Last week when that group was there, the Mayor had said they should come to the Public Works Meeting, the problem being the Public Works meeting had not been decided upon yet and with no further information given to them, the businesses decided to come to this meeting at which the Mayor told them that they had been told to come to the Public Works Meeting and not the council meeting. They tried to explain that they were not given any information about when the Public Works meeting would be.
Are you confused yet? The Mayor then told them he did not wish to discuss this anymore and he even threatened to have one of the business owners ejected from the meeting with a police escort if he continued to try and talk.
Alderman Perez made a motion to open the intersection and seconded by Alderman Mayszak but were voted down by the rest of the council. I do visit the intersection several times a week and it is not getting better when I am there but I do see that there is less traffic but I was told by the Police Chief Bernabei that it was getting better and that there had been no accidents since the change. I said that none of the people who do stop and watch have seen any improvement in turn arounds or uturns but he assured me that a huge number of cars are now taking the N. Peoria return and the problem is getting better. I don't personally agree.
Our city at work is presently an embarrassment! And must have so much sales tax dollars they don't mind those they are losing.
66 comments:
Thinking it's time for the IL Atty General to pay a visit (investigate) Harl and the Peru city govt.
Wow what a joke. I sincerely hope everyone remembers this when it comes time to vote in April.
You can not judge the effectiveness of the intersection based on the number of accidents. Can 11 business owners and 1000+ people be wrong?
Very disappointed in Radke, he has become pne of the old guard Anckwiecz recruited him in, can't stand up for himself and the citizens. How dare he ask for sales records to show prooof? This isn't communist Russia this is Peru Illinois inside the US where capitalism thrives. Good Luck my vote along with many others just left out the window. Vote the old alderman out!!!!!
Of all the meetings have videotape, this one should have been one. Think of the sound bites and snippets that would be available to the public to see just what they are doing? Is any coming?
Then in the paper said that a huge packet of study information was angrily presented by alderman Pottoff, but as I understand it from past posts, Lois was given none of that in her FOIA request? That would mean that the alderman is a liar, or the CAG needs to be notified immediately. It is important to establish a pattern of incomplete and or misleading FOIA requests for the CAG to being the stronger actions that will correct that aspect of the lack of transparency. other issues such as restricting free speech with new proposed ordinance could also be challenged reflecting a pattern of fighting transparency and disclosure. It is important for citizens to document their FOIA requests and the responses received.
Shame on Harl and the City of Peru.
Look's like Peru is going to have more empty buildings in the near future. Way to go Reverend !!!!
If you claim that your sales are down dramatically, then why not show evidence?
9:11 AM
I do believe the manager had the paperwork with him but the mayor was not interested in seeing it.Do you think the mayor might be eating at Mia Margarita anytime soon and then stopping by for a Blizzard at DQ? lol
THE BEST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN IF DQ AND OTHER BUSINESS MOVED OUT ,THEN THE UPTOWN WOULD LOOK LIKE THE DOWN TOWN PERU ! NOTHING BUT PARKING LOTS . THE MAYOR WOULD HAVE ENOUGH ROOM TO PUT UP HIS OWN BERLIN WALL . GOD HELP US CAUSE HARL WON'T !
1000 signatures in two days. Wow. Business must be not too bad.
The DQ manager had the paperwork with him but was told by the mayor that he was supposed to present it at a Public Works meeting which hadn't been established until last night. What I don't understand is - why is this intersection such a big deal now?? The problem with traffic backing up onto 251 has existed for many, many years. I do believe it was a much more serious problem when Wal Marts was located in that vicinity. Yet, this administration did nothing to rectify this problem until months before election??? It's also apparent that no study was done prior to the changes being made because that information was requested by several individuals with no response. I personally cannot believe that our mayor is not supporting or backing local businesses, the backbone of Peru.
your blog is a big problem with the Council meetiings. All you do is stir the pot & keep it going.
9:31 - 1,090 signatures in 4 days. Please read carefully before commenting. Perhaps on a day before this change, he could have had 2,000 customers in that time period. Point is, his business has dropped, and Harl didn't want to see his or anybody else's information. Too bad businesses, Harl doesn't care about you.
This blog is stirring the pot? Are you kidding 9:55? The mayor is stirring it more and more with each passing meeting. He is even getting angry with his own aldermen if they question something that he said or did? He is not the person who presented himself nearly 4 years ago when he wanted support to become mayor. As a citizen who supported him I can honestly say that today he is not that same person who made all his campaign promises.
I have been paying close attention to this topic and how it is being handled. I am shocked that these businesses are being treated this way! You can’t tell me or anyone with some sort of intelligence that these businesses aren’t affected by the intersection change. If they weren’t affected do you think they would be at every meeting voicing their issues? How would Harl or any other ELECTED council member that voted against bringing the intersection back to the way it was before like $300 taken out of his check every week? I am sure if this happened to them they would be just as upset. I have read the local news write ups and have been listening to the radio of last night’s meeting. I am ashamed to say that I voted for Harl and two of the alderman that voted this down. I am disgusted at the lack of intelligence of our current administration and the so called “professionals” of Chamlin and Associates has. I have spoken to someone who attended the meeting last night and they informed me of the responses being given. If these responses are incorrect please someone that attended the meeting correct me. Alderman Ankiewicz states that safety reigns over confusion… please tell me what is safe about heading south on Venture Drive and taking a blind (due to obstructions) left-turn into the DQ parking lot and not being able to see if any traffic is turning right off of 38th Street onto Venture Drive. This situation happened to me last week and I am not the only one it has happened to. It’s only a matter of time before the inevitable happens and someone is t-boned. How about emergency personal maneuvering through this intersection… I heard this was brought up by someone last night and stated that it’s impossible for certain fire trucks to use that intersection. Is that not a safety concern? Chamlin’s solution to this… allow our fire trucks to run over the barrier cones to get around. BRILLIANT! How about fire trucks from other cities? Are they going to be aware of this? Chamlin continuously makes mistake after mistake yet they charge the City to correct their mistakes. Let’s think about this for a minute. The City hires Chamlin to design this area of town, including the intersection that has created all these problems. The original design is flawed due to traffic being backed up onto 251 because the short distance between 38th St. and Venture Dr intersection and 251. Then we hire them to review the intersection and make changes to their original design to correct the backed up traffic and this is what they have come up with, a design that requires our safety personal to run over barrier cones to get to emergencies. If that’s not job security I don’t know what is. I wonder how much of our tax dollars have gone to Chamlin to re-fix their original design throughout the years. When are the people of Peru going to finally wake up? How about the parking lot of Hobby Lobby… who is responsible for the bill when the parking lot needs to be fixed on a yearly to bi-yearly basis due wear and tear from drivers using the private parking lot to make a u-turn? If I was the owner, you better believe I am marching right into City Hall and handing the bill to fix the parking lot to the City of Peru. When does it end? I suggest more of us on these blogs become pro-active in our community and demand to be listened to. We are ultimately the ones who have created this mess by allowing such incompetent members of society become the face of our present and future. The responsibility is on us to make a change and that begins this upcoming spring.
I wonder how many alcohol beverages were consumed before this council meeting? Alcohol does mess with the brain! Prior to this meeting it was publicly known that signatures were being sought at DQ Un regards to the intersection. SO KUDOS TO THE TAXPAYERS WHO MADE IT A PRIORITY TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT THAT THIS INTERSECTION DESIGN IS A JOKE. THEIR SIGNATURES DOESN'T MEAN THEY PURCHASED ANYTHING AT DQ. BLOGGER, DID YOU THINK OF THAT? COCKTAILS AFTER THE MEETING? PROBABLY CELEBRATING THEIR STUPIABILITY! ONLY TWO ALDERMAN HAVE COMMON SENSE IN THIS ISSUE AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA!!!!!!
On top of all this stupid mess by our city officials the DQ manager was asked (last week) by one of our aldermen to bring in in writing proof of his financial losses. He did such but was not allowed to present either his written proof or his petitions. And, the alderman that asked for the proof voted against the businesses. Go figure!
Mayor Harl was so angry that Alderman Perez had dared to have the city clerk place his request to return Venture Drive and 38th Street to its original design, on the agenda that he stated from this day forward no alderman would be allowed to place a topic on the agenda without going through a committee.
He is also going ahead with plans to limit public comments and require any person wishing to make a statement to go to the podium and speak with the excuse that they could then be seen when someday the meetings are televised or live streamed. That is when he stops finding excuses for having it happen. He is so trusting of the people that he will require notification of topic you wish to speak upon for no more than 3 minutes.
And to think when he ran for office his promise was:
"Encourage citizen involvement in the political process, I will listen to the voice of the people"
Sounds like a politician to me!
Lois, have they tried to ban Citizen recording and video taping the meetings now? Have they done anything to try and restrict posting them on a blog?
1:51 PM
OMA allows that any municipal city meeting can be video or audio taped. The Mayor and Alderman know they can not interfere with that.
I have an audio but don't have the resources to put it online and really don't know how.
Nobody cared when Alderman Ankiewicz put the Recreation Commission ordinance on the agenda and I was not in agreement with it. The committee did not agree, but it got on the agenda anyway. I guess this new rule means that won't happen again.
Guess again alderman Mayszak. Rules, I have found, seem to only apply to certain individuals and certain situations. Let's face reality. The troops rallied behind alderman Ankiewicz but seem to oppose you and alderman Perez. However, keep up the good work and fight for what you believe is right. You will be surprised at the amount of citizens who are rallying in support for you and alderman Perez.
I was just told about this blog site and not sure of any rules so I will shoot from the hip.
I have never really followed politics or been to a city meeting in my life, I'm not even a voter, but I feel a need after last nights meeting to take an active role of what is going on in our city. My jaw was dropped and went home with a headache, probably due to my blood pressure.
It was sure clear to me most of those officials were out of touch with what Alderman Perez was throwing at them and the response he was getting from some of the others. Some of the officials only spoke words of either Yes or No, they didn't ask questions or give input of anything, are certain officials not allowed to speak?
One topic the one alderman with blonde hair and sat next to the clerk? This guy was an idiot for taunting Perez to say things negative about an engineering business. I would have punched that guy and Perez kept his composure and put him in his place.
I will be voting against the mayor regardless who runs, I will also vote against any aldermen besides Perez and the lady official. How can I find out who my officials are?
I live next to Parkside School?
Peru is a joke and I'm embarrassed!!
Alderwoman Mayszak are the public works meetings open to the public and if so when is the next meeting? I think if they are open to the public we should all take time out of our day to attend and let our voices be heard.
3:17 PM
Welcome to the Peru Town Forum. I admit last nights meeting was very bad and it has felt lately that each meeting is worse than the one preceding it.
If you live next to Parkside, you should be in the 3rd or 4th ward depending upon your address. Next to Parkside would be west on Church and the aldermen in that ward are Potthoff and Lukosus. Church is the dividing line as is 10th street.
3:39. The Public Works meeting is this coming Monday at 10:00 a.m. in City Hall. You can find agenda items on the city's website. I cannot attend any meetings held during the day because I work at that time. All meetings are open to the public unless they are posted as closed session. You can bring your camera, tape recorder, video recorder or anything else to record the meetings. You can only speak during public comment. I hope more people get interested in attending all city meetings.
Harl ran by saying he was a nice guy and was for the people, he's a nice a-----e. He was nothing but a front for the UNION. Harl never stood up to anyone until now, too bad it is the wrong people. If these were union shops I guarantee that the fiasco on 38th and Venture would not have orange cones telling people they can only turn one way. I predict this idiot will go down in the history of Peru as the worst mayor ever! Shame on you Mayor Harl -- People work hard --- pay bills-- try to run a business and you step on them. I am ashamed to say to anyone that I backed you; however, I will be very proud to say I am never backing you again. Even though I did not agree with everything from the past administration, and belive that 43 years was too long to be mayor --- I MADE A MISTAKE AND APOLOGIZE TO THE PAST ADMINISTRATION.
Didn't Harl promise to get rid of Chamlin if elected? What happened there?
the problem is booze before the meeting and booze after the meeting . they have their hang outs ! harl, bleck, hylla and the rest of the good ol boys . thats when they decide who gets what and who doesn't .
Ok.....this is what we need to do, everyone who signed the petition make a sign in support of the businesses on Adventure Drive and we will all meet up there on a Saturday or Sunday . We will line both sides of the road, like the Furry Babies rally. Lois help us organize this event. Or we could do it in front of city hall. Voice your opinion on this people. Yes or no!
8:59 Do you really think it is the alcohol that is affecting their decision making process? But maybe your right, because I do not think sober people would act like this. What a shame to treat business owners with such disrespect.
I moved out of Peru years ago and now live on the West Coast. I follow this blog to try to keep up with news from back home. I have been reading about this and it brings back memories of why I decided to leave Peru and the Illinois Valley. The reason I left, besides the lack of gainfull employment for anyone with a brain, was because of the utter stupidity displayed by the local yokels. So much emotional stress wasted on a non-issue. The problem with the intersection is not the the number of stop signes, cones, turning lanes, or anything to do with the physical design. The problem is that people from the Illinois Valley are just plain stupid when it comes to driving through intersections controlled with stop signes. People from Peru escpecially are just stupid drivers. I drive through intersections like the "new Venture drive" intersection everyday. Nobody and I mean nobody has any problmes with them out here. A comment was made that adding extra signs was a waste of time becasue "nobody reads signs anyway" was another example of how stupid Peru drivers are. That statement is so far from the truth. Especially when dribing in a new area. People in Peru do everything but drive when driving and expect everything to be the same as it was in 1960. I'm surprised that people on Shooting Park Road are not mezmorized by the fact that the Cars store is missing! One peice of advice for Peru people - leave town and experience how things are done outside your little island. Then come back and change everything becasue everything needs to be changed before Peru has a chance to be on the map.
PS - have the Mayor check the water supply. I think somebody added a bucket of stupid to it.
Lois is there any way you could make a post to gather support for people to attend the Public Works meeting on Monday at 10 a.m.? If Harl wants to begin to take important topics out of the regular council meetings and try to hide them at meetings that aren't well attended, let's make him think again.
Lois is there any way you could create a post to gather support for people to attend the Public Works meeting on Monday at 10 a.m.? If Harl wants to begin to take important topics out of the regular council meetings and try to hide them at meetings that aren't well attended in order to save face, let's make him think again.
6:42 He promised to clean house among many other things.
Hey 5:35 AM..... You can call people names all you want but if you came from this area you are what you are because you grew up and lived here. Is it perfect? No place is including "the west coast". I think it's commendable that people are trying to hold their elected officials accountable and I especially applaud the two elected officials that truly seem to represent the interests of the people that voted them in. I moved from Peru awhile ago as well and like you I'm following this blog to keep abreast of what's going on. I still love the La Salle Peru area and raised my children there, owned a business and was involved in the community. Your right about people still living in the past but I think those days of low unemployment, no war and making the lives of our children a priority were good days. So I say what's wrong with that......... To the people trying to make a difference.....I know it's possible because Mayor Baker got beat by Harl.......now since Harl has forgotten his promises and it seems his common sense it's time to remove him. Take some of the alderman too while your at it because it's time.
West Coast blogger......your right its not the design its the driver. Meeting at 10am on Monday, go if your interested. Just don't whine that you have to work or its laundry day. Most of those who complain are living in the 1960s and also believe everything on the internet is true. Baloney about business owners losing money, don't blame the intersection! DQ is coming out with a 99 cent for the 2nd blizzard. Guess why? The corporate office wants to compete with the great deals that Culvers has.
I think Mr.West Coast is laying in the Korean Grass with the rest of the Fruits and Nuts of the west coast. I would bet the furthest west he's ever been is Princeton. I just find his comments a bit suspicious, being from the west coast and knowing so much about driving through intersections like Venture Dr. All the time. Well Mr. Grape Nut, I have done my share of traveling coast to coast, I have expierenced venture drive and is nothing like areas around the Sherman Oaks Mall area in Reseda, or downtown LA, Balboa, Reseda, Sunset, Blvd. or the Huge LA Galleria Mall. Etc. the Peru Venture Dr. would be a disgrace to the East and West coast to implement. You should lay off the west coast dirt weed and expierence the Ad Venture Dr. Before you comment on it. Wait!!!!!! Let me guess, you were in IL. Over the past month and drove through it?
Anonymous 12:37- I was waiting for someone to call bullsh*t on that comment.. Props to you!
I just came from DQ and came inches from getting clobbered! That place is an accident waiting to happen. For sure I won't be going there again to risk my life. What is it going to take, an injury or worse for the city officials to see a change is desperately needed?
4:36 Pm
At the council meeting Wednesday, Ald. Bob Ankiewicz made a short statement as he stared at Ald Perez, he said "I vote for safety over confusion" and he voted to retain the present configuration of the intersection. I'm betting he would blame you and not the intersection design.
Lois, I couldn't see the car before it was literally inches from me. Won't be going there again.
We need a protest started at city hall.
There petition is not valid. Most
of it was in pencil. A valid petition must be in ink.
Maybe the online petition will matter. Stay tuned.
DQ should cut down the tree and bushes on the corner. It looks like they are in the City Right-of-Way anyway. If they are, they never should have been there in the first place. I just drove through in all directions and that is the only problem I can see. As far as the trucks go - the stores need to tell the delivery people to come in from North Peoria Street.
1:45 PM
I don't think it is the job of the businesses to tell delivery trucks how to get to their business. We used to but we were a very small business.
Most of them have many employees and many delivery trucks at their business at various times of the day. The city has established a truck route through the rest of the city and trucks still get off track. They should have thought of this before they changed the intersection. Semis frequently use the Hobby Lobby lot to rest in for awhile and it does not seem to be a problem. I don't see a sign that tells the trucks which direction to go.
1:45 How can I best say this delicately. You're an idiot.
Glad you assessed this whole situation in your one pass through the intersection.
In a major big box operation, you get trucks dispatched from countless diplomats unless you operate your own fleet, like Wallyworld. You cant get to each and everyone of them and tell them how to drive to an address. It only takes one to cause a problem like the one video taped.
Even if you force a business to remove a part of their landscaping , you still have a right turn with no stop vs a left turner. Many of this left turners into DQ may be people staying down at the hotel, unfamiliar with the intersection, maybe even in the dark. You come up to that place and assume that a car coming from the east on 38th is gonna stop, like your sign says, or at least need to slow and yield, but no they are set to blow right through northward on Adventure. You turn left and bam. It is GONNA happen. Just a matter of time. Unless they shutter the DQ, which seems to be what the alder dorks want.
6:50
Better yet, lets require a valid petition to be in virgin's blood before the King dain the papers worthy of his gaze. If they could be prepared on guilded 3x5 gold foil index cards and scented with lavender, it might also please the King. Perhaps if the King prefers to be served only legal and binding documents, that is just the type of documents he shall receive. Summons , depositions, and indictments seem to be preferred to civil discourse and compromise in Harl's court. So rare to find the Kingdom served by both monarch and jester all rolled up into one bloated steaming bag of operating engineer.
Any ideas, such as telling trucks the directions they are to take to get to a business by signage, should be welcomed and accepted.
To keep referring to what should have been is not solving the problem.
Please do not say the city has no authority to tell a truck how to get to a business as I have seen signs posted "Truck Route" all around the area. If you don't think a city can ban trucks even as small 1/2 ton pick up take a drive on Lake Shore Drive tomorrow.
Please let me know what you got fined.
10:07 here
stupid auto correct feature,
Should read dispatchers not diplomats. We all know there are no diplomats within Peru. Especially where this intersection is concerned.
10:38
So you want MORE signage to solve the problem, huh ? If many more signs, or poles, or flickering streamers are needed, people will have to get out of their vehicles and walk to be able to take them all in.
There comes a point where signage becomes so visually busy it is a safety issue. Cities can designate truck routes, but they did not have to change this intersection to designate a truck route to Peoria street.
Saying how things should have been is addressing the root cause of the problem because it points out the lack of professional problem solving by the current officials. That is necessary for people to realize they need to change leadership.
This intersection is so blatantly wrong it's ridiculous. So what would the real reason be to ignore safety and 11 businesses on that road. Adventure Drive is there for the sole purpose of serving those businesses, yet we as a city are ignoring them. Come on City of Peru, put your egos away and come up with a better solution to this problem. It is OK to admit you made a mistake.
Lois, do you know if the city received any money from the state to get the traffic off of 251?
Alderman Mayzak and Perez thank you for doing the right thing in regards to your support of the intersection change. I use to be proud to say I was from Peru. With the type of decisions being made like this I'm not so sure anymore.
10:22 p.m. So funny! Dripping with sacrasm and so true. Loved your comment!! What does it matter if the petition was in pencil or ink. It's still 1,090 signatures that the mayor doesn't seem to care about.
The best thing to do would be shut down the shopping center and all the other businesses. That way, the idiots from Peru will be able to drive.
9:49 The current intersection is doing its best to drive out the northern businesses. Please give the mayor time, I am sure he has a plan to wipe out the mall too. Be patient.
Was anyone able to attend the meeting this am in regards to the intersection? Wasn't able to take off work to go.
I bet none of those businesses up there are union. Harl doesn't care what anyone thinks, He say's no one is going to run against him.
4:30 PM. Guess again. Somebody is going to run against Harl, guaranteed!
6:20 And they will have a REAL war chest. This is going to get interesting.
The kind of confidence that one creates within themselves that no one is up to challenging them is why some change their title from Mayor to Citizen.
6:20 and 7:56. Do either of you know who is running?
Please get JUST ONE person to run against Harl. DO NOT run 2 or 3 as they will take votes from one another. ONE person will take the election away from Reverend Harl. Use your heads and all work together!
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