This blog is maintained for the sole purpose of allowing the people of Peru and those interested in the cities of the Illinois Valley to express their views.
“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
Our counterpart organization is the Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee and I would like to say to them that our town looks pretty sad and frankly I wonder what the 12,000 people who drive through on RTE 6 think on their way through. Come on Peru you can do better than what we are seeing. Encourage people to stop and visit and not to hurry on through as fast as possible.
One block east and west of Fourth and Peoria Steet on both sides of the street have never looked worse. With the roadwork being done on 6 you would think that the city would take advantage and perk up downtown as the state has done with the highway. Of all area down towns Peru is by far the most unattractive and still getting worse. The Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee is only being used as a branch of city government and given NO finances to do any updating andor development. As business and property owners realize how they are being played they eventually will proceed with motivation of getting retribution from the city for misuse of zoning and millions of dollars which were appropriated for redevelopment purposes and were mishandled. Presently in this economy there are a lot of attorneys looking to make a buck. That is why there have been enterprise zones, TIFS etc. I am sure there is some motivated legal representative which would smilingly say "While Lookie Here and See What I have Discovered Mr. Property Owner".
Whenever one encounters the word "committee or association", it is best to investigate the years of its existence. Also there is a need to look at the years of existence of those who form the committee or association. Just as important is the goals (inner and outer) of the committee or association and each of its individual members.
Also in determining if this committee or association is to be successful is judgement whether the personnel who appoint the organization takes a complete interest in the goals set for this group, enables them to function in a free and positive manner without outside interference, gives them complete backing and follows the laws under which have been stipulated for them to exist.
It appears that LaSalle is approaching its development step by step in a positive manner. It is evident by the appearance of downtown Peru that it is approaching its deterioration also in a positive manner which is resulting in the negative. The newness of the LaSalle organization is working for them. The many years of service by some on the Peru organization is not working for the betterment of downtown Peru. As well as straw ballots, take all the time you want for some and hurry up decisions for others. Plus not following ordinances created for the improvement of the city itself. For some reason there are too many problems in the inner workings of too many organizations in the City of Peru.
Macro nor micro management is not what is being called for, but good old fashioned hands on management is! .
I had an opportunity to talk to a member of the LBA and found out the membership fee is minimal something like $50 per year. Even more interesting is that it is composed not only of businesses that are located in the business district but any business that is located in LaSalle whether they are a grocery store, a gas station, trucking, manufacturing etc. They have involved the entire community of business people to work toward the betterment of the city. Contrast that to Peru which only has the Peru Downtown REdevelopment Committee composed of businesses down town. Just think about what they are missing by not involving the entire business community of Peru. It is unimaginable to believe that this small committee of people with self interest in mind could accomplish what a group composed of business people from the entire town could accomplish. An improved business district is possible but not in the manner it was done in the 1990's. We don't need a cookie cutter setup of stores which is what was supposed to happen but they forgot the individuality of a business is what makes it a success or a failure. Downtown Peru has limited individuality. Not a place for an entrepeneur to set it shop. We do have few who are trying against overwhelming odds. In addition, the Peru committee is pretty much a committee of the city government and maybe that is why we have what we have.
We can all talk about what we would like to see happen but it has to be local Peru business people who would be willing to be a part of an organization that would like to see a better Peru. Are there any out there that are interested in such an idea?
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Our counterpart organization is the Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee and I would like to say to them that our town looks pretty sad and frankly I wonder what the 12,000 people who drive through on RTE 6 think on their way through. Come on Peru you can do better than what we are seeing. Encourage people to stop and visit and not to hurry on through as fast as possible.
One block east and west of Fourth and Peoria Steet on both sides of the street have never looked worse. With the roadwork being done on 6 you would think that the city would take advantage and perk up downtown as the state has done with the highway. Of all area down towns Peru is by far the most unattractive and still getting worse. The Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee is only being used as a branch of city government and given NO finances to do any updating andor development. As business and property owners realize how they are being played they eventually will proceed with motivation of getting retribution from the city for misuse of zoning and millions of dollars which were appropriated for redevelopment purposes and were mishandled. Presently in this economy there are a lot of attorneys looking to make a buck. That is why there have been enterprise zones, TIFS etc. I am sure there is some motivated legal representative which would smilingly say "While Lookie Here and See What I have Discovered Mr. Property Owner".
Whenever one encounters the word "committee or association", it is best to investigate the years of its existence. Also there is a need to look at the years of existence of those who form the committee or association. Just as important is the goals (inner and outer) of the committee or association and each of its individual members.
Also in determining if this committee or association is to be successful is judgement whether the personnel who appoint the organization takes a complete interest in the goals set for this group, enables them to function in a free and positive manner without outside interference, gives them complete backing and follows the laws under which have been stipulated for them to exist.
It appears that LaSalle is approaching its development step by step in a positive manner. It is evident by the appearance of downtown Peru that it is approaching its deterioration also in a positive manner which is resulting in the negative. The newness of the LaSalle organization is working for them. The many years of service by some on the Peru organization is not working for the betterment of downtown Peru. As well as straw ballots, take all the time you want for some and hurry up decisions for others. Plus not following ordinances created for the improvement of the city itself. For some reason there are too many problems in the inner workings of too many organizations in the City of Peru.
Macro nor micro management is not what is being called for, but good old fashioned hands on management is!
.
I had an opportunity to talk to a member of the LBA and found out the membership fee is minimal something like $50 per year. Even more interesting is that it is composed not only of businesses that are located in the business district but any business that is located in LaSalle whether they are a grocery store, a gas station, trucking, manufacturing etc. They have involved the entire community of business people to work toward the betterment of the city.
Contrast that to Peru which only has the Peru Downtown REdevelopment Committee composed of businesses down town. Just think about what they are missing by not involving the entire business community of Peru. It is unimaginable to believe that this small committee of people with self interest in mind could accomplish what a group composed of business people from the entire town could accomplish.
An improved business district is possible but not in the manner it was done in the 1990's. We don't need a cookie cutter setup of stores which is what was supposed to happen but they forgot the individuality of a business is what makes it a success or a failure. Downtown Peru has limited individuality. Not a place for an entrepeneur to set it shop. We do have few who are trying against overwhelming odds.
In addition, the Peru committee is pretty much a committee of the city government and maybe that is why we have what we have.
We can all talk about what we would like to see happen but it has to be local Peru business people who would be willing to be a part of an organization that would like to see a better Peru. Are there any out there that are interested in such an idea?
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