What Would You Expect?

The City of Peoria tells us there is no money for adequate street repairs and snow removal, so they do away with some snow routes and completely do away with the old tar and rocking of streets.  No money.

Then they tell us the budget is so tight that they have no choice but to lay off police officers and restrict the fire department to the size that if 2 major fires break out in Peoria, we’re screwed.

Then they take the Garbage Fee, a temporary tax as it was called, and raise it 110% and force it on your water bill. No pay, no water.  They tell us this is to improve our garbage collection by making everyone rent a tote from PDC.  They start the tax January 1st but most of us don’t have the tote.  The $13 a month fee is a burden on a lot of fixed income people mainly retired and poor but who cares?

Remember when Councilman Turner was so concerned over the poor and fixed income that he worried out loud on the council floor about the $6 being taken on a 4 month basis?  He said it should be a monthly charge as $6 was easier to pay than $24 every quarter?  The reality of it was the Illinois-American Water told the city it was too much hassle to bill the Garbage Fee on their water bills every 4 months.  It had to be every month for their computer software to handle it or they wouldn’t collect the fee for the city. So much for concern for the elderly huh?

Then the city after telling us there is no money to abate crime, is now tripping over themselves to give a developer millions to build a rather plain hotel downtown next to an empty old hotel.  The plus?  We get a skywalk to the Civic Center. We all know this story.

Now, though the State of Illinois is all but broke, our dear Governor wants to and most likely will cut all kinds of benefits including Medicare.  All the cuts are on the backs of the working people or the poor. Every single one of them is.  Guess what?  The General Assembly of our State is on the verge of voting themselves some big raises.  Some of the raises are about half of what a working person makes in a year.  You can read it here:  RAISES.  Surprised?

Yep, our State politicians think they are doing a wonderful job and are going to pat themselves on the back with a nice raise.  Don’t worry though. Jehan Gordon our whatever will say they don’t deserve it……. while they cash the check and smile.

This is a real slap in the face but here in Peoria, we are all used to getting slapped in the face by over powered, ego suffering political hacks who always seem to know how to spend our money.  Buckle your belts people.  Do without your meds, do without that food.  Set that thermostat down to 50.  No new cars for you. Get that garbage out without the tote and pay that fee.  Cut back on that baby formula.  Dried milk is ok anyway. Who needs real fruit?  We have to make cuts folks and then we give the cut throats a raise?  What would you expect?

 

Hat tip: Chef Kevin

Hotel Project Delayed Again?? Wonder why…

Could it be an equipment problem?  Something only the City of Peoria would have?  Nope.  How about financing? Nope, we taxpayers will pay up any short fall you can be sure about that as the Mayor and our council will make sure.

Well, what can it be this time?  Let me quote from the good book of Elvis 2:31

“Thou shalt not remove parking from our church to buildth a hotel without first checking that it won’t giveth birth to a new strip club.”

Yep, we should be all on the floor laughing our asses off as the Marx Brothers tries to get this hotel project off the ground. Unfortunately, we are the ones paying the taxes, paying the Garbage Fees, paying for the future bonds and then with a quick slap to the other side of our faces being told that the city is broke, revenues are down, your house isn’t worth more than a Maytag washer and we are cutting police and city services because damnit all to hell, who needs cops and everyone loves to watch things burn to the ground.

At least we’ll have a hotel to stay in when times get tough. No wait. Maybe not.  Nobody seems to have the balls to pull the trigger and now after what, almost 4 years, the Catholics have decided they want their cut.

Can’t blame the Diocese for wanting what is theirs but you can blame the Council for taking what is ours.  Let’s make a whole bunch of them un-employed by the City come April 2013, shall we? 

This May Be a Long Post but worth it….

I received an email the other day from a thoughtful writer and reader of this blog. It concerns the recent 110% increase in the garbage fee and how this city is basically ripping off the taxpaying residents by providing nothing, nada, I mean we are now paying $13 a month for a Garbage Fee.  A fee that was a band aid fix to a city budget some years ago and was supposed to be a temporary fix. Funny how politicians never ever do away with a tax or a fee. Here’s what she sent and I am withholding her name because she was kind enough to allow me to publish it here. It is self explanatory and see if you can grasp how our City Council is ass raping us and really, it’s not all PDC’s fault.  It also includes a reply from Eric Shangraw, PDC Marketing Director,

Mr. Emert-

I know you have included this topic in a previous post concerning the screw-ups from CIty Council and honestly, it does sound like a piddley issue but the money the City Council is making from mandating 40,000 households to rent totes for $7 extra a month is anything but. According to PDC, households who rented their totes before the City Council made it mandatory were paying $2.50 per month for the tote. Now for the SAME TOTE they are paying $7 to the CITY. What is the City paying for these totes?? Only $1.30 of that $7.00 is going into PDC's pocket. That means $5.70 per month is for the City who has no part in this. That adds up to $228,000 per month for the City and $2,736,000 a year extra in the City's pocket for doing NOTHING. I emailed PDC and asked them why am I paying right now, this month for my tote when I won't get it until June 30th? This is their answer:

"This past November, the Peoria City Council asked us (PDC) to start a trash-cart program.  At that time we said we would need until June 30th to have the entire program implemented.  We needed a period of time to take the size-orders of 40,000 households, put in our order with the manufacturer, and then have them delivered. 

Despite the time frame we spelled out, the council voted to start collecting the higher fee for service as of January 1, 2012.  We will not start collecting a fee for the cart program from the City until July 1, 2012, after all the carts are delivered. The City is getting them through PDC for $1.30/month for a 5-year period, then 60-cents a month for the following 3-years."  

Eric Shangraw
Municipal Marketing Manager
PDC/AREA Disposal

(309)681-3364

SO that means that from February thru June (5 months) the City is pocketing the ENTIRE $7 per household. That is $1,400,000 that we are all GIVING the City for absolutely no tote, no service, NOTHING. Over a million dollars straight into the Council coffers and no one seems to notice. I hope you will see fit to follow up on this issue as I can't find anyone who seems to mind the extra $6 on their water bill. It's not about my $6, it's about the nearly THREE MILLION dollars the city gains from us all over the course of the next 12 months.

Btw if I refuse to pay the $6 until my tote arrives, my water is shut off, so we are all apparently being held hostage by the City's extortion and skimming from the tote service by the need for clean drinking water. 

MY TWO CENTS: Look, I have no problem with the city helping development in the form of roads, sewers, water and things like that.  I do have a problem when our city goes into the hotel business with taxpayer money or using taxpayer monies funds projects for private owners in the warehouse district.  What chaps my balls more than anything is the fact that then our council looks us in the face and says we need to trim the budget and cuts city services and police.  Yes police when crime in Peoria, (we are not Chicago) a Midwestern town of barley 100,000 people tucked away in the Midwest has shootings and robberies everyday everywhere.  Where elderly people get their homes kicked in and robbed and then beaten, where purses are taken in broad daylight, where bullet holes land in the Civic Center windows while a council meeting is going on.  Crap.

Look, to some people 13 bucks ain’t shit.  They pay their damn water bill and move on.  To many others in this community, 13 bucks is the difference between blood pressure pills that month or water service.  Which leads me to remind you folks that the city has and retains a buyout option for the water company.  Ever since what, 1899?  (Correct me here if I am wrong)  Every 5 years the city can opt to buy out the water company and send them packing.  Funny how now you never hear about that option anymore isn’t it?  Because this city couldn’t collect this damn Garbage Fee with out expensive billing system. People who oppose it or people who choose to buy their pills that month would simply not pay it.  So, the city gets into bed with the water company, pays them $80K a year to collect it and if you short your water bill by $13, you get shut off.  Nice huh? The water company never has to hear about being bought out and they collect a nice sum to process this tax.

This council has pulled the wool over our eyes. They did their famous shell game with figures and now they are collecting monies for totes we don’t have, knew we wouldn’t have and basically for no service provided what so ever.  How would you like Sears pulling money out of your checking account for nothing? Hell, you wouldn’t.  How would you like to pay $13 for absolutely nothing?  You wouldn’t. But we are doing just that folks. Guess where millions will soon go?  Warehouse district for one, the museum for another, and bonds sold for our kids kids to pay for a damn hotel we will never be able to afford to stay in. 

Where are the lawyers?  We need to file a class action suit and stop this repressive tax now!  We need to stop giving taxpayer money away to private developers and owners.  These people are millionaires or will be after they collect what we give away.  The guy building the hotel and Sullivan.  If these projects fail, they walk away and have lunch in the Keys.  We, the working people, the retired people, the poor, are left to pay and clean up the mess,  This has to stop.  Priorities must be set.  I would rather see 10 new cops added then a skywalk to anything.

This town can’t be this dumb.  You can bet our elected officials think we are.

Where is the outrage????

Big Fight at Peoria High School this morning..

A fight broke out in the school’s cafeteria, right after FREE breakfast,  between two black girls.  The fight was so severe, that the girls broke a computer monitor, a keyboard, and the computer, knock a hole in the wall with plaster falling everywhere and the Ass’t Principal was hit several times suffering minor injuries.

No security anywhere to be found and if the cafeteria manager hadn’t found the walkie talkie on the floor and called for security, hard telling how much damage and how many more people would be hurt. The rest of the fine student body was standing on tables cheering the girls on, breaking tables and screaming.  You, know, the animals in the zoo. 

Security arrives and maces the girls and off they go.  The Chief of Security said they won’t be arrested even though they destroyed public property, the lunch room computer, a wall, and several tables.  Instead the girls,according to the Chief, were simply girls who were lead a stray.  Punishment?  10 days off.

WTF!!!!!!!   When the cafeteria manager told the girl that busted her computer that she should be held to pay for that equipment, the security guard told her not to talk to the girl like that.  Again WTF??

This is why our schools are the way they are.  Animals running the zoo and there are no consequences for their actions.  Why weren’t these girls arrested and charged?  Because the Chief said they were misguided youths.  So, folks, if you get into a fight, in a public place and break up expensive equipment, just say you are a misguided individual.  That should work right?  NOT!

Time to can this Administrator, give security back to someone with common sense, and take back this school.  It’s a frickin war zone and those kids don’t give a damn.  Never have and never will. 

Hey City Council!!!

Just because you idiots got caught trying to transfer funds to that glorious hotel project from the south side TIF, and then back peddled like a bunch of clowns on a greased slope, doesn’t mean you can dream shit up to spend the money on to pacify the residents.

You know.  Those south side residents that showed up at the council meeting when you all were going to vote on the money transfer to the hotel project?  You all didn’t take into account anyone would show up because you all thought we were way too stupid to care. Oops!  You were wrong.

So, now it must be getting close to election time for District Council members as Clyde Gulley had an idea.  Like a light bulb going off in his head.  Let’s see.  What would Clyde do with the money.  Why repair and build up the old mineral springs on West MLK Dr. or the old 7th Street of course.  Like this hasn’t been tried before. The owner once tried to get donations but failed to collect crap. Hence, the historic springs fell into despair.

At one time, way back in the 80s, the springs actually had a pump house located across the street and tanker trucks would pull in and fill up.  The spring water, I believe, was taken to Chicago area where a soda bottling company used it. That didn’t last long. 

So, now our all concerned council, Gulley leading the way, are wondering what to do with this TIF money.  Burning a hole in their pockets maybe?? I mean, transferring it to the useless hotel would have been perfect but the public got wind of that so that’s out.  I mean, after all, not even a bank or a series of banks will fund the hotel but according to the clown car we have on the council, it’s OK for the public to be on the hook.  So…

There was a suggestion from a resident in that little subdivision, Mineral Springs Park?? or whatever that wants street lights.  They got street lights.  The city should fix the ones that don't’ work.  Bet they want ornamental lighting.  Hell we in the south end all live by mercury vapor lights.  What’s an ornamental light?  Oh, those are the lights Van Auken scores for her neighborhoods.  Like N Ellis and N Flora streets.  That way, they have custom lighting and the cops can easily look for shells from the latest drive by shooting at night. 

No Clyde wants to use this TIF money to fix up the springs and make it a tourist stop.  Really?  Hey, his wife happens to own a brick and concrete repair company.  Maybe they or her, could get the contract for the repairs?  Why not.  Spain is in the pocket of PDC and the owners of the warehouse district.  What’s his name, Riggenbach,  is owned by OSF.  Turner does whatever CAT tells him. Akeson doesn't have a picture on the city’s web site so maybe she has no reflection? Who knows.  Weaver never meant a developer he didn’t like so what’s wrong with Christmas Gulley getting a little action?

Plenty that’s what.  Look you people.  Use the money for more cops.  You know. The people we hire to curtail crime?  That’s something we all could use.  How about sidewalks and storm sewers on streets that have never had them in the south end?  How about setting up a fund to help people, couples, married or whatever, to buy empty lots and build new homes on these lots with a tax break for say 10 years if they stay in them?  To help people get low interest loans to fix properties and repair sidewalks?  I mean hell, you give tax breaks to developers and corporations who do nothing but suck services of this city down a drain quicker than that spring spills water.  OSF ring a bell?  Like what? You make them pay up or they are going to leave town?  Have you been in that hospital lately? They aren’t going anywhere and their prices are already through the roof now.  Visit the ER for 30 minutes and you’ll get billed well over $500. If you don’t pay, you can bet your ass no nun is going to kindly call you and ask for it.  Charity only begins when you have the money.  OSF does nothing for nothing.  Those lovely nice clinics in the south end, the East Bluff, wherever, to help the poor my ass.  They get their cash from the state if you qualify. If you don’t. Keep walking.

Watch out Peorians.  Especially people who live in that south end TIF.  The council has some money.  Gulley got an idea. Watch how fast that money is spent on something useless and not something needed.  Can you picture the tour busses stopping with loads of people to look at that spring?  Unless this was northern Minnesota, NO!  I do picture that money covering the over expenditures for that museum though.  Covering the operating costs when the millions fail to show up to it.  Or a new round about on Washington Street to appease Sully and those in the warehouse district. 

No, we folks now know of this money.  It’s going to be hard for the council to pull the shell game on this.  But they will, just watch.

 

ed note:  All swear words were for Vonster’s benefit.

Are You Smarter Than a City Council Person…

Well?  Think you are smarter than a city council person?  Let’s play and see. Simply pick the correct answer for each question and see if you are Smarter Than a City Council Person!  (Of course this is based on the popular game; Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader)

1. Your city has a crime problem.  You as a council member….

          A) vote to appropriate more money to the police department

          B) create and fund better neighborhood policing programs

          C) cut funds to the police and lay off officers.  What crime? You have witnessed no crime so there must be no crime. 

2. You and other council members are facing a budget shortfall, You…

         A) vote a slight increase in property taxes to cover it even though you might not get re-elected again but it is the fair way to balance the budget on all people that use city resources, private and business alike. Take the high road and be concerned about the city instead of your ego.

         B) Look hard at high end salaries within the city and make cuts in city car usage, city cell phone usage, and the fact that a secretary for the city can draw almost a 6 figure a year salary.

         C) Dream up a faux tax and call it the Garbage Fee to balance the budget.  Tell people this is a temporary tax, will never go up,  and act concerned for the elderly on fixed incomes while voting to implement this tax.  Blame city manager.

3. The Council has balanced the budget on the backs of working people, now you….

        A) Try and correct the problem before the next budget by getting rid of fees, and simply raising property taxes to be fair to all citizens. You try and stop corporate free riding and make OSF pay their fair share for use of city services. 

        B) Stop voting for TIFs and tell your other council members that if we keep going this way, the whole city will be one big TIF zone and the school district will not survive with the limited funding. Demand better control of crime and improvement in schools and streets. This will draw private businesses on their own.

        C)  Sell $40 million in bonds and give to a developer for a hotel.  Screw the public.  After all, chances are you’ll be gone when it comes due. Get a consultant to tell you and the public that this will be a money maker.  Crime will disappear when the hotel is finished.

4. Now the new budget is short again, you can again consider…

        A)  a slight increase in property taxes to cover the costs of doing business as a city without cutting street services and fire services.

        B)  Get rid of the planned hotel project as public money shouldn’t be used for private business saving millions. Instead concentrate on the schools and improving the streets and crime.  In fact, make a crime a discussion at a council meeting.

        C) Screw that. Raise the Garbage Fee by 110% and tell the public that a rental fee for garbage totes are included for a tote you don’t have or won’t get until June. What promise?  Blame city manager.

5.  The hotel deal is stalled because no bank is stupid enough to finance it, so, as a member of the city council you decide to….

       A) agree with the banks and tank the deal as not wise for public funds.

       B) Tell the developer thanks but no thanks, maybe when the economy is better and the public won’t have to be on the hook for so much money, come back. 

       C) try and steal $3 million in TIF funds from the south end and give it to the hotel developer. Those people won’t care and they are too stupid to find out.

6. A backlash comes from irate citizens who live in the south end and weren’t too stupid when they found out you are transferring TIF money to the hotel project so…

       A) note that they are correct as over 60% of the streets in the south end don’t have sidewalks or haven’t had them replaced in over 30 years and apologize for having a collective lack of judgment.

       B) that no neighborhood in the south end has ornamental lighting or any basic improvements in infrastructure in 20 years and the TIF money could be used for which it was intended for, improvements to the south end instead of the new hotel which isn’t even in the TIF. Apologize again for lack of leadership.

       C) Backpedal like the lying asses you are and grin at the public and say: “How silly”  It was only a suggestion and we never would have done it.” Apologize and then look the public in the eye and say you were never for this in the first place.  Lying your ass off again. Blame city manager.

7.  After years now of delay and being almost caught for shifting TIF funds you and your fellow council members…..

      A) Decide that the hotel is a big folly and we should stop this deal before they cost the public money for generations to come.

      B) Actually address the crime issues within the city instead of holding state of the city addresses and having a committee look into the problem…again

      C) Continue to ignore the crime and the streaming exodus from the city and fund monuments to your egos no matter what it costs us.

 

You know if you picked any answers to the above other than “C”, you are smarter than a city council person.  If you picked “C” for all the answers you are a City Council person and if you hadn’t sold the rail line for a trail, we should have run you out of town on that rail. But once again that was one of the smart things you have done for us these past few years.  I could list many others, like FireFly, Mid-Town Plaza?  Remember that money making proposal? Your hired consultant said people would come from East Peoria to shop CUBS Foods.  It will make the area richer.  Well, that didn’t happen.  Let’s talk Med Tech District which has changed names.  The hospitals stood up and took notice of that.  They built out on Route 91 instead.  The list of stupidity or lack of leadership goes on and on.  It isn’t that hard.  If you treat the city like it was YOUR check book. You don’t write checks for money you don’t have and you improve the place where you live and keep it up. 

No, not this council.  The place where we live continues to rot and checks are cashed on future generations to pay back.  Nothing, and I mean nothing this city has loaned, lent, bonded for, has paid for itself.  Nothing.  The public pays for it and we pay for it with less police, a fire department that is stretched so thin, you could see through it, a street department that crosses it’s fingers every time it snows and has to pat itself on the back if they manage to keep streets clear, which is their damn job anyway.

Let’s build a shiny new hotel, ironically next to an old defunct hotel.  We are told this will make millions and the city will grow and benefit yet there isn’t enough private financing to get it going.  Why?  Because even brokers, bankers, and private investors won’t pour money into something that doesn’t have a least a chance of making a return.  Why would a group of 11 people then decide this will? 

Look, a new car smells and looks great.  New anything is wonderful.  But if you can’t afford it, you lose that item and your credit or in the case of the city, credibility.  You end up at the Goodwill store for your furniture and clothing and at Pat Adair’s Motor City for your new 10 year old car.  Do we really need to end up like East St. Louis or Detroit?  At voting time, that is your decision. 

It’s Official!

 

As of 9:06am this February 10th, 2012, My wife and I became Grandparents!  Let me introduce Gracelynn Diann Emert who came into this world at 7 lbs. 15 oz. (20 inches) at OSF St Francis Peoria, proud parents are Julia and Randy Emert, Jr.

It was a long and hard birth for both the mother and baby but all seems fine at this point.  The thing that scares me most is that I am now a Grandpa and my kid is a Dad.  Good Lord.  lol

I (we) thank all those that sent prayers via comments and text messages.  Gracelynn will have to spend 24 hrs in baby ICU but the doctor says only as a precaution because of the extended labor and some minor complications at birth. Or, normal as he put it.

BTW, just because my heart grew double it’s size this morning does this in no way let those crooks who call themselves our leaders of the hook when I write.  I’ll have my cape on and be back at it as soon as all this settles in.

NOTICE!

PAP, aka Emtronics, also known as Randall is at OSF St. Francis.  Update will follow as soon as possible. While nervous and a bit scared, everything is stable.

UPDATE:  Hold on folks.  Sorry about this and I really am but it’s not me in OSF.  It’s my daughter in law who is experiencing a real tough pregnancy.  She was supposed to have this baby yesterday and as of now, still hasn’t.  There have been some minor problems which seem to clear themselves and then something else pops up.  It has been a trying day and I was hoping to announce that I was a Grandfather this evening.  That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.  They have many doctors up there and while mother and baby are OK, they are not out of the woods yet.  I do appreciate the prayers that some have offered and I am sure the outcome will be glorious.  A baby girl. 

That is why I haven't posted since late January.  This has taken a lot of my mind power.  I am tired of hospitals already.  So…please excuse this previous post.  I’m still my mean old self……..I guess.

UPDATE 2:  It’s after 4am and still in labor.  Wow.  Everything is in place to happen, just waiting for the push.  This is driving me nuts and for those that know me, that’s no drive, more like a put.