Two downtown hotels want to increase the city’s Hotel, Restaurant and Amusement Tax. They say the teeny-tiny increase could be used to boost tourism in Peoria. The article isn’t clear how this happens but hey, what the Hell. It’s only a small amount of cash that’s going to be added to what folks pay at [...]

Here is an important factoid from last night’s Peoria City Council policy session on sidewalks: The city has an estimated $100 million in unmet sidewalk needs, including repairs and installation. The city will spend about $1.3 million on sidewalks this year. At that rate — assuming no additional deterioration of existing sidewalks, we ought [...]

Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.
– Moliere

Today’s news links via the Journal Star:

At first, you have to wonder how stupid a former police officer has to be to try to solicit an undercover officer. Then you realize he was fired for misconduct, so the guy obviously lacks impulse control, as do the vast majority of criminals. The reader comments on this [...]

Today’s Peoria Journal Star article on the death of efforts to attach a hotel to the Peoria Civic Center saved the best, most telling paragraph for last.
Civic Center Authority Chairwoman Rebekah Bourland was discussing the lack of support for a proposed Hilton Garden Inn at Monroe Avenue and Kumpf Boulevard, the latest scheme in a [...]

Could the headline above the Journal Star’s brief and mostly one-sided article on the effort to get the Peoria Civic Center added to the Warehouse District TIF possibly sound any more enthusiastic about the idea? The headline: “Hotel hopes remain alive.”
Geeze. It sounds like some kid has fallen down a well and everyone’s praying for [...]

First, they start looking for developers to build a hotel that’s connected to the Peoria Civic Center. Then, they decide that, gee, it might be a good idea to do a study to see if this is a good idea first. So the study comes back with a reporting stating other hotels need to be [...]

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 [...]

There was a huge outcry when when reports first surfaced that the Peoria Civic Center authority was hot and heavy to begin negotiating with one developer to build a hotel next door to the facility.
The impression given was that taxpayers had nothing to worry about. The mood of the council was decidedly against such a [...]

Kudos to Jenny Davis and Molly Parker for a spot-on perfect Word on the Street column today. They lead with details about the corrupt (my word, not theirs) Peoria Civic Center Authority are hell bent to force taxpayers to finance a new hotel right next to the Civic Center.
The first plan fell through because of [...]

The Peoria Civic Center decided to hire an outside consultant to bring in some new customers. I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that the consultant has failed miserably:
But the consultant hasn’t produced anything near what was expected, said bureau director Steve Powell at the Peoria Civic Center Authority’s regular monthly meeting.
“We’re not [...]

I’ve never been a fan of the Peoria Civic Center. With the exception of work-related duties, I think I’ve been inside the place exactly twice in my life, once for a Bradley University basketball game and a computer flea market. The PCC does not compare to Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse in the energy and excitement [...]

The Peoria Civic Center Authority is on the verge of negotiating with developer build a new hotel adjacent to the facility. The catch? They won’t tell us how much it’s going to cost taxpayers to sweeten the pot:
Whether an economic incentive package has been offered to the developer also was unclear Wednesday, though [Commissioner Dan] [...]

The city found a buyer for a piece of land it stole from poor people seized through eminent domain about 30 years ago:
The City Council has been offered $714,384 for the last large piece of vacant land in Southtown - a four-acre grassy island south of William Kumpf Boulevard. There, Select Medical Property Ventures LLC, [...]

One of three situations is true: