Today’s news: Nichting panders to his base
Except for this link to a story about essay contest winners, there’s real news posted on the Journal Star Website. So, I’m gonna take this as a sign I’m not supposed to blog today.
Except for this: There is no way in Hell that the City of Peoria is going to violate federal law and rip out the Kellar Branch in the middle of the night. Period. Pat Nichting is just pandering to his base: Developers. They want to build houses in the area. I am eagerly awaiting another wishy-washy equivocating Journal Star editorial stating that while they don’t condone lawlessness, they completely understand the frustration yadda yadda. You just KNOW that if Mayor Ardis or heaven-forbid Gary Sandberg suggested it, the JSEB would be going on a jihad right now.
UPDATE:Nichting’s plan to violate federal law did accomplish one thing: It got a local blogger blogging again.
UPDATE 2:Not really an update, just an observation: Does anyone here think Pat Nichting gives a flying rat’s @$$ whether or not there’s a walking/biking trail or not? He was a proponent of walking, his head wouldn’t come close to exploding every time Gary Sandberg suggests that maybe one of Nichting’s developer pals should have to pay for sidewalks now, rather than make the city pay for them 10-20 years down the road.
UPDATE 3: From today’s Journal Star:
U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, said there should be interest in building a trail parallel to the rail, even though a 2006 Peoria Park District analysis shows it would cost $26 million, which is much more expensive than an estimated $6 million to remove the rail and covert it into a trail. LaHood said he plans to meet with city officials next week discuss it further.
Regarding Nichting’s suggestion, LaHood said, “If the community decides to do it along the rail line, they will probably get dragged into court.”
Folks, this is a veteran congressman telling trail proponents, the city, the village, the park district, the developers and the friggin’ Peoria Journal Star to just shut up grow up and stop acting like petulant children who aren’t getting their own way. It ain’t gonna happen and start looking for a compromise.
Oh, and that $26 million cost the Journal Star mentioned is pretty much a scare number the park district invented out of whole cloth to shut up dissent. Naturally, the Journal Star accepts it as gospel because it supports the position the paper has consistently taken on the edit pages.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
My reading of that was that Wild Eyed Nick(ting) was encouraging the vandalization of the rail.
With any luck, his brain would explode…couldn’t function any worse than it does now.
Well if his head does explode, then his butt wil go with it. In this case, that is where his head is firmly planted.
BTW Billy, that is a wonderful and beautiful picture of your grand niece. Your a lucky man.
[...] At-Large City Council member Gary Sandberg sent the following email to City Manager Randy Oliver, and the response was what I predicted it would be: [...]
Hopefully, there’ll eventually be jail time for some of the conspirators in this debacle.
Seriously, if any two people had a conversation about this, it MIGHT qualify as a conspiracy to violate federal law. As I am frequently reminded, I am NOT a lawyer.
[...] made this predicted when I first wrote about Peoria City Councilman Pat Nichting’s suggestion a “Meig’s Field” [...]