I owe Mayor Ardis an apology

Several times this month, I’ve questioned the independence and bravery of the Peoria City Council, specifically Mayor Jim Ardis, on the issue of building a hotel that would be attached to the Peoria Civic Center. It turns out that some of the facts on which I came to this conclusion were probably in error.

Several weeks ago, the Journal Star printed an article by Paul Gordon that described a letter send out on Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce stationary (I think it was the PACC, I cannot find the article) that said that Caterpillar very much wanted a luxury hotel that would cater to people in town to do business at Cat World Headquarters. Everyone was denying responsibility for the letter. I took that to mean that Caterpillar simply didn’t want people to know that it was influencing the behind-the-scenes decision making.

In the next few weeks, the project moved from one involving a single developer who was getting financing from the bank that employed a member of the Civic Center Authority to a request for information from any developer. I took this to mean that Cat was still working behind the scenes to get the city to spend taxpayer money to build a luxury hotel.

I’ve been told that Cat’s true position is that they would rather not see a luxury hotel attached to the Peoria Civic Center because the company has a big investment in renovations and improvements at the Hotel Pere Marquette. In other words, Caterpillar’s position was the exact opposite of what I wrote.

If it’s true, than that means I unfairly called into question the “testicular fortitude” of the council and the mayor by suggesting they would bow to Caterpillar’s wishes. Re-reading some of these posts, I’ve come to the conclusion that even if I didn’t have the fact wrong (and I’m still not completely positive I do) my criticism was too over-the-top and far too personal. And I definitely shouldn’t have compared Mayor Ardis to former Mayor Dave Ransburg.

I’m still opposed to any use of taxpayer money — tax increment financing district or hotel, restaurant and amusement taxes — to go into the hotel business. If the request for information leads some developer to invest his own money, that’s fine. Good luck competing in a market that is supposed to be saturated with empty hotel rooms.

No one twisted my arm to write this. I came to this conclusion on my own. It’s a bad habit to get into, attributing evil motives or lack of integrity to those who simply don’t see your way on any one issue. Generally, I try to not do that. This time, however, I fell into that trap and I apologize.

Jim Ardis,Caterpillar,Peoria Civic Center,Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce,Paul Gordon