Our Economic Director, Bob Vickery, once again at Finance brought up the businesses interested in coming into Peru and it appears there are 4 or 5 corporations interested in building more senior housing within the city. Homes a bit larger than the Stough Group homes and to be built in the northern part of the city. They are looking to build on approximately 5 acre plots, to the north.
Many of us realize that they probably see the right market for their products in senior housing in La Salle Peru. Seniors also desire to have nearby groceries and medical facilities and possibly drug stores that include other amenities. So we will need to wait and see what is built if any housing does become a reality.
And on the other end of the spectrum is the question of how much money should be put into "decorating" Route 6 businesses. Mayor Harl prefers banners instead of flower baskets and I am sure that is what we will see along the route. Vickery is working with businesses to develop a facade improvement program and at the current time, Peru will put in $25,000 toward a 50/50 city/business payment for whatever is decided upon. I would like to see the Peru side of the Route 6 Tourist Assn. began to put their minutes on the Peru city web site, since we will be adding dollars to the program and actually does involve city property.
And on the A-Unified lawsuit, I am told that the N.T. had an article last night which states the city now has the title to the property at a cost of $250,000 approximately plus court costs. But the company has no money and what are the court costs?
33 comments:
I just received this post under another title and it fits perfectly into what I posted about Senior Housing coming to Peru.
Anonymous said...
You can have the best school system in the United States, but if there aren't decent paying jobs for people whom have or will be having children, aren't going to move to this area. With this being said a park district would be an added plus, or at least a outdoor swimming pool. All this is higher taxes. It's fully understandable that our elderly don't want or can't afford higher taxes and neither do I. I know a person who has 45 rental properties in the area of peru and surrounding towns/cities, this tells me this area is going nowhere. I myself will be moving out of peru in the next five years, and my house will probably be bought by a real estate investor and become a rental property. College graduates are not returning to their hometown of Peru. I have three college graduates and one who works in the trades. My three college graduates work and live elsewhere. Only so many people will be hired in the sand plant industry/marajauna plants.
12:59 PM, August 22, 2014
Let me see if I have this right. We sold the old power plant to A-Unified for $1 and they were going to tear it down. We took them to court for failing to complete the task and we won? All this cost us $250,000 plus court costs? However, we got the title back to the land? What a deal!!!
Somewhere and somehow people are going to have to make up their minds to what they want and what they want to give up to get it.
One must recognize that if you have the best school system in the United States you will have a overabundance of high paying jobs as well as decent paying jobs and everyone will be wanting to move to this area.
Higher taxes will run parallel with the success of the area and those younger will pay them to have a thriving updated city. Presently Peru taxes are so low in comparison to the burbs that it is understandable why we have become so outdated in infrastructure, park districts etc. that college graduates leave Peru. What would it take to get a 4 year university in the area?
Did Harl say why he prefers banners instead of flower baskets? There are plenty of towns that have beautiful hanging baskets and have volunteers who know how to take care of them. Obviously the city workers in charge of watering the baskets in downtown Peru this summer didn't know what they were doing because a good percentage of the baskets died. If we have enough money to pay a lobbyist, I think we have enough money to pay somebody who knows what they are doing to water the flower baskets.
3:12 PM
very good point.
The Trib tried to put a happy face on the cluster poop the demolition was and is. They ended up spending what they could have spent on a real quality demolition contractor without pulling the fake one dollar liability switch to TRY and get away from environmental liability.
There was so much wrong with that project. It really was a great example of abuse of home rule and giving a low budget, non environmental approach to City responsibility.
Too bad our sloppy city attorney didn't get the million dollar bond he was supposed to do and told the council he did , we'd be several hundred thousand dollars ahead . But our incompetent city attorney lied to the council and said it was all taken care of .
Would someone who truly knows state what actually transpired in the demolition of the electric plant?
What were the actual quotes to demolish the electric plant?
Did it cost more or less than these quotes?
How much did the city officials think it would cost and what was the final total cost?
How many bids were submitted to demolish the plant?Presently from what can be figured the demolition cost should have been $500K and the city paid approximately a little more than $250K which is a total savings of close to $250K. Doesn't sound like a bad deal for the city.
Anon 7:59 PM Pretty strong accusations. I doubt if what you are saying is true that the council would continue to leave him be CA.
10:11 PM
Plus court costs, that information I believe could be foia'd. I have no idea how much that is.
So, what happens to all the new senior housing when the baby boom buble pops and it is no longer as profitable to operate these developments? Our population is old right now, but skip forward 15 years. We don't have new people replacing those that die.
So if more senior housing developments are made, Peru will have a brief surge in population. Boss Harl would like that because of the additional tax revenue. But what happens when fewer and fewer people move in to replace the dearly departed? I have some thoughts about that.
The facilities are hugely profitable. They are owned by private equity companies that good at making money by minimizing costs. Units can't sit empty. So I believe as the population shifts, consolidation will naturally happen and the units will be sold off. My guess is they will become low income housing- mainly because or "leaders" don't think beyond next year and certainly not into the next decade.
Good schools and parks come after the good paying jobs. Don't put the horse in front of the cart.
The only thing the government can do to influence business is to play with the taxes. New York has a program to encourage new businesses. It is essentially zero state and local taxes for ten years. We need a program like that. In addition, we (Peru) could one up them by offering any employee that relocates to Peru (because their employer moved to Peru) zero local property taxes for 5 years.
I believe a program like this would bring in younger professionals and help raise the collective IQ of the Illinois Valley.
Somehow though, I think our "leaders" like things just the way they are. They don't want a more intelligent electorate and they don't want ideas from the outside interrupting their cash flow.
Ha ha. Meant to say cart in front of the horse :) I hate typing on telephones ....
Good schools come before the good paying jobs and they also create many good paying jobs. To attract you have to have something to show not vice versa.
Never, never, never trust a scavenger or a junk dealer. They will look the property over and drool at the items they can make money on and all along make promises that are hard to turn down. Trust is only for honest people. I had warned an alderman before this all happened that the city should get a very large surety bond because I was screwed over by a junk man in the past. You all know the old saying 'live and learn' and sometimes we never learn.
The issue is that the city spent in time and effort much more than 500 k. And it always has shared the environmental liability for cradle to grave regarding the asbestos, heavy metals and mercury. The newspaper article stated that two other firms quoted over 500 k to do the job right. Haul the construction debris where it should go. But the city used an old trick of selling the property to try to get away from the environmental liability.
The first "contractor" was completely unqualified, but was caught I believe and forced to get rid of asbestos properly. They grossly underestimated the true cost.
The new contractor came in, and they also could not make money and do the job in an environmentally responsible way. so where did all the fill end up, all the debris. The city will say, not our problem. We sold it for a dollar to some clowns.
If the debris ends up God knows where, not Perus problem right? Debris from a coal fired plant clean enough to be used as fill? Would be the first time anywhere. Its why they have seminars and meetings about the difficulty in decommissioning coal plants. But around here, any old constriction company can do whatever they want. Nobody cares or asks questions. They are called conspiracy theorists.
Maybe , as Lois said, all that can be proved or disproved with FOIA, but from Kristys recent experience, the city might just say no thanks, don't want to tell ya. High security issues right? Protecting Water street from the suicide girls or something.
12:11 First off, please define good schools. I think the Peru school system is great.
Secondly, the local population will not tolerate any increase in taxes. You must remember the generation that they are part of - very narcissistic and short sighted. So, given this climate, how do you fund your definition of good schools? It is a challenge. Any changes or improvements need to happen within the current revenue stream. Choices need to be made about what is important and what is not. Unfortunately, many of our school administrators have a skewed view of what is important- wasting millions of dollars on sports facilities comes to mind. I am willing to bet that if the school boards hired business men with MBA's instead of educators with PHD's as superintendents, things would be much better.
We obviously can not create Naperville in Peru in a short period of time. It takes many many years and a a long term plan. We need to start by incentivizing business. We can't offer them a Naperville experience. But we can have an influence on their bottom line by suspending commercial property taxes for a number of years, subsidizing and reducing commercial and industrial electric rates - this might require an increase in residential rates. Finally the commercial and industrial water rates should be lowered.
Peru has a history of being "Penny wise an Pound Foolish."
Anon 9:48 explain what you mean by that statement?
The city attorney was asked over and over by ever council member at separate meetings while the contract with A-Unified was being discussed and after their defaulted and skipped town . He always said we had the bond and didn't have anything to worry about . He's a liar and a fraud . Not to mention a crappy attorney sucking this city dry for decades !! One of Boss Hurls campaign promises was to replace him . I guess money in the pocket is more important than campaign promises .
Anon 11:48 I am not 9:48 but Pound is a British monetary unit. If you substitute $ for Pound the saying becomes familiar. Another saying was Penny smart Dollar dumb.
another way to say it is that Peru trips over dollars trying to pick up pennies. The power plant demolition is a classic. They thought they figured out how to game the system. But, on average, our council, mayor, and city department heads are just not really the sharpest tools in the shed.
That's in a nutshell 1:36 referencing to your last sentence
136. Hang in there and run again. You can't lose forever.
3:52. I have not run yet. You will know when I do because the gloves will be removed.
Anon 10:50 AM Run, Run, Run, you are what Peru needs. Someone with a fire in their belly! For a number of years Peru has filled political offices with man eating tigers until elected and than they all prove to be pussycats.
Why is this area so focused on senior housing. Typically they have fixed incomes. They need more healthcare services, but it seems like most people leave the area for medical services. That means are area is losing this money to other towns.
I am waiting to see which town decides to focus their efforts on young people and families with community living with bike paths, parks, and more than bars open past 10pm on Friday and Saturday. Young people look for a quality of life that revolves around their interests and schedules.
Famous last words "I am waiting"!
3:54 Because our leaders are short sighted. The average age in LaSalle County is in the 40's. Most of the voters are in their 60's. This is a self correcting problem though. Unfortunately we will need to suffer through it for another couple of decades.
How true 3:54. I have been having this concern for many years regarding what you mentioned. Why do so many people go to Chicago, Minnesota for health care when there are three hospitals within 20 minutes of each other?
6:59 PM - Our local hospitals are nothing more than "shipping centers." Despite what their marketing departments say on the radio, they don't have advanced life saving capabilities.
I've been to the Peru and Spring Valley hospitals recently and find both to be highly proficient with outstanding services and very courteous personnel.
9:04. That is true. But they are not trauma centers. They can only handle basic surgery. Peru does handle joint replacements, but is not critical in my mind. If a local patient that is on dialysis treatment has to be hospitalized for anything, they must go to Peoria because they don't have dialysis treatment at the local hospitals.
We should DEMAND a trauma center at a minimum.
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