PeoriaStory

Cruise critique -- mostly good but...

PEORIA, IL -- I'm back and mostly recovered from jet lag from a two week vacation cruise to the Baltic nations and St. Petersburg, Russia, on the Oceania ship the Nautica.

Western Illinois University in Macomb was one of many US universities recommending this cruise line and its cruises, and we signed up with the broker GoNext.

The ship was terrific -- like an upscale hotel.  A string quartet, a jazz pianist, a show band with singers and dancers, a lively guest host, it was all good.  There were four restaurants, gourmet food, a library, a TV that showed MSNBC (sans ads!), and a friendly and competent staff.

The shore trips to Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Russia, Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and other ports were fine.  But -- there were a few big downsides.

1. Lack of transparency. There were some crucial aspects of the voyage that were not revealed until after the fees were paid.
2. Not until we had signed up and paid the fees did we learn that we could not wander alone in St. Petersburg, but could only go into town on a tour purchased through the boat, or a private vendor (an uncertain idea).  That's because US citizens have to purchase a $200 visa to set foot on Russian soil alone.
3. Back in 1987 when we visited Moscow that wasn't required under the former Soviet Union, and we wandered about freely. This time the trips ashore at night were very expensive, so we skipped those, as we saw the ballet in 1987. But there likely were many musical events taking place that we would have enjoyed.
4. The Internet issues.  The GoNext travelers got free internet on the ship but others not with that group had to pay megabucks per day, leading to a complicated software nightmare of trying to log on.  Some GoNext people never were able to connect, though I finally figured it out. This is a huge cruise mistake, as all internet should be free, with users kicked off line after 30 minutes of no use, or some such small regulation.
5. Everyone was required to submit a credit card number so no money changed hands on ship. A good idea.  But included were mandatory tips for the stewards and wait staff, which were never mentioned before we paid the fees. This should be included in the upfront fees, so no one gets a $500 shock on their credit card bill.
6. The airline were were assigned, Scandinavian Air, proved problematic.  I was unable to find out how many bags we could check free, as GoNext never provided an answer and I couldn't find it on the website. So I assumed two bags each, which United offers on international flights.  Wrong, it was one bag each, and the agent in Chicago refused to waive it and intimidated us into paying over $100 for a 3rd bag. Outrageous.
7. On the way back we got smart and included my handbag into one of the carry ons and avoided the fee. But the Copenhagen agent made us check a roll bag that we planned to use as one of the two hand carried bags each person is allowed.  So we had to lug heavy bags without benefit of rollers, only to see others in the waiting area using roll bags as their carry-ons. What?  And some people had huge bags and more than two and got away with it.
8. Bottom line:  avoid SAS. GoNext should probably offer a sum toward air travel so travelers can seek good deals of their own.  And I would avoid Oceania until they fix the Internet issues.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Bigotry, Consolidation & Sidewalks

PEORIA, IL -- David Berry's report on the Peoria City Council meeting of Aug. 22:

A brief, 52 minute City Council meeting seemed rote, after a quick read of the written agenda. However, a reminiscent theme shone through, by the night’s end. The aftermath of recent white nationalist violence & mayhem in VA made ripples in city politics Tuesday night.

Second District Councilman Chuck Grayeb did not attend the meeting.

During “Proclamations”, Common Place was recognized by Mayor Ardris, for its 50 years of community service. Since 1967, Common Place Family Learning Center has worked on the center south side to eliminate the root causes of poverty, racism, & injustice through education. In 1979 they introduced Peoria’s 1st adult literacy program.

A local student initiative was also acclaimed by the Council. AppsCo Inc is a nonprofit organization that trains, employs and works to develop Richwoods high school students into young tech entrepreneurs.

All “Consent Agenda” items were passed unanimously. Among the resolutions approved was a zoning change for 126 S. Saratoga & 921 W. Smith St., in District 1. These properties were converted from “Single Family Residential” to “Neighborhood Commercial”. This moves hints that new businesses are upcoming. 1D Council Rep Denise Moore gave no details concerning these moves.

Item 17-258 granted a Class D liquor license for Four Points by Sheridan, at 500 Hamilton Blvd. This is a concrete step to the eventual, yet unknown, opening of the much needed hotel in downtown.

In other downtown business developments: the council created a “Special Use District for Indoor Recreation/Athletic Club” at 927 SW Washington. This is to be the site of a new & unique indoor climbing facility, in the Warehouse District.

Other “Regular Business” included approval of sidewalk installation along the south side of W. Giles Lane, in District 3. Councilman Tim Rigggenbach applauded the improvement, which will bring ease of access to the Rock Island Greenway trail.

At-Large Rep Beth Jensen tackled 2 complex & compelling issues in “Unfinished” & “New Business”. She alone took up the cause of finding rare tax savings, in a possible consolidation the City of Peoria with Peoria Township. A new law easing these actions is now in effect.

She sought a “cost analysis” by staff to explore the possibilities of such a move. Peoria Township in lies entirely within Peoria city limits & its services can well be handled by the city, thus reducing overhead & redundancy. Jensen displayed innovative, proactive governing.

Recounting the recent violent & fatal white nationalist crimes in Charlottesville, VA, Jensen also heavily urged city staff to compose a resolution explicitly stating, that Peoria is “against hate, bigotry, racism & violence.”  Jensen added that 2nd District Councilman Grayeb also lobbies heavily for this statement. “We as a city are against this” she said. A deadline of one week, for staff, was suggested.

For the second consecutive meeting, resident Doug Johnson continued his progressive criticism of city leadership. He pointed out the city’s lack of response to the national outrage surrounding the events of Charlottesville. As an organizer of a last week’s vigil, he sent invitations to all council members, as well as other government officials. Jensen and At-Large Council Rep Beth Akeson both attended the event. Mr. Grayeb and sent his regrets at having a previous engagement.

No other member even responded to the invitation. Johnson lamented “a lack of leadership” and wondered aloud why the city, itself did not produce a memorial or educational event.

A strong rebuke of 1D Rep Denise Moore was next. Representing the south side, which is the “most segregated “and is the home to the city’s most economically challenged residents, “she consistently endorses multi-million dollar boondoggles, that only benefit rich developers.” Johnson’s mic was silenced mid-sentence, at precisely at 5 minutes. Residents are frequently allowed to go over time to finish their points. Critical, free speech and outspoken protest are necessary to an open, democratic state. Perhaps, in the future City officials can be more tolerant of resident’s frustrations. - 30 -

-- David Berry

Whites Against White Supremacy

PEORIA, IL -- Here's a meeting worth attending:  Whites Against White Supremacy, Anti-Racism, Peoria

Kick-off meeting

August 20 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm, Lincoln Branch Library, 1312 W. Lincoln Ave., Peoria.

Discuss

• organizational structure
• types of racism whites perpetuate
• curriculum development
• mission statement
• open discussion
• next meeting

Organizer Monique.   Email: [email protected]

Lincoln Branch Peoria Public Library

1312 W Lincoln Ave
Peoria, 61605 + Google Map

Phone:497-2600

Website:http://www.peoriapubliclibrary.org/lincoln

 

PEORIA, IL -- The Peoria District 150 School Board departed from its usual rules at its August 14 meeting, and allowed two former foes to speak during the public comment session. They had arrived too late to turn in cards before the meeting. 

The board even debated the rule that the cards must be turned in before the meeting begins. Then they voted to allow Mini McDonald and General Parker to speak.

The card rule "locks the public out," McDonald observed. But she also noted the changed ambience at board meetings.

Parker noted "this board is more reflective of the community" and said he's working to stop the school to prison pipeline.

It fell to critic Terry Knapp to remind the board that a recent rule, that teachers and board members should not speak to each other, has a dangerous past.  Knapp 36 years ago won a lawsuit and collected $513,000 from the board due to a superintendent refusing to allow him to speak. He was a teacher.

Knapp said he worked to get some of the present board members elected, and didn't do that to see them to not allow teachers to speak.

He also criticized the charter school  Quest, saying that some teachers there are not certified and lack college degrees, and no background checks have been done.   The leader's title is CEO, not superintendent, he said.

Critic Sharon Crews said Peoria schools "have serious attendance problems that must be addressed. Her report will be posted below soon.

  - Elaine Hopkins

Here are the comments of Sharon Crews:

Please believe me when I say, I know that this board and administration are seriously concerned with the attendance and discipline problems in our schools. I understand your desire to present data that makes our schools look good—and there are many students who deserve the positive recognition. All parents deserve regular reports of the positive and negative attendance and discipline records. The district’s website provides the perfect venue for this data. Attendance and discipline will continue to get worse, not better, if everyone is not made aware of the problems and involved in the solutions.

Tonight I have given you the attendance records for Manual Academy and Rolling Acres 7^th graders for 2016-2017. Although I compiled data from only three schools and only one grade, I think I can assume that Peoria Schools have serious attendance problems that must be addressed. The full day absences are serious, but I believe that the single period absences are the greater problem for several reasons.

First of all, the data indicated that Calvin Coolidge and Rolling Acres change classes nine times and Manual changes ten times. Do you realize how much teaching and learning time is lost with so many class changes? There is, at least, five minutes passing time between periods. Settling students down and taking roll take, at least, another ten minutes. That is over an hour and twenty minutes of lost teaching time. In fact, one board member reminded me of time lost in this way.

Secondly, this data seems to indicate that schools do not know how to keep track of students between classes—too many do not make it to their next class.

Thirdly, I wonder if these period absences are considered as part of a student’s total absences—if not, the attendance problem is much worse than reports indicate.

Calvin Coolidge’s 111 7^th graders had a total of 603 day absences or an average of 5.4 per student. Manual’s 114 7^th graders had a total of 1,252 absences or an average of 10.9 per student, Rolling Acres’ 90 7^th graders had a total of 498 absences or 5.5 per student.

Calvin Coolidge’s students had 3,248 period absences or an average of 29.2 per student. Manual’s students had 9,173 period absences or an average of 80.4 per student. Rolling Acres’ students had 1,777 period absences or an average of 19.7 per student.

Of the 114 7^th graders at Manual, thirteen failed. Seven of the failures had the highest number of absences with 91, 49, 42, 40, 40, 26, 23, and 20 days of absence. In addition to these full day absences, these students missed from 129 to 322 single period absences each.

I do not know how to account for the considerable differences in the Rolling Acres data compared to Manual and Calvin Coolidge. However, I believe there are some significant differences to consider.

First, Rolling Acres students have fewer day and significantly fewer period absences. Calvin Coolidge and Rolling Acres have more excused absences than Manual does. Calvin Coolidge and Manual have 282 and 211 suspension days but Rolling Acres has only 13. Calvin Coolidge and Manual have 69 and 225 In-School Suspension days but Rolling Acres has only 4.

I found that compiling this data was too time consuming for me to provide the data for even all 7^th grades. However, your computer capabilities would make this task much simpler.

 -- Sharon Crews

Budget Shortsightedness

PEORIA, IL -- Here is David Berry's report on August 8 Peoria City Council meeting:

ON THE 309: PEORIA CITY COUNCIL IN A NUTSHELL 8/8/17

A detailed presentation & discussion of Peoria’s budget woes was front & center in this session of Peoria City Council. At-Large Councilman Zach Oyler & 3rd District Rep Tim Riggenbach were absent from Tuesday’s proceedings.

Bradley University’s plan for custom campus & city street signs dominated the Consent Agenda. At-Large Rep Beth Jensen questioned city staff on whether or not the West Bluff Home Owners Association & University neighbors were consulted about the signage change. After much guffawing, staff stated that they were unsure if any neighbor outreach was attempted.

“Public input” on governmental issues is a cornerstone of Jensen’s platform, as she consistently pushes for citizen inclusion in city policy. Additionally 2nd District Rep Chuck Grayeb wondered if the red color of the proposed signs is in violation of state or federal signage regulations. Staff replied that the color of the signs may be a problem, as a similar plan on the Illinois State campus, was scuttled due to federal guidelines.

Mr. Grayeb went on the say that BU is the city’s “5th largest employer and a good neighbor”. He felt confident that the school would have no problem interacting with citizen groups & getting consent for this “iconic branding”. Given these outstanding issues, Jensen pressed for a 1 month vote deferral. A new hearing on the signage is now set for September 12th.

Item 17-248, of the Consent Agenda concerned a new Commercial Building Rehabilitation Program for the city’s south side. 1st District Rep Denise Moore urged approval of the program, which she brought forward after “getting calls” from many 1D residents, on the topic. Businesses can front money for commercial improvements and then seek approval for matching grants, up to $20,000. The welcomed $150,000 program will be funded from the South Village Tax Increment Financing fund.

Regular Business was absorbed by a slide show concerning Peoria’s budget obstacles, by Finance Director/Comptroller Jim Scroggins & City Manager Patrick Urich. The report was full of facts & figures, but left many issues unanswered. A lengthy Q & A session, with council members followed. The biggest unknown, in this financial maze, remains the city’s Combined Sewage Overflow bill & how it will be paid. That issue is yet unresolved & will definitely be addressed in the near future. The main take away from the presentation was the city’s loss of revenue and rise in costs, on many fronts. The report contended that an overall loss in sales tax played a part in this year’s $7.9 million budget shortfall.

Declines in other tax streams, seemingly could have been foreseen by the City & offset, when writing this budget. Landline telephone excise tax collection dropped significantly, due to increased mobile phone use. Urich then conceded that increased on-line shopping caused a loss in commercial sales tax.

Additionally, gaming revenue dropped, due to the growing popularity of video gambling. Video machine wagering cut into lottery sales, accounting for approximately $1 million less revenue. Each of these declines seems to be common sense & could have been easily predicted. Council members have often criticized city finance heads for being shortsighted and reactive. This situation could well be another example.

Peoria’s cost centers rose as well. Employee pension costs were cited as a cumbersome debt. Pensions now account for approximately 40% of the Fire Department and PPD’s payroll. These costs were predicted to rise in the future. Interestingly, 70% of Peoria’s budget is spent on public safety & infrastructure.

Not addressed was the fiscal drain of Peoria’s 12 TIF districts. These funds siphon large amounts of tax revenue from city coffers & directly contribute to Peoria’s debt. Many millions of dollars currently sit unused in these accounts. Perhaps the time has come to put these taxes to work and attempt to raise home & business values, handle needed infrastructure in blighted areas, & improve Peoria’s workforce skill set.

By law, TIFs are designed to help achieve these goals. More programs like Moore’s Commercial Building Rehabilitation Program are obviously needed. During his presentation, the City Manager proposed a 5-10% cut in city services to bridge this year’s gap. It seems nonsensical to cut services and have yearly budget shortfalls, when large amounts of tax payer money sit unused, in cloistered accounts.

Once again, Jensen pressed the City Manager to hold public budget meetings, to inform & gather insight from residents. Urich stated that 4 or 5 such meetings will be held in August & September.
Tuesday night’s budget report was much more comprehensive than this report has outlined. Here is a link to the entire presentation.

Resident Doug Johnson used the “Citizen’s Opportunity to Address” to argue for a return the previous meeting format, in which, council members could converse with citizens, at the end of sessions. He also touted the virtues of raising the minimum wage in town. This issue’s value has never been debated in the Council. Here is a link to the full agenda & minutes is available at:
 -- David Berry

Hate speech, hate crime

PEORIA, IL -- Here's an event worth attending:

 

SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER FORUM ON HATE SPEECH

7 p.m. Aug. 29, 2017

Bob Michel Student Center

Bradley University, Peoria, IL

Co-sponsored by Community Word & Bradley University Department of Sociology & Social Work; African American Studies Committee; and Intellectual & Cultural Activities Committee

 

The Southern Poverty Law Center documented more than 1,000 hate incidents and hate crimes during 10 days in early November following the presidential election. The hate continues and, in fact, seems to be escalating worldwide.

To examine and promote understanding of this climate, Community Word and Bradley University’s Department of Sociology & Social Work, African American Studies Committee and Intellectual & Cultural Activities Committee are co-sponsoring a free public forum with Lecia Brooks, outreach director at Southern Poverty Law Center, to discuss the rise in hate groups and hate crime. Lecia Brooks will discuss what people can do to combat hate.

The event takes place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at the Bob Michel Student Center at Bradley University, Peoria, IL.

A panel of four members of the Peoria community will be part of this public forum. Panel members include:

Rev. Marvin Hightower, Peoria Chapter NAACP; Imam Kamil Mufti, Islamic Foundation of Peoria; Rebecca Carlson, Jewish Federation of Peoria; Sonny Garcia, Illinois People’s Action; Moderator is Garry Moore.

“The swastika has reappeared in ways we have not seen before,” Brooks said, noting that teachers in kindergarten through grade 12 have reported they have never seen such a sharp rise in expressions and acts of hate. Children are repeating rhetoric from the campaign and using it as racial slurs. Southern Poverty Law Center has tallied hate crimes and found most were committed against immigrants, followed by Black, Muslim and LGBT groups. The swastika was the next leading hate category and is used as an expression of anti-Semitism and as a symbol of white supremacy.

Southern Poverty Law Center has identified 917 hate groups in the United States. There are groups in Bloomington, Canton, Springfield, Rockford and outside of Peoria.

The event is free and open to the public.  

Brooks.

SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER is a nonprofit founded in 1971 to fulfill the promises of the civil rights movement and apply America’s founding democratic principles to all people. Priorities include: combating hate, teaching tolerance, protecting the rights of children; seeking justice, immigrant justice, LGBT rights and criminal justice reform.

Lecia Brooks leads the Southern Poverty Law Center’s outreach efforts on key initiatives and social justice issues. As outreach director, she frequently gives presentations around the country to promote tolerance and diversity. She also serves as director of the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Ala., an interpretive center designed to provide visitors to the Civil Rights Memorial with a deeper understanding of the civil rights movement. She joined the SPLC staff in 2004 as director of Mix It Up at Lunch Day, a Teaching Tolerance program designed to help break down racial, cultural and social barriers in schools. Previously, she worked for 12 years in a number of capacities for the National Conference for Community and Justice in its Los Angeles office. She is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University.

The ERA is back, but...

PEORIA, IL -- Is the Equal Rights Amendment so 20th century that nobody cares about it now?  Maybe not. Here's an event: