TIF 101 presented by a community activist...

Was it a mistake, or was the City really trying to inform citizens about the East Village TIF.

Unfortunately the TIF 101 meeting that took place tonight at Glen Oak Community Center was not well attended. Estimates are that approximately 40 - 50 people were in attendance and that's inclusive of Council members and City employees (Landes, Black, Gray, Parker, Ray, et al, along with Riggenbach, Spain and Gulley).

Who was there

As promised, "Dennis in Peoria" Eggemeyer, a regular blogger who works for PCCEO was there to record the meeting. The East Village TIF will assist property owners to rehabilitate their properties and provide various financial incentives and loan programs, which would be developed and offered to qualified owners on a point system. School Board President Debbie Wolfmeyer had questions, however, I'm not sure if she was asking as a resident of the East Bluff or as the President of the BOE (the District owns several residential properties and some commercial properties on the East Bluff). In attendance along with Mrs. Wolfmeyer was Comptroller, David Kinney and the BOE Attorney that always wears the cowboy boots. Also in attendance was Jim Stowell, however, he was not sitting with the school board contingency. Mr. Stowell also had several very good questions.

Bobby Gray, the City employee whose turn it is to sell a TIF, introduced Steve Combs from Springfield's Enos Park Neighborhood Association, which is currently working under the same type of TIF.

Who wasn't there
Maybe I missed her, but I didn't see local neighborhood activist Karrie Alms at the meeting. I always feel better when Mrs. Alms is in attendance, she is great at catching the nuances under which the city has been known to operate. Mrs. Alms, along with life long East Bluff resident Sarah Partridge, was instrumental in stopping the school in the Park concept. Mrs. Alms would have found it interesting to hear Mr. Combs describe how the TIF would assist home owners with historical properties. All you folks in the big old houses over on Madison, Glen Oak and surrounding areas sounds like you need to get your wish list together - looks like good things could potentially happen for the properties you own.

One of the issues that concerned me was the talk of establishing a property acquisition/demolition program, through which properties would be acquired in a land bank until they’re demolished or redeveloped. Who do you think will be charged with over seeing the land bank? I'm thinking it will be the beloved East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services (which is run by people who don't live on the East Bluff). That... could be a problem. I bet Steve would agree.

About the Speaker - Steve Combs

Mr. Combs spoke about neighborhood associations and residents being prepared to force city councilman to do what was right by the neighborhood, because the TIF would provide for services that we may have to fight for. Mr. Combs joked with Mr. Gray that the City might not want him to come back after giving out that information. Mr. Combs talked about the power the TIF could give a strong neighborhood association group.

Recently Mr. Combs has been involved in Springfield with organizing members of more than a dozen neighborhood associations that have formed Springfield's Inner City Older Neighborhood coalition. The group hopes to play a role in the 2011 city election, when the positions of mayor and all 10 aldermen are up for grabs. ICON members plan to develop a platform of issues, propose ordinances, and keep track of votes aldermen cast and the positions held by potential candidates.

Hopefully, local neighborhood association members who were in attendance tonight will contact Mr. Combs as we go forward with the East Village TIF.

Good showing locally by African-American Women in November 2 election

Jehan Gordon Illinois House 92nd District
Incumbent state Rep. Jehan Gordon, D-Peoria, easily won re-election Tuesday for a second two-year term to the 92nd Illinois House District seat. The 29-year-old Ms. Gordon, won by beating out Republican Peoria City Councilman Jim Montelongo. Final Numbers: Gordon 62% - Montelongo 38%

Ms. Gordon was the first black woman to win the 92nd District when she was first elected in 2008; and the second woman to represent a district that includes the southern two-thirds of the city of Peoria, including Downtown, West Peoria, Peoria Heights, Kickapoo and portions of Bartonville and Limestone Township. Source




Mary McDade 3rd District Appellate Court Justice retained her seat. She was less than popular because of her decision and consequential defense of reducing the prison sentence of Dione Alexander (a/k/a “the Woodruff High School shooter”) from 24 to the minimum six years. Final numbers: 26,174 Yes - 11,186 No.

Judge McDade, the first African-American to hold public office in the ever progressive Peoria, was elected to the District 150 BOE in 1968 and served a five-year term that ended in 1973. She was president of the board in 1972-73. During that time she was part of the effort to desegregate the schools, to increase the number of minority teachers, and to include multicultural textbooks, and she personally worked diligently to try to stem the tide of what she considered “exponentially-increasing expulsions”.

She is also a co-founder of the Human Service Center; and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Peoria Public Library where she served three years. Source

County Board District: 3 Lynn Scott Pierson, Democrat. Twenty-four year incumbent Lynn Scott Pearson, 68, of Peoria was challenged by Republican Karrie Alms, 51, of Peoria. Final numbers: Pierson 783 - Alms 319.

Mrs. Pearson, a retiree of Caterpillar, Inc., has an extensive background of community service. She has served as President of the Board of Directors for Friendship House and Chairperson of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission. She has also served as a member of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program Advisory Council and the Peoria County Democratic Women Committee. District 3 is all in the city of Peoria and includes Downtown and northeast along the river, with boundaries of Knoxville, Nebraska and Glen Oak Park. Source


County Board District 1: Bonnie Hester, Democrat. Mrs. Hester ran uncontested and has spent 35 years in the public sector: 25 for the Peoria City/County Health Department and most recently as Program Assistant for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

Before her retirement from the Health Department, Mrs. Hester served on the Health Care Committee for Peoria County Employees and as president of local union AFSCME #3665. She was president for 14 years. District 1 boundaries: Rt. 116 in City of Peoria south and city and township limits. Source

County Board District 5: Rachael Parker, Democrat. Mrs. Parker ran uncontested and is currently employed by the City of Peoria as a Development Specialist in the Department of Economic Development.

Mrs. Parker was elected to the District 150 BOE in April, 2007, to serve District 2. She is also a small business owner with two home based businesses. She will be required to forfeit her seat on the BOE in order to serve on the County Board. Source

Honorable mention:
Recorder of Deeds: Evonne Fleming, Democrat.

Evonne Fleming has worked in the Recorder's Office for 21 years. She ran on the platform of improving the indexing system to be more user-friendly, protect historic information and increase office morale. Final Numbers: 20,585 Fleming - 29,337 Horton.

Unfortunately for Ms. Fleming, we Peorians are notorious for our belief that family members should inherit elected positions, which makes it no surprise that Fleming would loose to Republican Nancy Horton, who was appointed to the post in March, after the Jan. 29 death of her husband, former Recorder Brad Horton.
Source