Peru Mayoral Debate at the Peru Public Library

Mayor Harl, Candidates Rodney Perez and James Giodano debated public policy, ordinances etc. yesterday at a very well attended event in Peru. Yes I went and the only new comment I hears was that suddenly Mayor Harl always said he would like to serve 3 terms.

Wrong Mayor Harl and I am NOT the only one who adamantly remembers that you said probably in your campaign in "09.

I will not comment on the content of the debate which was  series of questions asked by the audience because it would be only my opinion and we are more interested in yours and not political slogans but coming from you heart as a resident of this city of 9, 952.

JUST A WARNING FOR COMMENTS:  I WAS AT THE DEBATE AND HEARD ALL OF IT AND IRREGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU BELIEVE I LISTENED CAREFULLY TO ALL OF THEM.
IF YOU START TROLLING WHILE BASHING THE OTHERS YOU COMMENT WILL NOT BE POSTED.
I SAY THIS BECAUSE OF ONE OF THE MAYORS FANS WROTE THIS MORNING AND DID NOT MEET MY STANDARD FOR THIS ELECTION AND IT WILL NOT BE PUT ON THE BLOG. BASHING THE OTHER CANDIDATES WHILE GLORIFYING YOURS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

In less than 48 hours we will know whether Peru will take a new path or continue on the same one as the past 8 years.

That reminds me that I must contact the city about a blocked sewer grating and damage to the berm on Prospect and 6th because I do not know who is responsible for damage and who is responsible for repair and almost forgot pinecones were blown all over the roadway. Is that the same as blowing grass clippings on the street?

From Mayor Harl and City of Peru

Mayor Scott J. Harl
Statement of closing of JC Penny store
Friday March 17, 2017

Today’s announcement of the pending closure of JC Penny stores across the state and nation including the Peru mall store is a great disappointment to all of us at the city of Peru. On behalf of everyone at the city of Peru, we are especially saddened for the many employees of the Peru store who may lose their employment.

While retail sales in Peru was at a record 600 million dollars last year and with Peru having one of the highest retail sales per capita in Illinois, the loss of any business and their employees is very sad.

The city of Peru, like all cities across the state and nation must be prepared to work towards a sustainable plan to maintain and grow our economic retail base. While that plan has been a continued work in progress, we are committed to not only attract new business but also work with existing business to maintain their local presence both in the north retail section and equally in our Rt 6 downtown business corridor. One need only look to these areas to see the many businesses that have either expanded or opened but we will not sit back and wait for business development. We will continue our aggressive business friendly plan that has benefited not only Peru but also the entire Illinois Valley area.

With that in mind the council members, all city department heads, the entire economic development team and I have been working diligently to continue to have the city of Peru to be recognized as a business friendly community.

We have been working with many developers to bring business to the north retail section with many pending development in the works. We also have had discussions with the ownership of the Peru Mall to lend our support towards any rebranding of the Peru Mall area to maintain existing business.

At the same time, we implemented our Rt 6 business incentive program that has been in existence these past three years and has been discussed for the past several months this new budget year is expected to have a major expansion of the program. We have also started the process of a downtown business TIF district to support our current and future businesses in downtown corridor.

These efforts as well as others will continue on behalf of everyone in the city of Peru.

Best Places to Start a Business in Illinois - NerdWallet

Best Places to Start a Business in Illinois - NerdWallet


Is this a good political campaign issue?

  Seems the only thing we have going for us is "affordable housing" and businesses that pay their employees.  Have we acquired any new businesses as a result of this top notch status?.

Please give us the new businesses that started up in Peru as a result of this. We have Harbor Freight and Cricket but don't know if they included retail in their assessment.

Did any of you read the recent Illinois Policy article about border cities in Illinois losing population to adjacent states due to lower taxes = lower cost of living. I do remember our former Superintendent of the Electric Dept. making the decision to do that.

Just a reminder I am not posting any rah rahs about candidates. Also there was an article in the Peru Pride that some people found offensive and sorry I can't put that online either, just common decency on that as he  is no longer holding office and I would not have enough space to include all the former Peru politicians that also did the similar things.