meant to draw attention that for some neighborhoods it is not about whether they have sidewalks or the condition of the sidewalks, but how they are treated. Simply moving the trash cans to the curb would solve the problem for everyone.
P.S. Call me the eternal optimist, but I believe Peoria can be better than it is!
I believe the rules of the road for the state of Illinois, officially disallow riding your bicycles on the sidewalk. Your kids are supposed to ride their bicycles in the street AND they are supposed follow the same rules of the road that cars are supposed to follow; eg lane usage, signally, stopping at signs etc.
\just arguing a point
*signalling
Mahkno — From the official Illinois Bicycle Rules of the Road, p. 8:
Peoria’s municipal code agrees:
It is a garbage can slalom on the sidewalk! The kids who are going to use the sidewalk will use it and walk around the cans. Should they have to avoid obstacles? Of course not but the drivers are going to complain that they shouldn’t have to avoid empty garbage cans all over the street. Since a car swerving to avoid a can is more likely to hurt someone than a pedestrian walking around a can on the sidewalk, the drivers will more than likely win this battle.
I don’t think the situation is analogous to Manual, though. That’s a more urban neighborhood than this is. (And we’re not in the West Bluff set of neighborhood associations nor the historic district — and I think it matters in this context for this reason, we’re simply not as urban as most of the neighborhoods in the West Bluff.) This is mostly a quiet, low-traffic neighborhood where the junior high students play football in the street and cut through people’s yards on their way to school or friends’ houses.
I certainly agree about the poor condition of the sidewalks, and I’m paying the special assessment without complaint that will bring my block new sidewalks (I forget if it’s this summer or next summer), and I’m pleased we’ll finally GET useable sidewalks. But I think the trash-on-the-sidewalks-forcing-kids-into-street concern is overblown for this neighborhood.
Moreover, if we put our trash cans in the street, Waste Management guys (and the recycling guys, and the yard waste guys) PUT THEM BACK ON THE SIDEWALK.
You say, “Simply moving the trash cans to the curb would solve the problem for everyone.” I don’t think in this neighborhood there’s a problem. (And in this neighborhood, EVERYONE uses the sidewalks — practically everyone’s a jogger, dog-walker, after-dinner walker, or parent of a school walker.) And if it IS that big a problem, did you bring it to our neighborhood association to seek a solution, as it is actively working to make our neighborhood safer for pedestrians with better sidewalks and streetlights?
But I’ll tell you that first photo is one of the main entries to St. Phil’s and at certain times of the day and week is filled curb-to-curb (kids walk in the front yards or step around the trash cans — or sidewalk obstructions left by the repair guys). We also provide on-street overflow parking for the three churches in the neighborhood when they have weddings, funerals, holiday services, etc. Putting garbage cans on the street on Ash Wednesday would have been impossible (pickup is Wednesday) unless you blocked the driveways with them. (And our garbage guys are kind enough to work around the situation as well, though it means extra steps for them when there’s a big church event.) Have you considered the other needs of the neighborhood? Our good relationships with the embedded churches and schools that anchor the neighborhood, and how we adjust to provide things like overflow parking so they don’t have to relocate out to the Northwest corridor or pave over massive areas for more parking?
One solution does not fit all neighborhoods, and I don’t think you’ve taken into account the special needs of MY neighborhood, or the fact that most of us are happy with the compromise solutions the neighborhood has worked out over 60 years to make life as comfortable and as problem-free as possible for everyone.
Just as soon as you tell the churches they have to stop having funerals on Wednesdays, I’ll put my cans in the street (but Waste Management will still put them back on the sidewalk). Until then, I’m going to abide by the 60-year-old tradition that my frontage is church parking. We understand that the price of living this close (half a block from each) to two churches that anchor our community is that our street is used as a parking lot on a routine basis, and that means pedestrians walk in our yard if the sidewalk is blocked (by trash, by watermain work, by sidewalk maintenance, by lemonade stands) and the road is busy because of services. That means leaving the house on religious holidays is a pain in the butt because we can’t back out between the tightly-parked road and the slow-moving church traffic. WE’RE OKAY WITH THAT.
PS: “Those lane widths in the photos can easily accommodate both auto travel and trash cans at the curb.”
Those sidewalk widths are wide enough to accommodate both the trash cans and walkers (and wheelchairs, most of the time). Most people, at least on my block, make an effort to put the cans all the way forward on the sidewalk so the kids can walk behind and away from the street. This is also a neighborhood full of free-lance shovelers who shovel sidewalks on the school access roads so the kids have somewhere safe to walk when slippery road conditions make walking in the street actively dangerous. We certainly don’t undervalue our sidewalks or the safety of our children.
E. B. Barbie: When I lived on Pasadena where we didn’t have sidewalks, we all put our garbage on the street right in front of the curb. After Waste Management emptied the trash, they put the garbage cans back on the street at the curb upside down. We never had cans rolling around in the middle of the street unless it was a really windy day. And when it’s windy enough to blow the trash can around, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s on the street, sidewalk, or yard, the wind is going to take it anyway.
I am an advocate of pedestrian friendly neighborhoods but I think we making a big deal out this issue. Trash pickup is one day week. Most people in our area put their trash out the morning of pickup and by the evening the cans are back in. Must be a slow bog day.
What if they put in a bike lane along the curb like everyone wants? Then where do you put the trash. What if you live on Sheridan or Knoxville or University, where do you put the trash cans?
Eyebrows — Beth shared this information in an e-mail along with the pictures:
She also mentioned that his trash was at the curb, not on the sidewalk. So it appears not all your neighbors share the same feelings you do.
(And like I said, call the area what you will, “West Bluff” is a local shorthand that has been used for decades.)
The second picture is of Forrest Hill looking west twoards Sheridan – not quite a quiet neighborhood street with no traffic (but probably not that many kids walking to and from St. Phil’s. Big sections of Forrest Hill between University and Sheridan have no sidewalk. And when there is sidewalk? Try walking around the trash cans and/or the snow/ice/salt that the snow plows throw up on the sidewalk – it’s an obstacle course.
The easy way to ascertain the feeling of the neighborhood would be to approach the neighborhood association.
But if you know what’s best for my neighborhood, without the input of the neighborhood, more power to you. Just tell me when you get the ban in place on Wednesday church services so I have a curb to put my garbage on.
Eyebrows, I’m sorry, are these private streets and sidewalks in your neighborhood, or are they public?
maybe we should ban trash.
I grew up on the southside and graduated from Manual. I walked with my friends those same streets, Ann, Proctor, Wiswall on my way home. I travel down then today. I believe the problems with those students involved in this particular controversy was that they would not move out of the way of thru traffic. Wasn’t it? As Manual students we always moved out of the way of traffic on those streets. We were courteous. These recent Manual students who received fines were obstinate to motorists and hence received what is rectitude. But put in sidewalks and you’ll still have this arrogant disrepect from those same students. You see it even on southside streets with sidewalks. Travel down some other southside, or even east bluff streets, and see how easy it is to get by with a group of teens moving down the middle of the street which even has sidewalks.
As for Beth Akeson it seems as if she is attempting another run for something.
Also, St.Phils was never considered part of the west bluff at least from a southside perspective. West bluff has always been the Jumer’s/west peoria area, Bradley to Methodist Hospital stopping around North Ave and I-74. St.Phil’s area was never tagged.
Interesting no one noted that the some of the trash was not in an approved container. plastc bag and boxes of trash will become litter sooner than trash in an approved container.(rain soaked box, torn plaastic bags)
Ed — I agree with you that student behavior/attitude is a factor and sidewalks alone aren’t going to fix that problem.
As far as the “West Bluff” designation, I’ll tell you what, we’ll compromise and call it what the Journal Star calls it now (since 2002, when they stopped calling it the West Bluff): Central Peoria. Now, is everybody happy?
If I recall correctly, doesn’t Beth Akeson and her family reside on Grandview Drive? Isn’t Grandview Drive totally void of sidewalks? And Grandview Drive can be very busy with vistors. Many a time have I lunched there at the picnic tables during summer months to notice people walking on the street itself. Some of them elderly too.
Two points: 1)I’ll bet those sidewalks are replaced as soon as spring hits in that neighborhood while the streets on the sideside will be ignored as they have been for years, nay, decades.
2) The difference between kids in the street on Biltmore (or whatever) and kids in the street around Manual is that the kids around Bitlmore didn’t spit, cuss, and threaten the drivers like some of the Manual students which was the reason for the complaint in the first place. Apples and oranges.
Yes we live on Grandview and a few years ago, through the generosity of a local family, the Park District was given funding to install a sidewalk on a portion of one side of the road.
Unfortunately, they were unable to pave the entire length so there is a chipped path part way and then you must walk in the street. You are also correct about the speed of the traffic. It is very busy.
Grandview is a public park and on most days many people walk on Grandview and the sidewalk has been a wonderful addition. I only wish they had been installed 20 years ago when my children were small. I would have loved to take them in a stroller without walking in the road.
Beth and I actually ran into each other out to lunch (because Peoria is the WORLD’S SMALLEST TOWN) and achieved a meeting of the minds. 🙂
My point, CJ, is that my neighborhood is mixed-use, and one of the things that happens in a mixed-use neighborhood is that compromises have to be made for those uses. One of the “uses” of my street is as overflow parking for two churches with small parking lots because they are IN the neighborhood rather than an appendage with a giant parking lot slapped on as an afterthought. That means that frequently on trash day I do not HAVE a curb in front of my house because people are parked there.
(Once some dingbat even parked blocking my driveway, but that was an enormous funeral and I didn’t have to get in or out of my driveway, so I decided to chalk it up to grief and let it go.)
There is also a difference between a road like Sheridan or Forest Hill, where trash on the sidewalk can be a real obstacle, and these quiet little streets within the neighborhood where the roads are an extension of the front yards where cars happen to go every now and then and interrupt the football game.
Martin, “not in an approved container.” I noticed that, and I see it a lot, but it seems like as long as it goes out the morning of pickup and the homeowner clears out any disaster, nobody gets too worked up about it. I know we certainly put out “non-approved” containers when we first moved in and had all the moving-in trash, and I feel like “responsible flexibility” is probably a better answer than the alternatives.
Eyebrows, I live in the East Bluff, few people set out the trash the night before. Dogs, rats,racoons and the like get into and make a mess of things and also fewer people do not clean up if it does not make it into the garbage truck. I have alley pick up so the garbage stays out until it is picked up by WM. Most people just leave it out in the alley 24/7.
I have lived in numerous cities around the country but I just do not recall any city where the trash was put out for pick up off the walk and over the curb onto the street. Where is this done currently? To me it sounds rather foolish to place garbage containers off the curb and onto a high traffic thoroughfare such as Sheridan Rd. The city would just be asking for trouble. What am I missing here?
Artie M,
The photos are not of Sheridan they were shot on Forest Hill and one of the side streets.
You are correct about Sheridan – there is not much space on the west side to put a trash receptical on the street, but that is most likely because when Sheridan was widened the pedestrian experience was not a priority.
talk about pedestrian experience, how about Sheridan north of War Memorial? No sidewalks on the east side between War and Lake. Five lanes of super highway with one really large center turn lane. Crossing that street is taking your life into your own hands. It’s a good thing the city never widened Sheridan south of War Drive any more than those three lanes. At least they left sidewalks. The city and state engineers had one thing on their minds and that was to move as much traffic as quick as possible through those areas. They are ones that ruined some of our neighborhoods.
Yes, Peoriafan, you are spot on.
I ran the paper route on Sheridan between Austin and Glen for many years mainly on a bicycle in my grade school years. There were no sidewalks and there are none now; just ruts off the side of the road. I shudder as a parent to think some kid would be doing the same thing.
“1)I’ll bet those sidewalks are replaced as soon as spring hits in that neighborhood while the streets on the sideside will be ignored as they have been for years, nay, decades.”
In fact, yes, we are getting our sidewalks replaced, block by block, through Biltmore Heights, and I have the hefty special assessment notification to prove it. Biltmore got done a couple years back. Avalon is getting done next. We have a very vigorous neighborhood association leadership in our new association and sidewalks are a priority for them. The sidewalks are god-awful; the kids go to the parking lot to rollerblade.
The streets aren’t that bad, and they fill the potholes promptly every year; don’t know what more you can ask in a low-traffic neighborhood when there’s clearly more pressing road replacement needs on main roads (and in other neighborhoods in far worse shape).
Also, the kids in the schools in Biltmore Heights (St. Phil’s and TJ) are mostly K-5, not high school students, so, yeah, apples and oranges.
Martin, that sounds like irresponsible laziness. 🙂
I knew I was right. Just because some neighborhoods in the southend don’t have an association fighting for them, I guess there are left to suffer. I would welcome an assessment if it meant sidwalks and storm drains would be installed. Then I would have Gulley drum up some of those ornamental lights to go on the streets. FEH I guess money isn’t green the same all over.
Emtronics — Sounds like you know what you have to do to get that done, doesn’t it? When will your first neighborhood association meeting be? Or is your plan to keep waiting for the City to knock on your door and ask you what your needs are? 😉
Already had it CJ, Called it the Garden City Neighborhood Assoc. Was meeting at the church on the corner of Marquette and Laramie. Had a woman who just bought a house here and was gun ho. I went door to door and asked people to join us covering Ann, Proctor, Manual, Antoinette, Marquette, and even Garden Streets. Got a whole 3 people, including myself.
The older folks are scared to death and they don’t want the assessment for any improvements I guess because living month to month on SS is hard enough. I don’t blame them. The yonger homeowners just cant’t find the time. The rest are renters and we all know the landlords want no extra expenses. So now what? I guess that means we get ignored but wait, we have a city councilman that is supposed to help us with stuff like that. Yeah, right, which is why I am considering running against him, if he runs, if someone better qualified doesn’t step up.
I’d move.
Emtronics — What exactly is it that you want the city to do?
Invest some capital in the south side. I would like to see sidewalks on all the streets along Griswold replaced and some ornamental lighting installed down to Adams from Lincoln. Really though, I would just like for the city to take a serious look at its older neighborhoods and start improvements, crack down on code violations and make the southern entrance into this city something to be proud of. It’s asking a lot I know, but, all we got is a yellow and orange grocery store.
Instead, we build arbors while the other side of the neighborhood is sold down the drain by the same council. We expand north for the sake of expanding, our school district is neglected and ran by fools and no one on the council really gives a damn. We install ornamental lighting on empty Ellis St (just because the money is there)
I wasn’t born in the south end, I was raised on 12 Oaks Dr (by St Phil’s) but I have lived in the south end for 25 years. When I bought this house it was the 80’s depression in Peoria, home loans were 12% and higher. I had reservations. A young and very pregnant wife and I was the only bread winner. I have never regretted raising a family here. Manual, Garfield, and Trewyn were good schools and we as parents were involved. I was president of the PTOs at Garfield and Trewyn. I was Booster Club President 2 years at Manual. We had great parent groups and never had problems. My sons are grown and successful and it seems at 22 my youngest who starts at CAT will make more than I ever did a year. (A Bradley grad no less)
All the years here, we never had serious problems and when we did, we took an active role in getting those problems resolved. Ask Lt.Burke at the PPD. He knew what I had in a crack house and he and his staff helped me rid the area of it. I had speed limit signs installed on 3 streets and 4-way stop signs installed to stop the rapid drive thru traffic. Lt. Burke saw to it that was enforced. I am sorry to ramble but I have been here and done that and I am tired of seeing the cake go elsewhere and we get the paper plate.