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
Within this controversial article you will find Peru as one of the top 5 cities to start a business.
19 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Let me guess. It is controversial because Peru is in the top five right? I have news for you. It is a well deserved ranking and more business is on the way despite the struggles of the general area. Despite the fact that they need to give up having fireworks on the river front, Peru is well positioned for a bright future.
Controversial is your description of Peru being in the top 5. WHY? You either are or you aren't and happily Peru is. Once again the site chosen for Peru fireworks has become questionable. Those in favor of a different location should now submit the location where they believe would be a better location than the river front and why. They should also state what they dislike about the present site. Is your complaint the CSO annual beer tent which the CSO has now given up and the Peru officials would not have to replace. Unfortunately there appears to be little given back to the city by funds raised by the CSO beer tent and the environment would be better without their beer tent. Yes the river flooding has been the reason the fireworks have been cancelled 2 years in a row but how many years have the the fireworks been cancelled for the same reason in all the years Peru has had the fireworks on the river front? Many other town place their fireworks on their riverfront if they have one. As stated before where would you want the fireworks to be staged and why.
I would not say it a 'controversial" article. They are very clear in there methodology on how they come to the rankings. Peru shines in this analysis primarily because of its location. It is a "hub" city and rises in the rankings because it has a low population compared to the total population the retail industry serves. If the actual rankings took in the total IV connected area population, it would regress to the mean.
There is no doubt that the city has many location advantages, but I think most are of the opinion the current administration has specialized in draining the wealth and haphazard growth.
11:08 You must be an insider because all us outsiders have is words and promises. We are left in the dark and just thrown the proverbial bone once in a while to make us think something is on the horizon. Maybe, if you insiders would be more transparent there would be fewer doubts and fewer negative comments.
If I read the chart correctly we also have the highest unemployment rate. That, to me, is not indicative of a state ranked 5th in creating new businesses.
It is also of interest if you take the figures they used and recalculate and look at 3 , 5 and ten years ago. That shows the Peru decline much better than the arbitrary rating where two major shopping center/ low population cities take two of the top 5 spots.
In this case the trend is more illuminating than the rankings.
8:01 - It would be nice if we had a river front. We have an industrial area that happens to have two saloons. This area is nestled between two railroad tracks. The area is about one city block wide - 660 ft. if you use the rule of thumb. Normally, there is a drop off between the street level and the river of about ten to fifteen feet. This area is filled with scrap concrete. Access to an from the area is mostly limited to the east. Pedestrians traveling north confront a steep hill, impassible on foot for many people - so anyone forced to evacuate the area in a hurry is mostly limited to the east.
while I agree that Peru is good for "business," I would say it is not good for "employment." Most of the business in Peru is in retail - which provides mostly part time low wage jobs.
Keep in mind that this article is "click bait" created for or by Michael Madigan in his war against the governor. It does not discuss the fact that while manufacturing jobs are decreasing in Illinois at an alarming rate - they are growing in Indiana and Wisconsin at almost the same rate.
No 11:45 the article was not created by Michael Madigan. Read it again. Google it. Stop with your idiot conspiracies. Peru ranked 5th. You can argue all you want but that is how it turned out on this one.
You facts about manufacturing jobs decreasing here at the same rate they are increasing in Wisconsin and Indiana tells us one thing and that is where you get your news. Wisconsin has higher taxes in general than in Illinois, despite the political rhetoric you read. Manufacturing jobs have been leaving the US for years for obvious reasons and Illinois had far more of those jobs, thus the larger increase as manufacturing jobs leave the country. It is not just because of Illinois, despite a number of significant flaws in our state.
12:03 - you are wrong and not worthy of further comment. Except for this:
"In the most recent data, manufacturers contributed $2.09 trillion to the economy. This figure has steadily risen since 2009 when manufacturers contributed $1.73 trillion. The sector accounts for 12.0 percent of GDP.1 For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.37 is added to the economy, the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector." Source, National Association of Manufacturers and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. In other words, your comment about manufacturing jobs "leaving the us" might have been correct ten years ago. No now; keep up with the times.
Since the official end of the recession, Illinois has only regains 17% of the lost manufacturing jobs. Indiana regained 70%, Iowa 51%, Wisconsin 55%. The biggest single factor that keeps manufacturing jobs from returning to Illinois is the oppressive workman's compensation costs. I'm assuming your definition of "taxes" does not include this. But, there is fear among business that the state's only option to remain solvent is to increase income tax, property tax, and just about every other tax. This is due to decades of mismanagement by Michael Madigan and the Chicago Democrat Party - Including our own contributor Frank Mautino.
20 years from now when we look back at the History of Illinois, it will be remarked that Michael Madigan and the Chicago version of he Democrat party lead to the ruination of the state.
Is it possible to change our state constitution to prevent anyone that was born or has lived more than one year in the 100 mile radius around downtown Chicago from holding any public office or working in any way shape or form for the government? These people cannot be trusted with running government. There is something inherently wrong with that part of the state. You could give the Pope an office in the Thompson Center and within one year you will find something he has done that could send him to prison.
That entire part of the state needs to be treated like an occupied territory with government officials and workers brought in from other parts of the state to run things. We just can't trust those people up there!
Why is Peru the highest in unemployment? How could Peru possibly be ranked 5th with the highest unemployment? Makes no sense. If Peru is so good for business, and we have so many businesses, why the high unemployment. This article is a joke.
3:53, if you click on the link that Lois provided and scroll past the state rankings you come to the article about Peru being #5. Click on the link that starts "for a more detailed....." and the chart comes up showing Peru has 7.9 unemployment. Peru has the highest unemployment of the top 22 cities.
To those seriously unemployed my empathy is with you and pray that you experience immediate employment. To those who have gained some expertise of the system and exist in living off of unemployment compensation avoiding any form of work and sweat may you be put to work. The unemployment rate has been one of the traditional standards of the economy and is a extremely important statistic. To judge a area and its employment ability I believe that a active track of the number of jobs available be accumulated for the same area. The comparative number of unemployed to the number of jobs available would be a useful tool.
The unemployment rate and the number of businesses are not directly proportional. You need to look at the type and size of the businesses. Peru is mostly retail.
Considering how they calculate the "unemployment rate," 8.2% is unacceptable and indicates a ill economy. The "unemployment rate" essentially only counts people that are drawing unemployment insurance. It does not factor in people that can only find part time work (aka Peru IL retail establishments), people that retired before they wanted to, people that have given up and are living on odd jobs for cash. It does not count the size of the active work force.
When all of this is factored in - the actual unemployment rate in the Illinois Valley, or Starved Rock Country, or whatever they are calling it today is closer to 20%! That is 2 out of every 10 people are not working as much as they want to! 2 out of every 10 people can't get by on what our local politician call a "vibrant economy." The LaSalle County "well being index" is only 3 out of 8 possible points! We have a 19.8% poverty rate! The income of what is considered a poor person fell by more than $8,000 in 2013!
No my friends. Don't fall for the baloney posted in that "click bate" news report. LaSalle County Illinois and Peru Illinois are not a good place to live life - unless you are already established!
19 comments:
Let me guess. It is controversial because Peru is in the top five right? I have news for you. It is a well deserved ranking and more business is on the way despite the struggles of the general area. Despite the fact that they need to give up having fireworks on the river front, Peru is well positioned for a bright future.
Controversial is your description of Peru being in the top 5. WHY? You either are or you aren't and happily Peru is.
Once again the site chosen for Peru fireworks has become questionable. Those in favor of a different location should now submit the location where they believe would be a better location than the river front and why. They should also state what they dislike about the present site. Is your complaint the CSO annual beer tent which the CSO has now given up and the Peru officials would not have to replace. Unfortunately there appears to be little given back to the city by funds raised by the CSO beer tent and the environment would be better without their beer tent.
Yes the river flooding has been the reason the fireworks have been cancelled 2 years in a row but how many years have the the fireworks been cancelled for the same reason in all the years Peru has had the fireworks on the river front? Many other town place their fireworks on their riverfront if they have one. As stated before where would you want the fireworks to be staged and why.
I would not say it a 'controversial" article. They are very clear in there methodology on how they come to the rankings. Peru shines in this analysis primarily because of its location. It is a "hub" city and rises in the rankings because it has a low population compared to the total population the retail industry serves. If the actual rankings took in the total IV connected area population, it would regress to the mean.
There is no doubt that the city has many location advantages, but I think most are of the opinion the current administration has specialized in draining the wealth and haphazard growth.
11:08 You must be an insider because all us outsiders have is words and promises. We are left in the dark and just thrown the proverbial bone once in a while to make us think something is on the horizon. Maybe, if you insiders would be more transparent there would be fewer doubts and fewer negative comments.
If I read the chart correctly we also have the highest unemployment rate. That, to me, is not indicative of a state ranked 5th in creating new businesses.
It is also of interest if you take the figures they used and recalculate and look at 3 , 5 and ten years ago. That shows the Peru decline much better than the arbitrary rating where two major shopping center/ low population cities take two of the top 5 spots.
In this case the trend is more illuminating than the rankings.
8:01 - It would be nice if we had a river front. We have an industrial area that happens to have two saloons. This area is nestled between two railroad tracks. The area is about one city block wide - 660 ft. if you use the rule of thumb. Normally, there is a drop off between the street level and the river of about ten to fifteen feet. This area is filled with scrap concrete. Access to an from the area is mostly limited to the east. Pedestrians traveling north confront a steep hill, impassible on foot for many people - so anyone forced to evacuate the area in a hurry is mostly limited to the east.
while I agree that Peru is good for "business," I would say it is not good for "employment." Most of the business in Peru is in retail - which provides mostly part time low wage jobs.
Keep in mind that this article is "click bait" created for or by Michael Madigan in his war against the governor. It does not discuss the fact that while manufacturing jobs are decreasing in Illinois at an alarming rate - they are growing in Indiana and Wisconsin at almost the same rate.
No 11:45 the article was not created by Michael Madigan. Read it again. Google it. Stop with your idiot conspiracies. Peru ranked 5th. You can argue all you want but that is how it turned out on this one.
You facts about manufacturing jobs decreasing here at the same rate they are increasing in Wisconsin and Indiana tells us one thing and that is where you get your news. Wisconsin has higher taxes in general than in Illinois, despite the political rhetoric you read. Manufacturing jobs have been leaving the US for years for obvious reasons and Illinois had far more of those jobs, thus the larger increase as manufacturing jobs leave the country. It is not just because of Illinois, despite a number of significant flaws in our state.
12:03 - you are wrong and not worthy of further comment. Except for this:
"In the most recent data, manufacturers contributed $2.09 trillion to the economy. This figure has steadily risen since 2009 when manufacturers contributed $1.73 trillion. The sector accounts for 12.0 percent of GDP.1 For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.37 is added to the economy, the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector." Source, National Association of Manufacturers and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. In other words, your comment about manufacturing jobs "leaving the us" might have been correct ten years ago. No now; keep up with the times.
Since the official end of the recession, Illinois has only regains 17% of the lost manufacturing jobs. Indiana regained 70%, Iowa 51%, Wisconsin 55%. The biggest single factor that keeps manufacturing jobs from returning to Illinois is the oppressive workman's compensation costs. I'm assuming your definition of "taxes" does not include this. But, there is fear among business that the state's only option to remain solvent is to increase income tax, property tax, and just about every other tax. This is due to decades of mismanagement by Michael Madigan and the Chicago Democrat Party - Including our own contributor Frank Mautino.
20 years from now when we look back at the History of Illinois, it will be remarked that Michael Madigan and the Chicago version of he Democrat party lead to the ruination of the state.
Is it possible to change our state constitution to prevent anyone that was born or has lived more than one year in the 100 mile radius around downtown Chicago from holding any public office or working in any way shape or form for the government? These people cannot be trusted with running government. There is something inherently wrong with that part of the state. You could give the Pope an office in the Thompson Center and within one year you will find something he has done that could send him to prison.
That entire part of the state needs to be treated like an occupied territory with government officials and workers brought in from other parts of the state to run things. We just can't trust those people up there!
Why is Peru the highest in unemployment? How could Peru possibly be ranked 5th with the highest unemployment? Makes no sense. If Peru is so good for business, and we have so many businesses, why the high unemployment. This article is a joke.
Did you notice the NT left out the bad part of the article about the high unemployment rate in Peru? Wonder who paid to get Peru in the top 5?
2:29, show me the documented facts that Peru has the highest unemployment rate of all the surrounding cities.
3:53, if you click on the link that Lois provided and scroll past the state rankings you come to the article about Peru being #5. Click on the link that starts "for a more detailed....." and the chart comes up showing Peru has 7.9 unemployment. Peru has the highest unemployment of the top 22 cities.
LaSalle ranks #82 and has an unemployment rate of 8.2%. Ottawa ranks #92 and has an unemployment rate of 8.0.
To those seriously unemployed my empathy is with you and pray that you experience immediate employment. To those who have gained some expertise of the system and exist in living off of unemployment compensation avoiding any form of work and sweat may you be put to work.
The unemployment rate has been one of the traditional standards of the economy and is a extremely important statistic. To judge a area and its employment ability I believe that a active track of the number of jobs available be accumulated for the same area. The comparative number of unemployed to the number of jobs available would be a useful tool.
The unemployment rate and the number of businesses are not directly proportional. You need to look at the type and size of the businesses. Peru is mostly retail.
Considering how they calculate the "unemployment rate," 8.2% is unacceptable and indicates a ill economy. The "unemployment rate" essentially only counts people that are drawing unemployment insurance. It does not factor in people that can only find part time work (aka Peru IL retail establishments), people that retired before they wanted to, people that have given up and are living on odd jobs for cash. It does not count the size of the active work force.
When all of this is factored in - the actual unemployment rate in the Illinois Valley, or Starved Rock Country, or whatever they are calling it today is closer to 20%! That is 2 out of every 10 people are not working as much as they want to! 2 out of every 10 people can't get by on what our local politician call a "vibrant economy."
The LaSalle County "well being index" is only 3 out of 8 possible points! We have a 19.8% poverty rate! The income of what is considered a poor person fell by more than $8,000 in 2013!
No my friends. Don't fall for the baloney posted in that "click bate" news report. LaSalle County Illinois and Peru Illinois are not a good place to live life - unless you are already established!
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