Posts Tagged ‘East Bluff’
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
More directionally challenged journalism from Peoria’s one and only newspaper of record:
Watson was arrested about 11 a.m. after MEG agents conducted a controlled delivery of a package containing 2,300 grams of marijuana and two digital scales to an East Bluff residence at 1430 W. Willcox St.
Generally speaking, anything east of Knoxville Avenue is considered “East Bluff” (provided it isn’t too far north). Not only isn’t this address east of Knoxville, it isn’t east of North University. It’s more than a full mile away from the East Bluff.
And here’s a clue for the copy desk: If the address is on West ANYTHING, it’s not in the East Bluff.
Seriously, people.
Tags: East Bluff, Journal Star
Posted in On the Media | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
I grew up in the Glen Oak School neighborhood. Hell, with the new configuration, there’s likely to be ang lot or a playground just across the street from my old home on the corner of Frye And Maryland.
I share the feelings expressed here. I’m NOT convinced that these spiffy super-sized campuses are the cure-all that Ken Hinton and some school board members think they are. But I know that the neighborhood would have collapsed had they taken the school out of the East Bluff, especially if they left the empty hulk there.
But mostly, I’m sad because of the memories. That’s one reason I haven’t written about. I almost went off on a rant about all the homes that are going to go away. I’ve eaten food out of that tiny diner that has been the home of more than a dozen different owners, from typical diner food, to tacos to BBQ.
But I survived emotionally when they closed Haddad’s Market. I survived with Green’s Drug Store turned to Carroll’s and then was torn down and a friggin’ rent-to-own place went in.
I’ll get over this. In the end, this is good.
Tags: East Bluff, Glen Oak School
Posted in Watchdog | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
Peoria School District 150 will build a new East Bluff “birth-through-8th-grade” school on the site of the current Glen Oak School. The exact configuration has not been determined.
It is, obviously, a huge victory for the people who live in and near the East Bluff who fought for this outcome from the very instant years ago when District 150 announced it had made a deals with the Peoria Park District and the Peoria Housing Authority that would lead to building this school inside Glen Oak Park.
Residents correctly recognized that by moving the neighborhood school onto the other side of Prospect and essentially out of the neighborhood, the entire East Bluff would be destabilized. It would create vacant shell of a building in the heart of the East Bluff, to both symbolize and perpetuate the decay.
Instead, the East Bluff is getting a brand new school that can serve as a center of activity for everyone.
I’m awaiting to find out how much the City of Peoria had to kick in to sweeten the pot for District 150 to make what should have been a no-brainer of a decision. It matters not. Whether it’s federal dollars or city-generated property taxes, it’s ALL taxpayer money, and building a school is as essential a government service as it gets.
But the East Bluff residents cannot let up on District 150. The exact design of this new site has not been determined. Vigilance is needed to ensure that accommodations are made within the design to make sure this is building is available for use by the community year round and after classes are dismissed. Policies MUST be put into place to make sure the doors are not locked when neighbors want to use the facilities for events that promote healthy neighborhoods. Vague assurances and good intentions are NOT enough.
And it also looks like there’s some positive changes going on at Manual High School too.
Tags: district 150, East Bluff, Glan Oak Park, Glen Oak School
Posted in Local | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
Kudos to the Journal Star’s Clare Jellick. Once again, she’s used her j-blog to insert leftover material from her notebook into the public discussion, this time to provide some background to Tuesday’s article about Peoria School District 150’s sudden decision to consider locating its new East Bluff school at the site of the now-closed White School.
During Superintendent Ken Hinton’s longer-than-expected recover from back surgery, Hinton got the swell idea that this new school out to be located at White because then and only then could it be a magnet school and partner up with nearby OSF and Methodist medical center to offer educational programming. This is apparently impossible at the Glen Oak School site, which is about 8.2 miles away, according to Mapquest (I used to walk past Glen Oak School on my way to deliver newspapers to homes next door to White School).
Here’s the problem, even though the cost per acre for land acquisition is lower at the White School site than at Glen Oak, the district would be forgoing a ton of cash. From Jellick’s entry:
Board members seemed to think that city money offered to the district could go to sites other than Glen Oak Primary School. Unless Councilman Bob Manning has changed his mind, he has made it clear to me that the money is specifically linked to “a configuration around the Glen Oak School site.†Grant money totaling $344,000 has been set aside for development costs, and even more could be available.
I agree with Jellick’s assessment of the council’s mood on this. No Glen Oak site, no city assistance.
And then there is the potential cash the district could be giving up from the potential sale of the White building, probably to the ever expanding OSF. The district had been asking $1.25 million, roughly equal to four acres of land at the Glen Oak site.
Not to mention the fact that if the district builds at White School, that leaves Glen Oak School an empty shell sitting and rotting on the East Bluff. Not so if the Glen Oak site is chosen, because eventually one of the hospitals will buy the White School property.
Back when the district’s plan to close Glen Oak an build a new school in Glen Oak Park collapsed, Hinton bitterly vowed that because East Bluff residents fought the district, that must mean the area must not really want a new school and don’t really care for their children (which is far from the truth)Â and therefore they wouldn’t get any school school, anywhere in the area.
Perhaps this is Hinton’s way of fulfilling that spiteful promise. He supposedly reconsidered, then he pulled this rabbit out of his hat. The overwhelming majority of the East Bluff folks who spoke at the four neighborhood forums supported the Glen Oak site. There’s at least one and maybe two big wads of cash available if the district picks the Glen Oak site. There’s NOTHING that can be offered at the White site that cannot be offered at the Glen Oak site. Picking the White site contributes to neighborhood decay, while the Glen Oak site does not.
It’s a no-brainer, folks.
The City of Peoria has already come up with incentives. They’ve been on the table a long time. I would suggest that if Hinton and some members of the school board are playing games in hopes of getting more, they better be aware that it’s annual budget time at City Hall and no one is in the mood to be jacked around.
Tags: East Bluff, Glen Oak School, Jellick, Ken Hinton, White School
Posted in Local | 8 Comments »
Friday, November 9th, 2007
Clare Jellick is reporting that the city is still willing to spend $500,000 to help them build a new school in the East Bluff to help replace Glen Oak School. First, it’s my understanding the offer was never off the table, just that District 150 wasn’t budging. Second: I reported two weeks ago that District 15o was talking things over with Councilman Bob Manning. The amount mentioned at the time was $344,o00 plus another $100,000 for renovations along the Wisconsin Avenue business corridor. Since, then another $100,000 has appeared.
A longer story is coming tomorrow.
Tags: Bob Manning, district 150, East Bluff, Gklen Oak
Posted in Local | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 5th, 2007
Really, I don’t want to discourage any media organization from covering neighborhood issues in Peoria. And the reporter involved in a very lovely person. But I have to scratch my head at a report saying that an East Bluff neighborhood is creating a community watch organization when the participants live on West Virginia Avenue. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: North Knoxville is the dividing line between the East Bluff and the West Bluff I know, I know. Some maps say West Virginia is in the so-called “Center Bluff,” although no one who grew up in the area when I was a kid used that phrase. I think some snobby West Bluffers created that out of thin air.
Tags: Crime, East Bluff, HOINews, peoria, West Bluff, WHOI
Posted in Local, Watchdog | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 2nd, 2007
Belated kudos to one of my favorite couples, who were among those honored at last week’s neighborhood awards banquet:
The awards given out that night recognized individual members of the community who gave unselfishly. The prestigious Mayor’s Award went to Mitch and Nancy Mitchell of East Bluff United Neighborhood Association. The award is for those who have given tirelessly to improve their neighborhood for a number of years.
On a daily basis, it’s not unusual for a dozen neighborhood children to stop by the Mitchells’ home for a snack or a chat with the couple. Usually it’s just “Miss Nancy” who is at home in the afternoons when they drop in, but Mitch is often there on weekends to have “guy talks” with the neighborhood students, who range from 4 to 14 years old.
Nancy is an occasional commenter here, and she usually ID’s herself as “Trashy Lady,” ’cause that’s how I met her, several years ago, at a neighborhood clean up event in the East Bluff. I think this was back in my Peoria Times Observer days, although for the life of me, I cannot think of one reason my boss would have let me write about something that didn’t happed north of War Memorial Drive.
Since then, Nancy has always been good for a hug and a laugh or two, as this photo at Whitey’s illustrates:
I am NOT going to reprint the pic of me wearing her hat.
Anyway, Nancy is a hoot and Mitch is gentlemanly and a tad more reserved. They are the perfect couple, if for no other reason than the fact they love Peoria, love their home and love their neighbors (most of them, anyway).
And kudos to the other winners.
UPDATE: C.J. also noticed the story, apparently before I did.
Tags: East Bluff, Litter, Mitch Mitchell, Nancy Mitchell, Peoria Times Observer
Posted in Overset | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
Today’s links are via the Journal Star:
- Clare Jellick’s article on the Manual restructuring is up. It includes the list of “recommendations” that the various subcommittees working on the plan asked the board to approve. The meat of the story is that they want the new Manual to operate under a longer school day, a longer school year (if not year-round), offer junior academies or some sort of enhances programming for middle school students, and perhaps offer several schools within a school inside Manual. Intriguing. Clare’s article focusing on the proposed Woodruff feeder school site is also up.
- The Journal Star didn’t learn any more about today’s press conference beyond what they posted yesterday.
- Once the Post Office moves its Priority Mail processing from Peoria to Champaign, anyone who uses the service to to send a letter across town will see it go from Peoria to Champaign and back to Peoria. Or, they could just drive the damn thing across town themselves and deliver it by hand.
- Nice nostalgic article about the 60-year-old murder of a notorious Peoria gangster. Dec. 19, 2007 will be the third anniversary of Brian Alexander, the nurse who was murdered outside his East Bluff home. No one has ever been arrested for his murder. Six decades from now, when someone writes a nostalgic book about this colorful era in which we live, will Brian Alexander get a mention?
- After what must have been an exhaustive search through police records, the Journal Star has concluded that bars that stay open past 2 a.m. see more police calls than bars that close before 2 a.m. Coming tomorrow, the Journal Star interviews noted scientists and concludes that there is a 96.7 percent chance the Sun will rise in the east and set in the West.
- And a belated kudos to Karen McDonald for yesterday’s Word on the Street, which included comments from Ray LaHood stating that he felt an obligation to let voters know which of the three people running for the Republican nomination for his job he would prefer. The article includes positive comments LaHood made about the campaign being run by Jim McConoughey. Hint, hint, maybe?
Tags: East Bluff, Jim McConoughey, Journal Star, murder, Ray LaHood, Word on the Street
Posted in The Wire | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
I came away from tonight’s District 150 School Board meeting feeling better about the possibility that they will eventually decide to built two new schools to replace the three Woodruff High School feeder schools they plan to close.
The board meet as a committee of the whole today, a less former event that an official meeting, which allowed stuff to discuss school business with and get input from the board, without any official action being taken. During this meeting, treasurer Guy Cahill suggested the development of “matrix” to measure the criteria by which various proposed sites for a single school would be evaluated. Cahill wanted the board to essentially plot out a formula by which the decision would supposedly be based.
None of the board members wanted to commit until Brad McMillan, who moderated the recent forums on the siting process, finished his report. He’s not expected to be done until Nov. 9, after the next school board meeting scheduled for Nov. 5.
But board member Debbie Wolfmeyer wants the board to take a second look at funding.
“One school is off the table for me,” she said. “I don’t see how we can put three schools in one [new] school.”
If the district goes with two new schools, one would presumably be built in the North Valley area and serve families who children attend Kingman and Irving schools. The other would be built in the East Bluff, presumably at the current Glen Oak School site (expanding to the south, east or north). Another option would be to build one new school in the East Bluff and then expand onto an existing school building in the North Valley.
Peoria City Council Member Bob Manning has told the board the city has about $344,000 available to construct a “park like setting,” which could be used to pay for as least some of the green space the school board wants to exist around any new school it builds.
Board member Mary Spangler wanted to be sure that the city’s definition of “park like” coincides with the district’s: “Street lights with hanging baskets or soccer fields?” Board member Jim Stowell said Manning indicated that the city is talking about playgrounds.
Board member Martha Ross asked if the city is would extend this money for use in other parts of the city, Stowell said that since Manning was the council member requesting the money applied toward a new school, it is probably on the understanding it would be used in his 3rd District.
Another $100,000 might be available for renovations on the Wisconsin Avenue business corridor.
More later.
Tags: Bob Manning, East Bluff, Glen Oak School, School District 150, Woodruff High School
Posted in Local | 2 Comments »
Monday, August 21st, 2006
The city’s basketball hoop ordinance was supposed to help residents reclaim their streets from the toughs and punks. But too many people are telling me the ordinance isn’t enforced nearly enough. I was visiting a friend on East Thrush Street this morning. There’s a mobile basketball hoop set out in front of the house at 402 E. Thrush. I am told that when the police were called, they drove off saying the hoop was well inside driveway. It wasn’t this morning. It was sitting on the public right of way.
I’m not blaming the hoop for CAUSING the wide-open, everything-goes atmosphere on Thrush Street. That’s silly. But it’s a symptom of the neglect.
basketball,hoops,ordinance,police,neighborhoods,east bluff
Tags: basketball, East Bluff, hoops, Neighborhoods, ordinance, Police
Posted in Overset | 11 Comments »
Sunday, August 20th, 2006
Jerry Klein, in today’s Journal Star, bemoans the good-old-days when kids used to play in the streets. They are going to take away Jerry’s curmudgeon credentials for this. Usually, all you hear from the senior set are complaints about children running wild in the streets.
I pretty much ran wild as a kid, at least when I wasn’t in my room reading comics or was at the library reading science fiction. My parents told me how far I could roam and then they let me loose, but expected me to be back in time for dinner, which, believe me, was NOT a problem.
This was before the days when bikes did tricks, so we all rode banana-seat Schwinns. I had one — a sweet red and yellow model — that I still wish I had. When my brother, Eric, and I had our bikes stolen (we suspected the Levan brothers) Dad took us to this store down on the South Side and bought us used bikes that had hand-made seats, made of wood covered with a insufficient amount of padding. Yeah, the thieves left our bikes alone after that. Dad never missed a trick.
Well, we pretty much terrorized the East Bluff with those bikes, riding over lawns and … well, that was pretty much as evil as our terrorism got. We used to garbage pick a lot, looking for furnishings for our clubhouse — which was usually our garage.
I don’t think video games became popular until I was at least in junior high school, and even then they didn’t have the multiple layers and deeply complex back stories and characters that have so many kids opting to devote all their free time to them. I think it took a month for me to absolutely master Space Invaders on Atari.
Yeah, we had escapism, too. Comic books were an addiction. We all traded and shared, and when younger we pretended to be our favorite heroes and debated over who would beat who in a fight (yeah, superman could move planets, but the Hulks gets stronger and stronger the more angry he gets; well, I’ve never seen him strong enough to move a planet).
Eric played Little League. I went with the family to watch games. Dad kinda got drafted to be a coach. Eric was the best hitter in the league, but he couldn’t get picked for team at Woodruff, cause he played for Averyville, not Von Steuben, the program with which Coach Roger Lane was affiliated. Left his kinda soured on organized sports, which is probably why he’s a Vikings fan now (heh).
Are things as bad as they seem for today’s kids? I don’t know, Jerry. I still see kids out roaming the streets. Now, though, I see more than two teenagers walking down the street, I pretty much assume they’re gang members. Even if they aren’t they are trying their best to look like gang members.
I’m sure the people I terrorized on my Schwinn assumed I would come to a bad end.
But as I sit here in my home on Royal Drive, typing this, I can see the same three kids, riding back on forth on their bicycles, racing each other with looks of absolute joy on their faces.
I’m not worried. At least, not right at this very moment.
East Bluff,Jerry Klein,Schwinn,bicycles
Tags: bicycles, East Bluff, Jerry Klein, Schwinn
Posted in William Dennis | 2 Comments »
Friday, August 4th, 2006
Remember the rental property at 322 E. Thrush whose condition poor condition created questions for city hall and was the site of a rally by neighbors? A friend in the East Bluff tells me this morning that a for sale sign has gone up in front of the home. A recent inspection apparently found that the house was considered livable, but there were 17 violations that needed to be fixed.
I don’t know whether current owner Mark Skaggs fixed the violations. If not, the violations would apparently become the responsibility of the new owner, who almost certainly will be another landlord. In a perfect world, the home would be demolished and the lot turned into a neighborhood park.
Mark Skaggs,slumlords,east bluff,rental property
Tags: East Bluff, Mark Skaggs, rental property, slumlords
Posted in Local | 6 Comments »
Friday, July 21st, 2006
The following are paragraphs from my upcoming column in The Community Word, due on newsstands next week.
Here is a tale that is truly conspiratorial. I have no idea if it is true or not. I’m printing it because once it’s out there, there’s a chance more information could come forth to confirm or deny it.
Supposedly, one of Peoria’s known scumlords has sold more than 100 parcels to a company called Sarros Excavating, with an address at 8876 Dryden Street, Downers Grove, Ill 60517. Why does this matter? The theory is that there’s a plan to use these properties to house residents of the notoriously crime-ridden Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, which is undergoing renovation forcing out residents. In other words, they think Chicago is deliberately dumping some of its worse citizens into Peoria.
Actually, when what I’m seeing on the Web, only about 5,000 residents now remain at Cabrini. And it just seems unlikely.
If this is just conjecture, it’s not hard to understand why. In the absence of real information, rumor often fills the vacuum. Residents just cannot understand how their neighborhood went from a middle class haven to a magnet for every gangbanger and general lowlife for miles. Clearing out the slums of southtown 20 years ago helped start the blight in the East Bluff. Local folks are convinced that there must be some darker explanation.
Chicago,Cabrini-Green,Chicago Housing Authority,East Bluff,Peoria
Tags: Cabrini-Green, Chicago, Chicago Housing Authority, East Bluff, peoria
Posted in The Wire | 7 Comments »
Thursday, July 20th, 2006
The following was posted at the East Bluff Peoria Yahoo! group site:
Some neighbors have approached me about an opportunity we have to hold a problem landlord accountable. The house is 322 E Thrush. Tomorrow (Friday) morning at 10:45 citizens concerned may gather, peacefully and following all legalities, to let all property owners know that we as a community are not willing to let our neighborhood go down this way.
Many of us gathered in this way when the City began its “shaming sign” campaign.
How sad that it has to come to this. But events like this can only empower the East Bluff. You see, the message isn’t just going out to landlords (most of whom are NOT bad) but also to the city, which just cannot seem to find a way to enforce its own codes when the proper owner is just determined to do nothing.
Just once, I’d like to hear about someone at city hall actually losing their job because a situation like the one at this address was allowed to fester.
And why is the city NOT using the shaming signs any more, if they were so successful? I’m not being accusatory, here. I really would like to know.
slumlords,landlords,code enforcement
Tags: code enforcement, East Bluff, Landlords, peoria, slumlords
Posted in Overset | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
I was struck by the tone of this paragraph:
Matheson said the location for the new school is final, but the programs that go into it are not. He encouraged the residents to be part of the process to design the school, which will take place in the coming months.
Matheson really thinks he’s in charge, doesn’t he? Well, thanks to the four-vote voting block he seems to head, he is.
The Glan Oak Park School decision is just one example of the damage to this community Matheson and others can do until the new school board members take over in July.
Until then, it’s up the the Peoria City Council to help residents fight this affront to the East Bluff neighborhood. The city still has the power to refuse to vacate city streets in the affected area.
Glen Oak School,East Bluff,Sean Matheson
Tags: East Bluff, Glen Oak School, Sean Matheson
Posted in Local | 5 Comments »
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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