Peru Pages: Harl War chest – Flush with funds, purpose unknown
All voters in Peru should be aware of the fund raising efforts of a man who was just re elected in April. I recently heard that the most successful mayor in La Salle Cty, Mayor Bob Eschbach of Ottawa has done no fund raising since his election and has done the best job of any mayor in the same county. Is there a correlation? I see one, he is concentrating on what is right for his town and working with the people who elected him.
When my source for this info, reads the blog, feel free to make any corrections.
95 comments:
I wonder if Mayor Bob will move to Peru in a couple of years??? PLEASE!!!
Several years ago, Mayor Don Baker, was the guest on the Ottawa radio station with the topic being city promotion. It was the most interesting interview I have ever heard on the subject and considered a clinc by many who heard the show. When the program time came to a end Mayor Baker was telling M.C. Dan Parker that he still had alot more ideas to express and that he would have to come back.
One interesting comment Mayor Baker made was that if he could not get a corporation to locate in Peru but could help get it to a other area nearby he would because it would help the entire community.
Mayor Eschbach has followed Mayor Bakers traits of being very agressive and hands on which has worked for both and their cities successfully.
I do not like it and I do not like his policies, but I will follow his orders
Therein lays the paradox. Should we go down the slippery slope of limiting campaign donations, it would be an attack on the First Amendment. Something I would vehemently oppose. However, it can be assumed that every donation given to a politician comes with the expectation of quid pro quo. So what is the average person to do about it? We could demand the government pass laws to limit campaign donations. But that is not right. We could do away with campaign donations all together. But that would limit the available candidates to the wealthy. Arguably that is the case already, but in theory, a poor man could run for office given enough donor support.
One thing that is possible on the local level is to directly question our employee. After all, he does work for all the people, not just the benefactors Mr. Foster pointed out. Since he has effectively squelched public comment at council meetings, I would suggest that everyone sit down and wright a letter to Mayor Harl; an actual letter on paper with your signature. Address it to his residence, not his office. Ask him why he feels it necessary to aggressively solicit for donations when the next election is years away. Let him know you are keeping an eye on his campaign fund and City expenditures. Point out that no other mayor in the area has such a large fund. Ask him for a written response explaining his point of view. Continue writing letters until you receive a response. It is important that his response be in writing. The other thing we must do is carefully watch City expenditures. We should question every appearance of a potential quid pro quo. Point them out to the council. Once again, public comment at the council meetings is all but impossible. Letters and phone calls are appropriate.
My opinion? Since he knows he won with only 35% he is going to have to try extra hard for next election, assuming it becomes a 1 on 1 race. According to the numbers he was defeated, but unless we get organized he will still win.
How about those annonoymous donations? Names? businesses? Where is Harls transparency here? And people have the gull to blog negative things about annonoymous bloggers. I'm digging this.
Anon 10:42 The banding together of a group of concerned citizens willing to work for one agreed upon candidate will be the deciding factor of winning or losing in the next election. Even if Harl slots a third candidate to offset the election if the group is politically savy and the candidate is strong enough and willing to run a platform to win and he confronts the mayor on issues he will win. In the last election he won by 9% of the vote over the next leading candidate and 10% over the following candidate and 23% over the fourth.
Harl realizes this as well as we do and I do not expect him to be a candidate for another term for Mayor of Peru if any public office equivalent to or higher becomes available to him in the Democratic Party.
What happens to the money in the warchest if he decides not to run or gets beat and there is money left?
I wonder if the City ever wrote a check to a business as "consulting fees" and then that business wrote a check to the Harl warchest? Possible?
5:28 PM
You post the suspicions of many who backed candidates other than Harl. I am sure he would love to move on up to higher office but not sure he has the qualifications to do so.
Anon 9:17 Atre you really not sure that Harl has the qualifications to move on up to a higher office. Since when does qualifications have anything to do with it? What are the qualifications you are speaking of?
Remember that he has won the last two elections he has participated in and do you think he is qualified to be mayor?
11:23 PM
If you have been reading the blog you would know what I think of what he had done here in Peru. If antagonizing over 50% of the residents is an accomplishment,he has done that. Qualified No, please read the heading of the blog, running and being elected for office should not be for personal aggrandizement or ambition.
John, Public comment is on the city agenda every meeting. In fact it is on the agenda twice, read the web site. You are playing the both sides again. You like the campaign donations. In fact have generated enough of those from your special interest groups. And you ask for a explaination from Mayor Harl? You give the advice but crticize the outcome? Your already a master at politics. Personal aggraandizement was a good term for your hidden as well.
That is why I call it a paradox Mr. Intolerant. No one can prevent him from accepting donations from certain groups. However, if he knows enough people do not approve of his benefactors, perhaps he will stop soliciting funds from them. Let me put it another way. What would happen if a candidate for high office accepted a donation from the KKK and it turned up on the donor list? We would find that unacceptable. We should also find it equally unacceptable for a donation from a city employee, union, or contractor showing up on the list. It should not be illegal, but we should find it unacceptable and call him on it while adjusting our vote accordingly.
You are correct about the public comment portion of the meeting. My point is that the rules the mayor has put in place made more difficult. That is why I used the term "effectively squelched."
Your really must learn to read and think before reacting.
I have also heard today that the Merry Noonan Concerts for a Cause were not too successful this time in terms of profit and more like a big loss. Just talk. I don't know.
I want to know from our aldermen if they are going to be parking attendants at all future concerts at the airport. Or will we have to start paying "volunteers" to do so or maybe include it in the job description of our employees?
Will it be August when we see who donated to the recent golf outing to harl?
I would like to see the campaign contribution list of all candidates in the last local election.
John, did you actually say Union in your reference to non-acceptable campaign contributions? Or employees? Does the voting public care or have any idea about campaign contributions? Public comment has been utilized on many videos. Don't see the reference to "effectively squenlched". Please post actual campaign contributions and the relationship to donor-candidate. I admit to being naive in this small area and look to you for factual examples of this practice.
In a bit of a hurry so I have not proof read this carefully. Forgive me.
The list is public record. All you have to do is go to the Illinois State Board of Elections web page. Select candidate disclosure and search for Mayor Harl's information. Campaign funds are required to report every colander quarter. The web page has the exact due dates. The reports are for the previous quarter only. If he golf outing happened recently, the donations and expenditures should be reported in September.
"Effectively Squelched" was in my 8:36 AM, July 21, 2013 comment. By all means, turn in a card and ask a question at the meeting.
Annonoymous donors?? Names? WHERE IS TRANSPARENCY?
Just finished reading newspaper page A3 about standard fire department rescuing some boaters on two occasions over the weekend. Standard returned to station at 9:41 p.m. Is this Jeff King mentioned(address unknown) by sheriffs department , our (perus) fire chief? if so, isn't he on Perus River Rescue? Who knows anything?
A 65 percenter
About hiring an engineer. Harl, Waldorf and Potthoff attempted to explain that they would have liked to hire 2 very qualified individuals but felt the City could not afford it, and since the job description cited a PE and experience working with IDOT, they ultimately chose one. Those in power finally have exposed some of their thinking. Since that thinking is so flawed, I can well understand why they try to keep the public from knowing too much. It is difficult to believe Harl, Waldorf, and Potthoff when they say they are trying to save the citizens of Peru money thru this process. If they really did want to save the City money and make it more efficient, they would do exactly what they say they couldn’t. And that is to hire both individuals at a salary of $87,000 per year each.
And why is that? Consider this: The civil engineer has virtually no experience in day to day public works operations, but has adequate knowledge of motor fuel tax engineering and other civil design projects. He is intelligent and probably a fast learner. The runner-up appears to be exceptionally qualified to handle day to day public works operations, but cannot legally be responsible for the design of public engineering projects.
Chairman Waldorf stated that the engineer hiree, being only one individual, could not be expected to take on or design large size projects. That is not entirely correct. The engineer hiree could be expected to take on and design the IDOT/General Fund Annual Street Maintenance Program. This year’s program totals about 1.5 million dollars. Last year’s was also well over 1 million dollars. To me, that is a large size program for such a small town. The program consists of much paperwork, but very little, if any, engineering plans. The town engineer in LaSalle does it. Why can’t he? These programs take approximately 4 to 5 months of one persons time from start to finish.
Now about money. The two new employee salaries would total $174,000 per year, give or take. I do not know what Mr. Bleck’s salary is (I for one believe that whatever it is, he deserves it). For argument purposes, let’s assume its $74,000 per year. Under that assumption, the City is dishing out an additional $100,000 by hiring these 2 individuals.
Now the up side. First of all, you have hired 2 men that know what they’re doing. Consulting engineering fees for an annual $1,500,000 maintenance street program is hanging around 12 to 15%. Therefore, the consultant’s fee would be approximately $180,000. Deduct that from the $100,000 cost to the City as explained above and then all of a sudden the City is approximately $80,000 in the black or to the good. Not only that, the engineer hiree has spent only 5 months, more or less, on the program, and therefore, has another 7 months of the year remaining to design or work on other engineering projects which, in turn, will result in additional cost savings. While all this is happening, the City’s public works department is being supervised daily by a competent hands-on manager.
I believe that Lois was trying to get to the core of this matter during her public comment questions to Harl and Alderman Waldorf. But of course, they brushed her off with irrelevant and simplistic explanations. Certainly Harl, Waldorf, and Potthoff did not want to go into any details regarding the coziness of the City’s relationship with their present consulting engineering firm and what impact they might have had on the hiring process. That might be too awkward to explain. Best to keep citizens in the dark and out in the cold. I can only hope that the 65% will stand up and vote again in the upcoming aldermanic elections and also in the next mayoral election; only this time with a more vigorous, wiser and unified voice.
An individual donation needs to exceed a certain amount before the detailed reporting requirements kick in. I’m not sure what that amount is, but I think it may be $250. However, the aggregate amount must be reported as non-itemized. There is a link to the state board of elections on the right side of the main page of my blog.
People should not be allowed to go boating on the river. It is dangerous and they can't really be trusted to boats safely. Boats should only be allowed in approved locations under the direct observation of the DNR.
610. Wow, yet another colorful post. By all means, lets ban everything.
4:45, Well said.
6:10, Balderdash! However, I would support the government charging for the rescue. My only basis is the article in the paper. That report makes it sound as if the stranded individuals did not practice prudent navigation.
If the concerts were actually for a cause, a true charity concert, the terms of the artist could be negotiated. Most A list acts are between 300 and 750 k guarantee. Most for profit concert venues use sponsors to essentially pay for almost all variable costs and the venue, in exchange for advertising. The main risk is ticket sales to cover the band minimum. An entertainer can waive that minimum for charity.
There is also a large revenue from sales of concessions, which are the main source of profit at many venues, or the main charitable donation at fundraisers like farm aid or other real fundraisers. It is hard to know if any portion of sales from concessions go to the named charity at these Concerts for a Cause. The City Ordinance seems to read that all proceeds go to the promoter last I read it. It is a poorly written ordinance from a liability standpoint.
Using Kid Rock as an example, I believe his performance with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra sold only 5000 tickets but raised over a MILLION dollars. The one at the airport here raised only estimated net of 10 to 20 thousand in Wholesale computer costs with almost twice the tickets sold. When it's a real fundraiser, artists kick in massive portions of their revenues. TUG may or may not have helped out. No way to know because it's all closed.
From a legal and liability standpoint, it seems to be a hot mess, and I have no idea why the city gets so deep in it without having it be a complete open book charity with full audit, like farm aid or even Cops for Cancer.
Weird things are the norm here. And nobody cares. All the alderpersons smile and love it. Even Alderman Perez seems to think all the city support of these concerts is right and all is on the up and up, and he seems to want tighter money trails of everything. They are popular concerts, lots of votes at stake I guess.
I think 6:10 was being facious! Person was just asking a question about newspaper article.
You would think when and or if a person is affiliated with a river rescue organization that they would know the channel of the Illinois river being on a recreational boat if it was perus fire chief that blogger 4:24 was asking about. And blogging about boating safety last might on the news starting January 1st Illinois will have a new law about intoxicated boat drivers will lose their drivers license for a year just so all you boaters know. . Safety first!
Jeff King is not a member of the Peru River Rescue.
65% your review of the tapes is misleading. Another misleading conspiracy by the King of Conspiracy looking to improve his less than desirable political aspirations. Harl spoke to compliment both candidates, the city actually hired one! He also mentioned that the public works committee and himself did interview candidates. That is expected. There is no mention of a private engineering firm in the process. Another theory without any validity. Another worry is that you have some inside that you have access to employment records of the individual hired. You mentioned that the individual has no experience in public works? Again your theory is less than true. From reviewing the meeting it looks like the city is going in the right direction with this process.
Its a much better process than having a few candidates that put up some election signs hoping to get the job based on their affiliations, and without any practical knowledge, education, experience.
Stick to the upside. Its much more believable. Mayor Harl mentioned that the candidate is a licensed engineer with experience in public works. Put away your conspiracy and let this highly qualified individual do the job he was hired to do.
8:13 the concert audit is available at the City Clerk's office. Most enjoy the concerts. Some big name preformers in our small town. From all indications its a big win for the community. Ms. Noonan takes a big gamble and works very hard to bring these venues to the area. Why have such a dismal outlook?
10:00 AM
If the new hire was only interviewed by Mayor Harl, Ald. Waldorf and Lukosus, that is one scarey thought to contemplate. I would be more secure if they had had Eng. Mike Perry in on the process.
DIVE TEAM 12:10 a.m. Though. Does peru river rescue and dive team work together?
When the mind is a little woozy people's navigational skills do become aloof 7:15. Boating safety should be whereas all who are on a boat should be cautious as to the markers in the water and on the shore(green and red) to stay in the channel. Safety first. Surprised that the DNR wasn't called for assistance. Glad nobody was injured.
65% Ald. Waldorf mentioned large scale projects like sewer seperation. The motor fuel tax road program was a example of how the city would save with a in-house staff. It's funny how one can tip the discussion to benefit another conspiracy for their own benefit. I guess if you throw enough crap at a fan it will stick somewhere.
Why was Venture drive re-coated again this year? Two years in a row?
Council meeting last night? The intersection is a joke. Need to have cameras to confirm this, and change it back. Last week was up there twice and both times people were doing u-turns and not obeying signs. The orange sticks were knocked down!
12:29 PM
No meeting last night.
Agree on the intersection, 2 cones down and I bet the third will now be the target. Venture Dr looks like it was just recently redone but sorry that does not improve the intersection. Continues to look like a poorly designed experiment.
@8:45. It would not be a surprise. Is that funneling money? Money laundering? Since taxpayers don't get questions answered we have a right to blog the possibilities.
10:08 the reasons for the dismal outlook have been clearly stated in the past. I have yet to see one study showing the increased bump in sales tax, entertainment tax for the concerts, or a statement that clearly shows how the oroceeds are distributed to charity. There is much more leakage to Chicago and LA than and than influx on revenues, unless nobody from the area goes to them. Look at where the major portions of revenues go. The consumers who support such a charity have the right to know how much of their hard earned money is going to the named charity.
I would be 100 per cent behind the concerts if they were simply thrown as for profit concerts, and the city had always been compensated fairly for the labor, safety support and venue.
It is the dubious use of the term charity Or benefit or fund raiser concert that makes it unacceptable. It is the lack of cash audits that make it unacceptable.
To be honest, I do not care about the risk an entrepreneur voluntarily takes to make money. That's why they do it and why they take the risk. That's their choice. They bring only a prideful boast and big name talent to our airport. Lots of flash, BS but no substance to address real long term problems here. Just like the mayor. I can see why they see eye to eye.
1:17 you poor soul. Do you think anybody who purchases a ticket cares about the charity the concert promoter chooses? No. Give her credit where credit is due, its her choice and I appauld her for giving money to local causes.
Why such a dismal outlook? Something fun for the community and you want to throw darts. I bet you were against soft-serve ice cream when it came to the Illinois Valley.
blogger of possibilities. Are you for real? You believe you have a right to make accusations about individuals. Your talking about money laundering and saying its your right to make this accusations?
2:27, 1:27 got a bulls-eye playing darts. And I agree with 1:27. I feel you 2:27 quite possibly may benefit somewhat personally from these concerts suchas with a free pizza and beer. The city and taxpayers in actuality have been ripped off with these concert. Perus taxpayers shouldn't be responsible to supply/donate computers through a concert for a school. Wasn't school who benefitted from another town????? Please correct me if I'm wrong 2:27.
2:27 I think many people who buy tickets for a concert for a cause, or benefit concert of any kind do care about how much is going to the charity or cause. That is why most private businesses usually specify how much, or clearly state all over the place only a portion of proceeds go to x cause when they fund raise. A lot of times, when the portion of the proceeds comes to light, people are shocked or disappointed that they supported something where such a small amount actually goes to the charity. Sometimes they actually sue, in class action like the recent Lady Gaga suit. I just would not want to see the city dragged into a hot mess like that. Cities usually try to avoid getting that deep in a private business.
In this case there are many implications that it is primarily a benefit concert. That is just wrong. That is all I am saying. The promoter and often the press presents it publicly as something that it is not, and then seems to rely on people like you to say its ok cause no body cares , and some charities get something, and the promoter takes a risk so its ok.
I never said it is not fun. I never said the promoter does not work hard. I never said the promoter does not deserve money. I never said people did not like the concerts. And I like soft serve ice cream.
Ad on radio has been changed and now states a portion of proceeds to benefit Peru Little League.
Question doesn't the taxpayer already fund little league with cell tower fees? Now we fund it with these concerts also?
It takes a village.
5:58 each player pays a hefty fee to play, concession revenue, 50/50 tickets(is this illegal gambling?). At least some revenue to city for upcoming concert. Peru should be getting ALL proceeds for every concert. People don't buy tickets for these concerts to donate$, they want to see concert. It's my opinion that these concerts are promoted as charity in order to get the big name singers to come. It would be interesting to hear the sales pitch to the performers booking agent. It's also my opinion these booking agent are under the assumption that ALL proceeds go to charity. How about all concert proceeds go to pool fund until money is raised for one!!!!!!!!
How much money is PeruLL receiving from the Tim Mcgraw concert? How much does the promoter pay to use the airport and who does she have to pay it to? Does the federal government have to get paid so much money to have the concert at the airport as it is pretty much all federal money that build it?
Who currently owns the cell tower in the park, how are the fees determined and is Little League receiving the $8000.00 (?) a year from the City?
If Peru Little League is a 503c and receives funds from Concerts for a Cause are both organizations required to report the "donation" somewhere to the IRS?
5:58 You state the ad on the radio has been changed...what did it say originally?
9:30 - the concerts are not organized as a 503c. As far as the IRS is concerned it is a business. Peru Little Leage is an actual charity and they file a form 990 with the IRS. You can download a copy and read it if you want. They have quite a bit of money.
Did they collect sales tax on all the drinks at the concert? I don’t like the idea of all this use of cash at bars, taverns, and now concerts. Peru has home rule power. Mayor Harl and the Council should dictate that all drink sales be made with a credit card or debit card. All they have to do is say it and we will get the maximum tax out of all that drinking. Really, this is the 21 st century. WE need to stop allowing people to use cash. Cash costs the government money and it is hard to track.
9:30 I do not think that the private business that runs Concerts for a Cause must report any donations, but most business do report their charitable donations because it helps them on their taxes. They do not have to share that publicly , I am not sure of your point?
Illinois is on paper a pretty strict state as far as fundraising, requiring any professional fundraiser to file. Since these concerts are a separate and distinct fundraising activity, I am pretty sure they would file, so anyone could see what percentage of revenues collected were going to the cause. If they are saying only a portion of the proceeds go to charity now, in the past they did not, so anyone could see how much they used to give in past years compared to now.
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There is nothing illegal about a private business fundraising, the state just tracks it. You technically could only give a penny off every dollar and still say you were fundraising for a charity, with the charities permission. At our retail store we checked into it with the state and as long as the charity funds did not pass through our funds, we did not need to file. That would mean if you sold an item for charity purposes, like we did for Katrina help, you needed to have the transactions for charity go directly to that fund. Like having a collection box at the register. Otherwise, they wanted the forms filed.
9:24.
Peru LL is receiving money from the Brantley Gilbert concert, the money from the McGraw concert goes to the March of Dimes.
7:28
Treasurer's report from 2012 indicates the $1.00 ticket charge and the police security were paid from the checking account of Lou's LaGrotto Pizza not a specific Lou's Concert for A Cause. It is possible different accounts exist but my point is maybe many (not all) dollars are passing through one business account. Furthermore Illinois and the Attorney General is only strict on the "books" for show not on actual enforcement.
9:30 WHAT is a 503c? Please if your making judgements have a little knowledge of tax filing. Why would the concert promoter file as a charity, she is giving the donation not receiving the donation.
7:28 The concerts are not a seperate fundraising event, the promoter simply give some of the proceeds to the charity. They would not be eligible of file as a charity. Do you file as a charity if you give your local church a weekly donation? No, your church does because they receive the charity.
Alonso-stop using cash has been a governement tool for many years. Home rule power will not allow officials to eliminate cash. Many former bloc-nations reverted to the elimination of cash as a means to suppress and control economic interest. Follow Germany, Russia, and many others. The results of elimination of cash is.....socialism. Who would get those cards? Not the working people.
Peru police/security were paid from Lou's checking account? Would that mean that the owner of Lou's writes that off as a business expense? Which would entitle the business to pay less on taxes. I believe cops for cancer has their own checking account as stated in a newspaper article. Why doesn't concert promoter have a separate checking account just for concert venues? Is this a way to play with the IRS and taxpayers? Wouldn't surprise me if a IRS audit isn't forthcoming. Along with the city being involved with concerts.
10:06
Why would the concert promoter complete official documents that indicate event type: charity concert? If you are making judgement maybe you should have knowledge of the history of these events.
Also explain how the concert promoter was able to make a donation to a charity in the first place-why because of funds raised b/c of the concert. Is she a fundraiser or a private business? Furthermore I believe Ms. Noonan is only a "manager" in Lou's Lagrotto and has zero ownership in the business which could be another huge liability issue to the City.
If the concerts did not exist she would not raise funds to donate to the charity; hence it is easy to conclude the concerts exist IN ORDER to raise funds to donate to charity.
What is the Schweickert Trust Washington Park tower trust?
10:24
You are not a business person nor have had accounting classes. Let's make this easy for you. Why would a business have to file a seperate tax form? It is a business that promotes the concert. Would you expect her to file sperate tax forms if she sold pizza for carry-out as opposed to dine-in? Please refer to common sense. Cops for Cancer is a Charity and has filed as that. As a business owner she may be eligible to write off expenses, its part of the tax code. You mentioned a seperate checking account. That has no relevance to anything. As a example you may have a seperate checking account for your neighborhood grass cutting business and a different account for your paper route, the IRS could care less. Nothing illegal about having seperate accounts. Nothing illegal about the placing proceeds in the same account. Please refer to your local CPA for clear clarification about your tax returns.
10:49 Please refer to your local attorney for legal advice. Liability would be for the courts to decide. I don't believe ownership or non ownership would have any basis for city liability. In today's world anybody can sue anybody, many believe the city has liability with you riding your 3 wheeler through a park. Liability is a broad issue. I would predict that the concert promoter has to carry liability, dramshop to have the event. I am sure this has been done.
You have challenged the charitable aspect of the conert, the legal liability, the tax code, the benefit for Peru that includes ticket sales and parking revenues. Not to mention sales and hotel tax for the surrounding community. Maybe its time to relax and enjoy the fun. Not everybody plays pickelball.
Harl war chest? Well, I think the salary is about $30,000 a year for Mayor of Peru. Personally, the job looks to be worth much more. The job of Township Supervisor and Township Clerk(about 20 minutes a month in meetings) is paid more than the Mayor salary. If Mayor Harl wanted a real political job he should of run for either of those Township jobs, he won't need much of a war chest for those positions. Who knows what those campaign donations are for, maybe the next term, maybe for expenses not paid for as a result of being Mayor.
10:06 I believe that it would classify as a separate fundraising campaign. The concerts are distinct and separate from the normal business operations, and their very name implies that they are a fund raiser.
Again, there is nothing wrong with professional fundraising. The burden of filing the fund raising forms is not that big of a deal.
I did get a kick out of the extreme reaction to auditing cash. You can still use cash and issue tickets, which give a tight count on sales. When you fund raise its just a good idea to be transparent, that's all I am saying. There is a tangible marketing benefit called goodwill, and it should not be falsely created. I had a marketing manager at my old company say how can we get sued for giving a million dollars for green causes,and the lawyer replied because we say we are giving two million.
And I don't play pickleball. Prefer eating soft serve ;)
I still don't like the idea of all this cash floating around. The city should hire some inspectors to look through the books and watch the businesses to make sure they are paying all the sales tax. Maybe 5 or 6 CPA's that report to the city Treasurer. They could randomly review the books of all the businesses in the city. They could also do special inspections on bars at night and count all the cash and make sure it is accounted for in the books the next day. That way the city will be sure to get all the money they deserve. It is their money after all.
11:51
No I am not a lawyer. I am curious though how the City can have a contract with Ms. Noonan dba Lou's Lagrotto if Ms. Noonan has zero interest/ownership in the business? Illinois Liquor Commission license states Ms. Yankee has 100% ownership, one would think the contract between the City and Lou's would be with Ms. Yankee not Ms. Noonan...for liability. It appears I need the assistance of an attorney, a CPA, an insurance consultant, and Jesus Christ himself to fully understand these events.
It's my opinion that to have a fundraiser for charities and it's promoted through a business, that the business owner is profiting from event. That's wrong, due to the fact that a large percentage of people are unaware of this, who buy tickets under the impression that all monies made after expenses paid go to charity. Which seems not to be true for these concerts. Also, why doesn't the concert promotors allow other businesses to rent a space for a booth and sell their food? And a % of their sales is donated? Why not? Because concert promoters personal profits would be significantly lower. Booth rental? $250- give that $ to the city to have put into pool fund. At least peru would benefit a little more then it does. Seems nobody is using their brains.
After reading all above comments which are well thought out and from knowledgeable individuals I think it is best to backtrack a few years and realize where much of the problem began?
Simply the local government proceeded to involve itself with a private business which claimed to be donating revenue to charities from the profits of concerts at a publically funded airport. Many incorrectly mistook that 100% profits accumalted from the concerts were being donated.
The city government also spent $25,000 to prepare the airport which the Mayor declared that there was no need for the promoter to pay the city back. The city also gave up the rental income of multiple farmland so that the concert could be conducted at the airport which becomes a yearly loss.
Please correct me if I am mistaken and add on any information which I have not included. Personally I consider the promoter to be a very good business person but Peru city officials are not knowledgeable as a group to partner in this kind of endeavor. City tax dollars (our tax dollars) are funding a private individuals business venture.
Alanso....maybe the city could hire a bunch of people with special uniforms to check business and ask for those receipts. Are you crazy or just a promoter of socialism causes?
1:07 you must be from the same school as Alphono! Why would Ms.Noonan allow others to sell food, drinks? She is the promoter of the concert. If she loses money should she ask the city, special charity, new booths to pay a portion of her loses? I bet John Galt would lose his mind.
B-I-N-G-O. Where is Alderman Pothoff? The business sensible one of the club. Shocked that he let this slide in the first place and continue to slide. The sled has to come to a stop.
I think Alanso might be a little waxed, but 1:07 has a good point. Just looking for more revenue for the city 1:57.
1:57. Finally!!! Someone with a brain and an understanding how a FREE MARKET SHOULD WORK
424-yes it was our "fire chief", my question is this-If he dosent know his own address, how does he know where the fire station is? Are we not required by law to carry indentification on our person at all times? Sounds fishy!! Possible cover up?
1:44 somebody from City Hall with some business background must have put-together the best deal of all. $1.00 for each ticket and $5 for each car. The concert promoter is paying for security, stage, potties, promotion, and everything else. City benefits most from the concerts.
Don't know of anybody who goes to a concert with the expectation that all is going to charity. If thats the case than the last concert according to sources would be a loss for the charity. The charity would be expected to pay the difference. In factual terms the charity is receiving a nice donation.
Your figures of $25,000 that the city paid to get the airport ready for a concert must have been covered up? That was never discussed in the newspaper. Is that figure accurate or another selected memory moment? The limited space that was formely called farmland would not amount to anything close to the city take on farmland.
If Ms. Noonan has no ownership and is the concert "promoter" she chose the vendor Lou's Lagrotto to provide concessions? How is this not an ordinance or grant violation? How can she or the City give exclusive rights to Ms. Noonan at a federally funded airport? What if the pool committee or Boy Scouts wanted to sell hot dogs and soda?
the article 2:58 from what I remember is that Standard Fire Department didn't know address of the Jeff King mentioned. Now, that you blogged it was our fire chief(perus), how could standard fire station not know that he is from peru at least, let alone perus fire chief? Why wasn't DNR called? This incident was on the river. Doesn't seem right 2:58.
How about little league selling and profits to baseball organization? Or booth for peru pool fund. Etc...
A fifth grader could figure that's a good possibility 2:58. What does BUI stand for?
Anon 3:52 PM A couple of years ago city hall agreed to $.50 per ticket and thought they were the Bill Gates of concert promotions until Christy stopped them dead in their tracks and embarassed them so severly that they went back to Ms. Nonnan to plea for another $.50/ticket to increase city take of a $53/ticket to see Kid Rock to a $1/ticket. Even though the ticket price increased for the Tim McGraw Concert the $1 share for the city did not.
You can thank Christy for 1/2 of the amount that the city gets per ticket.
The $25,000 is a accurate figure which is the figure the promoter was to pay the city but the debt was forgiven entirely by Mayor Harl.
Did you mention someone from city hall with a business background put together the best deal of all?
How many more concerts do you think some of the alderman, ex alderman and city clerk will want to donate their time and efforts to park cars.
As a concerned citizen I nor Anon 3:13 PM don't have selected memory moments or favorite WINK episodes but if you need any city hall has more than enough to spare. Actually too many!
I'm not 2:58 but on the news a couple nights ago they were saying that a BUI IS BOATING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OR BWI BOATING WHEN INTOXICATED if I remember right. And that would be a loss of drivers license for a year. As far as concerts are concerned, it's a nice thing to have but it's also a shame that the city doesn't profit more then what it does. Maybe the city should promote these concerts with some if the ideas blogged above and increase its revenue. Would be great, maybe we would get closer to having a pool.
Don't most people have cell phones with them? Spotlights? flares? DNR will give a boater a ticket if not in compliance. It's on website.
5:06 you are right on and accurate with everything you write. I wonder too how many more concerts the aldermen and city clerk will want to donate their time to park cars. August 3 should be another hot day just like the McGraw concert.
i agree with 446, it dosent seem right! You would think all surrounding fire department personnel would know who the fire chief of Peru is? (didnt they all report to him during the Westclox fire?). Maybe our fire chief indentified himself with his badge instead of his drivers license-unlike us "every day common folk" who would have to produce a Illinois indentification card at the very least! The mayor should be very proud of his appointee!! Maybe 258 is on to something about a "cover up"! it makes you wonder??
I do believe all surrounding departments know each others fire chief as being there are mutual aid calls, stags/smokers, etc... It's understandable that a wallet was left at the scene but a person who is a fire chief of a department is going to give his name and position as such to a fire department in which rescued with their hoovercraft. Wallet would be rescued also unless boat sank, which didn't happen due to the fact as paper stated 6 inches of water on top of river mud.
2:49
The basis of a free market system is competition; perhaps you should research your understanding? I am curious of your reasoning when Lou's Lagrotto claims exclusive rights and is the only vendor on site blocking others to enter the market?
Anon 9:13 Anyone can approach the city about having a concert and should be given equal opprotunity . The only limitation which I would consider justified is that the city would not do a double booking on the same date with two different promoters. As for booking dates for a city facility first come first serve would be the best way to go. Being that it is federal finances that have built the airport the present administation has backed themselves into a legal corner if they okay one person and refuse another without legal justifications. Especially since red flag after red flag was made evident to all city officials. It is time to ask and listen to Attorney Schweickert he has over 30 years experience as City Attorney and is extremely knowledgable.
913. Start your own concert, you can bring in whatever vendor you like. The concerts were started in eagles parking lot, now stop complaining and get to it.
Anon 8:04 The first concerts were at the Eagles Club parking lot and the La Grotta. Sorry that you knowledge is so limited that you consider jugement of government representation as a complaint directed at the concert. It appears that you may know something that the rest of us do not since your feathers were so easily ruffled or has more of the truth come out than you want.
I have been involved with concerts the only difference was that they were always on private property not public grounds such as the airport. There are alot of promoters in this world and more concerts than just the airport in fact those out of town give a full performance time wise. Most of the at the airport are abreviated in comparison to normal venues.
9:13 get r done
8:04 I don't know. Seems like a lot of work for 5 k. I think I'll just have two bake sales instead.
Cookies fer charity. Wonder if the newspaper will kick in support?I'll need volunteers. Getterdone!
9:02 Still don't know what your argument is, do you even know anymore? How many tickets were sold for the Tim McGraw concert? 6000+? Sounds like over 6000 people voiced their opinion on having concerts at the airport, something a blog loaded with anonymous bloggers will never achieve.
4:07 spoken by the anonymous blogger saying that when you throw a drunk party with A list talent people will show up. duh, what YOUR point?
Why dont you say why the concerts are good for the city, what the city benefits from it? There are always lots of detailed Logical reasons why it is wrong expressed here- but nothing but cries of conspiracy, claims the bars are a hoppin, puts the city on the map buzz words from the pro concert folks. Why does an event that likely generates 700,000 in revenues have trouble donating 5000 dollars? What don't you explain why the city forgives debts and bends over backwards for it? Why did the city need to be forced to charge? Why are all the incidents at the concerts swept under the rug? Answer the questions instead of attacking anonymous bloggers ... All while doing so ANONYMOUSLY.
Anon 4:07 The concert takes business out of Peru it does not add business to Peru. I understand you cannot take anything into the concert grounds such as food, water, soda.
Tim McGraw charged $800,000 to come and left with how much? The airport is miles away from any businesses in Peru. It will be interesting hearing you reply to Anon 5:04's questions.
More fantasy from 9:14. its funny on how many express facts in numbers when in actual terms your not even close. That applies to many of the comments expressed on other anon blogs. Your just not worth the time and effort of any valid explanation.
11:12 nice way you say you don't understand leakage or the multiplier effect of tourism dollars. But you are real good at just dismissing the statements of others that are absolutely economically accurate. Not worth your time and trouble to defend, since people logically just ASSUME a big event does not cause leakage.
The revenues generated by these concerts consist of ticket sales and concessions. The major expenses are the band fees and the stage rental .
The attendance is mixed, with IV people spending their hard earned dollars that would stay in the area with an estimate of 70 percent of those dollars leaving with the artist and the Chicago Event company Some Concert goers visit, but the same high percentage of their dollars never see our Local economy. The only dollars that do are for local contractors (toilets, booze,food) and for discretionary spending by tourists outside the venue. The hotel motel bump is also weak, although it was a little stronger for Kid Rock. It still made no sense at all when Hylla tried to justify the investment with hotel motel taxes.
It is not like it is a tourist attraction where the spent dollars remain in the economy. The estimate is over half the attendees are locals. You need roughly 70 percent non local to start to break even. Too much of the spending leaves with non local artists and contractors.
When you look at the sales tax bump, it is weak. That means the visitors are day trippers and not spending as much as imagined at bars, restaurants and gas stations.
They are purportedly spending a great deal on concessions and liquor on site at the concert. But the sales tax is not rising as expected. Maybe you can explain that? Lots of cash only sales during that event.
Only the profit is guaranteed to remain here, something that hardly ever seems to happen, they are always barely breaking even. And the local sponsors are spending local money to help pay the expenses with local dollars that flow out of the community.
And that profit I thought was supposed to go to charity.
How deep do you really want to get into this? Better to just bitch about the radicals who whine on the blog.
Anon 5:12 Appreciate you very through explanation. 11:12 comment is now all the more non worthy. I don't think we will be hearing from 11:12 until he comes out from hiding. 11:12 not only does not understand leakage or multiplier effect of tourism dollars he does not even know there are such items.
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