Today’s news: It’s back
After a bit of an absence, I’m back with new links from the Journal Star:
- Peoria Heights is going to spend $5,000 on its share of a study to see how a trail could be build along the existing Keller Branch rail line. It’s a step in the right direction, although I doubt that rabid trail advocates will go along, since I’m convinced much of the organized support for the trail is based more on developers’ desire to get rid of the tracks rather than any real need for a walking biking path. And I’ll hand it to Heights Mayor Mark Allen, he doesn’t hesitate to mix it up with detractors, as this article’s comment section indicates.
- “New Urbanism” was evoked by a city staffer who wants to rezone some 18,000 square feet of property at the intersection of North Missouri and East War Memorial Drive from residential to “neighborhood commercial.” Here’s the problem: That zoning category was created, I believe, to encourage neighborhood-friendly businesses in older neighborhoods. That was so folks could walk down the block to get a carton of eggs, a gallon of milk, a cub of coffee, etc. But this scheme would create a business along War Memorial Drive, which was, last time I checked, a U.S. highway and one of the busiest streets running through Peoria. This scheme also called for a new traffic light on California. Here’s a litmus test: If a project requires a new traffic light, it’s contrary to the principles of New Urbanism. Plus, no one knows exactly what the hell developer Floyd Rashid wants to put in there. The correct Peoria City Council vote on this is a resounding “no.” Kudos to the city zoning commission for it’s vote.
- Yep. Looks I make the right decision to shave my beard last month.
- Prediction: If the Peoria City Council re-votes on the smoking ordinance, and it passes, look for the Peoria Police Department to be doing random inspections of bars and restaurants, looking to drum up revenue. I don’t care if they swear up and down that they have bigger priorities than keeping people from smoking, they WILL go after the revenue from the tickets. When Illinois passed the mandatory seat-belt law, law enforcement officials swore up and down that they would be going around looking for violators, but just ticketing folks when they were stopped for something else. Now, they do roadblocks to check for seat belt use. It’s all about revenue, folks, and the law was written to make it in police departments’ financial interest to write the tickets. Municipal government is no more capable to turning away from this source of revenue than a make dog is capable of saying turning away from a bitch in heat. The correct vote is “no,” of course. I’m holding out hope it fails.
- With vacant storefronts visible all up and down Pioneer Parkway (which was as far north as Peoria got a decade ago) the City of Peoria is on the verge of approving a new shopping center even further north. Naturally, the plan includes a request the city annex even more land to the north to be used for a new facility for Methodist Medical Center. And ever single cent generated by property taxes (not that Methodist Medical Center will pay property taxes) will be used to provide services to this new part of town. The correct Peoria City Council vote on this is “no,” although I harbor no illusions that there is a no chance in Hell this won’t pass.
But if it passes, look for incidents like this at bars and restaurants.
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 
I like this little quote from the zoning denied article:
“On California, there are (empty) businesses available,” he said. “Why build more?”
The same could be said for the coming annexations in the far north. The city has an over abundance of empty store fronts. Why build more indeed? I can only hope more of this logic is used. No doubt I will be disappointed.
It’s crazy to say the no smoking ordinance was passed to collect revenue by the governments; this will pass the City Council and you wont see fi..ve tickets a month. How about saving some lives, does that interest you-and don’t give me that crap second hand smoking doesn’t cause cancer, your’e smarter than that!
So we can twist the principals of New Urbanism and apply them to situations that aren’t really applicable for an area of town that isn’t even in the Heart of Peoria, but we aren’t in favor of actual New Urbanism in the actual Heart of Peoria when it is inconvenient (see St. Ann’s). Got it.
Roman: No, the law was passed because the state legislature and the governor wanted to play nanny. They wrote the law in a way to make it financially worthwhile to cities to make their local police to enforce it, when given their druthers, police would rather be fighting crime.
If the Peoria City Council REALLY wants to fight crime, then they ought to vote no the second time this comes around. If they want police spending time and effort behaving like nannies, then they ought to vote yes.
People, we can’t possibly have empty buildings up and down Pioneer Parkway…the economy is BOOMING.
B. J., when you have five area Wal-Mart’s – four of them supercenters – others like K’s merchandise and once three area ShopKo’s will struggle, thus they are now empty.
Menard’s is just building a bigger store…I guess that’s due to a poor economy, right?
The BOOMING economy of the last four years has never seen an unemployment rate lower than 4.4%. The HIGHEST rate in Bill Clinton’s last two years in office was 4.4%. The current rate of 5.0% is the highest since November, 2005. The last time the Clinton Administration saw a 5.0 was June, 1997.
That 5.0 figure was not seen again until Sept, 2001 (and before we cite “9/11″ as the reason…the unemployment rate jumped more from July 2001 (4.6) to August 2001 (4.9) than it did from August to September. A figure of less than 5.0 was not seen again until December of 2005, which, by my calculations, was just over 2 years ago.
BTW, I got the figures from Faux News: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/economy/article/december-unemployment-rate-hits-2year-high-5_423970_3.html
Then,there’s this story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16812267/
from January of 2007 (not this year, LAST year) shows that the housing market in 2006 was already in it’s worst slump in TWO DECADES, and it only got WORSE in 2007.
In other words, I’m still searching for the BOOMING ECONOMY of the last four years.