Closing Irving School, random ruminations, with sub-titles

Imagine

Imagine you are in primary, going to a school that is part of a fragile, yet closely knit community. A school where the same group of employees and volunteers have come in for years and done whatever they could to make your experience better. A school where EVERY child inside lives in poverty and the only place they can find refuge is in the classroom.

Imagine one day that school closed and you were shifted to a new school; a middle school. A school where all of the people live in houses that are nicer than yours (you come from the projects) and as a result, they imagine they are better than you. The sad thing is, you imagine they are better than you... you are in their school.

Closing schools kill neighborhoods

It has been proven locally, there is an alternative to closing schools and forcibly herding children and families. Quest Charter Academy has proven that some old school buildings can be revived. The Board that oversees Quest has collaborated with the City and the County in a way that shows that closing schools doesn't have to happen - renovation may be possible:

Old Loucks School

Renovated Loucks School now Quest

Overcrowding=Warehousing

Remember this post about the overcrowding of Glen Oak School? To date, tax payers have not heard back from the District about the solution to the overcrowding, nor has anybody in any position of authority, publicly inquired about the welfare of the students being warehoused. Out of sight - out of mind.

One can't help but wonder whether the classrooms at Lincoln School will now be over crowded.

Population Shift

Notice on the map below, there are no public schools in the lower valley in between Valeska Hinton (special admission only) and Lincoln Middle School. Additionally, there are no public schools in the lower valley in between Lincoln Middle School and Washington Gifted School (special admission only).

Redistricting is complete; the School District has a new boundary map; the City is already actively working with the Housing Authority to relocate it's residents to Section 8 Housing in the East Bluff and surrounding areas. In a matter of years, the herding of families of the children that have been shifted to the schools in the lower North East valley (Lincoln) and the lower East Bluff (Glen Oak) will be complete. 

Developers are salivating, their dream of developing the river front, down the river front trail to the marina, is closer now than it has ever been. Taft and the surrounding areas are well within grasp. Full river front development is potentially on track to being realized, thanks to the cooperation of the School District.

Irving School to close Dec. 21.

The 114-year-old school is finally, actually closing at the end of 2012. Since August, students and staff have been preparing to move to a 20-year-old air-conditioned building with new cafeteria, library, kitchen and computer lab.

On Dec. 21, Irving students will take what amounts to a field trip to their new school. They'll load onto buses, carrying their books and supplies, then unpack them in their cubbies at Lincoln, which will become simply Lincoln School, rather than Lincoln Middle School.

From the beginning of Christmas break to the end, Lincoln will go from a middle school to a kindergarten-through-eighth grade building, approximately doubling to 820 students and 86 teachers and other staff.

The district changed Irving's starting times so students could get accustomed to riding a bus route with Lincoln students. Substitute teachers have been hired to assure each teacher three days to pack and move into a new classroom. When the students move to Lincoln, the caring volunteers will follow them.

Lincoln open house and ribbon-cutting for new addition: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the school, 700 Mary St. The ribbon-cutting ceremony is 6 p.m., followed by a parents' forum with the Superintendent, tours and the open house. Source

Crime scene span: Peoria Heights to the East Bluff

Yesterday my family had to purchase four (4) new tires: two (2) for a 4-wheel drive truck; one (1) for a minivan; and one (1) for a vehicle with special rims.

Overnight on Friday, about 37 vehicle owners (at least that is the number the newspaper gives) woke up to find that the tires on their vehicles had been slashed.

The crime scene spans from the Peoria Heights to the mid-East Bluff (about 14 City blocks). This blog covered the story first. There was no report on any of the local news stations and there was only a blurb about it in the local news paper.

If you drive the area shown in the photo above (click the image to enlarge), you will see vehicles still sitting on flats; some are sitting on jacks; others are on donut wheels. 

Unfortunately, the timing of the vandalism occurred the day after most people have probably begun Christmas shopping. As a result, many will not be able to run out and purchase tires for a vehicle; a vehicle that they may need to get back and forth to work and/or school in.

The vandalism clearly wasn't about money - nothing of value was taken from any of the vehicles. If a group of young thugs were out on the coldest night of the year and thought it would be fun to slash tires - why not go to a dealership and have at it (there are two dealerships in the area)? Why take the chance of going up and down the street in a densely populated, residential neighborhood? The slashing of the tires was clearly an organized activity and yes, it was more than likely done by a gang - but this is not your standard inner city, youth, gang crime. So, who would commit such a crime and why?

The sad thing is, we don't expect to get any answers about what, why or how this happened. Heck, if I hadn't witnessed it, I couldn't conceive the magnitude of the crime, considering it got so little exposure with the local news agencies.

Just one more strike against living in Peoria and the East Bluff (as if a person needed one).

It takes a disturbed individual...

... to burn up the playground at the Boys and Girls Club. There are so few places where inner city children can go and feel safe. Even fewer on the East Bluff, which is where this particular Boys and Girls Club is. Is there any wonder people are pissed off:

Riggenbach and Gulley getting their ducks in a row?

Do the newly approved District Maps hint at a renewed vigor from the folks who live on the East Bluff and in Southtown to make sure they are represented by the people who will best support their interests?

The fight that the District 1 and District 3 Councilmen put up for the new maps show that Gulley and Riggenbach may realize that the time is NOW to answer to their constituents... finally.

The new map puts the City on the hook to make sure that there is some growth in District 1 and District 3. Unnfortunately, Councilwoman VanAuken was hoping to get in on some of that power growing North...

By a 6-5 vote, the council settled on what has been labeled "Map B." Spain, Van Auken, Ardis, and Councilmen Gary Sandberg and Bill Spears voted against Map B. Voting in favor were Gulley and Council members Chuck Weaver, Beth Akeson, Timothy Riggenbach, Dan Irving and Eric Turner.

The vote also comes about 13 months after the map-making process was first introduced with more than two dozen versions drafted and multiple meetings with sometimes passionate discussions. Source

Armed robber at East Bluff Family Dollar Store

There was an armed robbery at the East Bluff Family Dollar Store on Wisconsin Avenue at around 3:15 p.m. this afternoon. The suspect, which was a heavy set female, dressed as a male, had a semi-automatic handgun and took all of the money from the cash register drawer and fled on foot.

My thought - taking all of the money from one register at this store, probably got the robber no more then twenty one dollar bills - imagine her disappointment when she gets home and counts the loot. Clown.

Murder in the Glen Oak School Impact Zone

The Glen Oak Neighborhood Impact Zone, a two-block area in the East Bluff – the city's top target area for crime reduction, neighborhood revitalization and home improvement assistance, surrounding District 150’s new $25 million Glen Oak School.

Last night’s East Bluff murder at Peoria Food Stop Inc., took place immediately across the street from the new Glen Oak School (one block from the Boy's and Girl's Club).

The Glen Oak Neighborhood Impact Zone was identified by the City Council in May 2009 to be targeted for revitalization. The city designated millions of dollars in public investment, with more than $3 million in sidewalk and road projects already completed.

The City has already noted that there has been very few applications for down payment assistance to purchase a home near Glen Oak School. This murder in the Impact Zone certainly won’t help the situation. Unfortunate.

Related read: A Matter of Time

Happy Halloween!

You knock on a door in the East Bluff and say "trick or treat"; a beautiful, black woman with a halo answers the door and gives you a sanitary hand wipe (thank H1N1); be sure and introduce yourself, you are at my house.

Neighborhoods throughout Peoria are crying out

This past Wednesday, a known felon was arrested at an East Bluff home (1123 E. Elmhurst Ave) and booked on charges of possession of weapons by a felon, possession of a controlled substance and possession and delivery of marijuana. Five other people were also arrested in connection to the case. I read about the "central Peoria drug bust" on two local blogs at least a day before information appeared in the Peoria Journal Star.

This felon had about two pounds of marijuana, 45 grams of cocaine, eight rocks of crack cocaine, body armor and five guns and was able to bail out by paying $3,000.

Most Peorians first got the story about the drug bust from the news reports of a news conference held in front of the Police Department, by Mayor Ardis and five members of the City Council. State's Attorney, Kevin Lyons feels that the news conference was politically motivated. Is it a coincidence that the Mayor and these same five members of the City Council endorsed Lyons' opponent for State's Attorney, Darin LaHood?

I am glad the Mayor's Office is showing that they intend to hold somebody accountable for crime in Peoria, but shouldn't that person be the Police Chief?

From my neighborhood, the news conference looks shady. Don't we read daily about the murders, serial rapists, drug busts, muggings, robberies, guns, and hookers on the East Bluff? Where is our news conference? Our neighborhood association, in cooperation with surrounding neighborhood associations are active. City Council members and police officers regularly show up to speak at our meetings. We have set up neighborhood watches, we call the code enforcers, we turn people in, we are fighting for our neighborhood. Where is our news conference? How did our feelings of desperation escape the Mayor and City Council? You don't think it's because we are South of Forest Hill do you?