Pride in Peru You Either Have It Or You Don't

Received the magazine put out by the city of Peru, lovely magazine but sure it will hit the waste basket by many as soon as brought into the house but that is the chance they take, isn't it?.   Except like everything, the cost is on the taxpayer.

If you have leafed thru it, you surely have seen the diagram of our future park to be located on the site of the former Washington School. Location is appropriate as it is close to the general population.

I have a question.  When it was first thought the city  might rebuild the swimming pool which they anticipated removing, they brought in several different developers and designers to give us a "look see" at what they might be able to develop for this city at same location. There were pictures of the planned project and the needed info and cost available. The company they chose was definitely not one that was good for Peru because they were used to developing high end projects in or close to larger cities. They did spend a lot of time with city officials but nothing came from it because in my opinion they were good people but wrong for this city whereas there was a company that had developed pools in many smaller cities in IL and IA that if chosen, we might in my opinon have designed a pool appropriate for a town the size of Peru and with the right resources to build it.  Again my opinion.

The same might be said about the splashpad.  Last couple of years we didn't even have money to build a small one and now we are building a million dollar project.
Have they held a Public Forum for the citizens to find out what they would like in a new park?

Have they even invited you to a council mtg where you could ask the questions with time dedicated to only that topic?

Has the city decided to design and build this park without going to developers of such projects?  From no money to a million dollars, anyone know this is an Election Year for Mayor?

Do you even care or are you interested?  Lot of data has not been put out to the public, you know the people who will actually use this facility.

Illinois has higher property taxes than every state with no income tax

Illinois has higher property taxes than every state with no income tax

And the Illinois population is finding ways to move to those states.  Local governments need to carefully use their funds because that will also be reduced with less population.

newstrib.com | Serving the Readers of North Central Illinois

newstrib.com | Serving the Readers of North Central Illinois

Surprise, suprise, the Public Works is getting its first big write up in the News Tribune.

Peru expects splash pad to be finished for summer 2018

Peru expects splash pad to be finished for summer 2018

There should be a lot of questions asked by the population about this project in a city the size of Peru 10,0016 (2014) and probably under the 10,000 now. Don't get me wrong, a splashpad is a wonderful idea but the size and making it the biggest and best in Illinois leaves me wondering why.

Ottawa has a splashpad, have you seen it? The next closest one that I am aware of is Chillicothe. Of course all the other local cities like LaSalle, Oglesby, Ottawa, Princeton, Mendota and Spring Valley have swimming pools.

This splashpad will be free to all, I assume so there will be no return on the project unless we are counting on sales tax revenue coming into the city from all the visitors.

Illinois has largest loss of union membership in region, Indiana and Missouri have largest gains

Illinois has largest loss of union membership in region, Indiana and Missouri have largest gains


We can add to that that Missouri just signed the laws to become a "right to work" state. That now means we are literally surrounded by "right to work" states: Wisconsin, Indiana, KY, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota. Nothing new in Springfield and the state is making NO progress toward a budget and would like to add more taxation. The folks in Springfield just don't get it and Mr Madigan is not budging from his previous positions. Catapillar is a sign of the worst yet to come. None of this is good for smaller cities because the laws made in Springfield affect every city, no matter how good they think they are doing with their finances.