News Tribune - Sound Off - Open Forum (Aug. 30): Why does Peru pay so much attention to Maud Powell?

News Tribune - Sound Off - Open Forum (Aug. 30): Why does Peru pay so much attention to Maud Powell?

Personally I have always thought the Maud Powell statue was in an inappropriate location.  Should the veteran's memorial have been installed in a more prominent location instead of at Veteran's Park?.

Now we know, it's all about "Image"

I have heard about the importance of "image" for Hollywood mega-stars and professional athletes. The negative impact of a domestic violence charge against Mel Gibson will certainly have an affect on the box-office and video sales. Charges of lying to Congress about steroid and human growth hormone abuse by Roger Clemens will likely destroy his image as one of the best pitchers in the history of the game. And rightfully so. Last week we were informed by 2nd Ward aldermen Joe Mikyska and Jack O'Beirne that the "image" of Peru depends on whether or not we build a new municipal pool. So there you have it. It's all about image. Using 2nd Ward logic, all we have to do is spend three or four million on a fancy new pool and the image of Peru will be saved. We will be overflowing with image. We will have so much image we might be able to market and sell the excess image to surrounding communities via an image auction. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice. Please keep in mind Joe Mikyska as chairman of the Finance Committee is suggesting a new pool is a "Priority" for Peru. I'm not kidding, Chairman, Finance, for real. Common sense tells me that a new municipal pool in Peru should not even make the top five priority issues at present. A new pool will be great someday, but not now. It can wait. It is clear that Mikyska and O'Beirne are unable to disconnect themselves from the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) of the Baker era that relied heavily on creating "image" over reality. The image of "Leader of the Valley" which only highlighted the arrogance of those elected officials who bored us bellowing it and only served to alienate our neighbors. They were in fact "The Cheater of the Valley". The image of "financial health" and "prosperity" which we now know was essentially a hoax in which at least some of the aldermen themselves were unwary victims. Which is no excuse for not knowing. What we need more than anything right now is elected officials who are able to use common sense judgement. Image don't pay the bills. We do! Move on, there's real work to do. Note to Aldermen: Make sensible decisions based on current factual financial conditions and you might just create an image of a city council with a clue.

LaSalle County Nursing Home / Public vs. Private ownership

I have recieved a request from a member of the LaSalle County Board to provide an opportunity for feed-back from the public concerning the possibility of LaSalle County discontinuing its operation/ownership of the Nursing Home. There has been discussion of selling the facility to a private entity who would continue to operate the facility for profit. I believe there is also the possibility of a Public/Private partnership which could signifgicantly reduce the cost of operating the facility for the county. These partnerships are becoming more common between government and private business entities. If anyone can provide the financial condition of the county home, please share that information. In any event please be aware of this issue and share your thoughts with us. Thank You.

Downtown Peru, Dull Boring and Lacks Design & Color

Back in the early nineties the city of Peru decided to redevelop the main business district  at a great expense and it is  still being paid for at this date, I might add. It is from the decisions made then that we have the Mirror bldg. and the Maud Powell Plaza. Originally the design called for extensive changes including not only  an East Plaza  but also a West Plaza with courtyards, fountains, outdoor furniture, kiosks and clocks. The east Plaza was Putnam Street and the location of the current Maud Powell Plaza.  The west Plaza as designed by PGAV Urban Consulting was drawn up to close off Fulton Street and make that the West Plaza with Debo Hardware occupying the location of the current City Hall.  (Until it was pointed out to them, that if Fulton was closed, there would be nowhere to turn north from Fourth St. until you reached Pike St.) Amazing that the urban developers did not come to that conclusion until local residents pointed it out to the city and that was the end of the West Plaza. Soon afterward Debo decided against a new building and that was the end of more changes and the gradual conclusion of the downtown redevelopment and to what we have today.

Included in the designing  was adding a "shed-type awning with white or gold trim to provide theming and continuity and building freshness on Fourth Street throughout the area"  (a quote from the Master Plan.) Primarily the building renovation proposed to upgrade the original brick, replace windows and doors as necessary, paint trimwork and building features in contrasting colors with the earth tone of brick. Numerous other plans that never even got off the ground.

The city soon adopted ordinances regarding the awnings which still exist today. Has the maroon awning done what the designers anticipated? Yet the city to this day and I mean this day enforces the maroon awning ordinance.  Do you see it as a detriment to an interested party coming into downtown?  I believe the Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee is still in existence, not that we ever hear anything about what it does or plans.


Is it time for some new ideas and perhaps even eliminating the themes that have not worked to make the downtown area any more inviting to prospective businesses than it is now? Since the Master Plan was drawn up, we have lost businesses such as the bank, Letterkraft, Sears and the City Clerks office in its prior location. Downtown has become a one stop destination and usually in through the back door from the parking lots. We did not even run the 175th parade through our main street. Is it that dead there? Do you see any way we can make it a place people want to be? What would it take?



I

What has happened to Peru Downtown Redevelopment?

BIKE TREK: Paper Trail -- Bloomington-Normal paths honor Constitution - My Web Times

BIKE TREK: Paper Trail -- Bloomington-Normal paths honor Constitution - My Web Times Speaking of bicycle paths this an article about the ultimate type of bike path. I have friends who have family that use this and you ride around and beneath traffic and not with it providing a safe bike path.

I Will Not Accept Any Further Comments on Employees Attending IML

I feel that it serves no purpose for some people to continue to harshly and unfairly comment on the 2 city employees who will be attending the IML conference.  It has been agreed upon by the Mayor and Finance Committee to approve the expenditure for the trip. If some of you don't approve or like, that will be your problem.
If you wish to complain you can call a member of the Finance Committee (names are listed on this blog under committee members) and do your complaining.
This is final so do not send any postings about this.

Illinois Municipal League - 97th Annual Conference

Illinois Municipal League - 97th Annual Conference The details

Illinois Municipal League - 97th Annual Conference - Tentative Conference Program

Illinois Municipal League - 97th Annual Conference - Tentative Conference Program If you wondered ? this is the conference schedule. Ordinarily I wouldn't put this on, but someone has decided to make it a big issue.

Comcast agreement approved. Broadcasting of council meetings yet to be determined.

The new agreement between Comcast Cable and the city of Peru was approved by the city council last night. According to Joan Sage of Comcast the agreement provides for the future possibility of broadcasting city council meetings on a designated channel on the Comcast system. Ms. Sage indicated that the city must determine what specific equipment they would need Comcast to supply to facilitate broadcasting meetings. The city could purchase equipment or hire a third party to provide the service also. If the city decides to add terms to the agreement and have Comcast provide the service there would need to be a charge added to the billing of each Peru Comcast customer. I believe Ms. Sage indicated the charge would be a small charge per customer per billing. As far as I'm concerned the broadcasting of council meetings is way overdue and is something that must be implemented asap. There should be no excuses from any elected official about not wanting to place a "burden" on the citizens of Peru for this service. The video feed should also be made available on the city website in addition to the cable system so that it can be accessed on-line anytime by anyone. So enough talk. Get it done!

Time and Location of Peru Twp August Meeting Monday

If you have an interest, plan to attend.

'The next meeting is at 4:30 PM on Monday, August 16th. The meeting is at the Peru Township Building on Peoria Street.'
 perupages.blogspot.com

Aldermen to citizens: Your request to participate in the democratic process is "DENIED"

Regardless of which side of the pool issue you're on. And because there are no less than three sides to this quagmire, it would have been nice to at least get an invite to the pool party. But, instead of suiting up for a little dip in the political process of an advisory referendum we were informed by our aldermen that they once again consider us the proverbial "Turds in the swimming pool." Last night, our aldermanic brain trust banded together to defeat a motion by Alderman Ferrari and seconded by my old pal Jack O'Beirne to place a simple question on the November ballot as an advisory referendum asking "Should the city of Peru proceed with planning and funding a new municipal swimming pool? As was predictable, the notion of the common citizen providing input or direction to our aldermen obviously left most of them feeling very threatened and unreasonable. They appeared unable to wrap there mind around the fact that this was simply an "advisory question" which did not obligate them to take any particular action. Regardless of the outcome of the vote in November the aldermen would still hold ultimate authority to determine what if any action is taken on a municiapal pool. They discussed last nights motion as if they were deciding whether or not to break ground on a new pool first thing next week. From Mertel deliberately trying to "muddy the waters" (pun intended) by claiming there needed to be a volume of information on the ballot explaining the history of pool construction in the U.S., to Potthoff patronizing us with his extensive knowledge of pool design and municipal taxes. To Waldorf thinking out loud, "After all we are the elected officials and we make these decisions". Oh my! I have to admit that I am not sure which outcome of the proposed referendum they were more afraid to have to deal with. At least a couple of them have said any move forward would have to be new construction. They are on record. This would have been an opportunity for people on any side of the issue to not only cast there vote on election day but to actively campaign and recruit others to paricipate in the democratic process leading up to the election. Why would an elected official see that as a threat and where do we find ourselves now? Believe it or not, I think there still exists a couple of "characters" on this council who will start the bizarre process all over again this coming winter by suggesting once again to patch and paint the old hole in the ground and squeel with glee, "Fill er' up Kenny". I am not currently in favor of new pool construction. At least not in the forseeable future considering city finances. That's a no-brainer. I think they must demolish the existing structure as soon as they have an opportunity to do so. By "they", I mean "city employees" not a contractor and haul the debris down to the Riviera by the River landfill "hideaway resort" of a certain city employee at no additional cost to the city. Then, I would hope that any discussion regarding water related recreational opportunities in the city of Peru be strictly limited to the "Splash Park" theme which is something we may be able to afford. Nothing more. I urge you, please do not forget those aldermen who conspired to deny us a chance to participate in the democratic process. Be sure to inform your neighbors and other residents of Peru that the culprits were Jamey Mertel, 1st Ward. Joe Mikyska, 2nd Ward. Dave Waldorf & Bob Ankiewicz 3rd Ward. Dave Potthoff 4th Ward. Ron Wren, 4th Ward was absent for last nights vote but had previously mentioned he was opposed to the idea of an advisory referendum. These are the guys who chose to leave the rest of us off the pool party guest list.

PeruPool.pdf (application/pdf Object)

PeruPool.pdf (application/pdf Object)



This is from the News Trib and a detailed description of the money spent by the city in attempts to keep the swimming pool operating. Also I noted how closely Chamlin was associated with work done or sent out for bids and I also remember just a couple of weeks ago he said and a quote "we don't do swimming pools".
Do you see something different?

NOW YOU KNOW: Is reopening the Streator pool feasible? - My Web Times

NOW YOU KNOW: Is reopening the Streator pool feasible? - My Web Times Another city with a closed pool and no money

I'm all for an emphasis on "work" in our Public Works Department

1st Ward Alderman Jamey Mertel has recieved a request from Public Works Superintendant Gary Bleck to consider his request for a new hire for the department. Bleck has indicated there is a need for a new employee due to a manpower shortage in the department. The shortage is due to recent employee retirements and some current employees work status as "restricted duty" and unable to perform at 100%. Alderman Mertel is in agreement with Gary Bleck that there exists a valid need for a new hire in the department and Mertel has recommended the process should proceed to do so. One of the qualifications suggested for a new hire by Gary Bleck and other city officicals was that it would be advantageous to seek a prospective hire who is a licensed plumber in order to utilize his skills and credentials where appropriate on city owned property and infrastructure. Not a bad idea at all. Of course this new hire would be expected to perform additional duties within the public works department. He might shovel asphalt. He might operate equipment. He might repair water-main breaks. He might rake leaves into the Leaf-Vac in the fall and then plow snow in the winter after he recieves his CDL which will be a condition of his employment. He will be expected to do what has to be done just as it says in the agreement between the public works employees represented by Local #150 IUOE and the City of Peru. Peru Public Works has a number of outstanding employees who are dedicated, responsible and hard working. However, as is the case in many organizations and government entities, Peru Public Works also has a few not so dedicated, not so responsible, and not so hard working employees. This is a work-place reality that every management team struggles with. I remain hopeful that current efforts to improve the efficiency and personnel issues in every city department will eventually be successful. There is much to do.

Our Only Choice is A New Swimming Pool or Is It?

Wisely the Council Members decided that the first 2 options presented by Williams Aquatics were not worth spending money on as neither one of those options had any guarantee with them because we would be using the same compromised pool and bath house that we currently have. In a perfect world all the residents in town would agree to go ahead and plan a new pool.

The Council would certainly like to be able offer that to Peru but considering our financial condition, we cannot do that. Are grants available? You can apply for them with no guarantee that the state or federal government will have the money to give.  The Mayor would like a referendum on the November ballot but that request would have to be turned in by August 16.

Looking at beautiful pictures of pools that can be built it is very tempting, but then we need to look at the short term use each year for a swimming pool. Also is the swimming pool a playground for the toddlers and mid age kids? Should we also plan on making it a place that advanced swimmers and adults would enjoy using? So it sounds like anywhere up to 6 million for a pool used approximately 70 days a summer. Very much a dilemma and not an easy solution at hand.