“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Thursday, July 24, 2014

HIghlights of the Finance Committee Mtg.

There were 2 men present from IVAC who gave a presentation to the Finance Committee.  I apologize for not knowing their names.

They talked of the reasons why this area seemed to be lagging behind other areas of the state in growth and after much research it seems to them that the best way to market the towns of this area is to think regionally and not locally. Looking at this part of Illinois in terms of LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam, a tri county region seems to them to be a better way to market the cities because a development in anyone of them will ultimately benefit all because most anyone can travel for employment.  Whereas the retail development is best left individually to each town as they wish.

IVAC  have begun to use social media on the Linked In site.

A brief discussion on employee health policies.

Again as I wrote earlier, some discussion about a CFO or a Comptroller or a #City Manager.

Transformer repair at the James Hardie plant needs to be done soon. I believe a spare is currently available in the city.

Re: Concert at the Airport:

Police Chief Bernabei said they are ready with with police, fire and esda. Also expecting approximately 10,000 to attend the concert and they are ready to cap sales if need be. Noonan by contract is responsible for paying up to $4100 in cost of the safety provided and if for some reason it is over that amount the city is responsible for the rest. She will provide her own security for the area around the stages.
The city will receive $1.00 for each ticket sold and $5.00 for each car that is parked at the airport.

The city did approve both concerts before the hard rock one was booked and they only had knowledge of the first one which was a Country/Western group of bands held a few weeks ago. It seems that they had faith that Ms Noonan would not be doing what she did by booking the kind of bands she has.

I did express my sentiments that this not happen again and to be aware and make sure you know what you are approving for any future events.

#IVAC
#airport
#airport security

Sunday additional note: City Council Mtg tomorrow at 7:30 PM and preceded by a Committee Mtg of the Whole at 6:30 PM.  Both allow public comment at the end of the meeting.



37 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is good that Ms. Noonan is hiring the 'pit" security team. Let us hope they are fully coordinating with the ESDA and Police and have their prep meetings well documented.

Since our leaders seem to trust that she is taking care of everything, and do not bother to ask her her plans, or confirm what is going to happen, or get drug sniffing dogs at the gates and advertise that online- well we better hope that the Event management Group will be well staffed and not bare minimum, nickel and dimed like she usually does.
Maybe they will be unpaid "Volunteers" for the cause from the grade school.

Anonymous said...

with 10000 attending this type of concert what if a fight of a 100 people breaks out will ppd be prepared this could get very dangerous very quick

Anonymous said...

Lets see, the promoters of the Altamont Speedway Free Festival had in 1969 "pit security" covered also. Ya, they thought it would be a good idea to hire the "Hells Angels" to handle the security. Remember how that turned out?

Anonymous said...

Illinois passed a law in 2013 that put a $3 per customer tax on live "adult" entertainment. This money is supposed to be used to fund rape crisis centers. Has Peru factored this in? Who is going to send the check to the State of Illinois? If the attendance projections are correct, somebody will need to pony up $30,000 to the State. We need answers now, not when the State comes knocking on the door and we find out that the Pizza Lady already "distributed" the money.

Anonymous said...

9:56

Great point!

Unknown said...

(35 ILCS 175/5)
Sec. 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Admission" means entry by a person into a live adult entertainment facility.
"Department" means the Department of Revenue.
"Live adult entertainment facility" means a striptease club or other business that serves or permits the consumption of alcohol on its premises, and, during at least 30 consecutive or nonconsecutive days in a calendar year, offers or provides activities by employees, agents, or contractors of the business that involve nude or partially denuded individuals that, when considered as a whole, appeal primarily to an interest in nudity or sex.

This event appears not to be applicable due to the 30 day operation clause.

Anonymous said...

Dear Attorney General Madigan,

The City of Peru, IL is sponsoring a burlesque show that will include frontal nudity and simulated sexual acts on stage in front of a live audience. It is my understanding that the State of Illinois regulates shows like this and also mandates a $3.00 per customer tax. To my knowledge, the City of Peru has not applied for the correct permits for this type of entertainment and does not have provisions to collect the mandated tax. Additionally, local zoning laws pertaining to adult entertainment are being ignored.
I trust you will take this issue under advisement and will at least ensure the $3.00 tax is collected and distributed according to the law.

Best Regards,
Citizens of the City of Peru, IL

Anonymous said...

Lets face it, no matter what everyone feels they can do, this concert is going to happen. If you think this council is going to listen to anyone on the blog or Kristy, you are mistaken. The one thing that can possibly stop future concerts would be adding new hangers where the concerts take place, and from what I heard at least one more is going to be put up after the concert, another group has also looked at adding another, that might have been cancelled. Again you can foia all you want, or scream and shout, it falls on deaf ears because of who you represent, an extreme group.

Anonymous said...

The City of Peru Zoning Ordinance allows "adult use" only in the manufacturing area east of West Street in the district along the Illinois River. This applies to all "adult use" except the one notable exception which has been grandfathered in for many years.

Anonymous said...

Why is the finance committee discussing the airport concert?

Peru Town Forum said...

Because Mayor Harl seems to be working to eliminate committees and recently put Public Safety and Finance into one and now they have 2 hour meetings instead of the previous 30 min to 1 hour meetings. Now things are being done on his schedule and he can attend all meetings because it is only two. The Finance/Safety committee meetings are almost like a council meeting with 7 aldermen present, police chief etc., fire chief etc., city engineer, guests and public and of course the mayor and our volunteer economic director, Bob Vickery.
And of course public comment at the end of the meeting.

Anonymous said...

There is also an Illinois Law that states you can't have adult entertainment within 3,000 feet of a public park or cemetery. It does not have a 30 day clause. I think it might be close, but the airport looks like it falls within 3,000 feet of Peru Cemetery and Memorial Park.

Anonymous said...

Lois, please let clerk bartley know about this Illinois law about adult entertainment within 3,000 feet of a public park. Veteran's Park is south of the airport. I wonder how far south. Thank you Lois for being the one all bloggers can count on to get answers to their questions and for being willing to take the heat when others will not.

Anonymous said...

10:40 Yeah, around here an extreme group is considered anyone who doesn't buy a 50 50 ticket to help "fundraise" or knows there are actual laws outside of Peru. I would agree with you though that no foot stomping of FOIA of this city is going to stop this Concert.
The only things that will ever stop these Charity Concerts is Classaction.org helping interested attorneys send notice to the front people of the groups that they will be named as co defendants in a class action fraud lawsuit. In the very least, I think we would start seeing the charities always get paid first, or the name changed.

Anonymous said...

I am old and I hate everyting! Where can i go to make a loud noise and complain and not have follow up or accountability but yet slam everyone who is trying to do something like run for office?

(GPS) You have arrived at your destination

Also 11:56 your comparison to the concert of The Rolling Stones and the Hells Angels does not hold water.

Anonymous said...

This is getting hilarious. Commenters have never been to a Suicide Girls show before but they know there will be nudity and naughty girls. Police will be there and will arrest anyone and everyone for public nudity. Have any of you people been to the beach or any of the local swimming pools? You can see more there so you don't have to go see the Suicide Girls.

Anonymous said...

11:33 I am not old and dont hate much. But I hate Concerts for a Cause. Hate them.
And the the comparison, like most, is not exact, but holds parallels.
The Rolling Stones concert was poorly planned, and the recognized authority was deemed to be cramping the style of drug culture, so an ill-informed and amateur concert promoter tried to control the event using non professionals. Standing room only stage area plus drug use equals potential disaster, especially if they need a storm evacuation or somebody discharges a weapon. History showed what ensued.

The police here are also abdicating near stage, unassigned seating and likely high Molly use to an experienced group who can hopefully control the Mosh activity. It is a see no evil approach, and probably for the best since the Peru Police likely lack the training to handle true mass crowd, music hysteria drug hazed activity.
The Stage and event group likely has the experience. But making sure that the area is under video feed is the responsibility of our leaders.
More than likely no one will die, so everyone will say see it was safe... see we handled it and it was all done right. BS.
Given our history with council meetings, I think whatever happens within 100 feet of the stage, stays within a hundred feet of the stage.
I am assuming you are not old, and so know everything. Good luck with this one. Happy home rule.

Anonymous said...

Just read the statute. It's about a "Facility" as in an established business like the silver slipper.

Anonymous said...

126 Police arrest for nudity? Sex? Have you heard what they find in the port a potties after these concerts? Somebody should tell the Citys favorite port a potty vendor to stop telling everyone and their brother.
You just keep telling all the old folks our citys finest are arresting girls who are tossing their bras and panties onstage and flashing, and doing a helluva lot more in the dark.
You can fool some of the people all the time, but not all the people, all the time.

Anonymous said...

Honestly the posts here are so funny. You would think you are all a bunch 100 year olds yelling get off my lawn!

1:26 I am with you. RELAX EVERYONE

Anonymous said...

RELAX no one. If this is allowed once, she will do it again. These types of events are subtly desired by the city, since they draw the most visitors. But this time she may have thrown even them a curve ball. The more local area folks who attend, the more money leaves the valley. The more suburban and downstate, the better for the city to say, see we are bringing in tourist dollars.
Sucker the idiots in with American as apple pie country, the Big Time Rush, then see how Kid Rock goes over. No big deal. Lets try Suicide Girls and Mosh pits. For the Kids.
What is truly interesting is Kristy FOIA to the school district. There is not a single charity rule or convention these concerts have not pushed to the legal limit, but the history of quid pro quo, using volunteers as if it is a charity, is the SINGLE most damning legally. It seems so normal to everyone around here, to help out at a fund raiser, a charity event.
BUT BY ANY OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS these are NOT charity or fund raising events. The demands to sell tickets, sell pizza, or do ANYTHING AT ALL to be the recipient of a possible donation is Quid Pro Quo. The assumption that because the states attorney or Madigans office has not done anything, so everything is ok, is ridiculous. The offices are motivated politically, and without activism and news coverage, many such things go un prosecuted and un investigated. There are more than 100 year olds upset about someone being on their lawn who are upset about these concerts.

Lois said...

6:44 AM

Let me assure you that the charity did not know about the nudity involved in this event until they recently found out and made noise. Whey do you think that La Grotto just now decided to say she is trying to get the act eliminated from the show. It was because the school just found out! A lot of people in this town should be making "noise" about what the business aided by the city was going to and may well bring to this city on federally funded municipal property.

Anonymous said...

How are you complainers going to feel if this concert goes perfectly without a hitch. What's with the "mosh pits" , that went out of fashion along time ago. I wouldn't be surprised if the Suicide Girls don 't show up. Everyone will get the net result of the concert next month, I'm sure a lot of you will be disappointed.

Peru Town Forum said...

9:49 PM
Hope you are right whatever "without a hitch" means because any event where liquor is served openly to the public, it will be abused and arrests and ambulance calls will be on the way. So if it is no worse than the last one, it will go off without a hitch.

Anonymous said...

Lois, that is what I am referring to.

Anonymous said...

9:49 Why would we be disappointed that no one gets hurt and a school gets the proceeds from a charity concert?
There have been plenty of hitches, incidents,taxpayer fund abuse, wasted public servant time and abused charities getting used and shafted. It would be great to see that stop.
I would not be surprised to see a big fat donation, to break the string. Its why they are going with this kind of show... very popular, high alcohol revenues, many venues pass on them so you get a good following.
My friend drove home drunk a thousand times before he totaled his car. You would have been pointing to all the times he made it home safe and say what a great driver he was.

Anonymous said...

9:49 I take it you weren't at the monster mayhem concert last weekend at the tweeter center. Moshpitting is alive and well. Just you tube moshpit and see just how out of date YOU are. Haha

Anonymous said...

Kristys latest blog points out a growing trend of safety lapses at concerts. Before the you "are all just old complainers" bloggers jump in, I do recognize fun activities have risk. We still need to have fun activities.

But the POINT is that our city is involving itself, spending your money, risking grant assurances, going to bat for a very RISKY and very inefficient fund raising activity. There is NO net economic benefit to the city. The FUN is very risky, it raises very little money and requires a great deal of volunteer labor. It allegedly loses money very often, yet makes the promoter VERY large sums of money.
The danger aspect is highest at venues that are controlled by promoters, because they necessarily do NOT want to spend what is required to insure safety. The safety issue is greatest at PAID venues, with alcohol served, lack of assigned seating and understaffed poorly planned safety protocols. People who think bringing 10,000 people together is an inherently safe and easy thing to do may be well meaning, but they are idiots.
There is secrecy regarding past Emergency Response Plans, a big red flag. There is privacy regarding entertainment selection, profit numbers, tax revenues, and involvement by the media group relied upon to cover and uncover news.
The venue has a much lower safe occupancy limit than is currently being proposed, and safety assignment is bouncing back and forth between the promoter, city, and the FAA. When everyone is responsible no one is responsible.
Demand pre planning and transparency from your council members and Madigan. Read Kristys blog and educate yourself. What you dont know cannot only hurt you, but could very well devastate the city financially. Past injured attendees could even now launch massive lawsuits due to lack of safety plans written, in place. with massive notes from meetings.
There is a reason venues like Allstate dont just throw together a couple concerts once in a while. It is a big, very high liability event. It is NOT like a city 4th of July party, where a city can hide behind lawsuit indemnification. All do respect to Rodney- They have not been "safe", they have been very lucky.

Anonymous said...

Why cant the city send Kristy copies of past emergency response plans for the concerts? That cannot be a security risk, they are past? And like she said, all the police response secret stuff can be redacted. Things like evacuation route and protocol are not risks to communicate to the public, the more comment the better!
I bet its because there are none.

Anonymous said...

2:28 pm, Gee, ya think?

Anonymous said...

4:08 I was being a little sarcastic of course. Unless you are Kristy (she generally uses her full log in ID, but whatever) you should read her summary of her contact and request for assistance from the office of the Attorney General.

The thing that is most disappointing is the sheer amount of time she spends on these things. In particular, the environmental and consumer fraud division and response are NOT unique to Illinois or either political party.

In general, Consumer Fraud investigations are only conducted if multiple consumers contact the office OR a major media outlet does the preliminary investigation and puts heat on the division to act. Sad, but true. Or if a few people die from something. Even then its no slam dunk to get action.

For Environmental, it is backwards to ever go to the Attorney General environmental division hoping they will contact the IEPA. In fact the IEPA and conservation police hold the primary complaint and investigation responsibility. Many times the IEPA is given (or takes) wide latitude in enforcement action. Very few enforcment decrees are presented to the AG to actually prosecute. The IEPA can fine, warn, or come up with remediation on their own. Only when the polluter refuses or injunctions are needed does the AG office generally get involved.

In short, it really stinks. They pick and choose what to do politically. There are environmental violations going on all the time, I am sure Kristy raised the flag on many city ones at Westclox. Not only here but in states all over the union, dem and repub. But environmental groups are forced to sue not only violators but the EPA itself for not following its own laws. The most common are Clean Water Act violations, the only act where ANY individual or group affected can enforce and file suit as a Citizen Attorney General, with many similar powers of the Attorney General. I would not want to be on the wrong side of the courtroom if Kristy ever filed suit.
Peru counts on an ill informed electorate. There is nothing Kristy is doing that we can not help and do ourselves. Madigan may ignore one, but it gets hard to ignore hundreds.
I know I have used her blog information to file complaints. You cant be afraid of retribution.

Anonymous said...

Back this winter when we had all the snow and there were company's contracted to haul the snow from downtown, where was the snow take? To the river and dumped or to a parking lot somewhere?? When it melted with all the salt where did the water go?

Unknown said...

I do not usually engage with respodants regarding my blog but 8:07 I could not resist with all you subliminal messages.

1. The 4:08 comment was not mine you are correct Clever though making the suggestion.
2. Time is never wasted when you do things you enjoy. I enjoy holding politicians, our government, and those doing business within the government accountable. It is our civic duty to hold their feet to the fire. Though results may not always be fruitful I do not considered it a disappointment when knowledge is gained and available to the public.
3. The IEPA was contacted on several occasions along with the Illinois Department of Public Health (they performed an actual inspection). You seemed to miss the point that several layers of government were well aware of the environmental conditions within the Westclox building (including the IEPA regarding asbestos and potential CWA violations). Your subliminal message indicating this occurs all over the Country is irrelevant and does not justify lack of accountability to everyone who suffered from the Westclox fire. My concerns were within our district specifically issues within Peru.
4. You indicate it is a disappointment relative to my time spent on accountability yet in closing you stated you used my blog to file your own complaints. It appears I have not only educated myself but you too have benefited from the knowledge I have posted. To me that is a success and the exact reason why I chose to allocate my time searching for accountability
5. I agree more people can and should be holding those they elect accountable. I hope by coming forward with my journey for accountability more individuals will come forward without the fear of intimidation or retaliation from any individual, party, or official.

Anonymous said...

Kristy

I apologize if you took any subliminal messages. The only one I truly want you to take is that I admire your work and dedication and am frustrated you do not get better results from the people you contact.
It does not surprise me that IEPA conducted inspections and did not act. They sem to be in the hip pocket of several mayors around here.
I never think what you do is a waste of time. Just think more people should follow your lead.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:24, it goes to the same place when it melts on the street, outside the residue left on the street and what has soaked into the ground, most of it goes into the river when it melts and runs into our catch basins.

Unknown said...

6:09

I am not certain if the IEPA is in the pocket of several mayors or if the agency is required to cherry pick the issues they have authority to address depending on the district and political clout.

Perfect example is a company I worked for in 2011 in Hennepin as a EHS technician. The company was Washington Mills and they were/are the ONLY business permitted in the entire United States to produce silicon carbide by a technique utilizing underground furnaces and gas system (when functioning). The main material utilized included silica sand and Coke. aka. Petroleum Coke (petcoke).

In 2011 I started contacting government agencies (part of my job description) about the lack of environmental and safety issues pertaining to the facility and provided actual pictures of my concerns.

Again no action from the Illinois government! None! Suddenly in 2014 Mayor Emanual, AG Madigan, and Senator Durbin discovered petcoke (or discovered the Koch Industries affiliated business) and decided to enforce petcoke storage. Three years AFTER I filed my initial concerns!

Petcoke storage was not a concern for the residents in our district until Illinois politicians could turn it into a political issue!

Anonymous said...

9:57 Kristy

I hear you. I have had similar experiences. People would be shocked to learn about how the environmental issues are cherry picked. So many protections have to be fought for by citizens, environmental groups, and activists.
People just assume that the government is watching out for them, and investigating issues when brought up. I meant no disrespect when I mentioned that there are similar environmental issues all over the country. Its obvious that the ones affecting us here are the ones we need to fight for, because no one else will care about them. IEPA has been gutted by retirements of quality people and cuts and is a shell of what it used to be. They contract out so much now, you can't count on anything from them but lip service.