The 1st District Council race is tricky

It's been very interesting watching what's going on with the 1st District City Council race. Truth be known, the 1st District is the sexist District in the City. Anything of importance going on in Peoria, is being played out in the 1st:

The Museum, crime, Warehouse District, drugs, the Pere @ the Marriott, guns, Cat Visitor's Center, failing schools, new roundabout, crumbling sidewalks ... Sexy.

To have three people vying for one seat draws attention to the possibilities in the 1st - if the right person gets the seat.

Now we look to the Election Commission to make a decision on the residency of Gary Sandberg. We have all seen Mr. Sandberg take City Code and interpret the nuances in a way that any man can understand. That's what we like about him isn't it?

So, I read this and if the information is accurate, there just may be a loophole in the "district" residency requirement. But why would Mr. Sandberg want this seat via loophole? What would that do for his street cred, as the one guy who stands up for any man? AND, if Mr. Sandberg's understanding is that there is no district residency requirement, why is he going about the business of trying to establish one? Tricky.

What's important to people from other places...

... is not necessarily what is important to life long Peorians.

We continue to hear locals talk about what they don't like about Peoria. One of the issues that come up regularly is the fact that "people from other places," don't have our best interest at heart when they volunteer to run for office; sit on local boards, or take jobs that directly impact our bottom line.

A candidate who recently threw his hat into the ring for the 5th District City Council seat, is Caterpillar Enginer, Dan Adler. Dan is from Marshfield, Wisconsin, "a small city in the center of the State." Dan believes:

"Peoria is a nice place to live, but it could be so much better." 

Over on the Peoria Chronicle they take Dan to task for choosing a "puzzling platform" because he wants to focus on the completion of the Kellar Branch Trail. You can read about what others feel is important to the 5th District here, and it ain't the Kellar Branch Trail.

Over in the 1st District, Clyde Gully is retiring, after twelve years of sitting on the Council. 

A candidate seeking to fill Gulley’s seat is Denise Moore, a financial adviser and business consultant. Denise is from Bloomington, she and her husband Gary Moore (WEEK-TV) own a home in Spring Grove. Gary may as well be a life long Peorian, when you consider how much he knows about this community and how much he gives back.

Mrs. Moore is also very active in the community, she reportedly has served on the Tri-County Planning - SMART Goal Setting Committee, the Minority Business Enterprise Ad Hoc Committee, the Rain Garden Committee, and the Southtown Stakeholder Committee. She is a past secretary of the National Association of Women Business Owners and is a trustee on the Proctor Hospital Foundation Board. Some of the issues of concern to Mrs. Moore: 

• Job growth, business investment/development within the 1st District.
• Focus on the Warehouse District and Downtown (she is a propopent of what's been going on in the Downtown)

Are these the issues that life long residents of the 1st District would think to be most important? One person I know that would question if these are the issues that need to be addressed by the 1st District Council person would be life long Peorian, resident of the 1st District, Emtronics a/k/a Randall Emert a/k/a Peoria Anti-Pundit. In a recent 1157 word salvo,  entitled "Idiots at the Helm," Anti-Pundit raised these issues:

• The crappy $13 Garbage Fee on water bills. 
• Raising property taxes that’ll drive out people and they will leave Peoria. 
• District 150 is a mess and nobody who values their child’s safety, let alone education, will allow their kid to go to any district school. 
• Bullshit spending on Head Start and even the $80k and more for ELITE. 
• Our council think a success is drinking Irish beer in the middle of a taxpayer paid street to benefit a local bar owner. 
• Taxpayers paid millions to have Water Street installed so we can pay city services to close it so those who seem not to have day jobs can lounge in chairs and tables at a local bar.
• Success is lowering the crime rate.
• Success is repairing and cleaning the streets.
• Success is having a great fire department and sidewalks in ALL neighborhoods.
• Nothing done on Griswold in over 40 years or any side street but with the Southside TIF money we install ornamental lights and fix a roof on an empty building.  

So, while the issues that Mrs. Moore raise may all be very good issues, her perspective of what should be on the front burner for Peoria and or Peorians and their neighborhoods appear to vary greatly from what at least one (1) long standing citizen of the 1st District may think is important. 

But then again, Mrs. Moore is the only person in the 1st District that has thrown her hat into the ring.

Peoria City Council caught with their hand in the cookie jar

Tonight the attempt to take money out of the Southtown TIF and give it to Gary Matthews and the Warehouse District was thwarted when folks from Southtown showed up to stand up for their community. 

The measure was unanimously defeated and left Councilman Gully trying to save face when he was more than likely prepared to vote for the measure to pass. After being confronted by the people who would vote his behind out of office, his tone changed. See what happens we stand up for our community?

Congratulations Southtown, stay vocal, stay strong!

The Roundabout discussion Cat should be having with City Hall

It's not a secret - City Hall can be very accommodating to "Fortune 100 company, Caterpillar Tractor Co." I keep hearing lately that the number of employees that bleed Cat yellow Downtown is somewhere in the 3,000 range and the higher ups at Caterpillar are concerned about their safety.

As we know, recently the state and city commissioned a feasibility study on the installation of a roundabout. The study is said to have cost nearly $400,000. City Hall is good with the findings of the study and is about to seal the deal on the Beautiful Warehouse District Roundabout.

But hold up, wait just one minute... Cat is concerned that the narrowing of lanes for this very special roundabout could affect traffic elsewhere, especially the streets surrounding Cat Headquarters (Southwest Adams Street and Northeast Jefferson Avenue) and they want more data.

The local sentiment on Cat getting what they want...

If what Phil says is true... imagine if only the higher ups at Caterpillar would look down from their tower and peer out into the City at the people below them and weld their power on behalf of all of Peoria. What if they were to expand their concerns about their employee life style issues and insist upon the following feasibility study...

... IF Caterpillar employees came back to the City of Peoria (to the older neighborhoods) bringing in their tax base and their children to Peoria schools, how safe would they be? What would be the probability of being hit by bullets (rather than trucks)?

How about exploring why residents in Peoria run the risk of getting shot, killed, shot, robbed, shot and mugged EVERY SINGLE DAY. And then follow up on the demand and insist that if City Hall can't find the answer and put an end to all of the shooting thugging killing and mugging, Caterpillar will leave the City of Peoria.