PeoriaStory

Riverfront Park hearing draws large crowd opposing park land sale

PEORIA, IL -- A standing room only crowd filled the Peoria City Council chambers on March 31 for the hastily called hearing on the proposed sale of 5.8 acres of Riverfront Park.

The audience first heard a presentation from Chris Setti, the city staffer shepherding the sale and development of the site.  It's been proposed for years, he said, and a public hearing was held in May 2013. 

The Sierra Club was opposed to the land sale then as now, he said.

On April 14 the council will vote on a redevelopment agreement which sets a timetable for the requirements to sell the land.  It must be rezoned, a suitable replacement for the lost acres must be found and acquired, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources must approve the deal, etc.

After all that the city will pay $4.5 million for infrastructure, and property taxes will be used to pay off the bonds to fund that project. "It's not a done deal," Setti said.

The audience asked questions of Setti, then gave comments, with the meeting lasting two hours. People told how they loved the quiet of that greenspace which would be turned into four large buildings with 144 rental units. 

"This is one of the few quiet spots left," said a woman.

A few praised the project, saying the city needs to attract 25-44 year olds to live in the city downtown.

Here's the Journal Star's story on the meeting.

Written comments can be sent to Setti at [email protected]. 

Here's what I will write:

No responsible government ever sells parkland for development.  It is protected for public use forever.

In addition, this project has the stench of insider dealing.  Who on the council dreamed up selling this land for development?

When request for proposal documents went out, how did this particular developer get selected?

This is not a free market deal, as some at the hearing suggested.  It is a city subsidized deal.  The cheap price of this valuable land, the TIF deal, the city-provided infrastructure -- all are taxpayer subsidies for this developer. 

This project will compete with construction in the Warehouse district, and the subsidies may enable rent to be lower than on that project.

In addition, these buildings will be crammed into a site next to a chemical plant and a railroad track.  Will the environmentally conscious want to live there?

And let's not even mention the school district the project is in. So the demographic for the project is likely young childless people, if they can afford the rent, or empty nesters.

For many reasons, the highest and best use for this land is parkland-- not housing. Period.

  -  Elaine Hopkins

April 7 election endorsements

PEORIA, IL -- The municipal election on April 7 has several contested races.  Here are my endorsements:

Peoria School District 150 Board, District 3: Two to be elected.

I support the recommendations of Change150, the group formed to do just that. The leaders interviewed the candidates, and support Dan Adler and Ernestine Jackson.

Peoria City Council, at large election, 5 to be elected:

You can bullet vote in this race, to give a candidate all 5 votes.  Or if you vote for two, they each get 2.5 votes.  I plan to vote for the two Beths, Beth Akeson and Beth Jensen.

Akeson blew the whistle on the secret attempt to turn Peoria Stadium into a Walmart.  She also will vote against selling any part of the riverfront park for condos.  

Jensen is the only Democrat in the race, and the only candidate living south of War Memorial. She supports historic neighborhoods.

Peoria Park District Board:  I plan to bullet vote for Jackie Petty, a valuable park board member. There are three open seat at stake.  Here's a good Peoria Journal Star editorial on the race.

Voting this time is so easy.  Click here by April 2 to request an absentee ballot by mail -- no excuses required.  You will receive a paper ballot to be filled out and mailed back, postage paid.

To find out about early voting locations, click here.

Not registered?  You can register and vote on election day at your voting place. Call the Peoria Election Commission at (309) 494-VOTE (8683), or the Peoria County Clerk, or the County Clerk in your county to find out where you vote.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

Save Riverfront Park

PEORIA, IL -- Three events are coming, designed to save Riverfront Park from the developers.

Here's Constitution Garden, slated for destruction if part of the park is sold to developers.

photo by Pat Goitein

On Tuesday, March 31 at 6:00 pm at the Peoria City Council chambers in the 4th floor of City Hall, there's a meeting to be orchestrated by city staff, with a AV slide show and extensive presentation.

People opposed to selling 5.8 acres of Riverfront Park should attend this meeting and speak out. 

NEW:  sign this petition.

https://www.change.org/p/peoria-city-council-vote-no-on-sale-of-downtown-open-green-space-in-riverfront-park?recruiter=267828846&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

There has been little public input into plans to sell this land to a developer for a below market price. 

Next, on Wednesday, April 8, at 5:30 - 6:30 pm at the Riverplex, the HOI Sierra Club  has reserved a large room for a one hour discussion, to be followed by a walk along the River Trail, now threatened by the apartment project.

The Riverplex is immediately adjacent to the proposed development.The Riverplex event is not meant to be a presentation by city staff with Q & A / comments, but an exchange of ideas in an open forum, according to Dave Pittman of the Sierra Club.

On Tuesday, April 14, the Peoria City Council will again take up the issue of selliing 5.8 acres of land to a developer for apartment buildings. The meeting begins at 6:30 pm. People can make comments. Six votes are needed to stop the sale of the land.

Everyone is invited to these events.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

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Broadway show good but flawed

PEORIA, IL -- A somewhat offbeat show, Legends of Broadway, played at the Peoria Civic Center on March 27. It featured two talented Broadway veterans, Ron Raines and Don Pippin.

It was very flawed by a buzzy sound system, which produced a tinny piano and poor projection of pianist Pippin's voice as he told stories of his career on Broadway, which began in the 1950s. 

Pippin, 89 (but doesn't look it), was the music director for A Chorus Line, but oddly enough, he and Raines didn't perform any songs from that fabulous show. 

Alas, the beautiful, operatic voice of Raines, 65, was too loud, due to his microphone.   

How sad, because these performers should have been able to put on an intimate show somewhere, without microphones.  But the Civic Center Theater is too big for an intimate show.

The producer was InterArts Management, Inc. of Bloomington, IL, which aims to produce "theatrical events featuring world-renowned artists currently working on Broadway, in opera, concert, recital and recording," according to the program.

This show was originally scheduled for Bloomington, but moved to Peoria, according to Raines's website.

To his credit, IAM vice president Harold Meers, associated with Illinois Wesleyan University, waived the small audience down to the front to fill empty seats, to promote more intimacy.  But it didn't really work. 

We were on Row F in center seats we bought for $27 each, thanks to a discount to season ticket holders of the Civic Center's Broadway series. With the audience close to the stage, it still was not intimate enough, perhaps due to the awful sound system and huge theater. 

But we have seen individual and dual performers in this venue who did great shows, so it can be done.

These performers should have immediately ditched the microphones and would have done a much better show. Did no one tell them about the terrible sound?

They performed a series of familiar Broadway hit songs, with a few anecdotes about their careers.The performances were fine from this talented duo.

A screen on the stage depicted Broadway and film posters of the songs, interesting but rather amateurish.  We got no dates about when these events were produced, and little information about them.

So the show, a little more than an hour long, could have been much, much better and more professional, with just a little savvy.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Schock's final words and actions

PEORIA, IL -- Cong. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, gave his farewell speech on March 26. See the PJS's fawning coverage of it.

He compared himself to Lincoln!  Really.

Then he broke House rules,something the PJS omitted.  He took a photo in the chambers, and brought with him a cup of coffee to drink, according to a website that doesn't like him.

Uh huh.  Meanwhile back in Peoria, his pals are sweating, as the FBI is delivering subpoenas, according to political insiders.  

The press is not done with Schock either.  Peoria County Democratic Chairman Billy Halstead said he received a call from the Associated Press on March 26, just as Schock was trying to redeem himself with a farewell speech. They're still digging, Halstead said.

Nevertheless, will we soon see Schock on Dancing With the Stars, a la Tom DeLay?  Maybe.  Schock can always inform on others, like a low level drug dealer does, to avoid jail.

The millennial generation poster boy, who has lived a life of affluence thanks to his family background, and who seemingly has no respect for the rules others live by, may in the end beat the rap by sending his former pals to prison, or bankrupting them with legal bills.

Then there's the heir apparent, at least in Peoria, state Sen. Darin LaHood.

The same LaHood who was three times censured for prosecutor misconduct  by federal judges in Las Vegas, Nevada. Guess he's a slow learner.

Here's the PJS editorial on that, and the USA Today story on it. Stay tuned.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Don't sell Riverfront Park land

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

Peoria City Council Considering Sale of Public Parkland Along Riverfront

Please email or phone your Peoria City Council members as soon as possible and ask that they oppose any sale of city owned public riverfront parkland.

A full listing of Council members is at the end of this email.

Let the Mayor and City Council members know you are opposed to the sale of public parkland at the Peoria riverfront for the development of a privately owned apartment complex.

Key concerns are:

1. We need to keep public open space at the riverfront. Would Chicago sell its lakefront parkland for development? We do not think so. Peoria's riverfront park is for the people. Generations ahead should be able to enjoy the open space. There is little enough of it as it is.
2. Adding intensive development with a large parking lot, lights, cars, etc., is detrimental to this one area of the Riverfront Park which is currently a welcome retreat away from more intensive riverfront activities. 
3. With prospects of downtown redevelopment increasing, preserving existing riverfront parkland is essential. New apartments are already being developed in the warehouse district and other locations. Better options exist for residential development that taking away public open space.

The city is looking at a proposed apartment complex at the north end of the Riverfront Park in the Constitution Gardens location. It would require moving Constitution Gardens and the future of the historic railroad turntable is not clear. Up to four, 4-story high buildings with a large parking lot could be built.

The proposed plans also call for a new public street to be constructed going north from the RiverPlex parking lot to the apartment complex. We question city investment in a new street when so many existing streets need significant repair. At the north end of the new street it would intersect with Morton Street which is currently the only drive-in access to this section of the Riverfront Park.

Please contact the Peoria City Council and urge them to preserve city owned riverfront parkland. Ask them to oppose any sale of city owned public riverfront parkland.

For more information contact Dave Pittman at 309-573-2354 or [email protected].

Peoria City Council:

Mayor Jim Ardis    City Hall 309-494-8519    [email protected]
Denise Moore    cell 309-213-6628    [email protected]
Chuck Grayeb    cell 309-213-6629    [email protected]
Timothy Riggenbach    cell 309-369-5233    [email protected]
Jim Montelongo    cell 309213-1581    [email protected]
Casey L. Johnson    cell 309-363-3488    [email protected]
Beth Akeson    cell 309-573-1117    [email protected]
Beth Jensen    cell 309-863-0160    [email protected]
Ryan Spain    cell 309-256-2414    [email protected]
W. Eric Turner    cell 309-253-2489    [email protected]
Chuck Weaver    cell 309-360-4779    [email protected]

 Just do it now.

NOW awards, meeting

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

The Peoria Chapter of the National Organization for Women will hold its annual Women's History Month Awards event on Saturday, March 28, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM at Lakeview Library.

Dr. Sarah Ramirez, family physician with Unity Point Methodist Family Practice Cliinic, will be the guest speaker.  She will discuss "The Importance of the Family's Role in Health Education".

Awards will be given to GirlsEmpo, Peoria-based effort to empower girls in rural Guatemala; Clare Howard, editor of the Community Word newspaper; the Peoria Chapter of the American Association of University Women; and other recipients to be named at the event.

A Continental breakfast will be provided.  The event is free and open to the public.  For more information please call 309-688-3419.

In Solidarity,
Peoria NOW

Financial cuts coming

PEORIA, IL. -- The Peoria District 150 School Board on March 23  had to give notice of layoffs of 174 teachers and dozens more support personnel.

The notices were required now because of financial problems that made necessary $9.1 million in cuts in the education fund, the board's financial officer said.

Board critic Terry Knapp during the required public hearing on the layoffs raised the relevant issue: "I notice the absence of administrators that should be on this list," he said.

Jeff Atkins-Dutro, Peoria Federation of Teachers president said that there are already 35 to 40 unfilled positions now. "What we have is a teacher shortage." Those on the layoff list will find other jobs, he said making the shortage worse, and raising the vacancy rate next year to 50 or 60, he said.

Here are the comments on the layoffs.

 

D150 Mar23 2

At the public comment session, Knapp said that the district needs to hire people "vested in the community, who don't come in and say our community is dysfunctional."

Knapp said he has canvased for the forthcoming school board election, and found 90 percent of the people he spoke with want "a change in direction, a new superintendent."

"Talk to the voters whose home values are going down," he said.

He then praised the Pirates of Penzance musical, whose star, Lee Wenger has been banned for life from the school district because of an incident with a student a couple of years ago. He wife, a retired teacher, and their children were in the Pirates show, Knapp noted, including one who left a teaching job at Charter Oak after the situation there, he said. 

These are people vested in the community, he said, compared with the principal at Lincoln school, a North Carolina native, who is resigning. The school has 850 kids, only one security officer, and a "zoo atmosphere," Knapp said.

When board member Rick Cloyd then asked about Wenger, Supt. Grenita Lathan commented "it's confidential."

Board critic Sharon Crews commented that Lincoln has problems. "You are spending money on unproved programs" instead of resource (security) officers, she said.

She also asked about the purchase of kitchen equipment for many schools, and noted other questionable spending. Her report will be added below soon.

Here are the public comments.

 

D150 Mar23 1

 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Here are the comments from Sharon Crews:

 

You have my compilations of the Lincoln Resource Officer’s daily logs for October through February.  If you will look at the data without your blinders on, you have to conclude that he was overworked.  One resource officer is not enough for a school with a difficult environment of 872 students—larger than Manual’s enrollment. 

 This officer was injured in his efforts to break up a fight.  He has since asked for and received a transfer.  Has anything been done to improve the situation for the officer now assigned to an unchanged environment?  You are spending money on unproven programs and scrimping on money that should be spent to create safe learning environments.  You may fool yourselves or the public, but resource officers know the truth about the level of discipline problems in schools.

 I have, also, given you a handout of expenditures about which you should have asked questions publicly before approving them.  Mr. Cloyd did break the pattern recently by asking about the $900,000 to be approved for buses.  That was admirable but I believe it was already a done deal.

In March 2014 you approved the purchase of kitchen equipment including Hot Food Service Counters for Franklin, Lindbergh, Jameison,Whittier, Kellar, and Von Steuben for over $108,000.

Four of these counters cost over $13,000 but Franklin’s cost over $27,000.  Why was Franklin’s double the cost of the others?

This school year, kitchen equipment has been purchased for Trewyn, Hines, Woodruff, Northmoor, Kellar, Roosevelt, Von Steuben, Whittier, Woodrow Wilson, Harrison, and Charter Oak at a total cost of almost $110,000.  At eight schools the cost ranges from $3,000 to $5000.  However, the cost at Charter Oak was $48,200—over $43,000 more than at each of the eight schools.  Can you explain that?  Will you explain it—probably not?

Why is there suddenly a need for kitchen equipment at the schools? 

Who initiated these purchases and when did you learn about them?

Can I assume that this equipment was not put out for bid?   A total of $84,000 was spent at a company labeled as Johnson, half spent on January 26 and half spent on February 23.  Not putting out bids seems to be illegal, unethical, or unfair.  Don’t you have the legal obligation to seek out competitive prices? 

As a never ending gift to the Follett company, you have paid over $32,000 for license fees for the barcoding system.  From what I hear, the bar codes have not survived student wear and tear.  Also, I believe students are not paying for lost books. This system is costing, not saving, District money.  And you are no longer saying the District is operating in the black. -30 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heartland Festival Orchestra does Mozart

WASHINGTON, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's Mozart concert on March 21 at the Five Points auditorium was lovely as expected. And it came with a surprise:  a ballet.

The program featured three Mozart pieces, the Overture to Cosi Fan Tutte, the Bassoon Concerto in B Flat Major, and Symphony No. 40 in G Minor.  But as usual, there was a surprise number, in fact this time two surprises.

The first was a lively and familiar dance number by Mozart. Then came the ballet: the Four Swans from Swan Lake, with four live dancers, lovely ballerinas. It was very nice.

Conductor/Artistic Director David Commanday explained that Tschaikowski was a close student of Mozart, who inspired him. 

In addition, the Heartland Festival Orchestra recently received the Illinois Council of Orchestras' 2015 Community Relations of the Year award.

That's because it always names a charity partner for each performance, giving the agency not only a donation but exposure to the audience, creating a sense of community.

Distinctive and well done.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

 

Pirates in Peoria

PEORIA, IL -- And now for something a little different!

Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance plays at the Peoria Players Theater through March 22.  It's worth seeing.

The comic,satiric musical, which premiered in 1879(!), is still amusing with its clever lyrics and somewhat familiar melodies. The Wikipedia article referenced above is worth reading for a look at the history of this show.  Chicago's Lyric Opera performed it in 2004, and it played for two years on Broadway in 1981. 

"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" is one of the cleverest of the songs. Check out the lyrics before you see the show to find out how many items you can recognize today.

The Peoria Players production of this classic gets about a B-plus, if I were grading it. 

Some of the performers are outstanding. Lee Wenger as the pirate king, Stephen Post as Major General Stanley, Seth Katz as the Sergeant of Police and Shirley Salazar as Ruth the Pirate Maid are among the best cast members who combine singing, acting and enunciation, to reveal the song lyrics and dialogue. 

Others were more difficult to hear.  When they spoke or sang I longed for supertitles.

The costumes are colorful and authentic, especially for the women, as the old photos on the Wikipedia site show.  Still -- they could have been dressed in a more provocative fashion, as modern show biz requires.

But no matter. Where else will you see a picture of Queen Victoria to turn the plot around. This is a fun show, worth the price. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins