I’m asking Gary because he was the Peoria City Council member who moved to increase the city’s tax on hotel room rentals from the 1.5 percent called for in the Hotel, Restaurant and Amusement tax by another half percentage point to 2 percent.*

What essential city services– such as police and fire protection or infrastructure — [...]

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:
Randy et al:
Is there or has there been ANY DISCUSSION or CONSIDERATION, MENTION of tearing up or otherwise causing physical damage to the rail lines or rail bed [...]

Lack of funding for district projects had two district council members demanding changes at the Peoria City Council’s first meeting over the 2008 budget.
Barbara Van Auken was angered that the preliminary $22 million capital improvement budget had no funding for the Sheridan Triangle facade improvement program in her 2nd District. It was especially galling because [...]

Peoria will be allowed to hold an election for …

From Prego Man, a real grass roots campaign:
He has more government experience. He’s not cut from “college professor” cloth. He’s strong-willed. He has a proven track record of representation. And, he was once married to a very hot babe.
Rich Whitney has no more business being Governor than I do… and that’s not a damned bit. [...]

Remember last year when the City of Peoria and the County of Peoria seemed about on the verge of war over which governmental body was responsible for holding prisoners until they make their first appearance before a judge? It was the most public of many disputes the city and county seem to have over jurisdictions [...]

Two weeks ago, the Peoria Blogosphere was all abuzz about the cost the City of Peoria incurred with its “River City Review” mass mailing. Council Member Gary Sandberg made an issue of it a week ago today. Today, the Journal Star gave it a thumbs down:
Twenty grand may be pocket change in a $106 million [...]

Last week, City Councilman Gary Sandberg sharply rebuked Pat Landes, Peoria’s director of planning and growth management, for suggesting that permit approval sometimes takes a matter of minutes.
Apparently, this is also a problem in Chicago.
People want to do away with the bureaucracy to speed things up and make the city a good place to [...]

Gary Sandberg rides a Harley and looks the part. But he also serves on the Peoria City Council. It’s not that often you encounter a male politician who can wear his hair in a pony tail. It’s become his trademark, much like a bow tie used to be. But all that may change:
Imagine Gary Sandberg [...]

Think about it. With the strong exception of Gary Sandberg, and the somewhat weaker exception of Chuck Grayeb, when is the last time at at-large member of the Peoria City Council assumes a leadership role in shepherding major project through the City Hall?
Meanwhile, the five district council members are constantly fielding phone calls from [...]

The Journal Star’s Mike Bailey finally got around to writing about Gary Sandberg’s idea to tax newspaper boxes to pay for maintaining the hanging flower baskets along West Main Street. He says that the newspaper boxes are unpleasant to look at and a potential safety problem, and that gives the city the right to [...]

In the end, the Randy Oliver came up with wording
that notified Illinois American that they weren’t going to try to buy the company that didn’t mention “due dilligence.” So Gary Sandberg was happy.
But don’t be surprised if the phrase pops up at least once or twice at every single council meeting for the next [...]

I had a hard time keeping a straight face during tonight’s council meeting.
During the “new business” section, At-Large council member Gary Sandberg came up with an idea to accomplish two tasks with at once.

Not one, but two anti-Sandberg hatchet jobs on the same editorial page in today’s Journal Star.
At least Mike Bailey signed his.
Journal Star,Gary Sandberg,Mike Bailey,Illinois American Water Company

There’s a reason so many people think Gary Sansberg is the best member of the Peoria City Council. Take last night’s meeting.