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
Why don't they ever publish the old cost? I'd like to see the amount of the increase. I'd also like to know how many people that work for the City are allowed to smoke and if they are paying a surcharge like they should be. How many medical pot smokers are on the city pay roll? I'd like to see a breakdown of the workers portion of the cost along with the terms for co-pay, etc. It sounds like I'm being nosy, but you give up some of your privacy when you have a guaranteed taxpayer supported paycheck.
Subject: Brian Towne's SAFE Unit LaSalle States Attorney Brian Towne has become subject to question over his creation of a highly proficient SAFE Unit created for drug enforcement of Interstate 80 within LaSalle County. States Attorney Towne is under question as to his legal ability to have a enforcement agency under his own wings. Not having a law degree I can only judge the question with my own common sense and life experiences. Utilizing these two attributes I find Mr. Townes effort to stop the drug trade as a outstanding use of his office. This illegal practice should and must be stopped and all concepts to stop it should be employed. How can anyone defend a practice which is illegal, harmful, and spreads to other crimes to support it? The only reasons I can think one would support it are that they are users or in some form are making a living off of the drug trade. Anyone who has experienced a family usage or death because of usage is against it. Anyone who has suffered through the usage or has had a family member killed because the usage of drugs by others is against it. Anyone who has not had a direct contact with illegal drugs but has someone close that could be exposed is against them. Brian's case is going forward to the Illinois Supreme Court and he deserves the utmost support in his quest to stop one of if not the most dangerous illegal activity in the United States. When seeing Brian a pat on the back with a handshake Thanking him for taking on those supporting illegal drug activity and/or partaking activity in it I am sure would be appreciated.
10:05 - I disagree. Part of our founding principals are that people are innocent until proven guilty. Brian Towne is confiscating money and property based on the suspicion of a crime being committed. Furthermore, the manner in which these stops are conducted conflict with the 4th and 5th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Lastly, it is the State's Attorneys job to prosecute the cases brought to him by the various police agencies. He has no legal authority to create a dragnet private police force to "crack down" on violations of specific laws. In my opinion, he is using this loophole in the law in order to fund his agency and get votes. I am confident that the Illinois Supreme Court will close this loophole.
11:10 AM I disagree also. Thomas G. West a professor of politics at the University of Dallas and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, "By contrasting the Founders' ideas of liberty and equality with today's, West persuasively concludes that contemporary notions bear almost no resemblance to the concepts originally articulated by the Founders". When quoting someone from the 1790's you must consider that there was no thought of cars, interstate highways and constant testing of man made laws by those who practice illegal activities and often times are pardoned because of loopholes rather than the use of common sense. Please refrain from using the constitution and amendments to defend illegalities, this is not its purpose and never has been. You, myself as well as the States Attorney have every right to make a citizens arrest if the situation demands.
REMEMBER; Dot your i's and cross your t's and spell off correctly not "of" or some poor unfortunate drug dealer will not understand and his lawyer will get him off without a penalty. The law should not be built upon safety and fascism but rather upon whether the deed is right or wrong, good or bad.
shut up 5:05. This is a blog, not an English class. When typing fast on a mobile device, errors occur.
As far a Brian Towne and his Pinkerton Detectives go. I'm voting for anyone but him. Time to get the Democrats out of LaSalle County and I'll start with anyone that supports the Bill of Rights.
The lights on the downtown Peru lampposts look great! Even city hall is decorated a bit. With the addition of lights at Maud Powell and Pulaski Park, along with Westclox, one can drive a couple of miles and see Christmas lights the whole way. It's so nice to see Peru moving towards the things that make a town a community.
@6:55 PM Why would a educated person type at a speed rate on a mobile device that would cause them errors? It would be more professional to be correct than to search for band-aids. Any form of error made by a Republican is a strong support of the Democrats. Sorry but true.
Not much has been said about and there has been no photograph in the paper of a ribbon cutting of the latest and greatest opening of a new business in the Route 6 development. A video gaming operation has been opened in property where a drivers license business had been. This is in a building owned by Peru's Director of Business Development, Robert Vickery. How many additional liquor licenses to gaming parlors have been issued in the last 2 years? How many employees and at what pay will this business in the Business Directors Umbrella increase the city by. Great job director bob you have really got the city growing. Keep it up LaSalle's getting ready to take another chunk out of you.
11:34. Who cares? These businesses will fold on their own. The market is saturated with little slot machine parlors - most of them will fail and things will get back to normal.
What we need is the government to provide incentives to have most, if not all, the old buildings on Route 6 in Peru demolished. They are useless buildings and will only attract things like the slot machine parlors, hookah parlors, pawn shops, etc. In other words - the "Old Downtown Peru" is Low Rent.
Route 6 is not really viable for any significant retail development. Incentives need to be put in place to make it attractive to the owners of these rat traps to tear them down. We can get creative here and pass laws requiring significant "safety upgrades" to old commercial buildings. Make it unprofitable for he owners to continue to rent to low brow businesses. Then provide an incentive to demolish them and replace them with modern office structures. Let them go property tax free for 20 years if a lawyer, doctor, or other professional is leasing or owns the space. Need to get the school on board with this also. Essentially - redevelop "Old Downtown" as a professional district by abolishing all property taxes for the type of business you want to see. This will cause professionals from all over the Illinois Valley to relocate to Peru in NEW MODERN OFFICES.
Lastly - the council needs to pass a resolution removing the name "Downtown" from Route 6 in Peru. It is NOT "Downtown" anymore. Like its move from Water Street - "Downtown" has shifted north. "Downtown" is now on Shooting Park Road. "Uptown" is near I-80.
Your post contradicts every other city surrounding Peru that is thriving. How about the huge new brewery going into downtown Ottawa? Have you driven through "downtown" La Salle lately. I was in one of those old dilapidated blgs in La Salle yesterday and could not help but admire the beautiful tin ceiling and the remodeled surroundings. Looked so much nicer than any new bldg. and full of customers too. The bldgs are not Peru's problem, it is the way we have allowed property owners to dessicate them for many years.
That "brewery" going into "downtown" Ottawa is a restaurant and bar that happens to brew their own craft beer. It will most likely fail in this region due to costs and low numbers in the demographic that frequents trendy brew pubs. But more power to them.
Retail and leisure business will not help in the long term development of this area. We need to attract professionals. One way to concentrate them in Peru is to have modern office space. So, while LaSalle is catering to the candle shops, book nooks, and beer pubs, Peru can capture the doctors, lawyers, accountants, and engineers.
We are saturated with retail and there is no market for further expansion. Concentrating professionals in one area will case momentum. Possibly expand the old downtown to the west with the trendy little brew pubs and restaurants you seem to like.
11:27 and 4:29- Your negativity is unfounded. I think the Tangled Roots brewpub will do quite well. Even though the whole concept of a brewpub is a little high brow for this area, I believe there is a fairly sizeable local demographic that has been waiting for a venue like this to open. Coupled with the ever increasing tourist population, I think it is a recipe for success.. It is a shame Peru isn't capable of attracting forward thinking businesses.
4:29 That huge new brewery going into downtown Ottawa is going to cause a huge new dent into some of the areas largest amount of old money. When the costs of building a micro brewery start to roll in most of us will have no idea of of the piles of cash it will take. Knowing this you can understand that the business will not survive on $1.50 16 oz drafts, in tandem with this specific circumstance you must realize that a $10 glass of beer is not in any demand either. But 4:29 we now reach the point where the road splits or shall I say where your opinion and my opinion of the customers and bars of LaSalle County conflict. There are very few $1.50 drafts in a dive bar type of people if any in LaSalle County and what you base this assumption on would be interesting to know. Yes some bars have a night of the week in which they discount their product but this in no way cheapens their business or their customer. The recent investment made in Ottawa of the Ottawa Boat Club where the Fox meets the Illinois for under a $150K appears to be the outstanding purchase made in the liquor and beer business in LaSalle County in many years. Fantastic location, very, very small investment for what they are getting, unlimited potential.
10:57 You know your stuff. May I add that if Peru had people who would enforce existing laws instead of looking the other way or making another law to do nothing downtown Peru would start on being upgraded. Of course remember the money makers have invested in the north end of Peru and they want a return before death and it is a hell of alot easier to do this if downtown is neglected. Downtown Peru has never appeared worse and multi million investments and the most expensive land in Peru is placed under a TIF as a blighted area. Now everyone teach your children to share, be honest and always obey the existing laws.
Anon 10:57 AM to elaborate upon your last sentence: "The bldgs are not Peru's problem,it is the way we have allowed property owners to desiccate them for many years." Very true and if you added in the Peru city government you would be even truer. The sidewalks all slope downward from the buildings to the curb. The recent snow displayed a long existing habit of snow not being safely handled. The snow turned into choppy ice in front of the former bank now owned by a out of town company. Nothing has been in this building in years since Amcore relocated and for years the city had its entire sidewalk from in front of the building to the road blocked off with 8' cyclone fence. When the previous owner of the building was having the front painted the former Building Inspector interfered with the painters. Sad since this was the only money spent on 4th street in years. This building plus most of the property behind all buildings for the block could have been purchased by the city for $29,000. Next door to the bank is a dilapidated apartment building. These apartments do not have both ingress and egress. The apartments have had a unlimited number of incidents but yet still are allowed. More than one fire on the stairway,several domestic disputes with children present and injured, one person passing away because of huffing plus not having ample parking for each tenant etc., etc. This is another building owned by a out of town individual. The front of this building was not shoveled also. What happens inside this property can be high lighted by the night 3 Peru Squad cars were in front of it along with 2 Peru ambulances and 2 more county police cars. The address of this apartment building can be seen in the Police reports frequently as can the apartments on the west end of the block. If the writers memory is correct it seems that illegal drugs are a frequent problem. Also a out of town owner. Who is responsible for cleaning the sidewalks for buildings with out of town owners and who is responsible to see it is done? Speaking of sidewalks the parking spaces in front of the business buildings were not plowed and turned into choppy ice also. Now I am smart enough to know that the street is not owned by out of towners and the city receives approximately $14,000/year to $16,000/year to maintain, plow and remove snow from IDOT. This does not mean plow the snow onto the sidewalk. Since 4th street is only 2 years ole there is very little maintenance. Towns which receive a compensation to maintain, plow and remove snow on state roads going through the town are very happy with this agreement and live up to a outstanding job. Peru deposits this money it receives from IDOT into the General Fund. Maybe you didn't know that Peru received this amount of money from IDOT for the mentioned purposes but don't feel bad most of the aldermen did not know either the night they were questioned and told in public comment by a gentleman in attendance of a council meeting.
416,000 maintain and plow and remove snow from the roads and this does not mean to plow it onto the sidewalk. Presently the city is making it impossible to do business on the side of the block mentioned. This is only one side of one block in downtown Peru. Of course this is not a blighted area and should have not been considered for a TIF by Peru's government when million dollar new buildings located in North Peru were in so much more need. Decisions made by local politicians are proof that you don't need a gun to rob the bank. Amen Brother, Amen.
the city should demolish the entire block from peoria st to fulton st on both sides of rte 6. not one of those buildings should be saved. build all new offices.
Mad and really Mad about squad cars going up and down 4th street? Is there a alternative route you would prefer without stop signs that can cover the entire city?
You note about robbery and the city failure to purchase property. Why didn't you buy this great deal of the old bank? It was as you said only $26,000. I am tired about complainers that want our government to do everything for them. You don't like the apartment owners? If it truly is dangerous it should be renovated or closed. If its just that they rent to those you don't like, tough luck. We all have neighbors we don't like, fortunately we cant get the gestapo to take them away.
Snow on sidewalks? Well, we can have our government shovel everybody's walkway. This may be time consuming and cost the city a great deal, but we will have snowless sidewalks. And then we can complain about all the employees and those costly programs. Or we can request the police to shovel the sidewalks instead of patrolling the city. They can sit on a lawn chair in downtown Peru and get up to shovel as snowflakes fall!
We need to look at this from a COMMONS SENSE point of view. Is it legal to use a Model T Ford (as it was originally built) as a vehicle for hire, transporting the PUBLIC on the highway? No, it is not. Because we have COMMON SENSE LAWS regulating this. We should use the same COMMON SENSE thinking when it comes to buildings that the PUBLIC are allowed to enter. All we have to do is make it AGAINST THE LAW to use a building that is not constructed to ALL MODERN BUILDING CODES AND REQUIRMENTS as a place of business. The owners of these buildings would then have no income from them - so they would update them to CURRENT STANDARDS or tear them down. It is time we FORCE the RICH BUILDING OWNERS to spend money - distribute it to the TRADE WORKERS to make these buildings SAFE for the public.
Have you forgotten how long it took the city to sell the Mirror bldg and probably at a loss at that.
Medical offices won't happen as those type of professionals want to and need to be by a diverse and large medical facility or near a university that trains people. Won't happen in the Illinois Valley.
We surely have enough lawyers and insurance agents already and larger groups want to be in much larger cities. I have no clue what type of offices you want to put there. Please explain.
9:24 AM Going up and down 4th which is how many miles covered out of the entire town which is not covered? Peru is not only East and West but also North and South? How many blocks is the retail section and industrial section from 4th street and where is there more activity North Peru or 4th street? Efficient distribution of automobiles would limit the number of squad cars speeding through neighborhoods south of the shopping and industrial areas. The same for Water Street.
Just like the current gas prices you can have a pint of crappy beer for $1.00 in LaSalle and Spring Valley beer halls. My question is how much of the 5 million dollar investment in Ottawa was totally funded by the Carus family. My guess is they had help from other sources in this boondoggle for their hair brain adventures. By the way the investment to improvements at the Hotel Kaskaskia were not by choice but a band aid to appease the city of LaSalle.
10:51, The "C" family rarely spends their own money.
Lois: We have many Dr.'s, Layers, Accountants, Insurance Agents, etc. in the LaSalle, Peru, Oglesby area. I'm thinking it is quite possible to get them to drag up and relocated to "Old Downtown Peru" if tax incentives where put in place for the private construction of stat of the art office buildings. Then think about the snow ball effect. I'd much rather have the customer of an accountant spending money in Peru than some of the people that come to wally world up north.
Take a good look at the Public Services Committee agenda for Monday Dec. 7th's meeting. It gives us absolutely no hint as to what will be discussed. It simply states items such as "Airport-Lukosis", "Electric-Lukosis", etc. Their agendas used to be one of the best and most detailed. Today it is the vaguest and least transparent of all city committee agendas.
Anon 9:24 your comment is useless. you do not show knowledge that it is a city ordinance to shovel your sidewalk. You are the one who volunteers the government or the police force to shovel the sidewalks. What you fail to understand is that it is the government and/or its employees who have the responsibility of removal of snow from the sidewalk by enforcing its own ordinance. Snow removal and grass cutting are handled in a similar method, do not do it and the city will have it done and you will be sent the charges and fines created by your negligence. 11:19 has stated a complaint that should have been enforced by ordinance which has been made to protect all the citizenship of Peru. Your reply is not answering the question of who is responsible for snow removal and who is responsible to enforce the snow removal. In fact I find it unusual that someone could picture a Peru policeman shoveling a sidewalk as they do not even pick up road kill when the street department is off duty. What is killed on Saturday lays on the road until Monday no matter what health factor it creates.
Because of the interest created by 11:19's comment on my way home from the Christmas Parade today I observed one of the pieces of property mentioned. It is the apartment complex which has 7 old and useless tires under the steps in back of the building. In moving them a little it is evident they have been allowed to be there for a long time. The steps are wooden and if you have ever witnessed tires on fire you know what a dangerous condition is been allowed to exist here. Also the dumpster covers are open for all forms of venom and disease to spread. If conditions that are so easy to find and nothing is being done about it, it becomes worrisome of the amount of equal problems or worse that presently exists.
7:42 PM, the current DEMOCRAT administration uses the Open Meetings Act to hid information in the open. They do just enough and use loopholes in the law to keep prevent the public from getting any information about their secret plans.
OK - based on the article that Boss Harl told the NT to put in the paper, I see a big expensive Electric Department expansion coming in the near future.
Out of the blue they publish an article about how Peru gets its electricity. Then there is a hint of another city in IMEA using solar.
My prediction / observation: I've been around for long enough to know that the NT does not come up with this stuff on their own. When it comes to local government, they are told what to publish. So, Peru has a SECRET project to expand into renewable energy. They will pass on costs to utility users in some way - probably as a surcharge to industrial and commercial users. This will drive up the cost of doing business in Peru while protecting the unusually low residential rate so the voters don't get upset. It has probably all been decided already. Look for some of "J's" corn fields to be purchased by the City of Peru soon and an urgent last minute vote of the council.
The City of Peru has countless SECRET plans that are normally part of a published Strategic Plan. These plans are usually conceived by a few crony businesses and land owners and held in stand by until a revenue injection is needed. Old "J" is still pretty peeved about loosing that $850K from the failed movie deal and the $400K he has to let the Dimmick School have.
How is it that whatever the person is that it/he has to let the Dimmick School have $400,000 and where is all this money coming from?
Peru has become a city which does not understand long range development if it has thoughts of adding a surcharge to industrial and commercial users to protect the unusually low residential rates. This may create a environment in which only big box stores and medium and large size manufacturers can exist. The area which Peru draws retail sales from may already be saturated and for many reasons Peru is not drawing manufacturers. The local Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Harl should address thois problem to local merchants and industrial owners.
Communications, updating and recognition pay big dividends.
Long range planning gives the people the opportunity to look over the shoulder of our government officials. That in turn interferes with the flow of graft and corruption.
there was a tweet from an Ottawa news paper guy about how he doesn't think long term planning is a good idea - but he wants a round about in Utica. Clueless.
12:47, if we could do that, they would be in jail. You see nods, you hear parts of hushed conversations, you notice things. Many little things add up over the years.
Everyone "knows" that there is a certain amount of tit for tat in our local politics.
11:12, 12:47 and 3:15 12/8/15 For the possible answers you are looking for I believe that your questions must be defined closer. If there is no graft locally why were different state agencies in the area, entering private businesses investigating for law breaking practices last week-end. Do you really believe that someone is not collecting a large amount of money to permit this to go on, and that some of this money is not distributed wisely.
I have heard nothing on the radio or in the newspaper of this organized state investigation. No matter how many radio stations and how many newspapers the locality has this is a form of media graft by not reporting it to the readers. Also the paper has a reputation of avoiding local investigations of their own. Graft could be considered donating taxpayers money to certain private funds knowing that there will be payback later.
Graft would surely be breaking a ordinance to avoid competitive bids on city projects. Yes there is graft, how much and what amount, we don't know. It is not a subject that is discussed by those who partake.
44 comments:
Why don't they ever publish the old cost? I'd like to see the amount of the increase. I'd also like to know how many people that work for the City are allowed to smoke and if they are paying a surcharge like they should be. How many medical pot smokers are on the city pay roll? I'd like to see a breakdown of the workers portion of the cost along with the terms for co-pay, etc. It sounds like I'm being nosy, but you give up some of your privacy when you have a guaranteed taxpayer supported paycheck.
The paper never publishes any details.....
Subject: Brian Towne's SAFE Unit
LaSalle States Attorney Brian Towne has become subject to question over his creation of a highly proficient SAFE Unit created for drug enforcement of Interstate 80 within LaSalle County.
States Attorney Towne is under question as to his legal ability to have a enforcement agency under his own wings.
Not having a law degree I can only judge the question with my own common sense and life experiences. Utilizing these two attributes I find Mr. Townes effort to stop the drug trade as a outstanding use of his office. This illegal practice should and must be stopped and all concepts to stop it should be employed. How can anyone defend a practice which is illegal, harmful, and spreads to other crimes to support it?
The only reasons I can think one would support it are that they are users or in some form are making a living off of the drug trade. Anyone who has experienced a family usage or death because of usage is against it.
Anyone who has suffered through the usage or has had a family member killed because the usage of drugs by others is against it.
Anyone who has not had a direct contact with illegal drugs but has someone close that could be exposed is against them.
Brian's case is going forward to the Illinois Supreme Court and he deserves the utmost support in his quest to stop one of if not the most dangerous illegal activity in the United States.
When seeing Brian a pat on the back with a handshake Thanking him for taking on those supporting illegal drug activity and/or partaking activity in it I am sure would be appreciated.
10:05 - I disagree. Part of our founding principals are that people are innocent until proven guilty. Brian Towne is confiscating money and property based on the suspicion of a crime being committed. Furthermore, the manner in which these stops are conducted conflict with the 4th and 5th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Lastly, it is the State's Attorneys job to prosecute the cases brought to him by the various police agencies. He has no legal authority to create a dragnet private police force to "crack down" on violations of specific laws. In my opinion, he is using this loophole in the law in order to fund his agency and get votes. I am confident that the Illinois Supreme Court will close this loophole.
11:10 AM
I disagree also. Thomas G. West a professor of politics at the University of Dallas and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, "By contrasting the Founders' ideas of liberty and equality with today's, West persuasively concludes that contemporary notions bear almost no resemblance to the concepts originally articulated by the Founders".
When quoting someone from the 1790's you must consider that there was no thought of cars, interstate highways and constant testing of man made laws by those who practice illegal activities and often times are pardoned because of loopholes rather than the use of common sense. Please refrain from using the constitution and amendments to defend illegalities, this is not its purpose and never has been.
You, myself as well as the States Attorney have every right to make a citizens arrest if the situation demands.
1:12. Disregard the Constitution? I'm afraid not. I would rather 1,000 drug dealers get of scot free than one civil liberty be broken.
It is a very narrow path between "safety" and fascism.
REMEMBER; Dot your i's and cross your t's and spell off correctly not "of" or some poor unfortunate drug dealer will not understand and his lawyer will get him off without a penalty. The law should not be built upon safety and fascism but rather upon whether the deed is right or wrong, good or bad.
shut up 5:05. This is a blog, not an English class. When typing fast on a mobile device, errors occur.
As far a Brian Towne and his Pinkerton Detectives go. I'm voting for anyone but him. Time to get the Democrats out of LaSalle County and I'll start with anyone that supports the Bill of Rights.
Anonymous 6:55PM
Tis Tis such poor manners, there is no gain in telling someone to shut up and you prove you are a loser!
The lights on the downtown Peru lampposts look great! Even city hall is decorated a bit. With the addition of lights at Maud Powell and Pulaski Park, along with Westclox, one can drive a couple of miles and see Christmas lights the whole way. It's so nice to see Peru moving towards the things that make a town a community.
@6:55 PM Why would a educated person type at a speed rate on a mobile device that would cause them errors? It would be more professional to be correct than to search for band-aids. Any form of error made by a Republican is a strong support of the Democrats. Sorry but true.
the same reason you typed "cause them errors"
Anon 10:16 AM Who else would it cause errors, or would you be in favor eliminating the word them?
Not much has been said about and there has been no photograph in the paper of a ribbon cutting of the latest and greatest opening of a new business in the Route 6 development. A video gaming operation has been opened in property where a drivers license business had been. This is in a building owned by Peru's Director of Business Development, Robert Vickery. How many additional liquor licenses to gaming parlors have been issued in the last 2 years? How many employees and at what pay will this business in the Business Directors Umbrella increase the city by. Great job director bob you have really got the city growing. Keep it up LaSalle's getting ready to take another chunk out of you.
11:34. Who cares? These businesses will fold on their own. The market is saturated with little slot machine parlors - most of them will fail and things will get back to normal.
What we need is the government to provide incentives to have most, if not all, the old buildings on Route 6 in Peru demolished. They are useless buildings and will only attract things like the slot machine parlors, hookah parlors, pawn shops, etc. In other words - the "Old Downtown Peru" is Low Rent.
Route 6 is not really viable for any significant retail development. Incentives need to be put in place to make it attractive to the owners of these rat traps to tear them down. We can get creative here and pass laws requiring significant "safety upgrades" to old commercial buildings. Make it unprofitable for he owners to continue to rent to low brow businesses. Then provide an incentive to demolish them and replace them with modern office structures. Let them go property tax free for 20 years if a lawyer, doctor, or other professional is leasing or owns the space. Need to get the school on board with this also. Essentially - redevelop "Old Downtown" as a professional district by abolishing all property taxes for the type of business you want to see. This will cause professionals from all over the Illinois Valley to relocate to Peru in NEW MODERN OFFICES.
Lastly - the council needs to pass a resolution removing the name "Downtown" from Route 6 in Peru. It is NOT "Downtown" anymore. Like its move from Water Street - "Downtown" has shifted north. "Downtown" is now on Shooting Park Road. "Uptown" is near I-80.
7:09 AM
Your post contradicts every other city surrounding Peru that is thriving. How about the huge new brewery going into downtown Ottawa? Have you driven through "downtown" La Salle lately. I was in one of those old dilapidated blgs in La Salle yesterday and could not help but admire the beautiful tin ceiling and the remodeled surroundings. Looked so much nicer than any new bldg. and full of customers too.
The bldgs are not Peru's problem, it is the way we have allowed property owners to dessicate them for many years.
That "brewery" going into "downtown" Ottawa is a restaurant and bar that happens to brew their own craft beer. It will most likely fail in this region due to costs and low numbers in the demographic that frequents trendy brew pubs. But more power to them.
Retail and leisure business will not help in the long term development of this area. We need to attract professionals. One way to concentrate them in Peru is to have modern office space. So, while LaSalle is catering to the candle shops, book nooks, and beer pubs, Peru can capture the doctors, lawyers, accountants, and engineers.
We are saturated with retail and there is no market for further expansion. Concentrating professionals in one area will case momentum. Possibly expand the old downtown to the west with the trendy little brew pubs and restaurants you seem to like.
Median age of residents in 2013: 41 years old
(Males: 40 years old, Females: 43 years old)
Estimated median household income in 2013: $48,552 ($40,308 in 1999)
Not the demographic that hangs out in fancy brew pubs with $10 beers. LaSalle County is more of the $1.50 draft in a dive bar type of people.
11:27 and 4:29- Your negativity is unfounded. I think the Tangled Roots brewpub will do quite well. Even though the whole concept of a brewpub is a little high brow for this area, I believe there is a fairly sizeable local demographic that has been waiting for a venue like this to open. Coupled with the ever increasing tourist population, I think it is a recipe for success.. It is a shame Peru isn't capable of attracting forward thinking businesses.
4:29 That huge new brewery going into downtown Ottawa is going to cause a huge new dent into some of the areas largest amount of old money. When the costs of building a micro brewery start to roll in most of us will have no idea of of the piles of cash it will take.
Knowing this you can understand that the business will not survive on $1.50 16 oz drafts, in tandem with this specific circumstance you must realize that a $10 glass of beer is not in any demand either.
But 4:29 we now reach the point where the road splits or shall I say where your opinion and my opinion of the customers and bars of LaSalle County conflict. There are very few $1.50 drafts in a dive bar type of people if any in LaSalle County and what you base this assumption on would be interesting to know. Yes some bars have a night of the week in which they discount their product but this in no way cheapens their business or their customer.
The recent investment made in Ottawa of the Ottawa Boat Club where the Fox meets the Illinois for under a $150K appears to be the outstanding purchase made in the liquor and beer business in LaSalle County in many years. Fantastic location, very, very small investment for what they are getting, unlimited potential.
10:57 You know your stuff. May I add that if Peru had people who would enforce existing laws instead of looking the other way or making another law to do nothing downtown Peru would start on being upgraded. Of course remember the money makers have invested in the north end of Peru and they want a return before death and it is a hell of alot easier to do this if downtown is neglected. Downtown Peru has never appeared worse and multi million investments and the most expensive land in Peru is placed under a TIF as a blighted area. Now everyone teach your children to share, be honest and always obey the existing laws.
Anon 10:57 AM to elaborate upon your last sentence: "The bldgs are not Peru's problem,it is the way we have allowed property owners to desiccate them for many years."
Very true and if you added in the Peru city government you would be even truer. The sidewalks all slope downward from the buildings to the curb. The recent snow displayed a long existing habit of snow not being safely handled.
The snow turned into choppy ice in front of the former bank now owned by a out of town company. Nothing has been in this building in years since Amcore relocated and for years the city had its entire sidewalk from in front of the building to the road blocked off with 8' cyclone fence. When the previous owner of the building was having the front painted the former Building Inspector interfered with the painters. Sad since this was the only money spent on 4th street in years. This building plus most of the property behind all buildings for the block could have been purchased by the city for $29,000.
Next door to the bank is a dilapidated apartment building. These apartments do not have both ingress and egress. The apartments have had a unlimited number of incidents but yet still are allowed. More than one fire on the stairway,several domestic disputes with children present and injured, one person passing away because of huffing plus not having ample parking for each tenant etc., etc. This is another building owned by a out of town individual. The front of this building was not shoveled also. What happens inside this property can be high lighted by the night 3 Peru Squad cars were in front of it along with 2 Peru ambulances and 2 more county police cars.
The address of this apartment building can be seen in the Police reports frequently as can the apartments on the west end of the block. If the writers memory is correct it seems that illegal drugs are a frequent problem. Also a out of town owner.
Who is responsible for cleaning the sidewalks for buildings with out of town owners and who is responsible to see it is done? Speaking of sidewalks the parking spaces in front of the business buildings were not plowed and turned into choppy ice also. Now I am smart enough to know that the street is not owned by out of towners and the city receives approximately $14,000/year to $16,000/year to maintain, plow and remove snow from IDOT. This does not mean plow the snow onto the sidewalk. Since 4th street is only 2 years ole there is very little maintenance. Towns which receive a compensation to maintain, plow and remove snow on state roads going through the town are very happy with this agreement and live up to a outstanding job. Peru deposits this money it receives from IDOT into the General Fund. Maybe you didn't know that Peru received this amount of money from IDOT for the mentioned purposes but don't feel bad most of the aldermen did not know either the night they were questioned and told in public comment by a gentleman in attendance of a council meeting.
416,000 maintain and plow and remove snow from the roads and this does not mean to plow it onto the sidewalk. Presently the city is making it impossible to do business on the side of the block mentioned.
This is only one side of one block in downtown Peru.
Of course this is not a blighted area and should have not been considered for a TIF by Peru's government when million dollar new buildings located in North Peru were in so much more need.
Decisions made by local politicians are proof that you don't need a gun to rob the bank. Amen Brother, Amen.
the city should demolish the entire block from peoria st to fulton st on both sides of rte 6. not one of those buildings should be saved. build all new offices.
Mad and really Mad about squad cars going up and down 4th street? Is there a alternative route you would prefer without stop signs that can cover the entire city?
You note about robbery and the city failure to purchase property. Why didn't you buy this great deal of the old bank? It was as you said only $26,000. I am tired about complainers that want our government to do everything for them. You don't like the apartment owners? If it truly is dangerous it should be renovated or closed. If its just that they rent to those you don't like, tough luck. We all have neighbors we don't like, fortunately we cant get the gestapo to take them away.
Snow on sidewalks? Well, we can have our government shovel everybody's walkway. This may be time consuming and cost the city a great deal, but we will have snowless sidewalks. And then we can complain about all the employees and those costly programs. Or we can request the police to shovel the sidewalks instead of patrolling the city. They can sit on a lawn chair in downtown Peru and get up to shovel as snowflakes fall!
We need to look at this from a COMMONS SENSE point of view. Is it legal to use a Model T Ford (as it was originally built) as a vehicle for hire, transporting the PUBLIC on the highway? No, it is not. Because we have COMMON SENSE LAWS regulating this. We should use the same COMMON SENSE thinking when it comes to buildings that the PUBLIC are allowed to enter. All we have to do is make it AGAINST THE LAW to use a building that is not constructed to ALL MODERN BUILDING CODES AND REQUIRMENTS as a place of business. The owners of these buildings would then have no income from them - so they would update them to CURRENT STANDARDS or tear them down.
It is time we FORCE the RICH BUILDING OWNERS to spend money - distribute it to the TRADE WORKERS to make these buildings SAFE for the public.
COMMON SENSE!
9:00 A.M.
Have you forgotten how long it took the city to sell the Mirror bldg and probably at a loss at that.
Medical offices won't happen as those type of professionals want to and need to be by a diverse and large medical facility or near a university that trains people. Won't happen in the Illinois Valley.
We surely have enough lawyers and insurance agents already and larger groups want to be in much larger cities. I have no clue what type of offices you want to put there. Please explain.
9:24 AM Going up and down 4th which is how many miles covered out of the entire town which is not covered? Peru is not only East and West but also North and South? How many blocks is the retail section and industrial section from 4th street and where is there more activity North Peru or 4th street? Efficient distribution of automobiles would limit the number of squad cars speeding through neighborhoods south of the shopping and industrial areas. The same for Water Street.
Just like the current gas prices you can have a pint of crappy beer for $1.00 in LaSalle and Spring Valley beer halls. My question is how much of the 5 million dollar investment in Ottawa was totally funded by the Carus family. My guess is they had help from other sources in this boondoggle for their hair brain adventures. By the way the investment to improvements at the Hotel Kaskaskia were not by choice but a band aid to appease the city of LaSalle.
9:00, the city doesn't own them, get real!
10:51, The "C" family rarely spends their own money.
Lois: We have many Dr.'s, Layers, Accountants, Insurance Agents, etc. in the LaSalle, Peru, Oglesby area. I'm thinking it is quite possible to get them to drag up and relocated to "Old Downtown Peru" if tax incentives where put in place for the private construction of stat of the art office buildings. Then think about the snow ball effect. I'd much rather have the customer of an accountant spending money in Peru than some of the people that come to wally world up north.
Take a good look at the Public Services Committee agenda for Monday Dec. 7th's meeting. It gives us absolutely no hint as to what will be discussed. It simply states items such as "Airport-Lukosis", "Electric-Lukosis", etc. Their agendas used to be one of the best and most detailed. Today it is the vaguest and least transparent of all city committee agendas.
Anon 9:24 your comment is useless. you do not show knowledge that it is a city ordinance to shovel your sidewalk. You are the one who volunteers the government or the police force to shovel the sidewalks. What you fail to understand is that it is the government and/or its employees who have the responsibility of removal of snow from the sidewalk by enforcing its own ordinance. Snow removal and grass cutting are handled in a similar method, do not do it and the city will have it done and you will be sent the charges and fines created by your negligence.
11:19 has stated a complaint that should have been enforced by ordinance which has been made to protect all the citizenship of Peru. Your reply is not answering the question of who is responsible for snow removal and who is responsible to enforce the snow removal. In fact I find it unusual that someone could picture a Peru policeman shoveling a sidewalk as they do not even pick up road kill when the street department is off duty. What is killed on Saturday lays on the road until Monday no matter what health factor it creates.
Because of the interest created by 11:19's comment on my way home from the Christmas Parade today I observed one of the pieces of property mentioned. It is the apartment complex which has 7 old and useless tires under the steps in back of the building. In moving them a little it is evident they have been allowed to be there for a long time. The steps are wooden and if you have ever witnessed tires on fire you know what a dangerous condition is been allowed to exist here. Also the dumpster covers are open for all forms of venom and disease to spread.
If conditions that are so easy to find and nothing is being done about it, it becomes worrisome of the amount of equal problems or worse that presently exists.
7:42 PM, the current DEMOCRAT administration uses the Open Meetings Act to hid information in the open. They do just enough and use loopholes in the law to keep prevent the public from getting any information about their secret plans.
OK - based on the article that Boss Harl told the NT to put in the paper, I see a big expensive Electric Department expansion coming in the near future.
Out of the blue they publish an article about how Peru gets its electricity. Then there is a hint of another city in IMEA using solar.
My prediction / observation: I've been around for long enough to know that the NT does not come up with this stuff on their own. When it comes to local government, they are told what to publish. So, Peru has a SECRET project to expand into renewable energy. They will pass on costs to utility users in some way - probably as a surcharge to industrial and commercial users. This will drive up the cost of doing business in Peru while protecting the unusually low residential rate so the voters don't get upset. It has probably all been decided already. Look for some of "J's" corn fields to be purchased by the City of Peru soon and an urgent last minute vote of the council.
The City of Peru has countless SECRET plans that are normally part of a published Strategic Plan. These plans are usually conceived by a few crony businesses and land owners and held in stand by until a revenue injection is needed. Old "J" is still pretty peeved about loosing that $850K from the failed movie deal and the $400K he has to let the Dimmick School have.
How is it that whatever the person is that it/he has to let the Dimmick School have $400,000 and where is all this money coming from?
Peru has become a city which does not understand long range development if it has thoughts of adding a surcharge to industrial and commercial users to protect the unusually low residential rates. This may create a environment in which only big box stores and medium and large size manufacturers can exist. The area which Peru draws retail sales from may already be saturated and for many reasons Peru is not drawing manufacturers. The local Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Harl should address thois problem to local merchants and industrial owners.
Communications, updating and recognition pay big dividends.
Long range planning gives the people the opportunity to look over the shoulder of our government officials. That in turn interferes with the flow of graft and corruption.
there was a tweet from an Ottawa news paper guy about how he doesn't think long term planning is a good idea - but he wants a round about in Utica. Clueless.
11:12, you keep talking about graft, show me in this administration where someone was getting graft, bet you can't, you are so full of it.
12:47, if we could do that, they would be in jail. You see nods, you hear parts of hushed conversations, you notice things. Many little things add up over the years.
Everyone "knows" that there is a certain amount of tit for tat in our local politics.
11:12, 12:47 and 3:15 12/8/15
For the possible answers you are looking for I believe that your questions must be defined closer. If there is no graft locally why were different state agencies in the area, entering private businesses investigating for law breaking practices last week-end. Do you really believe that someone is not collecting a large amount of money to permit this to go on, and that some of this money is not distributed wisely.
I have heard nothing on the radio or in the newspaper of this organized state investigation. No matter how many radio stations and how many newspapers the locality has this is a form of media graft by not reporting it to the readers. Also the paper has a reputation of avoiding local investigations of their own.
Graft could be considered donating taxpayers money to certain private funds knowing that there will be payback later.
Graft would surely be breaking a ordinance to avoid competitive bids on city projects.
Yes there is graft, how much and what amount, we don't know. It is not a subject that is discussed by those who partake.
As for going to jail, forget it.
Simple - if they are in government longer than 10 years, they have some sort of criminal enterprise backing them up.
6:35 PM You meant 10 minutes didn't you?
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