The Peoria AntiPundit 3.1

Amazing news!

2012-01-25T04:27:00.001-06:00

The sun will rise in the west today. It has too. The Earth has tilted because the city council had their grubby hands on $3.5 million from South Town TIF and were posed to used it for their pet project, the hotel.

They didn’t. Why? Because the locals showed up. They vote. They work. They live in South Town. It must have been amazing to see South Towns representative, Gulley flop around like a fish out of water. You know he was going to vote for this. He has to. Van Auken told him to.

They, the council, voted down using the money after all. Good news!

Bad news? The damn hotel is still going to cost the tax payers through the nose and we are still on the hook for the shadiest project ever.

SIDE NOTE: The Garbage Fee is at $13. $13 a month IS $13 a month and part of that $13 goes to tote rental. Please don’t tell me it is limited or goes the life of a contract. It’s $13 a month no matter how you paint it and we have NO TOTES!

Got to hand it to them….

2012-01-24T16:00:00.001-06:00

Got my little post card in the mail today from PDC Services addressed to RESIDENT. It wants to know what size roll out tote I want and they offer 3 sizes. Check a box and mail back the postage paid card.

It doesn’t have the PDC logo on it either. It’s got our God awful city logo on the side of the tote and has the printing; “City of Peoria”

So…if PDC God forbid, should lose the garbage pick up, another company would honor the totes as it has just the city’s logo. In the meantime, the city can and you can bet your ass, will raise the rental fee in the future as well as the Garbage Fee to go with it. We will become acclimated with the system and if you don’t have a tote, no garbage pick up.

Meanwhile we are all paying rent on this tote since January 1st, and it looks like it will be June or July before we get them. Delivering one of these to every single household is going to cost a bit of coin. Wonder how that is being paid for? Wanna bet that our dear council comes out and tells us we have top pick them up ourselves? Covering their butts they did.

I want to know where do I go for a refund on the rental I don’t have but I am paying for?

Peoria…It’ better than nothing.

BTW, The post card goes to the Rehrig Penn Logistics Company out of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. I wonder what this outfit charged for their services????

School Board member calls them like he sees them…

2012-01-24T15:53:00.001-06:00

And rightfully so….This was at a Committee of the Whole at Washington Gifted School. Mr Rick Cloyd used the word “atrocious” to describe a discipline student’s problem. I love it. Not sure Emerge does. She said she is glad the Lathan Administration, seems to be cognizant of the civil rights issues surrounding inconsistent enforcement of problem behaviors in schools. When ever I hear “civil rights issues” and knowing that our schools have a severe problem with assaults on teachers, disrespect towards staff, no parental involvement what so ever, fights, in school arrests, guns fired in our hallways of our schools, and it is mostly a black problem, stand by. That’s a fact.

So explain to me please why we have to kiss some students asses because they are discipline problems, and belong to a select group of students that causes 90% of the problems? Also explain the inconsistent enforcement of problem behaviors in schools. What inconsistent enforcement? Whenever I hear civil rights issues, my ears perk up. Why, because the race card is not far behind. By the way, it is a small percentage of students, mostly repeat offenders, that make life and teaching unbearable in our schools. They also make it dangerous for staff and other students and these same students think nothing of drawing a gun and firing. Time to clean house because these kids aren't there to learn, nobody can make them learn, they don't care for others, and they need to be introduced to the streets. Throwing money at them has been done for years and special schools, well, another cash cow and besides, nobody really wants to staff those schools and babysit junior convicts and do you blame them? They are not misguide youth that just need direction. They are a product of a society that has thrown money at the poor in the form of social programs, like Headstart for over 30 years, so the politicians and those like Lathan who make their livings off the public dole can smile and shake hands at cocktail parties and justify their existence. It’s bullshit.

Money would be better spent beefing up the police force so they can deal with these criminals and so a person who really needs the police doesn’t have to wait because 6 squad cars are at the local high school making sure the kiddys go home and don’t trash the neighborhoods, fight, or threaten citizens driving through the area.

Please don't say we can't have them on the streets because crime will be bad and these kids need to learn. Bull. Crime IS bad and really these kids skip and are on the streets anyway. It's sad that taxpayers will have to pay for their prison time. What to do? Well one thing is to stop blaming the “ school system” for all the ills of generation after generation of idiots raising kids. We need to work on the young kids now and teach them that getting pregnant, or getting a girl pregnant by their Junior year is not the way to a better life. That welfare isn’t automatic just because your momma has lived off it for the last 20 years. Yes, some people on welfare who have kids do raise their children to be successful. Sadly, that never makes the news and really, few and far between. The proof is easy to see how things have turned out. Visit any high school on any day and just spend a few hours in the halls. Even have some lunch and just observe what you see. Nope, sadly this generation is lost and most of these kids will either end up dead, or saddled with multiple kids from different fathers, on welfare, or in prison. And then you hear “why are the prisons so full of blacks?”

Yea, I know, I’m cold hearted. I don’t feel that way, but to tell you the truth, if our district doesn’t get a handle on the students, then people, white or black, who really care about their kids, send them to private schools or move out. They are doing just that. Professional teachers, and that is what they are, will leave in droves too. A lot of education and expense is born by anyone who wants to teach and that is what they are, professionals. No professional should be subject to the crap we have in our schools today. Parents or just the parent, doesn’t care. Hell half the time they can’t even get their kid to school on time and nobody, no one, holds the parents feet to the fire for the responsibility of their kid. Hell, the school can barely get a hold of a parent when the kid is in trouble.

I’m glad that at least one Board member sees through the crap. I just wish Ross would take a break from her district paid trips here and there and realize the problem too. She doesn’t and I think she is a discredit to her own race for basically turning her head. Yes sir, Mr. Cloyd sees it and it has nothing to do with civil rights. He’s more than a steward of our children, he must also be a warden.

Let Me Correct the old white man…

2012-01-22T10:27:00.001-06:00

You know the guy. Almost every neighborhood has one. He’s the old guy that comes out and yells: “You little shits get off my lawn!” Well we here in the blogosphere know him as Merle Widmer. He posted a little ditty on what’s wrong with Obama. I know Obama has his faults and his problems but I hate to see a grumpy old white man simply parrot that big fat ass Rush Limbaugh and that poster child to as why you should use a condom, Sean Hannity. You can click the link above and read his post, which was actually written by a friend of his. Hahum I don’t mind the criticism our President gets but it should be facts and not twisted facts. so here goes. (My response is in blue.)

First he calls Obama an unqualified, incompetent, dishonorable, ego-driven fraud even though the latest poll shows 42% Americans feel Obama is doing the right thing and that is way more than Bush, but he doesn’t mention Bush ever.

First point:

Did you notice who Obama threatened when he wasn't getting his way on raising the debt ceiling? He threatened to not pay:
Social Security Retirees, Military Retirees, Social Security disability and Federal Retirees. No The GOP tied those things to the debt ceiling as a way to make it tough on Obama. Failed to mention how many times these same GOP had no problem raising the debt ceiling under Bush.

Second point:

He did not threaten to stop payments to illegal aliens. Not true at all. What payments??

Third point: He did not threatened to take frivolous benefits such as Internet access away from violent inmates. How could he? I mean this is trivial bullshit and just a talking point from Limbaugh. Damn those Democrats. No point here.

Fourth point: He did not offer to fire some of the thousands of unnecessary federal employees that he hired. Exactly what employees would that be Merle? Anymore than Bush hired when he was President?

Fifth point: He did not offer to cut down on his or his wife's frivolous gallivanting around Because there is none Merle. President Bush took more vacations to his home in Texas than any other President in history yet nobody from your camp complained. Our President happens to come from Hawaii so that is where he goes. After all this is the First Lady. Show some respect and stop listening to Fox News talking points because this is all that is.

Sixth point: He did not threaten to not pay the senators and representatives or any of their staff Well, by law, he can’t or couldn’t if he wanted to. Moot point but sounds good.

Seventh point: Why are we allowing this person to destroy this wonderful country with his selfishness and his lies? Exactly what lies? Like Iraq had WMDs? Like the GOP holding out and saying NO to everything this President has tried to do? Like the great job creators haven’t yet created a single job? Like starting two wars and leaving the mess for Obama to clean up? Like tanking the economy and then heading back to Texas? Your best offer to date is a man like Newt to take over? A guy who thinks all janitors should be fired and the children should stay after school and clean the schools? A guy who asks his second wife, which he left his first wife dying of cancer for, to bring home his girlfriends and then makes the daughters of that woman go on TV and debunked their mother? If the GOP today is the fix, then we are fucked.

But my favorite point and Eighth: He did not threaten to not pay foreign aid When Obama was first elected he did just that and it didn’t take long before the Jewish Lobby and every GOP come along was ganging up against him for that. Cutting foreign aid which no other GOP President has ever considered even to this day of economic crisis, no GOP candidate has even suggested it except Ron Paul who is generally labeled as a nutjob by the same GOP. Even that batshit Sara Palin said cutting foreign aid would be a mistake and in fact she said doubling it to Israel should be done. But, President Obama did kill Bin Laden, thank you very much.

No Merle, you have a right to your politics and whom you prefer but to simply rattle off Fox Talking points is bullshit. Obama does have his problems and in some respects I am disappointed in some of his actions like the Patriot Act, which should be repealed, the closing of Gitmo, and the fact that if Obama says the sky is blue, the Republicans say it isn’t, I feel that Obama should stopping kissing the GOPs ass and start kicking some. At any rate, no matter what you believe, Obama will be reelected in November and the only scary part? That approximately 48% of the votes will be to the GOP candidate, Newty, or whom ever simply because they don’t like the black guy in office. America will survive Merle as I don’t see you cashing in your stocks, and raking in your capital gains and leaving the country.

All Aside….

2012-01-22T08:45:00.001-06:00

There is a good post over on the Peoria Chronicle on the upcoming decision to transfer South Town TIF funds, to the tune of $3.5 million to that hotel project. The fact of the matter and as CJ Summers points out in his article, the Hotel already has numerous funding outlets, mostly taxpayer support and taking money from a TIF in area that really needs the money for improvements, if not for just more cops, is simply outrageous. I wrote a post about this a few days ago.

Who are these “Band of 11*” on the council? Their ball sack must be enormous. They slap the taxpayer in this community in the face all the time. Garbage Fee. Raise the Garbage Fee. The HIZ zone. The East Bluff TIF for OSF. The failed MidTown Plaza. The failed Med-Tech District. Well, you get the picture. Everyone of those is a slap in your face and how do they get away with it?

Simple, because although people comment on the blogs and express their outrage at this abuse of public funds to benefit the few at the expense of the many, no one shows at council meetings to bitch these people out. Of course the council has new rules to keep that from happening. You have to fill out a card and subject if you want to address these premadonnas.

I wish I could form a grass roots group of 100s of dis-satisfied citizens to pack that council chamber every meeting and address this council with OUR grievances one at a time and make these meetings last until 3 am. That would interfere with their after meeting cocktail hour for sure. The council knows no one shows up for these meetings except for the die-hard few like that Mexican guy and the ever suffering Ricca woman. They see a need and they act. That is what we the people as a whole should do. The modern day equivalent of pitchforks and shovels. Otherwise, these people of the Gang of 11* will continue to abuse our money for their friends in high places.

We should hassle them at every turn, flood their meetings with remarks and questions and let them know their free pass to the Civic Center, Free downtown parking and their seat on that horseshoe can be removed by the vote. Otherwise, other than voting, all the bitching and complaining on blogs goes no where with these people. They, well most of them, don’t give a rat’s ass about how you have to scrape to get by in this community. We all know they don’t give a damn about the crime and the shootings. Their lack of debate during any of their meetings over crime is deafening. Their main concern is what can we spend your money on next? Like Mr. Summers says: “Peoria, It’s better than nothing.”

* Gang of 11 coined from Billy Dennis

Good news! for a change…

2012-01-20T16:58:00.001-06:00

Mr G’s on Main is reopening and a new buyer, the same guy that runs One World, has bought the place. That means he’ll revamp the building and keep the great menu. Now, when they open if only I can beat Billy Dennis to the place and get one of their chilidogs or polish sausage.

Hey Folks! Sullivan wants the airshow downtown…

2012-01-20T13:23:00.001-06:00

preferably in front of his bar! I can’t stop laughing my ass off except these guys are serious. An airshow NOT at an airport. You can read the PJS article HERE.

Gee wiz, Sullivan has one of the few bars downtown on Water street so my gosh, let’s have an airshow. How would we see jets banking behind the tall buildings? Will the paratroopers jump into the river?

Ok let’s hold the State swim meets at the Civic Center…where there is NO POOL.

and the band plays on…..

“Hey Southtown! You don’t need the money!”

2012-01-20T08:20:00.001-06:00

The PJS has an article on how the wonderful and colorful city council is going to take TIF funds to the tune of $3.5 million and with the wave of Van Auken’s broom handle, while apparently standing on top of Mount Gulley, transfer these funds to the new Marriot Hotel project so, and get this, to save us, the taxpayer, money. Who is running this town? The Marx Brothers?

This would be a funny frickin event if it wasn’t so sad. Let’s review and follow me here… Our city council is basically robbing the taxpayer so they can save the taxpayer money on a hotel project for a private developer who is getting paid by the taxpayer. Oh shit. Mel Brooks couldn’t write this script any better. To top off the whole turd pile with a little whipped cream, why would the south end need the money? Is crime out of control? Are we laying off police officers and dispatchers? Do you know we are 3 people and a sick call away from having our 911 calls being placed on hold? Can you imagine calling 911 for an emergency and you hear; “911, please hold” and then you hear Frank Sinatra singing The Girl from Ipanema in the background?

You can answer YES to my questions but instead of diverting the funds for more police, Christ what a fix and it was right under our noses, or give the money to where it really belongs, District 150, or you can give it towards a reduction in bonds the city has to sell to get it’s latest venture, the walkway with a hotel attached. Hell they could have done away with the Garbage Fee and that 100% increase.

Crime being a problem many people see in this community as a stumbling block towards more development and people staying here and the schools, such as they are, you would think that would be Job 1 and 2. Not here in Peoria. We found some cash and by God we can get that hotel number down and make it look like a steal. What are they? Use car salesmen?

Folks, I’m laughing myself to tears… Can you believe these people? In some countries, this kind of government shuffling would be deemed theft and the officials would be kaned or be-headed. If this keeps up, Peoria will be for sale on E-Bay.

Analogy? You and the city council are trapped in the desert without water. You send them out for water and just before you think you had your last breath, they come back and say they found water….it was delicious..…you die.

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? District 150 Version….

2012-01-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

You’ve surly seen the show or heard of it on TV? Maybe you even seen or played the game on Facebook. A contestant is asked questions from the 1st grade through the 4th grade level of learning and then if that contestant makes it, they are asked the big 5th grade question! As an example, on Facebook, I have played this game and a 2nd Grade Physics question was: “What is the atomic weight of Iridium?” Really? 2nd graders know this? I doubt some college physics majors know this but….at any rate I wondered what the learning curve would be in our own District 150 Primary schools would be. So……Let’s play!

Question 1: 1st Grade Math “How many grams does your brother get from his key of cocaine?”

a) 1000 b) 500 c) 1008 d) depends on the cut

Question 2: 3rd Grade Physics “How many bullets can you fit normally into a clip of a Glock 9?”

a) 5 rounds b) 7 rounds c) 8 rounds d) 10+1 rounds

Question 3: 2nd Grade Geography “If Johnny robs the liquor store, what is the proper name for the small street behind the liquor store he uses to make his escape?”

a) alley b) walkway) c)parkway d) driveway

Question 4: 4th Grade Science “After breaking into your neighbor’s house, you steal their x-box. Will it work at your house?

a) depends if you dropped it out the window b) it might be password protected c) forget that! You sell it to the snitch up the street d) yes, it should work and you should invite your neighbor over to play.

Question 5: English “What is the proper greeting for your teacher in the morning?”

a) Good morning Mrs. Jenkins b) yo Bitch! Keep ya hands off me c) Fuck you, I’m late d) wasup pimps?

…and now the big 5th Grade Question! Humanities

“How many years will you be sentenced if you robbed the Knoxville BP AMOCO and do not show a weapon but imply you have one?”

a) 1 to 3 b) 2 to 5, you were on parole c) 10 years You just got released d) none, you get a slap on the wrist until you are arrested again for a drive by shooting.

ANSWERS:

Q1: Correct is '”c” 1008 but you get your ass kicked for getting in your bro’s business.

Q2: Correct is “d” You can get 10 rounds + 1 in the chamber. That way you don’t have to aim.

Q3: Correct is “a” alley. What the fuck, this is the hood! That’s what alleys are for.

Q4: Correct is “c” Really you sell it cause you need some weed. You invite the neighbor over to watch the flat screen you stole from him 2 weeks earlier.

Q5: Correct is “c” is the most acceptable because shit man, your Ho and you were out late last night and getting to school on time is a bitch. Of course, so is the teacher when she marks you tardy.

The 5th Grade Answer is: All of them really but in our court system the likely correct answer would be “d” you get slapped on the wrist and released back into the wild. That way, the police at least get to know you by first name.

So are you smarter than a fifth grader?

Delayed Again?

2012-01-19T15:43:00.001-06:00

You all know how I feel about this damn hotel agreement that Peoria is so willing to spend our tax dollars on. Like a city should be in the hotel business anyway and imagine if you will, you owned the City Center Hotel, or any hotel in Peoria, for your competition, it’s the damn city, not just another hotel chain. How do you keep a straight face?

Well over at the Peoria Pundit, Mr. Dennis wonders basically the same thing as Mr. Mathews, the developer hasn’t been around much to answer questions the media may have but Mr. Dennis does ask one vital question about this developer:

“When Gary Matthews decides he needs to take a pee, how does the city council decide which of the Gang of Eleven gets to hold his dick for him? I mean, do they rotate, or do they draw straws on a case by case basis?”

Good question but I would assume two things: 1) It would be the youngest member holding the crank, aka Ryan Spain and 2) if Mathews does show up and if he sees his shadow, will will have 6 more weeks of delays?

Peoria’s New Riverfront downtown hotel…

2012-01-19T11:02:00.001-06:00

Here is what the City Council is selling us down the drain for:

Here is what we’ll get if it is run anything like the new Museum or any of the other business ventures our city council has voted, despite strong public outcry, for like loans to battery companies etc etc etc .

Ladies and Gentlemen, Here is what was built:

Even Mickey Mouse would have enough sense to jump ship on this project.

Gary Mathews has nude photos of City Council!

2012-01-19T05:40:00.001-06:00

Gary Mathews, the great developer of the new hotel downtown must have nude and lewd photos of members of the city council. What else can explain the repeated deadlines on the new hotel in downtown Peoria that the council is going to grant on the 24th of January? I mean when this first took place and a the deal was sealed, Ryan Spain said that we must move swiftly and that was December 2008!

I mean what else can it be? Nobody can be this stupid with public funds and keep on signing on to this deal after delay after delay. No one could be this stupid with public funds after the prime developer has been slapped with fines for not paying on his other projects, No one could be this stupid to offer prime city lot to a strip club owner at a 1/3 of the going price so we can make way for this great hotel. Nobody could be that stupid to close down the Pere Marquette and not have a signed agreement in hand to start construction.

So it must be nude and lewd photos right? What else could explain this extreme devotion to a developer on a project apparently banks won’t even touch but our city council can’t wait to issue bonds so we taxpayers can be on the hook?

No governing body could be this gullible and this stupid right? 2012 and still no financing, still no paper work, still no construction, still no jobs, and yet this council is considering another extension to February 29th? (Ironic on a day that doesn’t exist but once every 4 years)

No….nobody is that frickin stupid. Show us the pictures Gary!!

Need a simpler analogy? Remember those machines at the fair where you put a quarter in and you got one chance to move the claw over the prize and drop it and as always the claw wouldn’t pick up the prize or drop it before you could get it over the chute? So, you stood there (if you are our city council) and fed quarter after quarter into the machine and never ever get that stuffed monkey. Well that is what this council is doing. Stuffing our money into the developer machine and we will never see the stuffed monkey.

Envy…

2012-01-17T13:55:00.001-06:00

I have been accused of being full of envy because I harp on the government programs our country has to benefit those in need. You know, like free lunches, free cell phones, help with heating bills, free books in the schools, free medical card for all your children, free rent or at least subsidized rentals being Section 8, and on and on.

Well no I am not envious at all and in fact I would be horrified if I ever had to use any of those programs including getting a Link Card. In fact I believe our government should be there to help it’s people and really have no problem with many of the programs that are out there. After all, what should the government be doing with our money? Paying themselves? Buying bombs? I’d rather see it come back in the form of jobs and aid to those who need the aid. Besides, with the recent crash of our economy, many people who have had jobs found out they didn’t and I hope they get the help. I am blessed with a job, so I don’t need the programs but there is always that fine line.

I do however work and like many many Americans that do work, we pay for these programs with our taxes. I do mind when people make a career out of welfare and when people cheat the system. You know, like having kids to get an increase in your aid and then hiding your live in boyfriend when the case worker shows up? And no matter what anyone says, many people live off the tit of government their whole lives and many are raised to believe that the government will pay the bills, hence we have girls, as young as 15 (even younger) getting pregnant while in school and they don’t give a rat’s ass about who is going to pay for the hospital, the doctor, and the meds for that baby. In fact, it may qualify them for public housing under the Section 8 program.

No, I like working people all over have a vested interest in how my tax money is spent, be it on bombers, garbage fees, or Link Cards. So, please, stop calling me envious of the public aid system. I think the system should be shut down, completely revamped and strict limits added to it. I think no one should have a career on public aid and raise a family that also lives on public aid. I thank my lucky stars everyday I don’t have to deal with all that but if I ever had to, it is a nice safety net there for people to survive and get back on their feet.

What chaps my ass is we have a group or generation of people who think they are owed these benefits. Those are the people that need to be slapped awake. I would hate to think that these programs are cut and slashed to the point that if I or someone else really needed them, they wouldn’t be there because a few abuse the entire system.

It’s NOT ENVY EMERGE. It’s tired of paying the bill for sloths.

Emerge goes to the MLK Dinner and this is what I’ve learned…

2012-01-16T17:59:00.001-06:00

This is a quote (below in highlighted font) from her blog and you know what, like a hell of a lot of people in this town, yes both black and white, I am tired of the senseless shootings, the attacks on the elderly in their homes, killing people for $20 (yes a punk white boy in the Heights) and all the other crap that goes on including random shootings into houses killing innocent little children. Then, once a year, people in this community come together, mainly to pat themselves on the back, and hold a dinner in honor of Martin Luther King Jr..

This year they fought over speakers because one cancelled, one was basically too damn dumb to speak a sentence although he could run a football (notice how nothing was said about dumping him?) one was way too critical of President Obama and what Travis feels as Obama’s inability to do anything to help the many starving and poor in this country. I don’t have a clue what they would expect Obama to do per se, but considering all the entitlement programs that the government runs and it has been over 60 years of civil rights in this country, King must be rolling over in his grave. If Dr. King were alive today and saw just the crap going on in Peoria with the black youths and black on black crime, he would stand up and say; “Stop expecting the handouts and standup and man up for yourself and your children!” But here is the quote that got me….

"There are more blacks under correctional control today -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began." (Strange, I drove by a prison outside of Galesburg this morning during yard exercise and all I saw was young blacks. Is this the fault of white society?)

And? I'm not out there pulling the trigger and shooting houses and my neighbors. I'm not out there robbing gas stations and dealing drugs. I did make sure my kids grew up learning that nothing is handed to you and you have to work to earn both respect and the things you want in life. You can't stare in the window and wonder what should be given to you, you must go in through the back, ask for a job, and work for what you want.

Did he mention at all during his speech blaming everyone all around for the ills of society that it's time for the Black community to "man up"? 60 years of civil rights, affirmative action, welfare, Section 8, free cell phones, free lunches, utilities paid, and let’s see……..free medical.

Ah what the hell…as long as there is no consequences for your actions, as long as you are handed and EXPECT free this and that, and as long as high school girls are getting pregnant, and not worrying about the bills or who will really raise their child, this will go on and the prisons will continue to fill with both white and yes, sadly, a majority of blacks.

I am Liberal mostly and I think humans should take care of humans. I think that no one should die because they can’t afford a doctor in the richest most powerful country on Earth but then I think it’s time to crack a nut and come down on the abuse in the welfare system, not because it is costing us. B-1 bombers cost more as do drones and wars, but crack it because we have generation after generation growing up thinking somebody owes them something. They are the ones staring in the window wondering what you should give them this week. They are the ones that will break the window and feel nothing taking what they want. Make them come to the back and apply for a job and earn it so they can buy what’s in the window and maybe someday, own the shop the window is in.

Yes jobs are hard to find and yes it’s tough to climb out of poverty but it can be done. It just means, work and earning, in stead of robbing and shooting. Maybe then there won’t be so many blacks incarcerated in our prisons. Then maybe at one of those luncheons honoring Dr. King, a speaker can stand and say fewer blacks are in prison today thanks to hard work, education, and caring about each other and it’s because of us! And yet it goes on year after year, more poverty, more scary black statistics, and blame it seems, to everyone else. Just a thought.

Flame on

Remember that song….?

2012-01-15T09:19:00.001-06:00

Ya know the song by Lynyrd Skynyrd. called “That Smell”?

A classic of a song written by Ronnie Van Zant of the band in reference to what he saw as people around him ruining their lives with drugs. The smell of heroin cooking is said to drive an addict back to the drug.

Well, what am I leading to? I was out to dinner last night at a nice local place with 6 people at the table. Some of these people are what I call influential in Peoria and of course the smell in the air was the smell of sizzling steaks.

Talk at the table got around to the garbage fee and the garbage totes we all are going to have and pay for via that slap in the face tax our council dreamed up a few years ago and now has decided to raise it by 110%. The smell here was interesting. After over 30 years of garbage collection by BFI disposal which later became (WM) Waste Management, all of a sudden there was a shift to another company, (PDC) Peoria Disposal Company, a local outfit unlike the national chain WM is. PDC for years didn’t seem to want the local garbage contract for Peoria. They had smaller surrounding towns and they had a very lucrative industrial waste business going. Until a local group opposed the expansion of PDC’s landfill and adding some pretty hazardous waste to that site. It seemed that PDC was land locked and limited on where it could haul waste without paying through the nose to ship it out of state. Could be a fatal blow for a local company right?

Enter a new city council a few years back. A Republican Mayor who is business friendly, well at least to his friend’s businesses and some young blood on the council. A few on this council (no names) happen to be good friends with people from the PDC. I mean, they traveled on trips together, swapping recipe kind of friends. So good friends, that PDC decided to submit a bid on the then upcoming bid for Peoria garbage collection. It may have been even worked out, in a back room, that PDC would be sure to have the lower bid. How, you may ask? Well when you have someone who knows what the bids are from other companies, in this case WM, then you might have a way to have your submitted bid, shall we say, just under the lowest?

You would say PAP! That would be corruption! Yes, if it could be proved, but gee, a couple of council people got free totes from PDC dropped at their homes BEFORE the contract was even announced. How nice of PDC to come out of no where and decide to just drop off a few top of the line totes, for free, to a few council people. More smell? A little bit more. There seems to be a little worry over the Garbage Fee not going to garbage collection and being a budget time thing, the council needed funds but to raise a fee that has nothing to do with garbage, well, that would really smell considering some council people said this fee would never go up. In fact, Turner, Mr. Wonderful, was worried that $72 a year would be hard on fixed income people so bill it once a month and strip those poor people $6 at a time. They did.

So at another one of those backroom parties, where some council members and PDC brass mingle, they came up with a hell of an idea. You see, the contract PDC bid and won was kind of costing PDC money because of the new trucks required and equipment. They needed to raise the next years contract and generate some other revenue. Simple, require everyone in Peoria to have one of their totes, hike the garbage fee to cover the cost and of course to help with the city’s shortfalls. PDC makes out like a bandit, gets an almost guarantee for many years of sole collection, Peoria gets funds it needs to help their pals down at the warehouse district and the Garbage Fee is actually being part used for garbage collection. No more possible legal challenges to an unfair tax that now appears to never ever go away, again like it was promised.

Tell me I am wrong about this please. People, we city citizens have been had again by the slick clowns we elect to trust with our funds. Crime is everywhere and yet this group funnels money to their friends. Just watch the warehouse district and take note of the friends of the council there and watch the money.

Now do you smell that smell?

I have nothing….

2012-01-11T16:36:00.001-06:00

I am appalled that the city council continues to ignore the crime in Peoria and vote money for the useless Washington Street upgrade. The warehouse district gets more money and it seems OSF is going to eventually tear down the East Bluff one house at a time and expand so they can offer no tax return and minimum wage jobs for the masses. In the mean time, the rich and connected in this town rake in the benefits while turning a blind eye to every working person in this city who strives to keep a home, a job, without working two jobs, and get their kid to stay in school, not because school is hard, but because in Peoria, public school is dangerous.

I had my home recently evaluated because retirement is in my near future. I want to leave Peoria. The broker said that in the best case, because our city leaders refuse to address the crime, the shape of the roads, and continue to cut city services while selling bonds for warehouse, talking turn a bouts, that it might be in my best interest to just abandon my home and leave. Not that bad really, but damn close.

I am without words on the direction this city is going. The way most of our council members are bought by corporations in this town is borderline criminal. Watch the election donations to these clowns come election time and see how much that feel good charity known as OSF gives to some of these people Rome is indeed burning while our leaders fiddle. Corporations are people too! Right? The Supreme court said so but I’ll believe that when Texas executes a corporation and only then.

Nough said…….waiting for the blizzard of January, according to WMBD Radio, we shall all perish tomorrow because of the great storm. Thank God it’s only 40 weeks until the great museum opens and saves our downtown. LMAO and crying.

One more thing. I am sick as fuck of young black men shooting up, breaking into homes, stealing and robbing in our city. Sound racist? Maybe it is but the damn paper has a black mug shot almost everyday of the gangster that was the latest arrestee. That is why my home’s value has taken a dive. That is why the schools are dangerous and this is why people leave in droves for the burbs. People aren’t stupid and they know the 300lb gorilla in the room is the problem, just some won’t speak it publicly.

Again, just my opinion. I am tired and I have nothing…….

What’s fair when it comes to the law….

2012-01-08T07:05:00.001-06:00

If you read the Peoria Journal Star, then today you might have caught THIS story from Pam Adams. It’s about jay walking and jay walking tickets mainly around and for Peoria High School students.

It seems these 4 young men were walking from school to a sandwich shop and they jaywalked across Knoxville in front of a cop who then ticketed them for jaywalking. It’s a law, like texting while driving is a law but I don’t see enough enforcement of that law although all one has to do is look around at any traffic light while you’re waiting for the green. Chances are you will see someone playing or texting with their cell phone.

Anyway, one of the boy’s father is pissed his son got the ticket and wanted to fight it. I can understand that as the kid is supposedly a good kid who doesn’t get involved in the usual mantra at PHS which is gangs and fights. Dad finds out that fighting city hall and tickets for ordinance fines is almost impossible and as such, that didn’t take Pam Adams long to insert that it was blacks being picked on as the whole courtroom was full of poor blacks who couldn’t afford to pay the fines. And people say I paint with a wide brush. Well, at any rate, out comes the race card.

I say you get the ticket for jaywalking in front of a cop, you pay no matter what color you are and the only reason the police weren’t out catching the bad guys carrying out your flat screen while you were at work is because of public complaints. So jaywalking duty. Glad we got the extra resources for that. In fact, Peoria doesn’t.

Look at Main Street in Peoria. The city, at request of Bradley University lowered the speed limit to 25 MPH along the whole length of Main. They even put up speed limit signs almost every 100 ft with an orange flag hanging on them. I’m here to tell you, it isn’t working as if you go 25, you’ll get tail gated or passed like you’re standing still. And since when did Main Street become a Bradley campus private drive? Bradley claims the lower limit will protect students, many of whom cross wherever they want anytime they want. How many jay walking tickets are issued there? The courtroom, according to Adams was filled with poor blacks, not rich white or foreign Bradley students. So, do we lower the speed limit on Knoxville to 25 MPH?

Here’s how I see it. True, PHS kids, like the Manual kids, when getting out of school, do block and walk in the streets. If you honk or heaven forbid say anything, you risk your car and your self with injury. That is a problem and a fact. I don’t think those boys in the story were a problem though. I think they just got caught is all.

Now Bradley kids walking across Main anywhere is also a big problem. Main runs east and west and if it’s early morning, the sun can block your view of a backpack carrying kid standing in the middle of the street. Same with late afternoon going west. So what to do? Instead of the Bradley Police doing something other than reducing the donut count at Jumer’s AMOCO, maybe they could park along Main and issue some tickets for the exact same thing these boys were cited for on Knoxville. Jaywalking!

Nope, here is what’s going to happen. Because Bradley has pull in this town, like OSF is pulling the pants down and using the East Bluff as a red headed step child, police will soon start doing radar along Main Street. Cars will be ticketed for going to fast. If you ever driven Main from Farmington to University then you know very well it’s a fight for lane usage and people will blow by you at 50 mph or better just to sit at the red turn arrow ahead of you. That of course is an unsafe practice and a risk to pedestrians, especially ones standing in the street talking on their cell ignoring all the cross walks provided. So, it’s the cars fault for paying road use taxes, insurance, license plate fees, and whatever for being on the damn street. Go figure. You make a street and a damn car is on it.

So again, maybe there is a disparity here. Students from an inner city high school ticketed for jaywalking from their school, and Bradley students much safer as they lowered the speed limit and will ticket speeding cars for getting in their way as they blunder across Main to their classes.

Remember, jaywalking is a law because if as a person you get hit by a 2 ton car, you lose. Bradley and OSF are big job creators in this area so we must kneel to their every whim. Our Council pretty much does this so much I’ll bet they wear out knee pads every 6 months. Bradley is Bradley. OSF, on the other hand has so many identities, no one knows exactly what they are. Business that pays taxes? Non-profit? Charitable Nuns doing good things? Biggest minimum wage employer in the city? Well, if you owe them money, you’ll find out their wrath.

Poor East Bluff. Poor jaywalking kids. Poor Bradley Students. Stupid drivers.

Ahhhh Pekin.

2012-01-03T14:10:00.001-06:00

Pekin police broke up a party on New Year’s Eve at a home in Pekin. They arrested 25 people total. One guy was arrested while Pekin police parked a block away waiting for backup and they saw this 19 year old sequel his tires and leave. He was pulled over and charged with DUI as he was way over the limit.

Then police tried to enter the home by knocking. Looking in the window, they saw two guys laying on the floor which I guess was cause for the police to enter and check their welfare. When they did, another kid tried to closed the door on the police and got his head hit and cut.

Ya know, Tazewell County is the home of the drunken teen. Usually it ends with a car with 3 or 4 teens in it hitting a tree or light pole that jumped in their way. Then we have to read about the grieving parents and read about the A students that were in the car. Yet this crap goes on and guess what? These were all white kids.

White kids? But PAP, why do you have to bring color into this? Well for a few reasons. These kids are what I consider “white trash”. Yes, I used the equivalent of the “N” word for some white kids. But PAP, you are so wrong! Yea, these are good kids, just letting off steam. No big deal if they have a few and a little good time. All kids do it. Yea, so they may kill themselves on the way home or maybe some innocent drivers out there. Big deal, right?

The fact of the matter is that most of these kids probably have families that can afford the lawyers they are going to need. They will probably be able to afford the fines leveled against them. That is if none of their daddies has any political pull in Pekin, then they will probably get a slap on the wrist.

No if this was a drinking party in poor black Peoria, there would be only a few differences. One, somebody would have pulled a gun and shot someone and two, none would be able to afford the attorney or have the political pull to get out of jail and or a sentence.

Point? If you don’t think I know there isn’t two levels of justice, then you are wrong. It’s all about color and demographics. It’s sad. Throw the book at those bastards Pekin! We shall see……we shall see….

Well Now that the Holidays are over

2012-01-02T08:47:00.001-06:00

and before we slip into the gray days of another long Illinois winter and are all on our knees praying for spring, I have a suggestion to maybe brighten up the month a little bit.. I plan on attending the next Council meeting and asking where I might collect the money I have overpaid for the Garbage Fee since I don’t have a tote from PDC nor am I going to get one anytime soon. At least that is according to the “cold” woman at PDC.

BTW, PDC, you could get a friendly person to answer the phone. We citizens are one of your biggest customers. The lady you have now makes the Peoria Police dispatch woman sound warm. And we all know how fuzzy warm the police department is when you call.

Let make this clear once more on this whole issue:

1. I like the totes and before this whole Garbage Fee forced me to have one, I was considering renting one anyway. It keeps the animals and rats out but I doubt the lowlife renters in my area, the ones who park their cars on the lawn, wash it every other day, and yet don’t own a lawn mower nor take the garbage out to the curb, will bother. After all, they are the ones who drop their McD’s bags just before they get home.

2. The Garbage Fee was set up to help finance the police and one of their special tasks force. Not Garbage collection. Mayor Ransburg dreamed this up. Since, the Garbage Fee is now directed to the general fund so who knows where the money goes. Van Auken campaigned on and got first elected on the platform of getting rid of this unfair tax. See how that worked out?

3. The Mayor and Council knew people wouldn’t pay this unfair fee because it is unfair. It targets homeowners only and yet OSF, CAT, and many other businesses use city services too. What to do? Well if one remembers, the city council just came off a heated discussion and vote on taking over the water company. An option that has been written into the city charter (or something) since 1909 give or take, that the city has a right to buy out the water company every five years. It was decided by the council at the time, the city wouldn’t but not after a bitter battle from American-Illinois Water company and an ad campaign that must have cost millions. So…get in bed with the water company, quietly promise that the buyout issue will not come up again, and then pay $80,000 a year to IA to collect the Garbage Fee. Problem solved. No payment, no water. HeeHaw! Now you never hear about the buyout of the water company.

4. Why name it the Garbage Fee if it doesn’t go to garbage collection? My theory is that the council was in session, (executive session) and when Ransburg had the brain storm, they needed to call it something. Rockford has a similar tax (but it DOES go to garbage collection) so why not slap the face of every working homeowner in Peoria and call it a Garbage Fee? I mean gee, there are cliff jumpers. Does that mean we all have to jump off cliffs? No, but Peoria, being Peoria, said if Rockford can do it, so can we and besides, this is just a temporary fix. It’ll never go up and we’ll charge it every 4 months on the water bill. Lies, lies and more lies. Bet the ol pats on the back were abundant in that council room that night.

5. Enter a few months later, good ol Councilman Turner. He is concerned that the $24 Garbage Fee being paid every 4 months is hurting fixed income people. What to do? The right thing and abolish it? Ah hell no, not these concerned council people. They never saw our money that they couldn’t spend. So out of compassion, they started the $6 a month fee instead of the quarterly $24 fee. So taking $72 a year away from fixed income is better doing it month at a time instead of every 4 months? Christ! Why don’t you council people just come to my door and pee on my leg. At least I could have a warm feeling about it. What compassion. $72 is $72 whether you lose it a little at a time or all at once but now that is now $156 a year at $13 a month which, I guess, $2 of, goes to tote rental, which we don’t have and won’t get,at least until June…..maybe.

6. Now, have you ever heard of anything more f*cked up than this whole scenario? Why are we like sheep? Do we just take it up the butt from these people? I mean, last election, no one really lost and we got 2 more pretty much the same on the council. I mean neither Weaver nor Akeson have exactly come out against this damn fee. And yet, we continue to re-elect the same people over and over. Maybe that’ll change with the coming of the District elections. Let’s hope so.

7. I think that since this Garbage Fee now includes tote rental from PDC, the Council can now claim the Garbage Fee does help with garbage collection and that years before, I believe the city was open to a law suit over this fee. I’m not a lawyer so I could be wrong. But I do know this. If you pay for something, be it a product or a service, then you should receive it. I don’t want to pay it but I do like running water so I am stuck. I am however, going to the council meetings and demand my money back on tote rentals until I get the product.

…and we wonder why this city is screwed up. Cutting police when crime is everywhere (remember, we are not Chicago, but a small Midwest city) cutting fire, cutting city streets and yet building hotels, museums, giving money to wealthy owners in the warehouse district, talking about turnabouts, building new roads way out north that are not needed, helping with the building and relocation of a strip club, and basically watching our leaders fiddle as Rome burns…….

Fix? RAISE THE PROPERTY TAX to cover the cost of doing business, do away with the stupid garbage fees, add police and get a handle on who really runs this town, the Gangs. They dictate on where the public goes and not goes. Think about it. Improve the streets and stop investing in hotels. Crack down on the thugs that run our public schools. Once the streets are clean, crime is low, and the schools get the job done, people and businesses will come and guess what? We, the City won’t have to loan them a dime to build. If you worry that raising the property taxes will cause people to leave, well you are wrong. People are leaving in droves right now.

Would you pay for something and not get it?

2011-12-29T15:49:00.001-06:00

Of course not but the City Council is expecting all of us to do just that!

Let me explain. The beautiful Garbage Fee is set to go from $6 a month to $13 a month starting in January. Any homeowner who pays for water will be billed for this useless piece of shit fee that was dreamed up by Ransburg and the council a few years back. When you have a fat wallet, what’s a few bucks right? If you live from paycheck to paycheck, well, tough toenails. Remember folks, we were promised by council members that this fee would never go up and in fact would be a temporary fee. Lie #1 and lie #2. Also remember how some council members campaigned on the promise to remove this fee. Lie #3. Guess what? Ever seen a tax or a fee go away? Not in Peoria you won’t so how are you going to be paying for something and not get it?

Enter PDC. Our garbage company, locally owned and you can bet wine and dine buddies of a few council members and movers and shakers. They are to provide totes as part of that fee increase. The rental fee of those totes is to be included in the $13 monthly fee. Only thing is, the PDC company doesn’t have the totes and have to order them AFTER they mail out a survey to all Peoria residents next month. Then, if we are lucky, we will get a tote by June or maybe July. In the meantime, we will still pay that good ol monthly fee of $13 and get no tote for up to 6 months. What a total crock of shit.

Hell, it’s just another tax that until the tote rental was factored in, had NOTHING to do with garbage collection which is charged by contract for the year and incorporated into your property taxes. Property taxes? Yes, something the council could have raised a tiny bit and they could have done away with the Garbage Fee, and the $80k a year Illinois-American Water collects for putting the damn fee on their bills. They could have added police something the Lord knows Peoria could use and balanced the budget of the costs of running the city which is what property taxes are for. The property tax increase would have been something like $40 a year more per $100,000 home and everyone, residents and businesses (which use police, water, fire, and streets) would be paying a fair share. But no. For some reason, our city council avoids property tax increases like it was a fresh turd laying in the middle of a room. You know it smells, but no one is going to touch it. Our council would have to hire a consultant at a huge waste of money to come in, smell it, feel it, and then conclude it’s shit. Then our council would have to form a department, hire a department head and staff so they in turn could recommend a person to pick up the turd. Then, the council would argue for 45 minutes over the hiring and whether the turd is actually there or not before they would vote. Then someone in the crowd leaving the council chambers would slip and fall on the turd and a lawsuit would ensue. Randy Ray would look at the council with his usual straight face and say; “Yes, we could be liable for this turd.” That’ll be $400 please.

This is why this city is ass backwards. This is why when people are trying with all their might to keep their Peoria home, our council fiddles and builds glass museum's and hotels. Meanwhile, just outside their doors, bullets are flying and nobody goes downtown.

It amazes me that people are being led like sheep over this garbage fee and the fact we don’t have totes so we shouldn’t be paying for the rent. If CILCO charged you for the neighbors electricity, you’d be up in arms. Why haven’t we run this council and Mayor out of town. Can’t do it on a rail, they sold that but we could do it on one of those new buses. Someone explain this to me please! Why are we paying PDC for a service they haven’t provided????

And please do it before Turner suggests we get billed $3.25 a week for this Garbage Fee because he doesn’t want to stress the pocketbook of those on a fixed income. Crock of shit.

Hat Tip: To my private email friend.

Well, that didn’t take long…

2011-12-19T15:28:00.001-06:00

Sorry to interrupt the festive holiday mood but…..

1. You can’t fix stupid. Stupid is unfixable.

2. If you want to direct traffic, apply at the police station and if hired, you can direct traffic, otherwise, stop directing traffic from your car seat you dumbasses. You aren’t being kind, nor generous, or even courteous. You are creating a traffic hazard and the possibility of an accident. Let me explain….

I post my Christmas message this morning and felt good. I really did and decided to leave and finish the last of our Christmas shopping, mail some cards and even grab some lunch out. That lasted 5 minutes. Follow me here. Driving on Western in the left lane making the curve onto Main (east bound) coming up to the Farmington Rd light. The light just turned green and nobody is behind me but for some reason, this idiot in the Ford Ranger pickup in front of me dead stopped in my lane. There was a car, westbound on Main wanting to turn left onto Rebecca St, ya know. Where the $200,000 arbor was built? Well, I am not too frickin happy to sit behind this idiot while he directs traffic on his lard ass and directs the car to turn in front of him. If I went around, I feared the driver turning left wouldn’t see me yet, if this simpleton just went, instead of directing traffic, we would be gone by now and the guy could make his turn.
Now, I am wondering if I am going to even get the light at Farmington Rd which has been green long enough for the traffic to move. Ok the guy turns but guess what? There was another car behind that guy that also wanted to turn left onto Rebecca. So, my simpleton cop wannabe idiot flags him through also and he goes…..bamm!!!! A car in the right lane coming around the curve who had no idea that some idiot was directing traffic from his ass seat, slammed into the left turner. Guess who took off, blew the light at Farmington Rd and went left down the hill? Yep, Mr. Traffic director. I witnessed the accident and I stuck around. No one was hurt but it could have been worse. In my job, I have seen worse caused by the exact same thing. The police officer most likely will ticket the left turning driver but IMO, that assbag who stopped in a traffic lane should also have a ticket. The officer confirmed this to me too. I took his plate number so who knows.

The whole point folks is this. Everyone wants to do something nice. Well most of us do. It’s one thing if you are on a two way street, say near a stop sign or traffic light, to let someone in, but to stop and direct your lane and another lane is dangerous and stupid. This accident is a prim point. I saw this same accident a few years ago on N University at McClure when someone stopped in the right lane and flagged a driver, who was making a left onto University from the gas station parking lot. (Why you wouldn’t pull out onto McClure and then use the traffic light to make your turn onto University makes me wonder, but again, stupid is stupid) The driver went and was t-boned from a car in the left lane trying to make the light. That accident had some serious injuries and that traffic directing assbag left the scene too!

So remember, you are violating the law by stopping in a traffic lane when you stop, when you should be going, to let someone out. You would be ticketed if you stopped your car in any lane of traffic and got out so why would stopping to direct traffic be any different? It’s not. BTW, nobody, and I mean nobody seems to care if the speed limit on Main has been lowered to 25mph. I drive it 25 because I refuse to be one that gets a ticket but I am passed liked I am standing still and even tailgated. FEH.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2011-12-19T11:29:00.001-06:00

Seriously, I want to take a little breather for Christmas and enjoy life with the family and good friends. There is enough hate and discontent in the world and our problems we have in this city will still be there after the holidays so I know I can take a break. lol

This time of year, we should all reflect and realize how blessed we are in what we have. It’s not a matter of getting what you want, but more of wanting what you got, to coin a phrase. So, no matter what you believe or how you practice your beliefs, I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and yes, that means Merry Christmas! Unless one of our boneheaded politicians does something incredibly stupid between now and New Years, I catch ya all next year.

Thanks for reading. PAP (Emtronics) Randall

Must see…

2011-12-15T16:52:00.001-06:00

This little homemade video is what teachers put up with on a daily basis. It is by no means as rough as District 150 but it is what kids today expect.

News……

2011-12-13T16:32:00.001-06:00

Peoria High School. Dateline today: Three girls in the lunch line get into a knock down drag out fight ruining lunch for many others as they knocked over trays and food onto the floor as innocent (?) bystanders ran for cover. Police, not Security, but Peoria Police arrive. Girl threatens to kick cops ass. Cop smiles and says go for it and you’ll be tased. Other girl lips off to cafeteria manager. Manager tells her to stop acting like an animal and get out and don’t come back until you act civilized.

Let’s see…..these kids are animals and they are running the zoo. The only time the keepers enter the cage is when the animals fight each other. I wonder why we didn’t have police or fights in high school when I went. What was missing then? hmmmmm.

Dateline last weekend: Imagine you are leaving a high end Peoria Heights restaurant (is there one in the Heights other than the Pizza Works?) . Anyway, you are a young girl, 20 years old and you had a little bit too much to drink at that restaurant and while driving out of the parking lot, you hit a car and leave. You are latter stopped by police but instead of jail, DUI, lawyers, notice in the paper, you are quietly released to your mother. How? If your mother is the Peoria County Coroner then maybe you have some pull. I love laws for us and laws for them, don’t you? How do you buy drinks while being under 21? Why isn’t the restaurant's liquor license in question here? Ask the Sheriff. I mean his son hit a dear in a county owned car while under cover and drunk???

Well if you are underage and drunk and have a hit and run and aren’t from the privileged few, then be prepared to have your ass stripped search and thrown in the county lockup out on Maxwell Road. Ya got to love politics on the local level.

Dateline: Today. I see that guy who beat that 16 year old boy to death because he allegedly caught him breaking into his house, is charged among others, with second degree murder. He claims he was alone and confronted and defended himself. The burglars claim he had friends. Who to believe? The thugs or the thug?

Dateline: Monday. Yet another new program is being offered in District 150 at Lincoln School. Called ADVID. Supposed to be a good program. Programs cost money and most that District 150 have had…failed. Why is it that for a certain segment of society we have to have special programs. We have had special programs for over 40 years of some sort and have we seen any results? I guess if you count ex-prison guards making 6th graders march in hallways, that is a success. Here’s a thought. Do the fricking school work offered! It worked for generations of people for years and years. No frills. Math, reading, History, the basics. People were educated and went on. Why yet another special program? Throw more money at it? What a waste. The schools aren’t the problem nor are the teachers. It’s the idiots who are allowed to bear children without accountability for generation after generation that has caused this. Hold the damn parents responsible for their kids and stop making up programs and drop off points so they can unload their kids and blame the system. It’s always the system at fault. FEH

Of course these stories are alleged. Only the innocent will post and swear that it isn’t true. Of course.

12 Days of Christmas, Peoria Style….

2011-12-11T14:31:00.001-06:00

You all know the tune…..

On the first day of Christmas the city gave to me…a hike in the stinken garbage fee

On the second day of Christmas the city gave to me…2 armed robbers and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the third day of Christmas the city gave to me….3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the fourth day of Christmas the city gave to me…4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the fifth day of Christmas the city gave to me..5 garbage totes, 4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the sixth day of Christmas the city gave to me.. 6 cops on 3rd shift, 5 garbage totes…..4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the seventh day of Christmas the city gave to me…7 home invasions, 6 cops on 3rd shift, 5 garbage totes…4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the eighth day of Christmas the city gave to me.. 8 votes for a hotel, 7 home invasions, 6 cops on 3rd shift, 5 garbage totes….4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the ninth day of Christmas the city gave to me… 9 bullets flying, 8 votes for a hotel, 7 home invasions, 6 cops on 3rd shift, 5 garbage totes….4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the tenth day of Christmas the city gave to me… 10 parking tickets, 9 bullets flying, 8 votes for a hotel, 7 home invasions, 6 cops on 3rd shift, 5 garbage totes….4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the eleventh day of Christmas the city gave to me… 11 drive by shootings, 10 parking tickets, 9 bullets flying, 8 votes for a hotel, 7 home invasions, 6 cops on 3rd shift, 5 garbage totes….4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

On the twelfth day of Christmas the city gave to me… 12 laid off workers, 11 drive by shootings, 10 parking tickets, 9 bullets flying, 8 votes for a hotel, 7 home invasions, 6 cops on 3rd shift, 5 garbage totes….4 huge potholes, 3 drug deals, 2 armed robbers, and a hike in the stinken garbage fee.

Merry Christmas!

Wondering…..

2011-12-10T16:50:00.001-06:00

I was listening to 93.3 FM the other day and they were having a radiothon for something or another. I am always being asked to donate a buck to this or that when shopping. I don’t have a problem with all that and I really think it’s great that people step forward and give. I mean, these days it’s hard to give money when things are so tight.

But, and this is a big but, after losing yet another close friend today, to cancer (again) I have to wonder…What the hell are they curing? I mean yes, technology has advanced and they can administer drugs better and chemotherapy better but what exactly after decades and decades of research have or has anyone cured? Nothing! Nada nill nuttin. Sure you get cancer and if you are lucky, you can have it removed or blasted out of your system and if you are even luckier, you might be able to afford the treatments. Your not cured as you will always need to be checked and most of the time, the damn cancer returns. All a person gets is extra time on Earth. In the end, the Obit reads;”….after a long and brave battle with cancer..”

It seems in a country where healthcare is a profit run business, nothing is cured. It’s almost like the big health companies want you sick and if you are sick, the more they profit. Look at the pharmaceutical companies. They have invented a pill for everything. Shit, when I was a kid and you got sick you had 3 things. Aspirin, band aides, and that nasty tasting cough syrup.

Now you got a pill for everything. You name it, take their pill and if it doesn’t make you go blind, give you anal leakage, drop your blood pressure to dangerous levels, cause a rash, make you puke, or kill you, you can take it and then smell flowers.

Point? After over 30+ years of Jerry’s kids, Race for the Cure, JDF, Easter Seals, and all the others, How about a cure!!! For something! Anything! Otherwise, one can become cynical about all these fund raising events and wonder if these organizations like the American Cancer Society, Lung Association, Heart, or whatever exist solely to provide jobs to top executives who make a nice living off running these places.

No one, not even me wants to see a child get sick, or an adult succumb to a disease but with today’s technology where I can Bluetooth my iPhone to a stereo system, where you can call anyone on the planet from your pocket, where you can find a bottle of ketchup simply by asking your iPhone where to go, why do I have to have friends die after a courageous battle with some sickness?

Instead of Peace on Earth for Christmas, this year I want a cure…for something….anything. I would love to see the American Cancer Society shut down because we can cure it!

Dear City of Peoria…

2011-12-10T07:06:00.001-06:00

I wish to present to you my Christmas List as a citizen of this community.

Since you as a collective have no concern about crime or how the streets are maintained, I thought that with all the taxes and fees I pay and how we are going to make a local garbage company rich along with a hotel developer and since you upped the garbage fee by over 110% and taken money from fixed income people who have no choice but to pay for this circus, I would like to ask you for one single present this year…. a useful one……

A Stick! So I can burn it to keep warm you idiots.

Thanks for nothing….

Watch Out…

2011-12-04T12:51:00.001-06:00

The City, I don’t know when, has changed the speed limit on Main Street between Farmington Rd and University street from 30 mph, to 25 mph.

That means radar cars will be out for sure because what the Uplands and Arbor residents want, including Bradley, they get.

I have no problem except that many un-expecting motorists will probably get tickets. I have no problem with tickets as it were because if you are on Main heading towards University, you know that is the “Chute”. Cars will actually race you in the right lane just to pass and get over before the mandatory right turn lane at University. I have seen cars I know must be doing 50 and 60 mph racing to the stop light. I myself, was driving and was doing almost 40 and I was passed by 3 cars on the right.

Still how they quietly got approval and changed the speed limit is amazing. It is a major street whether the Uplands likes it or not and if they are going to ticket speeders, as they should, then they better write some tickets to those Bradley students who think of nothing of walking across the street anywhere they want.

Ah hell. Who am I kidding. That is probably why they lowered the speed limit in the first place. So the kids can cross where they want. It will be interesting to see if traffic slows down as people in this town don’t drive. They qualify. Like it was NASCAR. I have actually witnessed a driver tailgating another and swerving back and forth like he was trying to keep his tires hot. Amazing.

If this pace keeps up, I predict speed bumps, 15 mph limit, no turns, and maybe a toll just to drive down Main, a public and very major thoroughfare inside of 2 years.

Before you post and tell me blah blah blah, First, I have no problem with the lower speed limit but be fair and enforce the jay walking too. If you want a private street, fine, don’t expect my tax money to plow it or upkeep it. If you want privacy and a quiet traffic free neighborhood, then buying a house across from a major University off a main street, named Main Street wasn’t probably a good idea. Maybe back in the 30s when most of those home were built but not now. So I think it’s wrong to penalize the whole city for a few and really, this is what this lower speed limit does and so does the No Turn signs posted and the cut backs installed to discourage cut throughs. I mean, if I wanted to smell vinegar, I’d move next to a vinegar factory, want students and parking problems with traffic? Move next to a University. Want quiet? Move to the country or Idlebrook.

What Smells?

2011-12-02T15:59:00.001-06:00

Old Garbage smells.

Garbage totes full of old garbage smells.

Being forced to rent a tote from one garbage company smells.

Being told a few years back that WM had to go because they were too expensive smells.

Raising the Garbage Fee which we were told would be a temporary fee and would never go up smells.

Being told that PDC can do it cheaper smells.

Now being told PDC is too expensive and tote rentals is the only way for them to cut costs smells.

Having a high management type person at PDC being a very close friend of a council member smells.

Huh. Lying to the public and backroom hand shakes smell even worse.

Let’s bribe our neighborhoods…

2011-12-01T14:17:00.001-06:00

That is exactly what the city council is doing especially in the East Bluff. The city council is in effect withholding funds that are to be used for small short term loans to home owners to fix and repair their houses and even buy and invest homes in the neighborhood. So you know what Councilman Riggenbach suggests?

He says that the money should be used to pay for extra police protection instead and when he told their committee (East Bluff Neighborhood committee) that, they almost hung him with a rope. His response? Well if the city can’t spend it on police then we will put the money in escrow until our next meeting in January and see how things are then. In other words, nobody gets the funds.

This is the biggest crock of shit that has been pulled ever by the city and council on a promise to a neighborhood association. If this damn bunch of clowns didn’t value museums, warehouses, shiny new hotels more than it does it’s citizens, then we are in deep deep shit.

A city, is in the business of providing for it’s citizens first and foremost. It’s not a bank, yet our city makes loans. It’s not a hotel yet our city invests in hotels. It’s not a recreation club, yet our city invests and builds the RiverPlex in direct competition with private health clubs and guess who ends up with the VIP passes? OSF and CAT. You and I pay out the ass for a membership.

A city should provide fire, police and streets. Only when they do this correctly, will crime be checked, insurance rates will drop for homeowners and cars and people will want to come. This in turn attracts small business which pays taxes and in turn draws bigger businesses. Giving tax breaks to the big places like CAT and OSF is bullshit. There are so many loop holes now that these places pay little or none as it is and OSF is supposed to be non-profit. They pay nothing but enjoy all the city services.

Wow, all I can say about this East Bluff finance thing is What a bunch of dolts and the biggest one is Riggenbach. Has it come down to the point now where we as citizens will be required to slip an officer a twenty when we need help? Will we have to pay to get or streets cleared of snow? Wait, we pay now for this and if it isn’t happening, then these people better starting cutting out the glitter and dump the hotel! I’ll be damned if I have to pay yet another idiot fee for something we all are entitled to via our property taxes, like the frickin Garbage Fee. Get with it and start living within our means city council. That shiny new car is going to have to wait. People first!!!!! Damn!

A Fair Response….

2011-11-29T17:06:00.001-06:00

I was reading this blog and I felt I needed to reply with my opinion. I was afraid though it might be a bit too rough and the comment wouldn’t be published so…The question this blogger asks; We should pull in the PHA, the police chief, the city manager, the school district, even the health department and hold them accountable for all the shootings and deaths we have had in Peoria. Well, here is what I think…..

99% of the crime you speak of is black on black crime including the vile beating death of a 16 yr old youth who, by the way, was breaking the law by simply breaking and entering into a house. Did he deserve the beating? No. But bad actions create bad results and it is sad how this turned out, another black on black crime.

Now you want the whole community to come forward and do something? Great, I tend to agree because on the white side of these things, or great leaders only care about where a strip club will go, a new hotel, and the warehouse district which mostly is owned by rich white guys. Then in the schools, people celebrate that kids can march down the hall way and behave only after we have retired prison guards show up in the schools. Prison guards! It has come to the fact to make 8 year old kids behave in school, they need prison guards to run our school hallways. I’m so proud. How sad. One the other side, our great leaders, mostly upper crust white folk, celebrate that the Civic Center only lost $4 million dollars last year. My Lord, this community is worlds apart aren’t we?

OK, I ask where is the NAACP, the Black Policemen clubs, the black firemen club, the afro-American league of women, and all the other afro-this and afro that (or whatever they are called) ? Why? This all reminds me of a speech a renown columnist gave in Peoria sometime ago, Mr. William Raspberry, a nationally syndicated black columnist spoke. He basically said that most poor minorities, like the Chinese or Koreans (Asians) come to this country and they take any job they can get and work. No matter how low paying or whatever. They work hard and save and better themselves. They never pull a race card and they usually end up owning the business or start a business and end up helping their relatives and friends succeed. It doesn’t take generations for this to happen either. On the other hand, Blacks, it seems, tend to hang out in the store front, stare in the window and wonder what they should be entitled to and why they don’t have it. He said this at Peoria's Black Achievement Awards dinner. I would have loved to have been there and seen the faces on some of those people. Don Jackson and his wife were there that night and he is the local President of the NAACP which by the way, collects funds and exist for the advancement of colored peoples. Black is a color, so is white. Where is their help? Oh please don’t tell me of the token help. When I was a kid in the 60’s, the most vocal group in this city was the NAACP and it was because of the times and the injustice that was happening then. So killing black youths in vacant lots isn’t an injustice now?

This whole mess with kids started generations ago with baby's having baby's. (Yes 15 and 16 years old is a baby having a baby) How come young high school girls, mostly black inner city girls, seem to have babies at a young age? Go to any high school. You can’t count on both hands the number of pregnant girls in school and how damn proud they are of it. Then it hit me. Because they can!

There is no responsibility, the hospital bill is paid. There is no doctor bills, they get a med card. No job needed, they get a link card. The father need not hang around lest he will have to support his child so he disappears and the girl gets more state aid. Kind of like the latest shooting victim in Peoria. This guy had 2 kids and one on the way and yet, the paper uses his mug shot and he is killed by multiple gunshots in a vacant lot. Not many hard working fathers go out like that.

If the kid becomes too much, pass it off to grandmother. Granny in turn enrolls the kid into Head Start or Early Childhood Development. as a baby sitting tool. On paper, these places should work and be an excellent resource for any inner city youths but they aren’t. Of course they are free so to speak. Head Start has been around for what, 25 years? How’s the quality of student our schools are getting by middle school? High school? Well one only has to listen to a police scanner or visit our schools to see how that money went down the drain. These places are nothing more than a money trough for black leaders, and white ones too, to get jobs and draw a pension. The people that run these organizations know this and this should be criminal but the wheels of big government and red tape turn very slow and as long as the paper work is in, the numbers are fudged correctly, they work like a chute. Kid goes in, they get paid, kid goes back to the dysfunctional drug dealing family. And we wonder why these kids lose sight of goals and ideals. They are taught from the get go to take what they want and take no shit and most of the time this attitude gets them killed.

Are there hard working single black mom's out there? Of course but mostly we deal with the lower end of the spectrum. That is what makes the news. Those are the ones that grieve when their child is gunned down or beaten. Yes they are loved by their families. We are humans and we all desire to be loved and to love but year after year of this hardens the public and while people may be smart, the public is loaded with idiots. This is where you get people who seem to have no sympathy for a young black man gunned down who’s family says was just getting on track to straighten his life out. He was just on the verge of taking care of his kids. Who’s to say all this isn’t true? Yet, shooting after shooting, mug shot after mug shot and the public hardens.

Do you think I for one minute want life like this in Peoria to go on? No way. Really, who would? I would love it if we could all come together and get things done for the betterment of everyone but again, we have labels. When you label things, people tend to put items labeled into different places.

It’s time, for once, the entire community stand up and say enough. And for a change, it’s time for the black community to stop looking through the window and take the lead. Let’s start in the schools by teaching kids a little differently. You have to work your home work to get an extra free lunch. You have to understand that respect is earned before you get any in return. You have to understand that choices you make, no matter how old, has consequences. Most important, having a baby is a life changing event and that event will cost you. You will have a hospital bill, a doctors bill, and damn, you may not be able to finish your higher education and have to get a job. Remove the cuteness from having babies and maybe the girl will think about herself first instead of the guy. And guys, you will be held accountable for your children and your actions. Being a man means supporting the family you help create. Being a slimy snake, is weaseling out of your obligations. Yep a few new simple classes starting in middle school discussing nothing but life and choices. There is no NBA contract, there is no rainbow when you have 3 kids and no job.

Ah what the hell….just my opinion.

UPDATE: Hell I have railed on this subject many times and yes, I get carried away. I could have simply put it this way:

A older white couple parks at the mall. They get out of their car and see 3 Asian kids walking towards them. They most likely smile and go on their way. Say they see 3 white teens in hoodies coming towards them. Again, they may look and smile and assume they are college kids. But, they see 3 black kids in hoodies coming their way, the wife double clutches her purse, the man tends to move quickly towards the door with his wife and both feel fear. Why? Today, you can replace this with an Asian couple, same thing, or even a black couple, same thing. It’s all about perception. Because actions are louder than words.

Well, another example of our fine citizens….or, Why I don’t go to Black Friday Sales….

2011-11-28T16:06:00.001-06:00

I’m glad we teach our kids to be respectful…..or not in this case.

BTW, This happened at Peoria’s Best Buy and the woman had to be escorted to her car as she claimed this guy came back with a knife. Store Security kicked him out of the line. Although I’d like to meet the idiot woman who peppered sprayed her way through the sales in where, Atlanta?? This was good though. I am speechless. No. Really.

Also, this is an edited video that was picked up nationally and he added some extras to the original. You can view the original at PI’s web site and the link I provided. It’s better here!

Thanks to Peoria Illinoisan for this tip and to Peoria.com

Ahh Peoria!

2011-11-27T08:29:00.001-06:00

A fine upstanding young man, a family man, gets shot multiple times and is found dead in a vacant lot in the south end. His family is shocked at the loss. He was a loving man with 2 kids and a 3rd on the way. So, his friends go and shoot off about 20 rounds in the Taft homes hitting two men. The police say it is retaliation for his death. That’s what the local paper is saying. Shoot and kill someone, then somebody does it back. Ahh Family. What ever happened to just sending a sympathy basket?

Now you may understand how tiring it gets to hear what a fine person the latest homicide victim was. Sure, to his family he was loved but to the public in general, it’s just another victim in the jungle that has become Peoria. Jungle? Well, when you take a person’s death and decide to go and fire 20 rounds of ammo in a public housing project where kids and old people also live, hitting two guys in the process, yes, a jungle. Does it suck that the public thinks so? Yes, but when you are told the sky is falling and it doesn't fall, you tend to not listen.

So we have another grieving family over a useless shooting. The fact that some people don’t give a rat’s ass about human life and will kill over 10 bucks or less. That crime seems to happen anywhere and is no longer limited to the south end or the east bluff but stretches out to even the Grand Prairie Mall. It hardens people. People, after awhile don’t trust anyone and become withdrawn. It changes the whole complexion of the city.

People tend to avoid certain areas and when out, you always have to watch your back. You never know when a senseless shoot out will happen and what innocent person may be hit simply because they were in the area. The animals have indeed taken over the city and turned us into a jungle along with jungle laws. No? That isn’t true? There are plenty of safe places to go to in Peoria. That’s what our elected leaders would say. That Peoria isn’t a jungle ruled by the laws of tit for tat. You shoot my relative, I’ll shoot yours.

Whatever, the simple fact is, shooting of young men, and young black men at that, is getting old. We have one more month to go before the year ends and how many homicides has Peoria had? Does it make a difference? A city our size, which seems to shrink every year, shouldn’t even have one homicide. Now we have to sit back and wait to see what the retaliation is going to be for this shooting in the Taft Homes.

It is the start of the holiday season and if you are careful, you might try and venture downtown to see the holiday lights. Ah hell, who am I fooling. What holiday lights. Nobody goes downtown after dark. Maybe after the new hotel gets built and the museum opens, we will have thousands and thousands milling downtown. Yep. When bats fly from my ass.

Essay…

2011-11-23T16:48:00.001-06:00

I saw a picture of a young soldier on the back of a car this afternoon and when I got close enough to read what was printed underneath, it appeared this young man died in service to our country. I could only imagine the grief this family went through losing a son even though their son was honored as a hero to our nation.

This got me to thinking….I can never understand why we humans of this planet think that we have to kill people who kill people. I mean, if a superior race from another world appeared in orbit around our planet and started to study us, they would have to wonder what kind of beings we are. We hate. We kill. We as a race of humans hate other humans because of color or difference. Yet, we can be some of the most loving and caring beings anywhere.

Yes we have problems as a whole and yes we have problems in our little corner of the world. We have always had problems, but life does go on. At least in the cosmic sense it does. I truly believe we will work our problems out. Who knows.

We tend to believe in a superior being, like God and most of us try to play by the rules. Whether or not you believe or whatever you believe in, I think this time of year is a good time to sit back and reflect. How lucky some of our lives have been. The tragedies some of us have lived through and whether it was a loss of a loved one or a health problem or whatever, we have a lot to be thankful for none the less. Not because we have a fancy car or a big screen TV or even wealth. But because we can wake up each morning and see some of the most fantastic wonders in the World, that are free. A sunrise or sunset. Leaves turning colors and the smells of spring and even the beauty of the first snow fall. We live in an amazing world.

I just want to wish those that read here, whether you agree with me or think I’m full of it, a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Think about other people for a change and if possible, do something nice for someone you don’t know. If we all pay it forward, it’ll be easier to overcome our problems and make for a better community no matter what your beliefs are. That’s my wish this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh Thank God…

2011-11-22T15:59:00.001-06:00

Peoria Police said that the latest home invasion isn’t related to others that have been happening around Peoria. Whew! For a minute there I thought those crooks might be overworked what with robbing and kicking in doors and beating elderly people. Now I can rest assured other thugs have taken up this sport.

What kind of lame bozo statement is this coming from the police of all agencies? Are we to feel better that a small select group of thugs is not the only ones in the business? Good God. If God was to give the World an enema, this is where he’d stick the hose.

A Snippet….

2011-11-17T16:25:00.001-06:00

If I may…..The schools, District 150, seems to be run by the convicts or future convicts and the administration seems to be living on cloud 9 while the teachers get more and more burnt out because for one, their union sucks, everything is their fault, and who wouldn’t want the abuse and low pay? All the dues pay for is for the President of their union to have a cushy job at the Admin warehouse on Wisconsin Ave.

There the upper admin and the Super herself, plant their friends into 6 figure a year salaries while playing the old numbers game in regards to fights and suspensions in the schools. Even thought the numbers are higher, suspensions aren’t happening. Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

The parents, those that don’t bother to show until their kid is arrested meanwhile are Link carding it all over Peoria and various nail shops making Koreans even richer. No accountability from them what so ever but, at graduation time, please hold my baby up so she can see me get a diploma. (If I make it that far) And turn graduation ceremony into a 3 ring yelling and yapping circus as relatives that show up for this and free food on Grandparents Day are proud little Nick isn’t in prison yet and Yolanda is only 6 months pregnant as she slanders up to get her diploma.

What to do?? Simple. Instead of a special school for these students that rob the hard working kids that want an education and dally disrespect the staff and teachers with four letter words and act like the world owes them…send them off to Walter Copage of the Child fund International or to one of those places Sally Struthers is always wading through and for a mere $1 a day, this child will have clean water, food, and education. I’ll even adopt one or two of them as long as I get pictures and a progress letter from them. As for the parents, well that Med card and Link card will be no longer necessary. You’ll have to find a job! The horrors! Oh but wait, they will miss their kid. What a bastard I am for suggesting this. Shit, they will no more miss them than they do now when they are hanging out at Western and Lincoln at 10pm on a school night.

Think of the money we could save and if the District put a PayPal button on their site, people would donate to fly these kids out right away.

We could free up space in the schools, fire the guards, and fire those 6 figure a year do nothings who love to hang pictures of themselves at the Admin offices. Teachers could get back to what they do well, teach, instead of babysitting.

Problem solved!!

A little Humor if I may?…

2011-11-13T12:51:00.001-06:00

Let me rant….OK, nobody is going to die if they have to use a tote for garbage (you still may get robbed) and yes, some communities require a tote for garbage collection but not cities. Chicago doesn’t require them nor should Peoria but if you live in a small community, I could see it. Point is, making all Peoria use them and rent them from the local private garbage company makes for nice looking streets on garbage day with hundreds on neatly lined up totes, but it makes the garbage company richer. If you want a tote and like them, fine, get one but don’t force me to get one when I have perfectly good garbage cans now. And then have the gall to raise a fee 133% and tell me the rent is included and that is why it is now really a garbage fee. It would be better if my councilperson just showed up at my door and pissed on my leg. Speaking of close encounters…

I was watching the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) this morning for what I think must have been the thousand time and it got me to thinking a bit. Spielberg was a genius in many ways but I wonder what this movie would have been like if it was made today, not a remake or a sequel, but just thought up today. You see I grew up mainly in the 60s and back then space and anything spaceship was it. People in the know were telling us that by 2000 we would have flying cars, jet paks, cures to most diseases, and unlimited energy because the atom was a cure all for everything. Atomic power!

Ok, where is my jet pak? Where are the flying cars? Thank God there aren’t any flying cars because have you seen the way people drive regular cars? I can’t imagine the carnage one might see if flying cars were around. In fact your side mirror on your flying car might say; “Carnage is closer than it appears” I could see it now. “What do you mean you ran out of gas at 5000 feet? Look at the hole you made in my front yard!” So maybe it’s a good thing flying cars didn’t happen.

Back to the movie, the one most unbelievable thing about the movie is not the flying saucers, the abductions of people, or that aliens first visit to Earth would be in Wyoming (Nobody goes to Wyoming even on a bet) , no, the most unbelievable thing about the movie is that Richard Dreyfuss dumped Teri Garr for that other chick with the kid named Barry. No way! Terri Gar is way to hot and if Herman Cain hasn’t run his hand up her thigh, then she’s part of the 1%.

Oh and there is more. They clear 300 square miles around the Devils Tower in Wyoming because the Army says there is a dangerous gas poisonous gas leak to mask the alien landing, and then, you see nothing but Piggly Wriggly trucks headed into the danger area like nobody could or would notice. The Baskin Robbins truck would have tipped me off but after all that, a space ship, the size of New Jersey shows up and no one below would notice? Maybe they did but the aliens land and the first thing they do is release people who were snatched years and years ago. They come off the ship and look around and state their name and are hustled off. Not one said; “What the fuck?” or if only one, just one, person came off the ship and said; “I’m Billy Jo Roberts from Peachtree Georgia, and they anal probed me!” Nope. I fully expect the line: “Did you have a nice flight and what was the movie?”

So, if this happened today, there would be no film cameras, all digital. The computer would most likely be a Dell laptop or an Apple Mac. Hollywood loves Macs, and they probably couldn’t play that little music melody they played over and over because Apple would have the Rights and it was available only on iTunes for a $1.99 no less. The aliens would shuffle off their ship and get into line for a new iPhone 4S at $600 each even though it didn’t work on their network, they just had to have it and we better have it in white at 32 gigs.

No it was the 70s, a time of wide ties and bad haircuts or lack of hair cuts. I fully expected to see a “Nixon ‘72 “ bumper sticker on the space ship or at least a “We had drinks at the Whitehouse” sticker. You people that have seen the movie Space Balls know what I am talking about. “I love Uranus”

Near the end of the movie when Dreyfuss is walking towards the ship, a man runs past him into one of the port-a-podies. Now could you imagine you are at an event that would be the event of all mankind on the planet, when we meet a race from another world and someone asks you; “How were they? What did they look like?” You have to say, well, I was on the shitter. I kind of missed the event? Earth shattering event and you are on the crapper. I mean, I would have just shit my pants seeing that thing land. I guess I can relate and any guy who has been married any number of years can too. No matter where my wife and I go, no matter what, the first thing when we get there is; “I have to use the bathroom.” That is when the most Earth shattering event of mankind will happen. When she is in the woman’s restroom. I always have said that if the end of the world comes, I’ll be standing outside the woman’s can. My wife will step out and see the skeletal charred remains of me standing there and the destruction all around and say: “Which way to the shoe department?” I joke of course. She check for my wallet first.

Still, here we are, 2011 on the verge of 2012. We don’t cook our turkeys in Atomic ovens. No, we use deep fat fryers and burn the garage down. We don’t have jet paks unless it’s the ones full of juice the kids like and damn if I can get those damn things open and pierce that straw in the hole but hand it to a 6 year old and bam!. They got it. Give me back the bottle. We don’t have atomic powered cars and thank the Lord for that as most people ignore the idiot lights on their cars now and I’d like to meet the brain that thought up the “check engine” light. It should say; “Check wallet” but could you see an atomic powered call and you get in your friends car and there is an idiot light on the dash lit and you ask what it is. He says: “Oh it’s the gosh darn radiation leaking light. Been on for months. No problem.” Hey, is your hair falling out? We haven’t cured one single disease yet and that’s sad. MS out lasted Jerry Lewis and cancer is around more than ever. Yes, they are making strides and I don’t mean to demean any sickness but I don’t want to live life with my kidney in a jar that has to be washed every 3 days.

In many ways aside from the fact that now you can fart in your house and your kid has it on Facebook in 5 minutes and everyone from your boss to your 3 ex-wives knows about it, it’s the same. No, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s just with all this interactive personal data bases and internet, it has become so unpersonable today. Hell you don’t have to get off your ass to send a message out or look something up. Nobody writes letters anymore and like in the old 60s song by Zager and Evans, In the Year 2525, let me quote a passage of the song:

Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doing that for you

So it could be worse, right?

Which shell is the peanut under?

2011-11-11T06:22:00.001-06:00

Yep, it’s budget talk time at the good ol city council and one of the things on the table is the 133% increase in the Garbage Fee which by juggling around funds, motor fuel taxes, and the like, our city council will have us believe that the original garbage fee went to garbage collection. Wrong!

Let’s review. The Garbage Fee was dreamed up during the Ransburg era as a way to help offset the cost of policing. In fact, it was supposed to go to special policing projects like POP where the police and the city would use the funds to clean up neighborhoods and thus make them better for the citizens. A couple of problems ensued and one was how to make citizens pay the fee without simply thumbing their noses at it. The Fee was to be billed quarterly, 3 times a year at $24 and was to be added to our water bills, Illinois American Water (IA) who just before was dragged through the mud in a huge campaign when the city wanted to buy them out and kick them out of town. But, many citizens realized that if the city couldn’t paint a straight line on a road, then many thought the city sure as hell couldn’t run a water company so the plan was dropped and our city staff climbed into bed with IA, for $80k a year to collect our fee via their water bills. Yep, nobody does something for nothing but then IA came back to the city bitching that every 4 months, they had to reload their computer software in order to bill the $24 which was a pain in the ass so they asked if the city could bill monthly at $6 thus eliminating the software change. In comes Councilman Turner who proposed just that BUT under the guise that our dear leaders, himself included, were simply worried about the elderly and people on fixed incomes that paying $24 every 4 months was a burden. Therefore paying just a little $6 fee every month would be easier for these folks. You see $6, or $24 3 times a year is $72 anyway you look at it. So basically you are taking $72 from the elderly and people on fixed incomes. What a bunch of Saints huh? And this great fee was called the Garbage Fee so as to make it much more swallowable to the people of Peoria many of whom had no idea and many still don’t have any idea where the money is actually going. Remember, we had Waste Management for city garbage collection and their contract was INCLUDED in the property tax bill we all pay if you own property.

Another fee that many on our council said would be temporary and many said it will never increase. If you believed them on that, than I’m Idi Amin. In fact, one councilperson actually campaigned on the line that she would repeal this unfair tax and she called it unfair. Barbara Van Auken. Well that changed tunes when she got elected and apparently those in the 2nd enjoy her staggering about and re-elected her again but then the 2nd has enjoyed a lot of city funds over the past years. Let’s, see…. moving all the utilities, telephone poles and widening the sidewalks on Main St with new ornamental lighting and hanging plant baskets. New sidewalks on Columbia Terr. and side streets also with new ornamental lights, a new arch or arbor built at Rebecca Street and she actually promised them one at the other end. A lot of money, and whether you call it grants or whatever, it’s taxpayer money just the same has been handed to the 2nd while the 1st and the 3rd got nothing.

In the meantime, the POP patrols were silently canceled and yet the garbage fee went on. Police were laid off and we have seen how crime has taken over every corner of Peoria. The fire department is manned by it’s bare teeth. If this city has two major fires, the rest of us go unprotected fire wise. The city council is now debating the new budget which if approved, will make every person in Peoria rent a garbage tote. A big 96 gallon one on wheels and guess who owns them? PDC, the company that undercut the bidding of WM and won for the first time in many decades, the city garbage collection contract. PDC knew they under cut WM but this was an opportunity to get their foot in the door and besides, I’ll bet there are many friends of PDC in or “upper” circles of local government. Also, this rental fee is to be included as part of that 133% increase in the garbage fee which means that come bid time for city collections, PDC is sure to win again and the city council can now say with a straight face that some of the garbage fee is going to garbage collection. Legal butts covered. In fact PDC is asking for a 3.8% increase in their contract which is high considering the consumer price index hasn’t gone above 3.8% in over 10 years.

Now here is where we have to hunt the pea under the shell. If this is all approved, then the city council will shift funds from the motor fuel taxes to help pay for road work on our streets which has a back log of repairs and Lord knows we need an Allen Road extension (this is where the money will really go, out north) which baffles me. Isn’t these motor fuel tax funds supposed to go to road repairs in the first place? Then why are we juggling a garbage fee, forcing residents to rent totes from a private company for profit, then using the 133% increase to pay this same company for their projected rate increase which was under bided in the first place by PDC?

My questions are this. Why in the hell do we have a garbage fee in the first place? Why doesn’t the city council just raise the property taxes to cover basic services, increase the police to fight crime, and dump the garbage fee saving $80k a year we pay to IA? Why are we giving $3.8 million to a few people in the warehouse district when we have budget issues on the basic level? Why are we building a hotel when no bank anywhere on Earth would fully fund the same project and yet we give a developer a 2 year interest free loan of $7 million? Why is the city risking the retire benefits of our city employees using this $7 million? Why are we, as a city, bending over backwards to relocated a strip club? Why is the city using so much taxpayer money to build a museum that has been so scaled back from the original plans, their own people have lied to the public about it? Remember IMAX?

Why? Because our dear Mayor, for one, is dead set against a property tax increase of any kind and yet after my 30 years in Peoria owning property, my property tax has never ever gone down. They say because the value of my home has increased thus with the multiplier, I pay more. What another crock of shit. I’ll bet my home, like many others in this area has decreased in value because of the recent economic things that have happened in our country but my property tax is as high as ever. Why? So, raise the damn property tax a small percentage. That way everyone pays fairly. We can increase police services, get a handle on crime, clean and repair our streets, and keep some jobs which this town needs. The average cost of this increase at the worse would be an additional $100 a year on a $100,000 home (maybe less) and that is $68 cheaper than the damn garbage fee increase per year. With a moderate property tax increase, we could eliminate the garbage fee. One less tax to pay and businesses who use basic services would now pay their fair share unlike with the garbage fee now.

It’s called the cost of doing business. Grocery stores do it. Gas stations do it. Why not the city? We have a crime problem so more police are needed. Tell the Chief do whatever it takes, hire more and get a handle on it. The fire department needs more staff for better and safer coverage, do it! The street department says we need to repair X amount of streets, then do it! It will cost $xxx amount this year so adjust the property tax and pay for it. STOP dreaming up fees and taxes for us to pay. Damn it we left England for this very same reason. When things improve, when crime is handled and streets are repaired and basic services like snow removal is great, then people will want to stay here. Then private business will want to invest. Then we can lower taxes as the base grows. As it stands now, writing checks on our backs Mr. Mayor, it is killing us. Raise the DAMN PROPERTY TAX and get on with doing CITY business and let the private sector fund their own projects.

Clarifications….??

2011-11-10T16:45:00.001-06:00

First, let me post this picture:

I’ll explain this in a little bit but I wanted to explain a few things about myself first. I have been blogging here on and off for the last 6 years are so. I have wanted to quit many times and have in fact pulled the site a few times. I guess it’s a funk kind of thing.

Some of you who read think I’m dead on target and others think I just an ass bag. An opinionated assbag at that. I’ll admit I have some fans and when people say so, it tends to get to me as does the ones who post and think I’m full of shit. One needs a thick skin at times to be sure.

First and foremost, It is MY blog and these are my opinions. You can read them, like them, or hate them and I really don’t mind anymore if you tell me either way but the thing is, you can simply click away and ignore me all the time. Fine. I write to relieve my own tensions and it works. I don’t know why but when I vent, I feel better most of the time and sometimes I feel a little sad, especially when I dump on someone extra hard. Yes, I have feelings. We are humans after all.

I am a born and raised Peorian, lived here most of my life. I have travelled half way around the world via the US Navy and lived in Hawaii where my dear aunt and uncle resided since they bombed Pearl Harbor. I really like Peoria and the area of the country we are in and although as I get older, I tend to hate the winters more and more. Maybe that’ll change when I retire and won’t give a shit about snow because I won’t have to work in it. My Navy duty was during the last stages of the Viet Nam war. I was on a ship that serviced destroyers and cruisers coming off what was then known as the gun line. We were anchored in a harbor of Taiwan and that was considered a hazardous duty location. I saw Viet Nam from the sea as we sailed up the coast and hit many oriental ports.

What I’m getting to is this: I don’t know all the answers to our local problems, crime, budgets, police or lack there of, taxes, fees, and Civic Centers. I do know common sense (at least I think my years of living and working make that so) and I do know that although I could go out tomorrow and buy a brand new BMW, it would most likely be disastrous to my budget in the long run. This is why I can’t see how our city leaders can spend money, on the backs of our future and our kids future, and say it will be good for Peoria and then turn their heads and in another breathe say we have no money for police, fire, and city services, so these things will suffer. In that respect, crime will go unabated, streets will crumble with age, and fires will burn longer. Who wants to stay in a town with high crime, bad streets, and no businesses to speak of except bars and strip clubs? No hotel can survive that and it has already been proven our Civic Center couldn’t attract flies with a dog shit show. It was in the red this year, what, $4 million dollars and our city leaders were glad? Glad it wasn’t higher? And I’m called an assbag.

I have always believed that if you have a good police force, that has the tools and the funds, crime will decrease. Remember New York city in the early 70’s? The rotten Apple it was called and then a mayor stepped in and figured out that no matter how many shiny buildings a city has or how many neon signs there are, if crime is out of hand, if the streets are dirty, people aren’t coming. They changed and it worked. So, what’s with Peoria?

Our city council hasn’t had a good track record when it comes to using taxpayer money for investments and loans. The ball park cost us $3 million to move a street and what, $5 million to settle a law suit? Mid-Town Plaza where they force people out of their long term homes, tore them down and built the plaza to end all plazas. Nobody came and we are paying today. Then there was Firefly, the battery company that promised 100s of jobs. They skipped town owing us and no jobs. How about the Gateway building that was to revitalize the riverfront. If people knew what taxpayers pay each year to keep this building, they would burn it down and collect the insurance money. The museum? Really? The most valuable piece of real-estate in Peoria and we build a glorified Lakeview on it? Nobody goes to Lakeview now. Why? Nothing to see and poorly run and yet, we use taxpayer money and give it to the same people to build yet a bigger museum to be poorly run. There are many more to cite including the new hotel which for some reason, our praying Mayor and many on the council voted for against public wishes and even people who do finances could see this was a high risk investment, but hey, it’s not their money, it’s ours. How sad. Yet these same people bent over backwards to make sure a millionaire gets his strip club re-located. Sodom and Gomorrah did it better and we know what happened there.

Our priorities, at least from our civic leaders are all wrong. I believe if you have good police, fire, and city services, make the city clean, and safe, people will come. Businesses will want to be here and the schools will improve. But as long as we have crime and our leaders thinking build it and spend it and tax it, people will leave and they are, in droves. Since when did this business of cities using taxpayer money for private investment take hold? Where has it worked? For the short term maybe, but it has never worked. Yet here in Peoria, we pour taxpayer dollars into developer projects, the latest to be the warehouse district, and the only people to benefit will be the developers, the construction trades (short term) and the wealthy that happen to own the property they bought in the first place for 10 cents on the dollar. The working taxpaying person who tries to support his/her family, buy groceries, and try to own a decent home suffer from the fees and other garbage these elected idiots dream up for us to pay. Remember the $2 flush tax? That was all it was going to be, 2 bucks. Now look at your sewer bill.

Now for the picture above. I took this today. This guy’s SUV is decked out for a football player on the Philadelphia Eagles NFL team. Quarterback Michael Vick, A millionaire ex-convict and this guy worships him. His car says so. This is what is wrong with this country. Too many worship athletes. Many of whom are paid millions a year to play a game. Kids in our schools will tell you the hell with college, I’ll play in the NBA or the NFL and make millions. When bats fly out my ass. Yet as a society, we will watch a pro game and let people starve. We will turn our heads at wars but don’t fuck with my football team. We go to church and praise God on Sunday as long as we are home by kickoff. Then all week we will shit on our fellow humans only to sit in a pew and ask to be forgiven. It’s no wonder 3rd world countries despise us. They can’t believe we value an X-Box over proper housing and clean water and food. We stand in lines for an iPhone at $500 to be told it only works on one carrier and at Apple’s discretion but we will pay anyway because Vick had one on his ear on TV. Christ we are becoming soulless. Yes, I am cynical and yes I get mad at our civic leaders for what I perceive as bad policy but damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead anyway. It’s easy to say that if you are lucky (some say blessed) enough to have the money and resources to leave and go elsewhere if it all fails. Many of us don’t and we are stuck here, to pay for it after the party crashes. That is why I blog. I have to stay and by God, I will want to drag as many of those SOB’s down with me as I can.

Keep plugging because if you give up, there is no chance ever.

To my many co veterans (we VN vets were not welcomed home even though we all served because by law we had to) I wish a wonderful veterans day tomorrow. Remember those who have died also for our freedoms not only because of the wars, but because of the bad decisions our political leaders have made that put so many young men and women in harms way.

Well knock me over with a frickin stick

2011-11-08T16:12:00.001-06:00

The City manager, (how much is wasted on this guy’s salary?) now says the city may not have to lay off 50 people come budget crunch.

Let's review. They have laid off over 30 cops and crime in Peoria is out of hand. Hell it’s out everywhere. They are breaking in people’s homes, robbing you while taking the garbage out ( and the city wants you now to rent a big garbage container on wheels, that way you’ll have a hand free to give up your wallet), they are robbing gas stations and businesses with such frequency, that a business could post a sign saying: “It’s been 28 days since our last robbery!”

The streets need repairs but money is limited. We are trying a guy right now in court that stabbed a woman, strangled her, dragged her body to an alley, punch her baby granddaughter in the head and left it for dead in a puddle and the prosecutor calls it evil in Peoria. This guy was convicted of murder in Chicago 1987 and he’s out? Bullet to head, flush twice, taxpayer money saved. A piece of shit is a piece of shit.

So….we might not have to lay off 50 people, maybe only 47 or maybe 40? Meanwhile, we give a shady developer $7 million from the retiree benefits for the City of Peoria plus $9 million more once the project is done to satisfy what? Tri-Con? The laborers? A bunch of suits who drink and party together?

Makes no sense. Only need one parking place at city hall for our council because you can pack many into a clown car. Besides, the rest of the parking places at 419 Fulton are needed for service trucks to replace glass at the Civic Center from bullet holes.

Wanted! A Good Lawyer…

2011-11-03T04:46:00.001-05:00

with balls that will on behalf of the residents of Peoria, file suit against the City claiming the Garbage Fee does not go to garbage collection and never has and that collecting money based on the name of this fee is unjust and simply a lie to the taxpayers of Peoria.

Isn’t this taxation without representation? I mean it only targets home owners, not businesses. It doesn’t go for garbage because garbage collection is included in our property taxes under a contract.

With the way this Council disregards public opinion and votes our money away including the City’s retirement funds all for a pet project that could very well fail (and we know the loaning record of the City of Peoria) this suit would maybe wake them up to the fact that being fiscal irresponsible with taxpayer money will cost.

Now some will say, PAP, suing the City is the same as suing ourselves! That is true, that is why we should name the Council members who voted and supported this fee as defendants and ask the Judge to put a stay on the collection of the tax and stop giving Illinois American Water $80K a year to collect it for them.

Then maybe instead of loaning interest free for 2 years, $7 million to a developer and issuing $29 million in bonds all for a hotel and a walkway, maybe our leaders will see that taking care of Peoria first like crime, streets, fire, and schools would likely draw private investment no longer needing us, the taxpayer to be in the loan business thus relieving the Council of dreaming up outrageous fees and taxes and actually spending our money on us!

Disappointment to sat the least…

2011-11-02T16:17:00.001-05:00

The City Council’s decision to loan a developer $7 million from the city employee's retirement fund at no interest for 2 years no less. The to agree with the agreement that has been drawn out at least what 4 times over 2 years? How sad. To even accept this deal is plain stupid. Don’t even count the $29 million in bonds we will all pay for the next 20 to 30 years. If the hotel fails, we are on the hook. Nice of 8 people to decide out future fates isn’t it?

Our leaders have lent money to Firefly, the great battery company that was going to create 100s of jobs and make Peoria a name in batteries for the future. They skipped town owing us, the taxpayers for the frickin loan. Of course “us” is paying for Midtown Plaza, another deal that was to draw shoppers from across the river to shop at a Cubs. Even Stevie Wonder saw through that and in fact, one company that did a study on it said so, but the developer won out. How about the ballpark? You know, we pay $3 million to move Jefferson Street and settle out of court $5 million to take away a dry cleaner’s business and make him move and for what? Nothing.

Let’s talk Main Street and all the new sidewalks and ornamental lighting, with hanging baskets that was supposed to draw the hospitals to build there and draw professionals to buy homes on the streets that were behind Main. That didn’t happen, and all the new hospital buildings seem to pop up 20 miles north on Route 91. Not even Mr. G’s could stay in business on Main. And it wasn’t really the lack of customers, it was because the customers were afraid to go there. The neighborhood is a cesspool.

So, we are getting the museum and a new hotel and the Mayor and those that voted yes on this pat themselves on the back as Big Al’s is getting a new building on what was a city owned lot for near nothing of what the land was worth. Yep, we are going to keep our famous strip club. I’d laugh but it’s too damn sad.

So, can we vote these jerks out? Van Auken, the cop poker slushing around Bradley neighborhoods with a cocktail in her hand demanding drinking parties stop, except those at Rand’s house on Moss. By the way folks, Bradley got a grant for extra police patrols in the Moss-Bradley area until March 2012 to stem those nasty frat parties. In reality, it’s because Moss residents are getting their homes broke into and people are being robbed walking the neighborhood at noon.

Where do you suppose those extra police are coming from? Why your neighborhood of course. Less in the East Bluff and less in the south end. What a crock of shit. The 1% wins and the 99% can eat shit.

How about Gulley. The King of the 1st District. Yep, he’s a king. Sit King. Sit up King. Roll over King. Threw all his electorate that mostly are on fixed incomes under the bus. The faster he goes the better.

Spears? Can’t figure him out. I guess since when Democratic Party dumped him he feels he owes no one nothing. How sad.

Spain? Reminds me of Howdy Dowdy. You can almost see the strings.

The “suit” that represents the 3rd? He does exactly what OSF wants.

Folks, this project will create some nice, but temporary construction jobs. That is who got the blow job from the council., Tri-Con. It’ll keep those guys busy for a few years and thus the unions are happy. After it’s done, the only jobs will be minimum wage, waiting tables, cleaning rooms, holding doors open.

Nobody is coming to look at our Museum and just because we have a walkway to the Civic Center, not enough will come to support these hotels. Sure, a bunch of drunk Shriners will be able to walk to their conference without their drink freezing or getting robbed or shot at in the streets, but nothing else. Remember, these council people are the same ones who were happy that the Civic Center only lost $4 million instead of $5 million.

People, I would love to drive a brand new BMW. In fact I could go out tomorrow and buy one. I really can’t afford the payment but could make it a few months. Then, I would be in trouble. I don’t have police to lay off and no Garbage Fee to jack 130% to cover it so I would be dragged into court or would have to file bankruptcy. What’s the difference here with the city? It isn’t their money so screw us, that’s the difference!

These jerks that gave away our hard earn tax money will be gone in a few years and those of us who work hard are stuck because our homes in this crime ridden shit hole aren’t worth a dime and we can’t sell to get out.

Too bad tar and feathering and running out of town on a rail is illegal. That’s what we need to do. Remember these people at election time if any of them has the balls to run again.

I Have A Dream….

2011-10-30T10:06:00.001-05:00

I have dream that one day, the City Council will actually address and discuss the crime people here are dealing with instead of backing private projects with taxpayer money and voting new fees and taxes and raising the ones we have while telling us we are broke.

That one day, the Council will actually act on the wishes and concerns of the citizens who elected them and for once, tell a developer we are broke.

I have a Dream…

That one day or Council will say “Sorry no more projects. We have other pressing concerns that affect our way of life and we are going to address the crime and how we can improve our streets as the people who elected us would want us to do.”

That one day, our council will stopping acting like they are better than us ordinary citizens, the ones that elected them. The ones they are sworn to represent, not to ignore. This town wasn’t built by 11 people. It was built by many ordinary hard working peoples over generations. Stop ignoring the wishes of the public! It was the public and their ideas and dreams that built this city.

I have a Dream…

That our city council will recognize that we are overtaxed and stop handing out our money for fly by night fixes and dreams of how new buildings will bring growth and then tell us there is no money but we will build it anyway. We have enough empty new buildings.

That out city leaders will see that clean streets, properly staffed police, and an excellent fire department, with good schools will bring people back, not a museum, nor a walkway to an auditorium.

I have a Dream…

That one day, our schools will hold parents responsible for the actions of their children. That having a child is a lifetime commitment and a parent has to understand they are held responsible for that person.

That one day, kids may actually understand that respect is earned and not given and that even though you have Rights, they will come to play when you break our laws. That schools are for learning, not for lunch or baby sitting or for teaching your kid morals. The parent is responsible for the proper feeding and clothing of your child. Can’t handle it? Close your damn legs. Respect yourself first.

I have a Dream…

That this city council will vote down this hotel project. That the morals they claim they have will not allow taxpayer money to build a millionaire a strip club and make a millionaire out of a suspect developer while they claim prayer is the answer and holding their values up high.

That the Mayor will not ask again for 40 days of prayer to fight crime and then bend over backwards to keep a strip club and continue to cheat the citizens of Peoria through the Garbage Fee while handing out bibles and preaching of values, two blocks from a strip club they help to build.

I had these dreams and I ask that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. forgive me for using his theme, but as Eddie Murphy once said: “We are in deep shit!!”

What’s wrong?

2011-10-27T04:49:00.001-05:00

Today’s PJS, there is a story about the injury of a 16 year old girl during a fight in the cafeteria at the flagship school, Manual Whatever It Is This Week school.

Let’s see. A fight during the lunch period. (Happens almost daily.) People running towards the fight instead of minding their business and going to classes so they can video it with their cell phone. Allowing cell phones in school. Mistake NUMBER 1. It’s school. (You are there to learn, not chat, text, or video. You can live without your phone for 6 hours. We all did back in the 70s Check the phones at the office before school, then there is no reason for a pregnant girl to run towards any fight) Ahh, but the kids have rights. Shit!

Oh yeah, the girl was pregnant. Yep. 16 and pregnant.More the norm than the odd girl out. (Maybe she needed that phone to call the future father, while he was at work so they can pay for that baby’s birth. Yeah, right.) You can bet the phone was paid for the same way her hospital bill will be paid. Taxpayers. (I know, I am lumping)

So, we have fights in our schools, pregnant 16 year olds. Few to none have parents with jobs but all can afford cell phones while grabbing a free lunch. (lumping again)

What could be possibly wrong with society today? Let’s see. No accountability for actions. No respect for others property (like the schools) Think everything is handed to you because for the last 2 or 3 generations, it has been. No repercussions for your actions maybe a slap on the hand. And oh yea, you have been part of an oppressed group that because you have seen your mom play it, your grannie, play it, your auntie play it, so you play it. The famous card.

Well, Ward and June Clever would have had a stroke reading this. But then, I guess they and even I wouldn’t or don’t understand the culture of some in our society. Today, many are afraid to answer their doors in a lot of neighborhoods, many get robbed going to the store, some are robbed or assaulted taking out the garbage, people are shot at almost daily, you can’t even stop and buy a donut in the morning. Hell, in some neighborhoods, driving your car down the street can be hazardous. It’s a watch your back type thing 24/7 because our youth are simply mis-understood and mis-directed.

Who feels oppressed now?

I don’t care what you call me for writing my opinions, but when I was in high school (and it wasn’t that damn long ago) you saw a blue finned whale before you saw a pregnant girl. Yes it happened but not to every other girl in line and if there was a fight, yes they happened, you can bet your ass someone or a bunch of someone’s were held responsible for their actions.

We are going backwards……..

Ohhhh Now I see….

2011-10-25T16:05:00.001-05:00

Those pesky youths. The ones blocking the streets and causing damage to cars trying to, get this, drive on the street? Up on Thrush and Brons? Ya know, where last summer a neighborhood advocate reported the exact same thing and pretty much was blown off by the media, the NAACP, and even the police? Tis tis tis. I forget what the excuse was for that one. Oh yeah, youths getting out of a party and blowing off a little steam.

They even threatened and harassed a guy delivering meals on wheels to a shut in. Hell, racial epitaphs were even yelled at the poor guy. Something the media would be all over if a white guy yell the N word at a group . In fact, it’s illegal. But gee, I had no idea what the cause was for these misguided youths, who run like cockroaches when the police arrived.

It’s the school districts fault for having “Wacky Wednesday”! Holy shit. That is when school is let out for a half day so the teachers may regain any wits about themselves they may have lost teaching these poor deprived youths all week.

So the District let them out and instead of studying, or maybe going to the mall or a movie or even finding something law abiding to do, lets harass innocent drivers, cause damage to their cars by breaking out windows and then run like rats. That’s building moral character. Character? What’s that?

So here we have it, yet another excuse for the poor mis-behaving youths in the street. Good Lord I hope no driver accidently hits the gas pedal instead of the brake if confronted with such a group. I’d hate to see the crying mothers of the youths ran over. A tragedy all around don’t you agree?

Damn that District 150.

end/sarcasm

These things Chap my Ass…

2011-10-24T16:33:00.001-05:00

You don’t have to like them or agree, these are things that I scratch my head over and they piss me off, so….

1) Do away with the damn Garbage Fee and just jack the property tax to cover what we need. Taxing residents and the fixed income and even the poor and then calling it a Garbage fee is just plain ignorant. Somebody someplace take the ball sack of this Council off their rear view mirror and give it to them, please!!

2) Why is the city even considering making it mandatory that everyone lease a tote from PDC? Why are we making a garbage company richer? Didn’t we already do this for the head ambulance driver? Don’t say it will decrease litter. That’s what we got a zoning department for and anti-littering laws on the books. Get the zoning inspectors out of Churches Chicken and out writing tickets!

3) Why does the Journal Star ignore the increase of 133% of the garbage fee on Peorians but thinks it’s news McDonald’s has brought back the McRib? Christ! It’s processed pork products and Lord knows what else under a sugar loaded BBQ sauce. I can hear an artery slamming shut now.

4) That CVS TV commercial showing the dingy woman on what appears to be a Segway claiming this is her CVS as she grabs overpriced items from the shelf while zipping down aisles saying; “Summer Eve’s Douche, Done!” or whatever.. I wish an arm would suddenly stick out and knock her ass off the damn thing. Done!

Must see video!!

2011-10-23T09:24:00.001-05:00

What’s it called?

NSFW: “Black People Have Become Too Ignorant For Me To Claim, I Need To Invent A New Race”

The video is a little over 9 minutes and a little crude but it is good and it explains from this guy’s point of view what is up. My favorite line is; “I am safer walking through a KKK rally with gold chains around my neck than walking to the liquor store in my neighborhood.”

Click the Title above to view.

Give it a watch and come back and say what ya think.

I have so much to say….

2011-10-23T07:57:00.001-05:00

but it is hard to get the time to sit down and pound out a post sometimes. First, my half brother passed away on the 12th and not one person in my so called family told me. Although if one was to check the obits in todays PJS, you would see my sister’s name listed. You have all met her. She’s the one the house fell on….

That aside, let me answer some questions about this Garbage Fee and tote thing.

First and foremost, I think it is illegal to have a fee or tax and call it something else to allude to it being for something, like garbage collection, when it’s not. But I am sure those in City Hall have it worded just right to cover their asses. So Peoria, take your fee and consider it just a slap in the face.

Remember this fee was dreamed up by Ransburg and company as a band aid fix for a leaky budget. Remember also that Van Auken ran for the 2nd and one of her main points was if elected, repeal this unfair tax. That promise was shitcanned. Unfair? Only residents pay this fee, not businesses and the money was to go to special police protection or POP squads. (I think they were called POP) Not for garbage collection as that is INCLUDED in our property taxes for residents. So we as residents use police services but so do businesses yet they don’t pay this fee. This keeps OSF and the city’s other pals out of their hair.

So, you may ask; “PAP, the city is in the red what do we do?” Yes we are in the red and gee, join the club as almost every city in every state is. Hell states are even broke. It’s like this. If the milk company isn’t making money anymore on milk, they raise the price of milk. If McDonald’s isn’t making their profit margin, they raise the price of their food and they are going to do just that soon. If CILCO (or Ameren) isn’t making money, they raise their rates. Things go up but the examples I mentioned are all companies for profit. They have to make a profit to re-invest and whatever, Peoria, a city, doesn’t operate on profits. Couldn’t tell that though because of the business loans, the hotel deals, and everything else this city hands out to private developers. So..what to do?

First off the last thing to do is add another tax or fee. Good God we have so many now, you can't keep track. Let’s see; sales, tax, state tax, franchise fee, garbage fee, HRA tax, property tax, city tax on downtown bars (HRZ??), permit fees, liquor licenses, cigarette sales license, and on and on and all are taxes anyway you look at them. Yes some you don’t have to buy but others you have to, like if you want running water in your home, then you are forced to pay the Garbage Fee which is on our water bills. Damn this sounds like something out of a Steven King novel.

The totes are next. The city wants to make it MANDITORY that each resident has one and that fee will be included in that 130% increase in the garbage fee. Now the garbage fee will be somewhat related to garbage. Get it now folks? Our elected leaders will tell you it’s hard to balance the budget and it takes some sacrifice. They play the shell game and we citizens have to guess where the pea is. They make a pile of dog shit sound like a chocolate shake but shit smells of shit no matter what you do. Spray rose colored water on it and you have rosy smelled shit. You can bet that the owners of PDC are dancing in their shoes. Everyone has to have a tote from them. Cha ching! Besides, with everyone having a tote, or you get no garbage pick up, you can bet your ass, one garbage man will be able to do more territory thus eliminating positions or as they are known, jobs.

Questions arise. What happens, God forbid, if PDC loses the city wide collection contract to say….Waste Management? Do all those totes go back? Do we get a reduction in the garbage fee? Or do we simply swap them out for the green WM totes and the city continues raking in the fee?. Why does this sound like something from the Mickey Mouse Club?

So what do we do? It’s simple. We stop making up new taxes and fees. Enough already. We have a crime problem in Peoria and we have a street maintenance problem. Notice the city didn’t tar/rock one single street last summer? No money. Notice how many streets in Peoria lack proper stripping or the stripping is faded? No money. Wonder what would happen if 2 major fires broke out at once in Peoria? Wouldn’t it be nice not to have half the police at a high school when it let out?

Businesses are leaving as are people. People who owned homes, or used to. Is it because of taxes and fees? Not really. You’ll find people don’t mind paying extra here and there if they get something in return. If you want a good steak, you go to a butcher or a quality restaurant. The reason? It’s the crime, it’s the schools and it’s the infrastructure. No one wants to be robbed pulling their garbage tote to the street. No one wants their kid shot while getting books from his/her locker and no one likes to drive down bumpy roads. People will pay more to maintain these things. Private schools, pricier school districts with higher property taxes. Smaller communities where police ratio is much higher to it’s citizens.

So here’s the fix. The cost of doing business in Peoria for Peorians such as a properly maintained and staffed police to fight crime the proper way, not with grants and cookie jars full of coins to pay for those “extra” officers, but to properly put police on the corners, to properly staff a fire department that doesn’t secretly cross it’s fingers and hope two major fires don’t happen at once, otherwise something is burning down, to properly administer schools and get rid of 6 figure a year do nothings with their fancy graphs and do nothing projects. Christ! We have had these people over and over for the last 20 years and our schools are cess pools. Bring back the old guys like Whittaker who instead of graphs and programs, kicked ass and took names. Schools were well run and one cop inside them was all that was needed.

So, we do away with the garbage fee right off the bat. We raise the property tax to cover the costs of doing business. This way, we all pay, not just residents and the costs are evenly distributed. We add police and get a handle on crime and we staff city services so people who trash their properties are fined, streets are marked and cleared of snow. We work with the schools and let the gangs and thugs know that if you aren’t coming to learn, you aren’t coming. Don’t buy into the bullshit we will hear from our great elected officials that raising the property taxes causes people and businesses to move out or not come. Hello? Look around. Drive down University from Main to Pioneer Pwy. and count the empty strip malls or businesses or better yet, notice the For Sale signs on homes around Peoria. In fact, ask anyone if buying a house in Peoria is a good idea and many will tell you not to. Why? Crimes, Schools, Streets. Not Hotels, Museums, and River Front. Raise the property tax and cover what we need to pay for what we need. Clean these things up and people will come back. Businesses will want to be here because businesses want customers. Peoria always has to have the fancy cart but with no horses. Museum? Who is coming? We have one now called Lakeview. Who goes? No one.

My property taxes go up every single year. They have never ever gone down. It’s all because of the magic our officials deal into the formula for these taxes. Multipliers and percentages etc etc. Nobody knows what is being taxed even if you look right at the damn bill, you still aren’t exactly sure what happened but your taxes go up. They say because your property is worth more. I can assure you in past years maybe, but not the last few years, otherwise my home should be worth over $100 grand. I doubt I could get half of that because it is in Peoria.

City Council: Raise the damn property tax to pay for what is needed. Improve the police to fight crime. Fix the streets. Screw the hotel for now. Fix us first and the private business will come. Believe it? Hell you haven’t ever ever tried it. Stop taxing and feeing us right out of Peoria. I’d gladly pay $40 or $50 more on my property taxes for police and streets and fire improvements. It beats getting ass slapped for a garbage fee and fees to your friends for tote.

Totes for the Needy…

2011-10-20T05:21:00.001-05:00

I am just too slow to get a good picture with my iPhone, but I did capture this the other day. What you are looking at is a Porsche Cayenne S SUV that depending on what bells and whistles you get, costs around $70,000 or more. So why the picture? The license plate number is what grabbed me. It was an Illinois plate and the number was: PDC AREA

I could only assume by the plate and the expensive car that this may have been the owner of PDC/Area which stands for Peoria Disposal Service which also operates Area Disposal. They are the contract garbage collectors in Peoria.

Now if you read the PJS article HERE, you find the reasoning behind the rising Garbage Fee, which doesn’t go to garbage collection as that is included in our property taxes, the city is using to justify the increase. You see, they, the city and of course PDC want everyone to have one of their totes, for a fee of course. So, the great concern of the city is that since the fee is $3 a month to lease a tote from PDC, will raise your garbage fee to cover it. That way all neighborhoods will become magically free of waste, litter, and trash. Like Code Enforcement works now right? How thoughtful. And PDC says this will help them with on the job injury claims as their trucks are equipped to use these totes to empty them without much human effort.

Ok let’s look at the math. Our concerned city manager, and council people, who are friends with most likely the driver of that real nice SUV are worried we Peorians and PDC workers are drowning in litter and workman comp claims. So a $6 Garbage Fee plus $3 tote fee equals $14. No wait, it should be $9 but there is a $5 difference. Ohhhh, that is so the city can collect more revenue and hide it behind the fact that this is bullshit plain and simple.

As for PDC, well they have for years been trying to get the contract for collections in the city. Waste Management (WM) has never missed my house nor have they ever insisted we have a tote even though they too lease them. PDC has missed my entire block 3 times since they took over. Call them and some cold sounding woman will tell you that A) their trucks filled and they had to go to the dump and couldn’t make it back today, B) One of their drivers got confused and they’ll try and make it back, or C) Tough, we will make a special trip Monday for your garbage. Don’t call back later and ask if the truck is still coming by because that woman will hang up on you. Ever call Peoria Police dispatch at the regular number? Well, this woman at PDC makes that woman sound like Mother Teresa. and you know how cold Police dispatch is.

Here is what really is happening. PDC is making millions off the contract. Good for them. In fact by the car this guy is driving, it is working real well for him and his company. Success the American way. But, if everyone is required to have this tote and we all buy into the bullshit that our dear city is worried about us thus the rise in the Garbage Fee, then consider that if every household had the tote, how much more territory could one garbage man cover? I’ll bet he could do a lot more houses than he could before. Sounds like a layoff plan to me. Use less workers, cover more area, make more money and re-bid the contract but on the rebid, PDC won’t have to factor in workman’s comp claims from injuries if the mandatory tote thing becomes law. Something I am sure PDC considered when it bid for the collection in the first place right? More profits, and Porsche Cayenne, maybe in red for the wife?

I’m telling you, after watching the news on TV the other night, what were the odds they interviewed all people who approved of the Garbage Fee hike and not one person against? Someone is in bed sleeping with someone here and that is a fact. It is illegal for city officials to swing work and or contracts to their friends but gee, it seems that way. Try and prove it though. The cleanest hands you’ll find ironically will be at PDC, the garbage company. What happens if PDC loses the contract to WM again? Will we get a big reduction in the Garbage Fee by $3 when we return the totes or get using the city’s math, a reduction by $8? I doubt we’ll get shit. Ever ever see a tax go away?

So the haves will stick it to the have nots. Taking $8 a month more from fixed income people means something will go unpaid or they will do without. $8 more to highest income residents is nothing more than a latte or an extra appetizer. To the working person, $8 is two less gallons of gas to get to work, less blood pressure pills. Don’t let city officials spread rose scented water over this dog turd. Crap is crap and this is crap. Repeal the damn Garbage Fee and simply raise the property tax by 1.5% which will cover the damn mess and increase that average $100,000 home owner’s tax by what.. $50?

Sad Day…

2011-10-19T16:28:00.001-05:00

Arby’s on University is closing for good today. It was the first original Arby’s to open in this area and I am thinking it was around 1965. I grew up in that neighborhood and I remember the day they tore down the old Rainbow Rootbeer stand at that location.

It was next to Bowl Mor Lanes and there was a Mobile gas station on the other side, now known as Khouri’s.

In those days, Spartans was across the street. The first kind of Wal-Mart type store in Peoria that later became Belscot’s and then Arlan’s was built where WMBD TV and the CWTC is now. University was a 2 lane street.

When Arby’s opened, they erected a huge sign in the shape of a cowboy hat that still stands to this day. The building looked like a chuck wagon with the rounded roof and that roof is still visible today from the front under all the remodeling that was done over the years. The lobby had 4 or 5 school desk type seats with Arby sauce squeeze bottles in the holes for people to sit down and eat. That was it. You either ordered and took it home or fought for a seat. Two sauces. Arby’s BBQ and Horsey. They only sold roast beef sandwiches, fries, and drinks. That’s it.

The roast beef was real too. Not that processed roast beef roll they used now and they cooked it on the counter in a glass box where the roast (actual roast) hung on chains and slowly rotated under a hot lamp. You could see the juices rolling off the meat. Damn those were the days.

It wasn’t “Good Mood Food” then. It was just a damn good sandwich and when my brother got a job there, he’d bring home extra sandwiches at about 11pm when he got off work. I’d hang out and try to stay up and get me one before the parents got a hold of them.

Well Arby’s is gone as I knew it some years ago when things became corporate in this country and everything was cheapened up. That big sign will be gone. It stood and overlooked a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, Weitz Eatin Time (now the Steak N Shake) Four Seasons fruit market, now a Payless shoe store, Bowl Mor, now empty and decaying, Mr. Donut, when donuts were actually made on site and in the early morning fresh. Now you need an Arab/English dictionary to place an order because the guy knows little English.

That sign saw University go from 2 lanes to four lanes and Rossetter Ford torn down and a Wal-Mart built.

Ya know, today, the city wouldn’t allow that sign, too big. They probably would have made it impossible for Arby’s to locate there, too close to the street with no setbacks. Just another little piece of old history going away, probably for a new improved Wal-Green’s. Yes, it isn’t a century old house or a building built back when Lincoln was President or made out of rare stone and mystery woods. It was just a dam fast food joint but it was a piece of history. My history.

Oh well…..

Ok, OK

2011-10-17T15:43:00.001-05:00

I am really pissed about the city raising the Garbage Fee and then they may even require you to lease/buy a tote if you want your garbage picked up. I re-opened this blog to vent my frustration with city policy. I mean really, they can find cash to make loans, to build hotels that the private sector should be building (I mean this isn’t Day’s Inn Peoria) and commandeer money for the warehouse district which the city really has no business being in. I’ll agree it’s good for the city when businesses succeed but when you have crumbling streets, crime, and a school district that pays huge amounts of money to outsiders to fix things, and things never get fixed, then please don’t come to the taxpayer and say Tough! Raise the damn property taxes and pay for decent police an fire protection. Crack some heads and let the thugs sue if that is what they want. It’s cheaper than giving millions to a battery company that leaves town or building a shopping plaza that fails and leaves the taxpayers with the dime. Frankly I am tired of people this town hires at big salaries with golden parachutes to tell the working people we just have to tighten our belts, while they dine at Jim’s Steakhouse curiosity of the public trough. Yes I can get a bit harsh in my wording but damnit all to hell, the few working people left in this town deserve better.

I’ll leave the content up. I may or may not update. Depends.

Is my blog going up and own pissing off Billy Dennis? I hope so.

Tell Them How you Feel….

2011-10-16T12:03:00.001-05:00

on Facebook, let our so called Elected leaders know that we are tired of fees, taxes, and Mickey Mouse. If we let them raise the Garbage Fee by over 110%, they will do it again and again and dream up others. How would you like to pay an oxygen tax? It’s possible with these clowns.

Peoria Outrage on Facebook

The Peoria Garbage Fee…

2011-10-16T08:01:00.001-05:00

does not go to garbage collection but goes to the general fund so the council can write a check to anyone they chose with the money. Was supposed to support police but hey, who needs police right?

Let go back in time a moment….. Remember when it was $24 every 3 months and Councilman Turner was concerned of the hardship on fixed income residents who had to lay out $24? So he decided we should pay $6 a month. That was easier? Like taking $72 a year away was easier whether you took it once a month or 4 times a years. $72 is $72. Then to slap us all in the face, they decided to pay Illinois American water $80,000 a year to collect this fee for us. The same company months before the City wanted to buy out and run out of town. Now the City is climbing into bed with them. Wow, pull my hair and get me some lipstick. Cigarette? If you are going to screw me, then pull my hair too!

Now the Garbage Fee is gonna be a whopping $168 a year. Where is that deep concern from Turner robbing those fixed income folks??? $14 a month is just 10 bucks shy of the hardship that was $24 every 3 months when Turner was so concerned about our elderly and fixed income folks. 10 bucks. Hell that is what Turner probably drops for a Gin and tonic.

Peorians! You just got slapped in the face again. This will pass the council because this council has never seen a tax it couldn’t pass up, They are just trying to save us. Like drilling a hole in a leaky boat to let the water out.

Watch how Turner back pedals as will Van Auken, (who promised to get rid of the fee during her first campaign) and of course Christmas Gulley will do what he is told and Weaver, well, he’s a millionaire so $14 is a tip for parking his car but he’ll vote no on it. Won’t be enough as we all know Sandberg will vote No and Akeson, well, that one is iffy. Spain? God bless him but he’ll do as Ardis says. Spears? Nice guy but something about Spears since he lost that State election bid. Like he’s been neutered or something. He’s a YES. Irving. Depends if he is sentenced before the vote or not. Riggenbach? What do you think? I’m sure since the Garbage Fee has no impact on OSF, it’s a YES.

The true Circus is in town folks and the only shame I can see is not the absent of the elephant walk, but the Council walk up Main and right out of town. But hey! Even the Council is smart enough to know walking the streets of Peoria is dangerous.

We here in Peoria seem to celebrate loss and the less than great. MidTown, Gateway, RexPlex, Civic Center loses only $3 million instead of $4 million and our leaders are happy. Geez.

And Some More…

2011-10-16T06:56:00.001-05:00

I have to ask….. We have a Mayor and some City Council that has 40 days of prayer because of the crime in Peoria and yet this same Mayor, bends over backwards to to make sure a guy who owns a strip club has a place to go. Why? How can you pray to God and then support a strip club?

This is the same logic behind the Hotel deal. How can anyone support building yet another hotel downtown when all other hotels are rarely even half full at any given time? I mean using taxpayer money. Then the powers to be even celebrate when the Civic Center loses $3 million instead of $4 million.

Remember when the Civic Center was built we were promised that it would make money sooner than later? Well that never happened. Then we were promised it would make money if we expanded it with a $55 million dollar upgrade? Well that didn’t happen so now we are told it will make money if only we had a hotel connected to it?

And I’m not back per se. I am just angry as hell we draw a guy with a magic wand and offer him an obscene amount of money a year to tell us we, the City are broke. Well duh! The powers to be are driving this City into the ground.

If we did away with all the projects and just concentrated on streets, crimes, services, this community could be cleaned up and become safe again. Yes safe because you can even be shot in the City Hall parking lot. Once we have decent streets, maintain public facilities, good police and fire, and schools that don’t need a battle wagon dispatched everyday when they let out, people will come and with that people that want to have a business will come and with that people who want to build hotels on their dime will come.

Rise up people. This crap of being told by people who live very comfortably on the public dole telling us we have to raise your taxes and then tell us we won’t raise your property taxes are killing us. I would love to drive a new BMW and I could go get one tomorrow. I could enjoy it for about a month before the bank would show up and take the thing back and I would have to face my creditors. What am I going to say? Tough shit, I’ll just raise my salary at my place of work? That would go over like a concrete cloud. So why do we let our elected officials do it???

I have to also add…How can our city leaders keep a straight face and tell us the hotel will create jobs while laying off 52 city employees? The jobs created will be mostly temporary jobs from construction of the hotel. Why does this city bend over backwards to Big Al? I mean why do we have to find a place for him to relocate? Then we pray about it? A strip club is our mantra? Ya know, those that run the construction business and a few others are in bed with too many of our elected leaders. What happen councilpersons, to doing what the people who elected you want you to do? That is what you serve us for in the seat every Tuesday. Not to judge what’s best for us but what your constituents want. They elected you after all. I sure hope the people of Peoria have the good sense to shit can many of you come election time, otherwise, we all deserve what we get.

Stand By…

2011-10-15T15:44:00.001-05:00

We have an ass of a City Manager drawing $170K a year raising the damn Garbage Fee from $6 a month to $14 a month saying ; ,”Well Rockford is considering $20 a month for theirs.” and then on top of that, they pad the owners of PDC, bump Waste Management who always did a great job of garbage collection and never ever missed my house on pickup day like those pricks at PDC have. They have missed me 3 times since they took over and if you call and complain, they act like you interrupted their fucking dinner. “We’ll be out on Monday to get your garbage.”

Fuck you, get my garbage on Friday, the day you are supposed to. So, now Urich has decided we all need to buy a tote for collection. $14 a month for a Garbage fee that was promised by the wicked witch of the east to disappear (and others) if she was elected to the council. Now $14. Hey Turner! What about those poor people you were so concerned about? Picking $72 a year from those on fixed incomes. What a dick. Screw Rockford! We aren’t Rockford. Besides all this, Urich wants to lay off 52 people. Some of which actually do work, like drive plows, and repair streets. With Urich’s salary we could retain 5 or 6 people.

I say we can the city manager saving $170k right off the top and let each department run themselves. This is so much bullshit. $9 million to a developer for a not needed hotel. $30k for an ice cream slash chilidog joint. Bad loans to various companies. A museum where the big shots showed up to watch the last steel beam being placed (which it wasn’t, they placed 3 more after all left) costing us thousands if not millions that won’t out draw a Bass Pro shop across the river. It’s plain and simple bullshit.

We need to get together as citizens and protest these idiots right on their front lawns. Stop spending our fucking money on YOUR projects for YOUR friends.

More to come. I am just venting because if your all remember….I told you that Garbage Fee wouldn’t go away and those rat fucks would raise it. Ever ever see a tax go away? Not as long as we have politicians you won’t.

Bass Pro and Why I won’t go…

2011-09-24T16:17:00.002-05:00

The redneckness of kingdoms opened this week in East Peoria. A huge shrine to hunting, killing, ammo boxes, face paint, and pickup trucks in the parking lot. Burly white guys in Ford 250s dragging their camouflaged dressed kids along to look at bows and rifles or bass boats and deer urine. Maybe stop for that last minute
Wearing hats with “CAT” on them also camouflaged and the same color as their trucks. True, not everyone there is a redneck hunter out to kill every living thing within 50 miles. Some come for the pure view of how American corporate decadence has come along all these years. And I’ll bet you won’t find many people of color either. That’s a whole other law suit but this is the way of Bass Pro.
Ya think Peoria would warm up to this place as Lord knows, we here in P-Town are experienced with ammo. Besides, while you and I may drive the roads trying to avoid the deer, people who go to Bass Pro love to drive the roads with a deer strapped to their hood. I mean, I can damn near kill a deer and myself traveling 65 mph with headlights on bright and horn blaring, but we need a place where people can go to buy the proper equipment to hunt these elusive animals down. Let’s not forget squirrels and rabbits too. I mean, even I years ago, was cornered by a mean rabbit and when someone asked why I shot it, I said; “I had to. He charged me!”
This place may have it’s place in the market, like we needed another place like Presley's, Gander Mountain, and Dick’s. Many of you don’t know Dick’s. I just think it’s overkill in the 1st degree. An indoor stream? Got one. Whenever the toilet over flows. Water fall? When the shower head broke off. Aisle after aisle of guns, ammo, and WD40? Ok. Got me.
I wish this place was built on the Peoria side but that wouldn’t have happened. City Council has already tied our money up in a museum, which sadly won’t out draw Bass Pro, a hotel, a failed plaza, a ballpark in the middle of bang bang, and besides, all the open spaces out on 91 are apparently for OSF. So with no big money to offer like the $40 million plus East Peoria kissed up for, Peoria was out of luck. Besides, even if we did have the bread, Peoria makes it impossible. Can you imagine……Your sign can only be this big. Your sign must be 15.5 meters from the curb. You must have wide sidewalks with ornamental lighting and hanging baskets. You must hide your garbage cans and paint them like flowers so no one notices them. It must match the surrounding stores. It must be walkable and have a place to park bicycles. They must provide an armed police security force. Your ammo racks can’t cover any more space than 15 x 15 sq feet. You must have some additional retail space for those who are anal retentive that want their donut holes and $4 coffees. Naw, Peoria would have choked it to death almost like they did Hy-Vee. And oddly enough, they remodeled Sheridan Village to look like the Hy-Vee which was supposed to look like the old Sheridan Village. It’s laughable but it’s too damn sad to be so.
Nope, I have no need whatsoever to wander in. I don’t like crowds and this place will be crowded. I don’t need ammo, nor a bass boat. I don’t understand people who drive camouflaged trucks, dress their kids the same way and chew tobacco while smearing deer urine on themselves. Getting up at 3am to go hunting in a damp, cold, woods? Naw, rather get up at 5am and go to a warm and cozy breakfast joint. Want to catch a fish? Don’t need a shinny boat. Just spit in the Illinois and an Asian carp will slap you back in the face. No bait needed. I don’t have a pickup and I like my curtains in my house, not in the back window of a truck. I don’t own A gun let alone need a gun rack for many guns. I think we have too many guns already. I don’t hunt unless it’s for bologna at Kroger’s and I have almost taken out 3 deers on 474 this year.
Those of you that disagree otherwise, well, enjoy. I just think building monuments like this is why the rest of the world thinks we Americans are self occupied with…well…ourselves. So with Bass Pro, a super Wal-Mart, and a soon to be opening of a Golden Corral (with the proper sized sign and footage) opening, most trailer parks in the area will be empty.

How the Right Wing Destroyed the U.S. Postal Service

2011-09-14T04:57:00.001-05:00

Yes the source is Liberal but just as fair if this was Fox News. The point is, this is what happened to the USPS in a short period of time and why. The USPS, if not for this Act, would have made over $400 million in profit this year. Layoffs and talk of small town closings wouldn't be happening. The Right has done more to destroy this country, the good jobs, and ignore the infrastructure and welfare of the citizens, all while waving the flag, than any enemy the United States has ever faced.
The Left are no angels either but until someone steps forward with the leadership we need, unlike the airheads of Bachmann or Palin, or the Perry of Texas who gets cheers for executions and crowds that cheer and say "Let the sick die" this country will continue it's slide. Funny how the Party who believes in Pro Life will let you die in a NY second if you are unemployed, un-insured, and poor.

I was gone for the week….

2011-09-11T11:41:00.001-05:00

My site was down because I got an opportunity to move to my own dot com and off eBlogger. I was going to set up content and a whole new PAP look and then open a new site on my old address on eBlogger announcing the new URL (address) for my site.

Well after fucking around with it for a few days. Plans fell through. I thought, well might as well retire and I guess many thought I had. I have said this before and I will say it again…

I have the right to remain silent, not the ability.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I may still try and move this and then I might not.

Remember where you were today? 9/11

2011-09-11T11:32:00.001-05:00

I remember exactly. At work and someone said a small plane ran into a tall building in NY. OK, then later in the day found out it was 2 planes and they were jetliners. Then found out it was terrorism and all planes were ordered to land ASAP. Then watched as Casey's General Stores, in fine American fashion, jacked their gas prices to over $4 a gal. I watched fights break out at Jumer's AMOCO on Western over who was in line first at the gas pumps. I watched and wondered how I was going to get home because everyplace there was a gas station, traffic was backed up for blocks. I then tried to go to Kroger's for some hamburger buns, because as nuts as that day was, we wanted to maintain some normalcy and cook out, but the store was swamped and people were pushing and shoving each other. I couldn't get close to the registers let alone find any buns on the shelves. I went home and my wife asked if I had seen the traffic jams and the news. I said, looks like Americans would cut each others throats over who "gets theirs" first. How sad as I can't believe this is how this country acted after Pearl Harbor. People pitched in to help each other I was told.

Then for days I was in awe at the damage that was done and loss of lives. I felt blank and empty until every politician took it upon themselves to stand on any rubble in front of a camera and wave the flag. Bush wasted no time, but hey, we Americans were filled with hate and wanted revenge. We would have killed any towel head that appeared. Justice! We wanted it so bad that Bush dropped the Bin Laden theme and said Saddam's WMDs was what would get us next. He had them and we must take them away. How did he know? We sold them to him years earlier. Bush said all Saddam had to do was put his WMDs in a lot and we would pick them up. Saddam said he didn’t have any, we invaded, we found nothing and yet we American’s were so full of ourselves, so much wanted revenge, we blew this off. No one question the Bush Administration. about this. Congress’s silence was so deafening, it was unreal. Yet, we impeached a previous President for a blow job. Amazing and people wonder why other people’s of the world look at us as a bit crazy.

We have to be kept safe and Bush, Rove, and Cheney were the guys to do it. We invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. We didn't care. We flew the flag on our homes and our cars. We bought millions of magnetic ribbons and stuck them to our bumpers. We supported our troops. Yes we supported our troops in Iraq. As long as the war didn’t invade Dunlap, we supported everything our leaders wanted and did so without question or costs. The magnet on my Grand Caravan says so. We continued to go to our malls and shop and party because that is what our leaders wanted us to do.

Meanwhile, thousands died and Bush said Bin Laden was no longer an issue. "Mission Accomplished!" was the phrase. We were told that if we in any form disagreed with his policies, we were un-American and helping the terrorists. If you so much as questioned what the government was doing, you were labeled un-American. In fact the Patriot Act was enacted and even some of our Rights under the Constitution was revoked. We didn’t care. We waved the flag. We wanted justice.

Our economy was fried, the airline industry was in ruins and needed the largest bailout in history. No one form a group and complained. Teabaggers, where were you guys then? 10 years later, people are still dying from the after effects of those twin towers going down. No help or insurance for them from our government. Fireman and police and other rescue personal who have gotten cancer and other illness have to fight for any help in the form a medical care. This country has never ever recovered from that day. In fact, we as a country are more divided than ever. Look at our politics? Those wars and Bush polices drove our nation to near bankruptcy. We as a people knew this and elected the first black President as a result hoping for a change, anything, just something different. Sadly, this President was saddled with one hell of a mess. People and their greed want it fixed yesterday. Not possible. No balls from this President either as the Patriot Act is still in force as is many of Bush’s policies and yet the Right and their media lambast this President every second of the day despite millions with no jobs. People on the streets. Sickness and healthcare at a all time high. Corporations with CEO’s making $55,000 a day and unions being busted. Decent wage jobs cut by the thousands while these same corporations pay no taxes what so ever. Our troops, and I really respect our troops on the ground, in the air, at sea. These are the people that really protect us. Not the politicians as very few of their kids serve and very few of themselves have served. In the big mouthed Rightwinged media hypes like Limbaugh and Hannity have never served a day. Limbaugh was deferred for a butt boil. Same on the Left. Yet we fight amongst ourselves and do nothing for ourselves.

I don’t need a ceremony at a ballpark on the day before no less. Why not today? Oh. A baseball game is more important? I don’t need to tune and and watch phony NBC, CBS, or whatever news people giving tribute. I saw the pictures that day. I saw a man jump from over 100 stories that day. Ironically, they, the media, has never shown that footage again. The media only loves to show dirtied fireman, heeps of rubble, and anything with a flag planted on it. They sell. They are hacks.

I would rather remember in my own heart and in my own privacy. I will hang the American flag today but I refuse to display one on my car on bumper stickers. I do support our troops and respect their duty. I will not insult their duty to our country with a “support our troops” ribbon from Wal-Mart. I will however personally thank a soldier when I meet them someplace in public.

I was sad to see fellow Americans fighting fellow Americans. You may agree or disagree with this, fine. I respect whatever you believe you did today to remember those who died on 9/11. I also hope you remember who actually did those killings. Most of them are dead. I feel that while we never should forget, we should move on…..or as a country, if we keep dividing ourselves in politics, religion, and race, we then are doomed.

Yes, I remember where I was. I was in the land of Greed and Theft. I was sad.

Got Pics???

2011-09-05T10:04:00.001-05:00

I have to ask myself and really anyone who will listen, how did Pat Sullivan all of a sudden become the ruling King of Peoria. Does he have elicit photos of a nude and drunken party where the Mayor or some council people attended? Must have.

Here we have our riverfront. Let’s see. The RexPlex is already an aging money hole for the Park District and it needs millions in improvements. I’m not talking about new carpet or lockers or even paint but the stuff the public doesn’t see, like cracking foundation, pool filtering equipment and chlorination piping and all kinds of mechanical things that were the cheapest they could buy when installed, now rusting. Then we move down. past the Taft, where apparently the biggest firework display is on the Fourth. After all, I guess a Link Card can buy anything.

Now to the Gateway Building which is costing taxpayers money every year. It stands 3 stories tall. Nothing really on 1 or 2 floors but the banquet room is on 3 which if you are a band or a caterer, you play hell hauling up anything you need. That makes it empty a lot. But we are stuck with it.

Then over to the Pad that is slowly crumbing away and has really nothing on it anymore other than Joe’s Crab Shack. How they have stayed there this long is amazing and almost unbelievable. The food is expensive and I have had Mr.s Paul’s fish that tasted better.

Then down around a few parking lots, past a vacant building or two and we have Hooter’s. Over priced food chain. The food isn’t really that good either. Never mind you probably wouldn’t like to see your daughter parading around there waiting on tables.

Then past that on to the Rhythm Kitchen, which really has a different menu and surprisingly still able to stay in business past that to the empty antique center on to the kingdom that is Sullivan’s. All of a sudden, this guy can do no wrong. Get street closing requests passed and approved and even tied with a pretty ribbon. In a town where they argue over the brightness of a business sign or balloons on a business, this guy gets streets closed.

I don’t know but it seems all the concentration is on this other wonderful development called the Warehouse District. Which, Sullivan happens to own much of. Kudos for his private investment but now the city, with our wallets in hand, are coming forward with all kinds of improvements.

Washington Street. They want to make it safer by slowing traffic, making it two lanes, adding a round a bout instead of traffic lights and with that I guess planters, hanging baskets, and neat old time lighting which means it will no longer be a State route. That means the city will plow it and maintain it. (Scary isn’t it) This will make it safer for pedestrians? When was the last time someone was killed on Washington Street by traffic? I can’t recall. But wide open sidewalks and slow crawling traffic appeal to a segment of society who just love to walk with their bottled water belts and spandex. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough of these folks to retain business or businesses in this type of environment. If there were, then Main Street on the hill should be booming. It’s not yet they have the two lanes and hanging baskets but Runnin’ Central took off for a more, let’s say, anal retentive part of town.

No, we here in Peoria have a lot of broken deals that need to be fixed first. A lot of promises from our leaders. MidTown Plaza was to be a boon to the East Bluff. It failed. O’Brien Field would generate bars and restaurants. It didn’t. If someone tries, the Council rejects them. The hotel project appears dead but never ever under estimate our Council. The Museum is going to be a joke but again, wait and see. Yet, Pat Sullivan farts and there are a slew of city people there to wipe him. I don’t get it.

At any rate, Sullivan is a nice guy and has invested a great deal in his buildings. That’s great but I don’t think taxpayers need to donate to his cause anymore than we needed to give a developer $9 million to build another hotel. And I am absolutely sure we don’t need to elect Mr. Sullivan to anything.

We’ve tried this warehouse thing before. 401 and the Antique Center and the Pad were all a part of the revival. It cost us millions and or Riverfront is still a joke. So we are going to do it again? Well this is what happens people when we elect the same people again and again to lead us. Must go and get my lipstick. If I’m gonna get screwed, might as well look good.

Presidental Speech or NFL Football?

2011-09-01T05:06:00.001-05:00

Let’s see. Watch a bunch on millionaires, with jobs, tell us that we have no jobs or….

Watch a bunch of millionaires, with jobs, that don’t care if we have jobs.

This is a no Brainer. Run The Three Stooges.

It’s been almost a year….

2011-08-31T11:52:00.001-05:00

Remember when I posted about my Bug and wondered if it was the Bug from hell?

Well it’s been almost a year and I have to say this is the best damn car I have ever owned. Darn near because I fit better in my Pacifica but still, this is a neat little car. As I wrote back then, I was having a problem with the car and what was known as a small emission leak which would always trip the gas cap light which in turn would trip the check engine light. AutoHaus of Peoria.

Since my job only allows for one weekday off a week and at the time I was traveling for work mostly on my day off, I played hell finding the time to get it in and get it fixed. AutoHaus always found a time slot for me and they worked their asses off finding the problem. Hey, they don’t make them but they did indeed fix it and it’s been a good 8 months later and no problems whatsoever.

Today, being a few months early, I took the Bug in for it’s check up and annual oil change. Yep! That’s right. One oil change a year. The AutoHaus was as always most accommodating to my schedule, They did the work, balanced and rotated the tires, checked the brakes and everything. If all dealerships had a service department like this one, then people wouldn’t bitch about their cars. Service is indeed a way of life out there at Pearl. (Who owns AutoHaus)

Yes, this sounds like a commercial but it isn’t. I have dealt with car dealerships over my years and I have to tell you, some after they get your money when you buy the car seem not to give a shit about the problems you may have with that car. While, for example, McComb’s has been a decent place, I have needed service only to be told; “You need to make an appointment” then be told; “We have to order that.” then be told; “Maybe 3 weeks” Or they will look at you like a deer in headlights. Like, what do you want me to do? A 2 week wait for an oil change? Really?

No, I am very impressed with AutoHaus and the guys (Pete Schultz and Dave) in the service department. I know for a fact that if I need an oil change and just drove in, I would have gotten it. (I don’t trust those fly by night places since they left an oil filter lose on my other car) which is why my son bought his new car from a Pearl dealership 2 months ago.

Although my wife drives the Bug way more than I do, I enjoy the car. It’s well equipped, fast when I need it, great MPG, and I enjoy it more knowing the service stands behind it. See ya next August AutoHaus! Thanks Pete and Dave.

Self Explanatory…

2011-08-23T10:06:00.001-05:00

Confirmed!

2011-08-21T06:44:00.001-05:00

Ted Nugent is an asshole. He can play music no doubt but his batshit political views are brain damage in the highest degree. He plays to the ignorance of his audience and says shit people who have been drinking all day want to hear all while waving the flag. Wow, beer, chevy trucks, and guns.

This is why Nugent is reduced to playing places like a riverfront in Peoria. He’s a has been and an ass. Go back to Sean Hannity’s show Teddy! You fit right in with those batshit views there.

To confirm this nutcase, he and his band try and recreated the flag raising at Iwo Jima and march off the stage waving machine guns. Geeez.

Some sad and amazing things.

2011-08-20T15:30:00.001-05:00

The George Washington Carver Community Center close this week. Now this was a place in the heart and hearts of the black community that tried and did some good for a lot of people. Lack of funding from the Untied Way did this facility in. A lot of people volunteered to help and mentor youth of all backgrounds and color over the years. Too bad the city couldn’t give a little to help keep this place going but then again, it isn’t a fad warehouse and it isn’t a hotdog stand. What’s one less place that was a positive for many gonna be missed? We have a new Washington Street and turn about coming!

The young girl that was stabbed at Title Max Loans on University was trying to defend her co-worker from a nut job. She died today from her stab wounds. 26 years old. I knew her. How sad.

The Chillicothe police chief was arrested earlier this week and charged with DUI. This is the same police chief that was arrested awhile back for domestic battery on his wife. What a jewel this guy must be. Yes here in Peoria we have our problems, crime mainly, and I have wrote about it but those in Chillicothe must be super proud of this guy. Why in the fuck isn’t this guy fired? On the spot? Are people that much of rednecks up there that this is ok behavior for a chief of police? True, he’s not convicted but by the newspaper article on his DUI, he was a real prick to the Sheriff’s deputies before they arrested him. I guess in redneck land this is acceptable and is part of the good ol boy network.

Reminds me of the southern college football coach that was confronted with the fact that his teams members were accepting bribes and screwing half the campus while drinking. He said; “Well, they good kids. They play hard.” (in a heavy southern draw) So it’s OK right? Not!

At any rate this idiot that is the head of the Chillicothe police department has strike 2 on him now. I don’t think in his position there should be a strike three. They should flush this nut and take away two things. His guns and his right to reproduce. Otherwise, it’s going to give us “crackers” here in Peoria a bad look.

Next time you drive through Chilli, yell “Hee Haw!” out the window.

CVS, the local pharmacy that pops up whenever a Walgreens pops up has been charged and admitted to over charging customers. Gee. $6.99 for 32 .81g Aspirins. Ya think? That’s just one example. Walgreen’s should be looked at also. Bet they aren’t innocent either. Amazing! These place don’t make money on the crap they sell off their shelves. They make it from prescriptions. Hand over fist. And we don’t need healthcare reform in this country?

Kind of ironic that teachers are on strike in Illini Bluffs because the School Board wants to piss test them. The teachers? These are the people I consider the most sane in the District but we should make them pee in a bottle from time to time. Maybe here in Peoria we should require this of the student body. Shit, that’ll empty the halls. No, let’s do the teachers. What a bunch of idiots that must be on the school board.

We, the taxpayers, by vote of our elected Board members on the school board for District 150 just gave Lathan a $10,000 bonus! WTF! Why don’t we just line up and kiss her ass too? Last I checked, she doesn’t wear a smock and sandals so she isn’t the second coming so what did she do? She stayed a year and didn’t sue us. Whew! I’ll bet right now that after this school year is over and the body count is complete, she leaves and we get sued. Then the Board will go out and search the country for another just like her.

If she did such a great job, then why do I know people that refuse to buy a house in Peoria because of the schools? Christ! Some people don’t make 10 grand a year and we throw money at her. How sad.

And on…..

2011-08-19T15:31:00.001-05:00

Read HERE. Another house shot at in Peoria overnight. Children inside sleeping. Peoria isn’t Chicago where over a million people live. Peoria isn’t even considered anymore one of the top 3 biggest cities in Illinois. Our population shrinks and I wonder why. It seems that a night can’t go by without shots fired either at someone or at some house. It’s always the same. The victims clam up and won’t tell police shit or the occupant of the house, usually a woman with many children, can’t think of a single reason why someone would shoot at her house. BULLSHIT!

Remember the sad story of the eight year old boy shot and killed in his sleep because some spineless worthless piece of shit drove by and fired shots at a house? The mother doesn’t understand why this would happen. In fact, at her son’s funeral which was paid for by kind caring generous donations from many Peorians, she made the fool of herself. She knows why this happened. She knew the man in her life, or men, were doing the thug lifestyle but what she didn’t expect, is what happened. Her sister (related sister) had her 3 year child shot at also earlier this year. That kid was lucky. He lived.

My point? Well, if you live the thug lifestyle, hang with known drug dealers, harbor them in your home, then you should expect violence. That is how it always ends when living like this. If you have children and you exposed these young kids to this crap, then you should be deemed unfit. In fact, you shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce ever. But this is America, and we have rights. Even criminals have rights. We try to live with the laws and act like a civilized society. Unfortunately many people don’t respect rights or the rights of others nor thier property. Hence, the problem we have in our schools.

These kids grow up around this innocent and young and slowly watch and learn from the adults that are with them. Not even early childhood schooling can help these kids as whatever they may learn in school, is wiped out in one hot summer. Hence you got belligerent 4th graders who swear like sailors and then before you know it, another generation has grown, demanding their rights and respect without offering any respect. Our schools are full of these kids hence the 20 patrol cars around our high schools to break up street fights.

Bright side? You bet! Our new Superintendent is going to coddle these children even more. Take away the powers of the hired police force in our schools, reward behavior when it’s good. Why? Isn’t decent behavior expected? I mean I go to work and my boss expects me to perform my job. I do and I get paid but under these rules in the schools this year, I should expect a bonus for simply showing up. What a crock of shit. It’s going to be a fun school year. I pray and hope no one is killed and I worry about the staff of our schools more and more.

And another shooting happens. People generally look away. Then the violence kills and eight old child. Way too young to die this way and people take notice. A little late Mr. Mayor. You are just as responsible as that mother. While you and your buddies at city hall are building museums, raising taxes on downtown bars to pay for it, kissing CAT’s ass and designing a warehouse district that no one is going to buy into, spending tax dollars on turnabouts, the people of this city suffer. And if you suffer long enough, people tend to move.

How much fun is it going to be going to the warehouse or riverfront if you have a good chance of being robbed going to your car? How much fun is it if you have to stay in your house and close your blinds because you hope some stupid ass doesn’t mistake your house for his dealer’s crib and shoot it up? Calling the police to report a suspect in your neighborhood only to have the dispatcher tell you that you are on the list because the police are too busy?

Crime will always be around. There will always be the poor. The police can never ever be everywhere. Dumb ass gun toting thugs will shoot people. So, stop spending our tax dollars on shiny objects and your friends who happen to own a bunch of old rat invest warehouses. You can’t get Shangri-La by pouring money on it but you can reduce crime by increasing the police force, enforcing the code enforcement laws so rental houses aren’t dumps for 20 people to live in, and investing in educational programs to teach these young kids that choices made in their early life will have consequences later on. Then crack down on the welfare fraud and make fathers responsible for their children.

Clean up the streets and watch neighborhoods grow. Reduce the crime by stern enforcement of the law and watch people start to care. Then the businesses will come and with that the jobs and then we taxpayers won’t have to pay for hotels, museums, and $30,000 hotdog stands. Otherwise, the only people at your ribbon cutting ceremonies will be armed police.

P.S. Ray Lahood. I respected you until I heard you talk at the District rally the other day. If anyone sounded like a drunken politician looking to say what people wanted to hear, it was you. Sorry, you was full of shit.

That’s my rub on it. Let’s hope our great leaders act before we have to donate to another child’s funeral.

And it Continues unabated…

2011-08-15T16:36:00.001-05:00

This afternoon, I turned on the scanner and low and behold, another shooting. This time two people were shot multiple times out side the South Metro Mart on Starr Street. The victims hopped into a car with two other people and drove to Tall Bob’s Ice cream on Laramie Street 6 blocks were the police caught up with the victims who claiming to be heading to the hospital. Folks, we better start handing out GPS units with Link cards as there is no hospital in the direction they were traveling but non the less, these two victims and their two friends had to bring their grief yet to another business, Tall Bob’s, running away customers instead of staying put and simply bleeding to death on Starr Street. I am sorry but if you draw gun fire because of something you did or doing, and you get shot, you clam up to the police, then walk your own ass to the hospital and please don’t bill the State either. Working people are tired of paying for your wounds and stupidity.

I listen to the scanner and I have police prep3 on my scanner and I listened as the officers talked. Of course the victims weren’t talking and the other two were taken to the police station for questioning. They weren’t talking either. In fact no one saw anything. Somehow, another officer back at the shooting scene got a description, although vague, of the shooters. Two of them. Black with ball caps, white t-shirts and maybe one had shorts on and they took off on a bike. yep, two of them on a bike. They abandoned the bike 3 blocks over and yet a 3rd youth, black, came out of no where and rode off on the bike. All 3 disappearing into the bright sunny afternoon. You can read the story on PJS if you haven’t used up all your monthly views yet, HERE.

So, what we have here is yet another shooting, in broad daylight, where two people were shot multiple times, drag their crime across the south end, demand medical help, and won’t talk to police. Yes, grill me, call me what you will but more blacks shooting blacks and not giving a rat’s ass where it happens to be, who is around and whom may have been hit other than their targets.

You know, I was in East St. Louis last weekend. Went to a camp ground next to a Casino. Real nice area but fenced off and secure site non the less. I had a chance to drive trough East St. Louis on Sunday. Ever been to East St. Louis? I think our dear Mayor should go and take the tour. This was the most decrepit city I have ever seen in my life. I am sure it rivaled Detroit. Nothing but abandon buildings, abandon cars, trash, and crime. This is what black on black crime does to communities if gone unabated. Oh please don’t argue that taxes did it or whatever. It was good working people, businesses, and home owners that got tired of the crap, the excuses of the shootings and left. Don’t say we can’t blame one race, we can. Blacks and whites fled because like whites, blacks don’t like being shot at either. Who stays? The poor and the criminals. Neither of which can build a city. Call me what you want but you can call me sick of this shit here in Peoria. I’m just 1 year away from selling (doubt I can get a decent price despite my tax assessment) and leaving although I have always thought that leaving and running means the thugs win. It’s better to stay and try to affect change but how? Arm myself? Done that. Shoot back? Haven’t tried that yet. Elect council people who want to change Peoria? Tried that and the same dicks got back in and we will have a wonderful hotel and museum…to get robbed in front of. Do I have black neighbors? You bet. Are they just as concerned and scared? You bet. It sucks for everyone and guess what folks? You can be shot at anywhere in Peoria, even the Mayor’s neighborhood. And when that happens, watch the response we get.

Our Council, our city leaders, our police better get a grip on this shit because prayer vigils and marches aren’t cutting the crap. Sound familiar?

Here we come….

War…

2011-08-11T16:36:00.001-05:00

Please! ENOUGH! This black on black shooting crap is out of hand. This morning in a drive by shooting of a house, one of 3 reported this morning in various areas of Peoria, an 8 year old child was struck by a stray bullet and killed. In his upstairs bed, with 3 other children in the bed!

First, I went out this afternoon and applied for a FOID card. That’s a Firearms Owner Identification Card. I am buying me a nice pistol. If this is going to be Dodge City them I am arming myself.

Second, Gee Mayor Ardis, thanks for waking up and demanding to know who did this killing. About time don’t ya think? Or are 20 yr olds a little more expendable?

Wait until school starts and the District 150 Campus Resource Officers have to kiss these thugs asses. I predict some serious shit in our schools this season as the animals are in control of the zoo,

Weather Forecast…

2011-08-01T16:26:00.001-05:00

Here is the weather forecast for Peoria: It will be frickin HOT with a small chance of rain. If you get rain, than count your lucky stars otherwise the Sun will not set and the low will be 80 degrees by morning and mid 90s by noon. Throw in the humidity and welcome to Brazil! This will continue until further notice no matter what talking head you see on TV says.

In fact, weather people, Lee, Sandy, Chuckles, and the rest of you, please, don’t tell us anything more about the weather around here until something really changes. You know, like it’s 85 in the morning and 15 above zero by afternoon? I am sick of hearing your phony voices of concern that it is hot outside and dangerous. We have been under some kind of NWS advisory since February. Be it freeze warnings, flood warnings, or excessive heat warnings, we have been under it.

So, I just saved our local TV stations money and we no longer have to hear that it is frickin hot out. We that work out side KNOW it. So, please don’t stand there and smile into the camera and say relief is coming by the weekend, it never does. Please don’t say that cooler temps will be around next week, it hasn’t happened! It has been HOT since July 1 and my Chilco bill reflects that!

So, I expect to see your smiling faces in late September when the proverbial “click” is sounded in Illinois and the weather changes and you almost die mowing your lawn because the blizzard hit.

A Quick Note on Brown Noses…

2011-07-28T12:33:00.001-05:00

Our dear Governor was in town to hand out a check for $10.7 million for development in the warehouse district of Peoria. Gee, the local politicos and Sully himself braved the heat of the street to do a little dancing. Spain was so excited, not this excited since he opened his new XBox on Christmas morning.

The money is coming from a $31 BILLION dollar Capital bill that means basically, Quinn is robbing Peter to pay Peoria. This is the same low life Liberal most of these people detest on most days but today, they had they noses right up his ass. So far up that if Quinn made a sudden right turn, we would have 3 people on our city council with broken noses.

Capital Bill? Well it means that the poor, who rely on Medicade to get medical attention, won’t get much anymore because the doctor’s won’t be paid. The State just handed that money to our inept Council. Doctor’s who aren’t paid won’t see poor state aid patients anymore so the poor suffer. But Hey! If you are poor tool on down to Kelleher's and have a brew. Then you poor folks can stake out a place to crash in the alley between some of those new high end condos going in. After all, it’s only taxpayer money. And if you get too drunk, you can stumble across Washington street resting assured that the car that hits you was going only 20 mph as it came out of the many roundabouts. The latest fad. I just wish fads didn’t cost taxpayer money.

I really wish this will be a success. This was tried many years ago. Remember the hoopla around the opening of the 401? No? Same with the Twin Towers. All the retail that would appear. It didn’t. Like Wrigleyville around the ballpark. Nothing but a strip club. So here we go again. I am totally surprised no one was down there at the big announcement handing out lip balm and handi-wipes.

Too bad Quinn wasn’t in town to announce a $10.7 million dollars for more police to battle the gang violence that is gripping this city so much so that even our fire department isn’t safe answering calls in some parts. Then maybe people would want to go downtown knowing it was safe. Shit, who am I kidding. But not the warehouse district. Put on those rose colored glasses and look around. What gunshots? What crime?

Here we go again…..

Main Street re-visited…

2011-07-28T06:53:00.001-05:00

Remember way back when the city decided to change the lane configuration of Main Street? They went from Sheridan Road to University making it one lane in each direction. They also posted No Turn on Red signs at Sheridan and Main (little good they do) . Also when driving east on Main coming from Western you are confronted with a right lane becoming a RIGHT turn only lane at University. All this was done to slow and calm traffic so pedestrians can safely walk the sidewalks and so parking would be freed up in front of some businesses.

So, how’s it working? Let’s start with Main coming from Western driving East. If the goofy Bradley parking deck light is screwed up, traffic is backed up to the Farmington Road light less than a block away. This sets the stage for the big race. People who purposely get in the right lane of Main and race the other traffic because they know the right lane becomes a turn lane at University. How fast? I’ve seen them go over 50 mph. (This is a 30 mph zone) How do I know this? Well, I’m guilty. I kept pace with a car in the right lane which I knew would want over. I was right. We were doing a little over 50 mph before he slowed and got behind me. We both were turning left at University. This race happens every day, all the time. Sometimes it gets hairy because some people believe that if they put on their left turn signal, that gives them the right to cut you off and move into your lane whether or not there is room or not. So, there are accidents. I have seen 3 there this year all caused because of the lane switch. So if you are walking or trying to cross the street, beware that cars are traveling very fast, not slower.

Now looking at Main and University, people coming out of One World are greeted with cars right at their feet. Nothing changed here. Cars still ignore people in the crosswalk, they still turn right on red without stopping and they run the light, sometimes up to 3 cars plow right on through the light. Why? Well, if you are driving west on Main coming up the hill from downtown (where there are much more people walking and yet Main is 4 lanes there) you are confronted by the light at Sheridan Road. This light has no rhyme or reason as to why it changes. You sit at it no matter what and if you are in the right lane, you must turn right onto Sheridan because the lane ends there. That doesn’t stop people from ignoring the lane lines though as I have seen many cars go straight and drive along side you in the parking lanes. Makes no difference because the traffic light at Bourland changes for no reason and you sit and wonder why it changed. You get to sit there and watch the University light cycle a couple of times so by the time you make it to University, you are flooring it because the last thing you want to do is sit at yet another red light. It’s not right but it is human nature and it happens. You also notice that while the east bound traffic is one lane, you going west now have two lanes again. WTF? So traffic tends to move faster but only between traffic lights (like most traffic in this ill timed traffic light town). It’s like NASCAR in one direction, people vying for a spot in the turn lane, and people trying to get into the other lane before it ends. Light goes green, and you floor it and basically race to the next red light. This is not good for people out and about walking the numerous businesses along upper Main. Wait! What businesses?

Let’s see, The Innovation Center? Nope, big huge lot in the back so no need fro a front entrance. Mr. G’s? They have their own lot accessible by Ellis Street. One World. No hope there. You park a half a block away in the back and you pray that no car cuts the curb while you are going in their front door. It’s that close. Campustown? No, they have various entrances to their lot which is always full for some reason even though no one is in the businesses. Bradley?? Avanti’s? Those poor bastards have the worse lot in Peoria. You have to enter it from University and if you are an idiot, you try to turn left into it crossing 3 lanes of stopped traffic. Never mind planning your route around the block and turning an easy right into it. Running Central? Yes front on street parking. No, wait. They are after over 30 years of being on that corner, leaving. They are tired of the crap and the element roaming the neighborhood. They will say that it is a matter of space. Right. After 30 years, space is an issue. Ok.

So, in my opinion, the Main street re-stripping was a waste of money. No new business because of it and in fact less business now. Cars are speeding and causing accidents and people are not on the sidewalks. In fact, instead of giving away $30k to a chilidog store way out on Allen Rd, why not stripe the streets so at least we can see what lane we are in? This city spends money on some of the dumbest things and ignores the basics. On most of our streets, the paint marking turn lanes and driving lanes is worn off. We have a paint truck. I’ve seen it so what is the problem? No, this city will spend thousands appeasing a few. This Main Street thing is one example, the Arbor is another. Oh but some council members will say these things make a neighborhood. Bullshit! Come to the south end. If there is a neighborhood, and there are a a few, then the people make the neighborhood not objects. Most here don’t have sidewalks and yet Hannsler and other streets are getting them…again! We don’t have hanging plant baskets on our street lights. We do have a chilidog place or two, Tall Bob’s and Ernie’s. Ernie’s being an icon as much as the crap they pass as a chilidog at Emo’s. These places don’t get city funds. Can’t wait until the council tells us next year we are broke and we need to raise your fees (they won’t call them taxes, they are fees that way their friends don’t have to pay them, like OSF). Instead of spending $30K on a hotdog stand, make the streets safer by marking them. Especially that drag strip now known as Main Street.

And the spending stupidity goes on. All for the few.

Will the Police help?…

2011-07-20T09:49:00.001-05:00

The City Council yesterday had a special meeting to argue over design and roundabouts for Washington Street and where to begin, in the Warehouse area or in front of the Museum. Even one councilman wondering why the State money for the project has been trickling in instead of one big check. I wonder why also since this State can’t pay it’s bills let alone fund streets in Peoria.

Roundabouts seems to be the current rage. Every neighborhood wants one or two. Reducing Washington Street, a State truck route to a pedestrian friendly street and narrow lanes. Seems like fantasy land and a big huge money vacuum.

Speaking of money, did you know one way this Council, this very same council that is thinking high dreams for a warehouse district, is saving money this budget cycle? The City recently farmed out it’s Workman's Comp. to a third party or private company. This company so far claims to save the city about a million bucks this year and more in the coming years. How can this be? Simple. Refuse claims and make the employee spend sick leave, or vacation leave, and their own money fighting the claims.

This applies to police and firefighters in this city. Let me give you an example on how this has worked. Say a police officer is cruising a neighborhood and spots a guy looking in a window of a house. He doubles back and sure enough, the guy is prying the window open. He calls in and of course the guy runs and a chase ensues. The officer catches the guy after hopping a few fences but in the chase, injures his ankle catching the guy. Workman’s Comp right? Nope, under this new company’s rules, the officer wasn’t on an official call therefore he took his own risk to pursue this guy. The officer is on his own as far as pain and suffering even though he/she is sworn to uphold the laws of the State of Illinois. Saving money!!

So, if you say, turn a corner on two wheels clearly speeding and driving recklessly and you do it in front of a cop, you’d expect the cop to go after you right? I mean you could be drunk, high, or just a menace to the driving community and the officer's job is public safety. Well maybe not. Considering the City will no longer back officers, unless they are on an official call, the officer just may turn a blind eye and go on. Might be the same if an officer drives by and sees someone breaking into your home. Wait until someone calls it in?

How about being on an official call? Here is another story. An officer was responding to a domestic dispute. It was called in. While in the home, the officer going down a narrow set of stairs, has his/her equipment belt snag on the handrail and trips and falls. Hurts her/his back. Goes to the doctor specified by the 3rd party company and is told he/she is fine, report to work. But he/she isn’t fine and is in pain. Goes to their doctor and they find two slipped disks in the back and surgery is required. Fights with the City for an on the job injury, uses a bunch of sick leave and vacation time in the process before it’s ruled a true workman’s comp case. Vacation and sick leave time haven’t been reimbursed as of yet. Saving money!!

So, one has to ask; How does this affect moral at the police department. I would imagine it has slipped quit a bit. I mean look at a young officer who has a family and worries about his family, the constant cuts by the city (while this city spends millions on developers and turnabouts and old warehouses), the crime that has engulfed this town where it seems people will shoot at anything and now including city busses let alone armed police, and ask, will this officer be afraid to stop and investigate a crime when he/she sees one? Knowing that without an official call, he or she might be left to bleed to death so to speak if they get shot or hurt?

Is this how our idiot city leaders are quietly saving us money and telling us that since they don’t hear gunshots near their homes there isn’t really a crime problem? The same bunch of leaders when they do acknowledge crime in Peoria and it’s picked up by national media they back pedal and point out we had a fair and no one was shot or killed? The same people who argue for hours where a strip club should go, how much we should give a developer in millions for a new shiny hotel only to get a box instead. To tell citizens there is no money for streets and sidewalks but here is always a way to help their rich friends out in the warehouse district. After all, where will some of our council people have cocktails??

I believe this. The police and the fire are our local heroes. They are the ones that pull you from a burning home or respond to a crime. They are the ones who protect us from the evil we have to confront on a daily basis. The last thing we, as a city should be doing, is in any way denying medical help for any officer or fireman hurt while in the line of duty. Nay, we shouldn’t even question their care. It should be a given. We have an excellent police force and I know officers, despite this new workman's comp saving crap our city leaders have come up with, will not look the other way when they see a crime. They are sworn and it’s their word which is worth more than any words from a councilperson. Same with our firemen and women. They are highly trained professionals and without them, this might as well be Dodge City circa 1860. Everyone carried a gun and if your house caught fire, then the horse trough better be full of water and you better have a bucket.

But fire and police are humans too. They jobs are high risk. That’s a given. If you shit on these people, it’s got to hurt them. This town is the last place you want to discourage our police and fire. So, why did the city council pull this crap? To save money. Because raising taxes to fully staff police and fire and to maintain and improve infrastructure just doesn’t look good on a campaign flyer at election time. Imagine how good Gulley or Babs will look standing in front of the new museum??? Or Spain in front of Kelleher’s sporting a new sidewalk. Don’t these people read or hear the gunshots???????

Man this town is ass backwards.

The Great Fair….

2011-07-17T07:26:00.001-05:00

The Heart of Illinois Fair is over and on the WEEK web page has a story calling the fair “incident free”. Because of the security the fair hired, something called E.L.I.T.E. or "Economic Leaders Integrating Trained Employable". Whatever that means. It’s run by retired corrections officer Carl Cannon. They are all volunteers and Mr. Cannon claims since they have been hired at various events, there have been no incidents and record breaking crowds. Hmm, well I don’t think the fair had a record breaking crowds and if the fair offered a free night admission, I’ll bet something would have happened that night. Even gangs have scruples and $8 a head is a little steep for few targets. Still, over 90 arrests in the past years at signature events in Peoria.

How sad is it when a major media outlet has to tout that a city function was had and it was incident free. Tells you something of the mindset of our elected officials and yes, the media in this town. An event is held and we are supposed to cross our fingers and hold our breathe that no one is beat up, shot, robbed, or all three. That no gangs showed up and keep honest citizens at bay. It would be almost laughable if this wasn’t so sad but I guess this type of news is acceptable to certain segments of society. Like…”Hey! We had a function and no one was killed!”

Too bad Mr. Cannon and his ELITE team of volunteers couldn’t work some of our neighborhood streets on the weekends. All they would need to do is drive down Millman or Kettle and look for a large crowd of people. There were about 50 people on one street corner the other night when two guys were gunned down. Maybe Mr. Cannon could find a witness in a group that large as the police couldn’t. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a headline on WEEK that said; “Nobody shot at or killed this weekend in Peoria?

Ah, hell, who am I fooling. No do gooder TV cameras and or reporters on the streets in the bad neighborhoods until after the bodies are found. Hell it’s getting harder everyday to pick out the good neighborhoods. Way to go Peoria! And congrates to the Fair. Nobody died.

A couple of things….

2011-07-16T14:33:00.001-05:00

First, Billy posted THIS, which is a copy of and a link to a blog called “Take back Peoria” run by a Fred Smith. In this article Fred lambastes that the incident with the gang (I should say alleged gang) of kids on Thrush Street a few weeks back and called it a lie and the man (Paul Wilkinson) who reported it was a liar also. Well, who in the fuck died and made you Judge Fred? Fred then went on to blame the Peoria Chronicle for posting what Paul Wilkinson reported in his neighborhood and starting a national ruckus without first checking the facts…..or with Fred at least.. A total lack of judgment Fred thinks. Gee…. Well damit all to hell Fred, thanks for setting us all straight. What I find nuts is that Billy bothered to even link to his blog and post it. Maybe Mr. Dennis was just being his snide self.

Last night, while out with my friend running some errands, we just happened on a shooting that just happened on Shelly Street right past Butler. We saw a car sped away with a couple of occupants but before we could react to what had happened, it seems the entire Peoria police force arrived along with half the Sheriff’s department. I mean they were running out the yellow tape before I could even get out of the area and just as we saw a guy that appeared to be shot in the head was laying on the ground. A big cop, one with no neck walked up and basically told us to get the hell out of here, which we complied. The car that sped off? Thought maybe it was the shooters but I guess it was someone driving the other victim to the hospital. At least 50 people were standing on the corner by the Proctor Center and I’m willing to bet no one saw a damn thing. I really do wish these people would stop shooting up our city.

Today, while coming home I saw a group of teenagers, about 25, all black standing around near University and Forrest Hill. They were holding signs for a car wash and trying to raise money at the Auto Zone. Hot weather and working hard but it seems these kids were having fun, staying cool with water. Not all groups of kids are up to no good. Even I concede that.

Stay cool my friends.

More kids just being kids?

2011-07-14T15:30:00.001-05:00

At 10:30 at night. Throwing rocks at a homeowner? Read THIS in the PJS for the full story, well almost the full story. Why don’t I think this isn’t the full story?

Well there is always two sides to a story. I am just wondering what kind of kids hang out in groups of 20 or more at 10:30 at night. I am wondering where the parents of these kids are and why they would allow their children to be out late. Yes, I think 10:30pm is late for underage kids to be out in large groups roaming neighborhoods. But then again, this just may be kids being kids. I mean, the guy yells at them to quite it down and move along and why wouldn’t you, as a kid, start throwing rocks at him and his house? The guy is being mean after all right? Who doesn’t enjoy a large loud group of youths in front of your home at 10:30 at night? Just kids being kids.

So the guy calls the police. The police come but those darn pesky kids disappeared by the time they got there. One wonders how long it took them to respond because of the cut backs in police in Peoria from our great city council. Still, the police ask a few neighbors and they get the standard reply; “We know nuttin.” What can they do?

The guy, a disabled Army veteran with a wife and 5 month old child went out to confront the group only to be attacked himself. What an ass right? The gull of this guy wanting to protect his property and family from kids just being kids.

Well sir, I honor your service and I am sad this event happened. I’ll bet this isn’t the first time he or others in that area have had to deal with this but hey, welcome to the jungle. Maybe we can get some pastors together and offer prayers for peace? Maybe we can get some quality lip service from our city council? Maybe it’s time we let the animals have the zoo and leave.

The race of this group wasn’t mentioned. Really it doesn’t matter. Or does it? I wonder. You all reading this know deep down it was probably a group of black girls. Can’t say it though because pointing that out is like calling the whole black community thugs, right? And it’s hard to say it outright without sounding like a racist pig isn’t it? Like the deal over on Thrush where race was clearly determined. So…what makes these kids act like animals?

This is an interesting and sad story. I’ll bet it plays out in various neighborhoods around Peoria but doesn’t make the papers. Or the Drudge Report.

Well, whether a group of black or white girls, I hope the police detectives help this guy and maybe find some of the girls responsible for the rock throwing. I hope the police can make a few arrests because after all, last I checked, throwing rocks and attacking a person is a crime. I hope this comes to pass because some people are tired of waiting for society and our rules of law to work. Some just may get tired of this bullshit and come out of their homes and start shooting back. Because not everyone can pull up stakes and leave this town to escape this crap. Some feel that you just have to make a stand. If that day happens, it will be the beginning of the end. Last one out, turn off the lights.

Bottom line? Parents, (if you can call yourself one) teach your kids to be kind to people with disabilities. Mean kids just suck.

Insert your color here, all will work….except a few

2011-07-10T10:54:00.001-05:00

Ya know, I am not against entitlements or programs for the poor. Some of us walk a fine line in life on being self supporting to needing help. I'd like to think that with all the taxes we pay, that something is there to help people when in need. In fact, I think the government is here to help us, not us helping the government. We send a lot of money to the government and it should come back in the form of programs, jobs, and infrastructure support of our communities.

Instead, we have millionaire politicians who have no idea, no connection to the common working person, telling us to tighten our belts. Both parties in this country suck. The Republicans, who can dream up a shitty idea, make it worse, then go to lunch and spend more on lunch than some people make in a week. The Democrats who also have shitty ideas but have no backbone what so ever.

Can you imagine stealing thousands from someone, getting caught and not going to jail? Well that is basically what happened to Wall Street bankers. They stole millions from working people and not one went to jail. Don’t include Madoff as he stole from his rich friends which will get you every time. Neither Republicans, who protect their rich corporate buddies nor the Democrats who love the huge donations to keep them in their jobs charged or tried one person. Greed from the rich, greedy CEO’s, corrupt politics at all levels is what caused our economic meltdown. Not union school teachers. Not a single union state worker. Not a single union wage earner caused it. In fact, quality union work built this country, allowed for wages that bought new homes, cars, washers, refrigerators, and allowed the country to proper. You think if cheap Chinese labor built our bridges and buildings they would last as long as they have? Yet, the rich politicians, especially the Right is going after the very core of this county, working class people. The Democrats are silent, like idle school boys and do nothing. Cutting programs for the poor and elderly while spending billions, for example, on a jet (F35) that doesn’t work. Tax cuts for corporations who pay very little or no taxes anyway. Big oil and on and on. Then there is the other side of this.. The programs we or they call entitlements.

Where we need to look is at people who have made a career out of living off of and manipulation of the system for years, nay, generations. It's these people who will sell their Link card for 50 cents on the dollar, will use the cash to get their nails done instead of shoes and a coat for their child. It those that get pregnant every year from a different man and then collect off of these and expect the government to pay their hospitals bills. Free cell phones. I went for most of my life without a cell phone and I pay for the one I have now because I work and can afford it. Getting your utilities paid so you can have A/C while renting an A/C unit from a high cost rental store. Maybe one could pay their utility bill if they didn’t have to pay $39.99 a week for a A/C unit. But what’s money when you are handed it?

I won't even go into what I think is the biggest waste of money, Head Start and early childhood programs. Glorified babysitting programs that do not work. Not because the program isn't good, it is, but because the child returns to a home full of idiots, drug users, and free loaders. If it did work, one would think after 30 years the quality of high school students would have improved within the minorities and poor. It hasn't. Visit Peoria High any day. I'll bet more than half the students there were in Head Start at some time and I know they don't teach foul language and dis-respect at Head Start. District 150 can’t pass State standards because of it’s clientele, not because it mis-spends, or is grossly mis managed. It has always been mis-managed as I remember from the early 70s people complaining about the schools and how they were run. Even so, you can not teach stupid nor can you fix stupid.

Please don’t say color is an issue or poor is an issue. People can be smart and poor and Pekin High School, which is 98% white, is not making standards either. All for the same basic reasons. Generation after generation growing up with a parent or parents too young. I mean if you are a grandmother at 35, then that’s too damn young. No family structure like I had in the 60s. No respect taught at home so no respect shown by siblings. But most of all, society has come to coddle over the years our kids. Christ, you can’t paddle them in school, you can’t touch them, take them to a private room and yell at them unless you are accused of child molesting. The State must provide a nutrisious lunch and for free in most cases. What happened to the parent making their kids lunch? I could go on and on but most know what’s happening today.

How to fix this? Well as long as health care in this country is for profit, we won’t. Why? Let’s say the State or Feds decide to stop paying for all medical cards. No more free births girls. No more running to the emergency room and clogging that facility because your kid has a rash. Nothing. Well, you know that generous organization known as OSF that cares so much about the poor they have built modern clinics in many poor neighborhoods? Like down on Mathew Street? Those would close in a New York second. OSF isn’t there to help the poor unless OSF helps itself to the State or government treasury. The payments stop, so will their charity. Wanna bet? Big big money in taking care of poor people with medical cards. So, with the rich in this country controlling the interests of politicians, we will never ever get rid of this cash cow.

How about ending the free lunch program and make kids pay for lunch or parents provide a lunch? Shit, millions of dollars will be lost to the district and because of mis-managed spending, they wouldn’t be able to afford the lunch program at all. The free lunch program feeds itself. because of the bullshit government laws that saw a child needs nutritious food and it MUST be provided, the districts alone couldn’t afford this without some help. Hence the free lunch program for those too damn deprived. Didn’t need these food laws in the 40s, 50s, or even the 60s. No body is twisting your arm when you go to Mickey D’s. Besides, if you ever watched a school lunch room, 65% of the food hits the shitcan because students won’t eat it unless it’s covered in cheese or some sweet sauce. Besides, when something is handed to you free day after day, after a while you don’t give a damn about it.

The only way to fix the problems is to educate and start holding parents responsible for their kids actions. To make the kids know that there are consequences to their choices and enforce it. While I believe that this country, the greatest on the planet, should provide health care to everyone like most of the world’s countries do, we should take the profit out of being sick. We should also make people aware that health care does have costs and you have to be responsible. No more free births out of wedlock. If you can’t afford it, then a payment plan will be afforded you. OSF, BTW, doesn’t do payment plans. It’s all or nothing there praise God.

Basically what I am saying is this. Everything needs to be looked at. Free housing, healthcare, all entitlement programs. The people that run them and make good money of them also. The politicians in this country are basically to corrupt to fix. For Joe Blow to run for Congress, he would need in excess of a million dollars to get elected. Think our founding fathers envisioned this? The corporate greed that comes before American pride. Profits, which are good and needed, but not before the welfare of the workers who make profits possible. Going over seas to sweat shops for labor, building cheap crap that makes us here sick or injured using it. All for the buck. The system is broke. Can we vote them out? Sure, but in this country maybe 25% show up to vote. We are finally paying and reaping what years of ignorance and turning our backs on social economic problems have done to our country. Instead we face and support other countries and finance wars. It will end in the future. We will either overcome and adjust and wake up and take care of each other and our planet or we will fall, like other great civilizations have in our history and anarchy will rule. We will either become our brother’s keepers or we will work our masters land.

Think about it….I most likely won’t be around for the fall or the cure but my kids, and their kids will be.

Ok, Now we’re talking…

2011-07-08T05:06:00.001-05:00

The Peoria Fire Chief said yesterday that after the riot like conditions and the attacks on his men July 4th at Taft homes, they will now review all calls there and determine the risks before going. That means to me that if there is a fire in the Taft, the fire department might be a little late if they show up at all.

No we need to get the police to say; if you are shot and laying in the street and won’t cooperate with the police, then call a friend or relative to pick your ass up. Also, you’ll need to lay down a cash deposit before any Emergency Room visit.

Personally? I think anyone caught with a weapon doing a crime, shooting someone else, attacking police or firemen, should be given a full backpack, a rifle, 3000 round of ammo and flown immediately to Afghanistan. There, you can live in a shit hole, destroy and deface all the buildings you want, act like you rule the neighborhood, play all the loud music you want and you’ll have plenty to shoot at. And of course, people will be shooting at you. Just like home!

I so want to….

2011-07-06T16:06:00.001-05:00

delete this damn blog. I am tired. But I keep plugging away and I need to vent yet again. Once again, the people of Taft show our police and fire no respect. Usually from the same people who demand respect. personally, I would review the video and anyone the police can ID, should be kicked out of public housing. Maybe on the next fire call, the fire department should log it and then take their damn time getting there. Hell that would put innocent people in jeopardy. Can’t do that can we?

Peoria Chronicle used sarcasm to express his distaste with the incident. I won’t. It’s bullshit. It comes from generation after generation of idiots raising idiots. Some people think the government owes them something. Like housing, electricity, heat, food, and even transportation. Why get a job? Why even look? Hell it’s easier to simply say they ain’t no jobs or no opportunities especially for minorities. Well I have never ever seen a large group of Chinese in the streets disrespecting the police.

This latest riot (and that is what the police are calling it) happened on taxpayer property, the PHA. Was the response by the police slower than normal because of the cuts made by our great city council? How can illegal fireworks be used and have no repercussions on PHA property? Why aren’t people being evicted for damaging public property?

You know, Paul Wilkinson was probably dead on balls accurate when he reported that roving band of youths terrorizing the neighborhood of Thrush and Sheridan Streets. I believe him 100%. This latest fiasco down at Taft just reinforces peoples opinions of Peoria. That a group here is simply out of hand and this group knows they can get away with it because they, like rats, can slip into the darkness of night and never be caught.

So, we can add this to the long list of crap this community has to suffer from a minority. The gangs at a Christian church carnival last year, Steamboat days, Fireworks on the riverfront, Thrush Street, shootings all over Peoria in broad daylight no less. Dysfunctional neighborhoods like Lexington Hills, which is Section 8 and that means some fat rich doctor and or lawyers own them but lease them to the PHA and those lawyers and doctors count the money someplace else, not here, like the Bahamas' or on their yacht.

Well I’m sick of the crap. Decent people who are working and trying to make a life are moving out and that includes all races, white, black, whatever. This devalues the homes of people, like me, who want to live here. Shit, I probably couldn’t sell my home for what I think it’s worth or should be worth. So yes, this crap in the Taft and everywhere affects everyone.

Why is it that a person can walk at night in the Knolls and enjoy the evening but if a person walks at night anywhere in the East Bluff or South End, they are taking their lives into their own hands? Why?

It’s time that we as a society start to hold these generations responsible for their actions. Where to start?

1. Get pregnant in high school you pay the bill. That would be a wake up call for these young girls who think it’s cool to have a baby. Guess what? Girls, you have to get a job and pay for that child.

2. No more medical cards until the father of your child provides some means of support. Stop passing your kid to your mother. I am tired of seeing 31 year old grandmothers. Kids are cute as babies and when they are 2 or 3 years old. They are a LIFETIME commitment. But many hand of their kids to the grandmother to raise. No family unit or sense of family.

3. You get aid, you go to school or you work. Have another kid, you lose it. Everyone makes mistakes, make the same one twice, you lose. Keep your legs closed and for once, think about your future instead of relying on someone else to pay for it.

4. No body owes you a damn thing. Don’t have it? Then pull your ass up and go out and work for it. The prisons are full of assholes who think they can take what they want. Yes there are times when a person or families lose their jobs and need assistance. A lot of us walk a fine line from this. This helps many but it’s not a life long job that you should expect to live off of. Many do though.

5. .00001% of the population makes the NBA or the NFL so study in school so you can advance yourself. There is no such thing as a quick million unless you win the lottery in which case you have a better chance of being struck by lightning. Stop worshipping these millionaire asshole athletes who can’t even complete a proper English sentence when interviewed. Yes sports are fun but chances are you aren’t going to be a millionaire sports figure.

7. This isn’t old England or the dark ages. There is no code of silence applied to anyone. If you are stabbed or shot, then cooperate with the police. If you decide to say nothing because you are just too damn proud, then maybe they should let you bleed to death and save the taxpayer millions in medical expenses you most likely aren’t going to pay for anyway. Oh you want the help when shot but you can’t help yourself or the community by helping the police to put these thugs away. So then, you should be own your own and save our police resources and ambulance services for those that really need them. Rash? Harsh? Well if you make my city like Baghdad, then you should be treated like it’s Baghdad. As soon as they roll you in the ER and you clam up, they should roll your ass back out.

6. Shit, why am I wasting my breathe. None of the people that need to be told this shit or held accountable for once in their lives read this. They don’t give a shit. It’s obvious prayer sessions haven’t help. Education is there but if thugs don’t ant it, then they won’t get it. All we get from our civic leaders is lip service. That’s easy and free and really easy when you don’t live in the combat zone. But hey, it’s like a millionaire telling you to tighten your belt. Wait, our politicians already do that.

Think about it. If this was a white issue, what do you the outcry would be? Sadly, this whole mess is a black issue and yet all we hear is “kids will be kids” “They are just partying” “These are poor people venting” There, I said it. And you wonder why people fear groups of black youths. Maybe it isn’t right, but it’s what is happening.

I really truly want to stop seeing a black youth’s face in the paper that was shot and killed or arrested for shooting someone. Yes, white’s haven’t exactly cornered the market on fair play either. But here in Peoria, our corner of the harsh world, we need to get a handle on this or we are doomed. This can not go on. Excuse have to stop being made and people need to come together and find solutions. Holding people accountable is one way. Making and educating people is another. People need to learn nothing is free in this world. Nothing. And for every action, this is an opposite and equal reaction. Not an overnight solution but we need to act in this town or no one, and I mean no one is going to visit a damn thing here no matter how new and shiny it is.

Erectile dysfunction…

2011-07-02T15:08:00.001-05:00

In Peoria ED, as it’s called for short, is when a big shot developer shows up in the council chambers, shows beautiful color graph posters on how a new hotel is needed next to an old hotel and all joined by skywalks to the Civic Center. He stands hard and firm on the concept. Then the city bends over (no fear here it’s ED remember) and fills the developers brief case with cash and promises, then sells a prime piece of land at less than half it’s value so Peoria can move and retain it’s only strip club of fame. Only, the hotel never gets built and in the mean time…..after the council says it will commit $40 in bonds of our future…….

They tell the public times are tough so cuts in fire are necessary. They cut city services by getting rid of public works employees. They create a new tax and instead of slapping us in the face and calling it the Garbage Fee, which we still have and it doesn’t go to garbage collection, they apply it to natural gas usage and call it that. Of course, big business that use a lot of natural gas like OSF and ADM get a break. Us regular folks simply need to apply another layer of clothing to stay warm in the winter. Ahhh, memories of the old CHILCO days. The the biggest boner, again pardon the pun, the council cuts the police because well we just don’t have the money and crime isn’t all that bad right?

Then after all this, no hotel is built. In fact, the developer is in arrears in East Peoria on payments for another project. He goes limp and disappears. So. One would think the council would give it up but nooooo way. We need this hotel and so it goes. Just take another pill, right?

Which brings me to the big hoopla on Thrush the other night. I believe Paul Wilkinson's account that night and some of the neighbors also confirmed it. It isn’t kids being kids running rampant through other people’s property no matter what they were yelling. This isn’t how a party should let out. If that is what it was. There is a problem in this town for sure and that neighborhood is out of hand. I hope the next incident, and there will be one, is video taped. Hope the police have some time to deal with it when it comes.

On another note, it seems the deal for Bowl Mor and the Hamm’s Bear painted on the side will stay a little longer. The “Pending” signs have come off the For Sale signs out front and now a new For Sale sign has appeared in front of the Arby’s. Looks like Walgreens may be looking at the Jim McComb corner lot? Yes a new For Sale sign appeared there the other day.

And the Golden Coral is slowly going up across the street. Can’t wait to stand in line for that place and ask what the green stuff is.

Happy Fourth and remember, not all gun shots are firecrackers. Or is it the other way around?

It’s Official!!! I’m going to be a Grandpa…

2011-06-28T17:09:00.001-05:00

Yep indeed confirmed today and due in February I am going to be a Grandparent. Unreal. I had all my money on my youngest son but like a fine race horse coming from behind, my oldest son came out of the backfield and bam!

For the first time in a long time PAP is speechless.

So…..How was your weekend?

2011-06-27T17:15:00.001-05:00

Shit. The shit did hit the fan this weekend and all over the alleged gangs roaming Sheridan Road letter from Paul Wilkinson. I stopped comments here and put them under moderation but they are open again. I did this because for the first time in my little blog’s life, I was swamped with comments and they were coming from everywhere in the country from rednecks to wingnuts. At least most of them were.

First, let me make it clear about a few things regarding this whole mess. I apologized in a previous post and on Emerge’s blog, not because I posted Paul’s letter or because I gave my take on my thoughts, it was because I didn’t moderate the comments sooner and remove them. I do not condone loading up guns and going after people simply because of color and that is what some commenters were referring to do. That’s bullshit. To make this whole thing a race issue, black versus white, whatever, yes, I threw my two cents in. I am an insensitive prick at times but I can change. Yes I was mad about this incident and if true, and it still could be, then these thugs were criminals and criminals come in all colors. And these criminals don’t give a rats ass what color you are either.

Now for some facts. Paul Wilkinson. I have met this guy and I have found him to be a caring individual who has taken the time to form a neighborhood organization and defend the area he lives in. He has volunteered at many civic events and he is very knowledgeable about the inner city workings and politics. To put it bluntly, he knows who is sucking who’s dick to get things done in this town and he knows who the phony assholes are. This tends to make him a target for a few of our esteem elected officials and some city staffers. No one likes to be told they got shit on their nose. So if Paul is lying, then this is the first I have ever heard him do so. But, did he embellish this story? Maybe. His neighborhood, like many others in Peoria, except maybe out north where people step away from their BBQ’s and admire the evening rainbow, have some serious problems and after banging your head for years, maybe one does tend to embellish. Did he cause some damage? Fuck no. If our city’s image is tarnished then it’s from the many commenter’s who see violence as end to a result. That’s worse than any thugs doing the same. It’s from the lack of leadership from our elected leaders and our Mayor.

Time will tell whether Paul has lost it or something did indeed happen the other night. Me? I can’t imagine a group a black kids being belligerent and using vulgar language. After all, I was in the lunch room at Peoria High last fall and I heard many in that line call the women working the line (yes, lunch ladies) bitches, Ho’s, and tell them to “Give me a fucking cheeseburger” Yes these young men were black but most of the lunch ladies are too. Peoria High has problems and it’s some of the clientele.

Now for the reaction from the media and the response from the Second District councilwoman, Barbara Van Auken. This whole thing happened in the Second and she comes out and calls Paul a liar straight away. This is the same woman who when drunk with her rich friend, went to the Frat house’s on the Bradley campus and tried to quell a party at one of them. When the Bradley police arrived, she not only called them fake cops but stuck her boney finger into the chest of the officer while telling him so. Now if that was you or me, they would have to x-ray my ass to see how exactly to remove that officer’s boot from my ass and that would be after they smashed my face on the concrete while sticking a Taser up my rectum so far it would see daylight from my rear molar. Not her, she’s a damn councilwoman and she had her drink glass and olive to prove it. I wonder what we taxpayers paid for the legal fees for her and this embarrassing moment.

Doesn’t matter, because those white folks up on Moss voted her back in last time so they must have approved. Moss has it’s Frats and Thrush Street has it thugs. Bet Van Auken won’t show her finger on Thrush Street at 10pm. Like to see 10 black kids walk down the middle of Moss late on a Friday evening. Talk about a rip in the space-time continuum. Good God.

So what’s good ol, Van Auken do? She calls the new council people dumb and gullible. Good Christ! So, which one is dumb and which one is gullible? Weaver dumb? Akeson dumb or gullible? Or both. This woman should be shown the frickin door at the next council meeting. Who in the fuck is she to point a finger (pardon the pun) and say councilpersons were sucked in by Paul’s report. And you wonder why this city is in the toilet. I know Chuck Weaver and I have talked to Chuck many times. He is assessable and he seems to care. I know of Beth Akeson and she cares also. They are the new members on the Council. So…

What it boils down to is this; Wilkinson has butted heads with Van Auken many times. Could it be because she says one thing and does another? Let’s see… Sheridan Road should be a two lane road, she reneged on that. No Garbage Fee. She reneged on that too. Sold out residents on Knoxville for a Taco Bell and a lighted sign just to name a few. But her friends in the Moss-Bradley area seem to like this so, they vote her in. Makes one wonder just how dangerous it is to drive down Moss Avenue. Yes and she has the balls to call Paul a liar? Well you can bet she has balls. I don’t know whose balls they are but they are hanging from her rear view mirror to be sure.

As for the Thrush and Sheridan and throw in McQueen Street also, these areas are shit boxes to be sure. It isn’t because of home owners trying to make their neighborhood a better place, it’s because many moved out, sold their homes for a dime and now fat rich whites, who some of don’t even live in Peoria, bought these houses and they don’t give a damn who they rent them to. So, in comes the element. Is it mostly black? Yes it is in this case. Are all these blacks thugs? No, many are just black families trying to make a living and get a roof over their heads. They are targets just like white folk are and maybe more so.

Did the police back down the other night? I seriously doubt it. Are they stressed and understaffed? You bet your ass they are and we should thank our lucky stars we have people like these men and women who take this job and do it well. We have black officers too ya know. So, maybe the crowd wasn’t as big as some perceived it to be. Maybe they did flip off a few cars as they passed. Gee, in this town, driving from A to B, it’s hard not to get the finger from someone. Everyone is so uptight these days.

I firmly believe Paul saw what he thought he saw, and I firmly believe when the police arrived, the thugs scattered like rats they are. And the game goes on….

Let’s put our race cards away for the rest of the week and maybe, step outside for a change and if you see your neighbor, say “Hello” and while you are out, maybe drop a note to our Mayor and tell him what a dumbass Van Auken is for her remarks about our elected Council members both of whom I neither consider dumb or gullible. Maybe if she got off her ass and did some fact finding for a change, we could have saved on legal fees with the Frats at Bradley. Also, maybe some of our council members should look in a mirror. These problems have been boiling for years and it stems from some of the policies our elected people have taken. Hotel or safety? You decide. Our leaders already have for us.

PEACE

Enough!

2011-06-27T04:15:00.001-05:00

I have stopped the comments here. Enough crap has been posted. Until I find out what the truth is, if possible. This site is in limbo. If what the PJS said is true and if what Barbra Van Auken said about Wilkinson is true also, then any blogger who posted Wilkinson’s letter and let it roll should apologize. That’s the thing about blogs. Credibility. When something like this happens, then blogs get ignored again and that shouldn’t happen as a lot of good useful info gets passed along at times. I thought I knew Paul. Maybe I don’t.

I apologize. I should have known better.

War Zone?

2011-06-25T08:38:00.001-05:00

This is a reprint from the Peoria Chronicle’s web site. It was posted by CJ, the sites owner and written by Paul Wilkinson. Paul is the President of the Altamont Park Neighborhood Association. I know Paul and he is the most straight forward person I’ve met. He has no need to embellish or to lie. That means this is true and it’s an outrage. I hope Mr. Jackson of the local NAACP reads this and responds. That will be interesting. This is nothing more than hate and race war against whites.

Here is the posted letter:

Tonight, around 11 p.m., a group of at least 60-70 African American youth marched down one of the side streets (W. Thrush) to the 4 lane main drag (Sheridan). They were yelling threats to white residents. Things such as we need to kill alll the white people around here. They were physically intimidating anyone calling for help from the police. They were surrounding cars. Cars on the main drag had to slam on their brakes to either avoid the youth blocking not only all four lanes, but a large section of the side street as well. fights were breaking out among them. They were rushing residents who looked out their doors, going on to porches, yelling threats to people calling the police for help.

Cars were doing U turns on the streets just to avoid the mob, mostly male. One youth stated his grandfather was white and several assaulted him on the spot. One police officer answered the call. The youth split into two large groups, one heading north, the other south. They were also yelling racial threats to the police officer but he was outnumbered. Another police car did not show up until after the youth finally dispersed and the patty wagon (van) also eventually showed up.

Residents are very shaken, both black and white alike. This is the fifth large mob action in about a month with smaller groups of 10-12 are out threatening children and adults a few evenings a week or later into the night. The times vary, even occuring during the day. In talking to the police officer, they are short staffed. Residents were advised to simply keep inside and to lock their doors. In other words buckle down, it’s not even safe to sit on your porch or go into your yards.

My take? These are the same youths that run our schools and these are the same that make our schools unsafe, can’t make state standards, and assault teachers and staff. Why? Because there are no repercussions for their actions. At District 150, many are slapped on the wrist or told they suffer econmic let down or whatever and must need help. Even the Chief of Police who tried to correct this type of mob action on the south side streets by issuing J-Walking tickets a few years back, slapped them by removing the tickets. Why? Because the NAACP bitched up a storm. These were poor mis-understood children.

Time has come for us to step up. Us, I mean law abiding citizens and no, I don’t mean grab the rifles and pitchforks. Two wrongs don’t make a right. No, I mean it’s time we citizens hold our elected leaders responsible and make, no, demand they take action and end this shit once and for all. I don’t care if they have to stuff 10 to a cell, but if they are doing this type of crap in our streets, then lock them up.

Aw, but our City Leaders are too damn busy balancing the budget, raising our taxes, making up new fees, paying developers for hotels so Peoria can join the cliché and have walkways to the Civic Center. They do this by laying off cops, fireman, and city street workers.

If we were smart, we would band together, rent a real nice bus from Peoria Charter coach, put some Rap videos on the tvs on the bus, pull up to Thrush and Sheridan and load these poor mis directed youth onto them and drive them deep into the 5th District and let them out near Picture Ridge. Watch how fast this is taken care of then.

Credit: To the Peoria Chronicle and Paul Wilkinson, author

Please help me here….

2011-06-24T07:54:00.001-05:00

I need to understand what’s happening here in Peoria. I mean now that summer is here almost every single day, I hear on the news of someone being shot or even killed by gunfire. A young man the other night was shot multiple times in his apartment and killed. Another young man is shot in the back while in his SUV. These happen all over Peoria. Lexington Hills, which has become a war zone in itself, Lincoln Terrace, on the bluffs, the north end and everywhere. The thing about all these? Well it seems that blacks have declared war on blacks as it involves black shooters and black victims.

Here is where I need help to understand as I am white, or Caucasian, or just plain American. I’m not Irish-American nor German- American (well I am of German decent) nor anything-American. Just plain old American as my ancestors like many others where kicked out of their country and came here many many years ago. I don’t really like labels and I am sorry but Afro-American is to me a needless label. I think labels, when applied to society is what sometimes divides us. Example? Republican and Democrat. So here I wonder after reading THIS which is a story about a severe beating that took place in the Peoria County Jail what the hell is going on with our society today.

What basically happened is a guy, who is black, beat up a white guy who is twice his age so bad, that the white guy is in the hospital neuro care. It seems that an argument broke out over the use of the jail phone. Whatever. Here is the part I wonder about. First, the white guy is in jail being booked for a “hate crime” and throwing fireworks at a couple of teenage boys. He apparently yelled some racial slurs at these youths whom I am sure were simply minding their own business. Who knows but whatever, they didn’t deserved to be slurred at and called names which must have included the “N” word or this guy wouldn’t have been arrested in the first place. So, yes it is a hate crime if he did it.

The second part is the black guy that did the beating in the cell. He was in there being booked for traffic offenses and numerous other offenses. This started when police heard loud music coming from his car, went to pull him over and he decided to flee. Not getting away, he jumped from the car and ran with a backpack which he later dumped just before police caught him on foot. What police found in the backpack? You’re gonna laugh. Police found a .45-caliber handgun with a 30-round magazine as well as a Tec-9 submachine gun with a collapsible stock inside. WTF!

First, this guy can’t be too bright. Driving around in his car with these illegal weapons (no FOID card) and instead of keeping a low profile, he’s playing his rap music as loud as he can. Why not put a huge flag on your car saying; “Pull me over.” Apparently this guy was too stupid or too arrogant to figure this out or both. At least this nut is off the streets for now.

So you see. With all these shootings. Some in broad daylight in all places around Peoria, mostly committed by young blacks (hell ALL committed by blacks) and these aren’t considered hate crimes too? I mean sure murder is murder, shooting someone is also a crime but driving around with a machine gun flaunting the laws isn’t a hate crime? That is the problem, thugs like this guy don’t give a rats ass about society rules and laws. They simply exist like everything is theirs for the taking. If I was driving around with a machine gun I sure as hell wouldn’t be playing loud music. You can bet I’d be using turn signals and driving the speed limits as the less attention I draw to my self, the better. Not a certain segment of our society though. Not this guy. This guy pretty much said “Fuck you! I’ll play my music loud and do as I please!” So the big surprise when he is pulled over but being the man he is, he ran, like a rat. Big surprise when people start stereotyping people for this behavior. People do. Not every car with 20’s and loud stereos has weapons in it nor or the drivers criminals but then again when people see something over and over, they tend to believe it. It works in politics. People told Obama wasn’t born in America and you have people who believe it as sure as the Sun comes up in the morning. So when you see nothing but black on black crime, people begin to think that’s all blacks do, is shoot each other.

Of course this is no way true and I truly believe many black families are as pissed off by all these shootings as I am and a lot of other people are. It’s just a small segment of society and it’s the same group that causes headaches for District 150. It’s from generation after generation of idiots raising idiots. Of course years of media has a lot to do with it. You know, must have cars, millionaire NBA players making it look like anyone can get easy money. etc etc etc. Kids find out working doesn’t mean easy money but selling drugs does. Unfortunately, drug sales has it’s draw backs aside from being illegal and ruining lives, getting shot multiple times in your living room can ruin your day also.

So where are our city leaders? Those on the Council? Don’t they realize this war zone atmosphere isn’t a good tourist draw? I mean how many times have you heard; “Hey! Let’s vacation in Afghanistan!” Well staying in Peoria is getting close for a city this size. No one is going to stay at our hotels or visit our museums or wander the warehouse district if the police are always someplace drawing chalk outlines of shooting victims. This isn’t Chicago with over a million people where one would celebrate only 8 homicides a year. This is Peoria, other than CAT’s home, a farm community and barley 100,000 people. So what are our city leaders doing? Well if it’s the Council, they are talking new hotels, talking museums, talking warehouse district, talking about new road extensions but they don’t talk about the daily shootings and killings while they are cutting police and telling us they have to raise our taxes and create new fees. If it’s the leaders of the Black community, then it seems all they can do is pray and well, that isn’t working. They all seem to be in LaLa Land.

It’s like your idiot Uncle who strikes it rich and instead of improving his lifestyle, he adds on to his double wide trailer so the in laws have a place to sleep. So help me here. I am mad as hell about this wild wild west gun play and the arrogance of people who feel they need to drive around with a machine gun no less. That alone should spark something from our leaders. A frickin machine gun? Really? Is this Kabul? Of course let a few of these shootings take place in Lynnhurst or a couple of those neat subdivisions in the 5th and watch how fast this makes the council agenda. Ya know, Kabul doesn’t look so bad. Maybe they have a museum. Must call the travel agent. At least there they hand you a gun when you land. Here all you get is lip service and you get to zig zag the parking lot while buying milk at Kroger’s so you won’t get shot.

Stop the killing.

Wow, Man oh man…

2011-06-19T15:30:00.001-05:00

I never knew how pissed off I could get just reading a blog. Merle Widmer’s blog to be exact. You may or may not know Merle, but he would be the old guy in the neighborhood that would yell at the kids for being on his lawn or keep their ball if it went into his yard over the fence.

He blames every single frickin thing financial wise on the Obama administration and has never ever blamed a damn thing on Dubbya and his policies.

Ok his right. But gee, I think Bush has a little blame here on the country’s melt down Merle. How about a piece on that?

Shit. Never happen.

Major Peoria Fail…

2011-06-19T12:13:00.001-05:00

Steamboat days or as I have called it…Steampit Days. $20 to get in so for 2 people you blow $40 right off the bat on a Friday night. Then if you eat, and do so sparingly, you will spend $30 or more. Don’t forget the luke warm beer priced like it usually is. I plastic cup for the price of a six pack at any liquor store. Six, yes 6 rides. But after parking and hoofing it 8 blocks, gas, and getting into a taxpayer supported park, you blew around a 100 bucks. And not a steamboat in sight. BTW< my friend woke at 2am and gave back his $30 worth of eats to the local septic system.

I guess the shocker is the $20 admission to cover the 6 whole carnival rides which are included and get a chance to see the Marshall Tucker Band which has only one original member, Doug Gray. Might as well be a tribute band. More excitement back when the gangs took over the event and the police had to clear everybody out. Ahhhh, the good ol days.

SteamPit Days…….Stay home. Another Peoria Fail.

CityLink

2011-06-16T11:15:00.001-05:00

It’s nice to see CityLink finally get some new buses. I saw one awhile back and it seems the rest of them have filtered in over the past month or so. A positive image for a change for Peoria.

I never ride the buses but really wanted to some time back. Not so much as I had anywhere to go but just to ride that old big bus Citylink had. I called it the smoker. It had the duct taped engine cowling on the back that looked like it was barely hanging on. It also seem to have a list to the left. The brake lights and flashers barely visible if they worked at all. Seen this bus a lot of times broke down and waiting for that huge tow truck CityLink has.

No, I wanted to ride it as I thought it would fun, like a ride at 6 Flags or something. To see if it could climb hills or even stop coming down a hill. A dollar amusement ride.

Yep, if anyone needed a new fleet, CityLink did. That old bus, the Smoker, is probably on it’s way to becoming a boat anchor. Fitting.

So..there is more than economics…

2011-06-14T17:51:00.001-05:00

Grandpa John’s on West McClure close due to economic reasons. So says the sign on the door. But after talking to the owner himself, economics had nothing to do with his closing. He tells me it had everything to do with the clientele that roam that neighborhood. He got tired of the riff raff that was hanging out around his business. Glass windows broken, attempted break-ins, concern for his employees after dark and youths hanging out in the parking lot harassing customers. So much that he had a sign posted inside that said “No Foul Language” and “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”

These signs weren’t for his regular customers, they were for the thugs.

A silver lining here? Yes! He did tell me that he will open up out in the 7700 blk of N. University soon. I thought maybe he was having trouble as I have had issues with service or lack of product being available. It seems he was so popular and sales were so good, he had trouble making enough ribs and beef and pork for the customers. Fair enough.

See? Thugs run the schools and the schools react with armed security guards, then create “special” schools (some call them Charter Schools) so parents who are frustrated with the gangs, drugs, and almost daily afterschool and in school fights have a place to send their kid.

Now thugs run the neighborhoods and more and more neighborhoods go down the drain. Now a local business left because he simply got tired of the theft and vandalism.

When are our city leaders going to see the real problem in Peoria? It’s not lack of museums or hotels that stifle business here. There are things to do in Peoria but when you go to a riverfront festival or a church carnival and thugs are there starting fights and threatening honest citizens, people stay away. Businesses don’t want to open not because they can’t sell, but because of the crime. So, people do what people do, they move and with them goes business.

Maybe our city leaders will see that by growing a professional and well staffed police force, we can get a hold of the crime and instead of running out families, we can run the thugs out. When that great museum opens, I won’t go. Why? Because I don’t want to get hit in the head going to my car.

It’s better here, right?

I knew beer was good for you….

2011-06-12T08:13:00.001-05:00

Name This Landmark….

2011-06-12T07:46:00.001-05:00

Can anyone guess? I know these pictures aren’t the best quality but it is a direct shot of something. What could it be? Hint: Use to be a working railroad.

Yep, this is the Kellar Trail. Not the part up north where one end connects to a Starbucks but the good ol north end part down by Monroe and Madison streets. Completely grown over and unless you have a machete, impassable. I guess this keeps crime down on the trail if no one can use it. Funny, when the rails where there, you could always walk the tracks. I guess the Park District takes out a railroad, and fixes only the sections it wants into a trail, the rest I guess goes back to woods and growth.

But I thought the whole purpose was to have a connection to the river front from the Heights and beyond? Seems to be another extreme waste of taxpayer money for the elite few and not to mention, the loss of a railroad link.

$5,000, Should they or Shouldn’t they?

2011-06-10T16:26:00.001-05:00

That is how much Martha Ross and her newly elected girlfriend, Lynn Costic charged us, taxpayers, for their little trip to San Francisco for a conference for school board members. Basically how to act as a Board member course. The District has this course on DVD so staying at home and watching it for free was an option but where is the fun in that? It was officially called the National School Board Conference.

I could maybe understand sending Costic but with money in this District as tight as it is, why when you could simply have her watch the DVD? Ross on the other hand has been on the Board for 10 years. She doesn’t know how to act? Shit! She could win an Oscar for this performance.

There were people there that a friend of mine knew and they attended this conference. They didn’t spot Ross or Costic there. I guess that could happen but they did spot them having a wonderful dinner at an expensive wharf restaurant. What were the odds??

A couple of things needs to happen here. 1) The Board needs to make sure Board members understand that travels has to be approved first. 2) Both these women need to pay back the District. and 3) Ross needs her ass removed from the school board. She knows better and this act was nothing more than her thumbing her nose at taxpayers. She has served her purpose, which in my opinion is nothing and needs to be shown the door. Ms. Ross, let me hand you your hat, and there’s the door! And according to the laws of physics, it shouldn’t hit you in the ass as you leave, but who knows.

I just hope her check clears.

Money? What money?

2011-06-09T04:27:00.001-05:00

This is one reason why District 150 is short on money. Lawyers. I am glad to read THIS. I always said it would be thrown out and as it turns out, the District has the right to terminate a contract, when it says so in the contract without cause. Judge Mihm thought so and threw out the entire lawsuit that Julie McArdle filed.

I have to be careful as I got threaten once with bodily harm for saying McArdle’s lawsuit was a joke. Many felt that since she ratted out Davis for theft, she got fired. It appears now she knew for months about the unsavory practices of Davis’ bookkeeping but only brought it up when the District decided to terminate her. Hmm. Justice. The wheels do turn slowly.

Yes, it’s been awhile, but I have been thinking…

2011-06-08T15:46:00.001-05:00

First, a sad day as Grandpa John’s Rib Shack on McClure seems to have gone out of business. (Hat tip to Peoria Pundits) I loved their food and it was a Peoria Icon, like Robin Weaver, Rev. Ken Yocum, and Wonderdogs. All Peoria, all gone.

Trouble with Grandpa John’s was simple enough. (I was a frequent customer) You can’t call yourself a rib shack and be out of ribs at 4 in the afternoon. You can’t have items on the menu and then not have it. “Oh we sold our last chicken earlier.” or “No pork and have enough beef for about a pound.” or you get home and no cole slaw and or sauce. Or once in my case, cole slaw, sauce, fries but not a rib in the box. So, you mis-manage, people will go away. Whatever, it is sad anytime a local business goes under.

On to the never ending story that is District 150. I have kind of always defended this District and I am certainly not radical enough to don a t-shirt and join a group to march on the Board. I have gone before the Board many times with what I see as complaints or wrongs and I don’t for a minute deny anyone else or group to do the same.

But what no one sees as a problem with our schools I see as the huge elephant you might try and hide in your living room. It’s gonna be noticed and someone will surely step in it’s shit. Yes, some indeed know what I am talking about but as long as the elephant shits in your house, it will still stink. What is it?

People have said that teachers need to be regulated more and more. That there are bad teachers and there needs to be a system to find these teachers and weed them out. So money is spent and the State makes rules. Same with upper management or the Admin department. How many Doctors does the Board need? We have a Super and what 3 ass’t supers? Top heavy? Yeah, there is a lot of money in salary and bennies to be sure and do we get results? To many, no. I only need one Doc to stick his hand up my butt and tell me I got hemorrhoids so why do we need all the assistants? Maybe we don’t, so we go out and hire from outside or area. We find a well qualified person who is on the “outofwork” Superintendent list and we hire them. Guess what? They bring their baggage with them. Usually the people the last town they worked in ran out on a rail. And the cycle goes on. We, taxpayers, pay legal fees because damn! You can bet we citizens were racists or worse, demand contract obligations be fulfilled and wanted to see results. When it doesn’t happen, the Super and her/his posse ride out of town leaving behind their lawyers.

Solution? Well, I can tell you that teaching is probably the hardest job on the planet. The pay isn’t all that great either and I am not talking about teachers who worked their way up the pay scale over 25 years, I am talking about the smart individuals that come to teach with degrees and college loans breathing down their backs. Add a Principal, Admin, 30 students all with different personalities and the occasional absent parent and that adds up to a lot of pressure for a lowly $30k a year job. It’s called dedication. Dedication, like paint can wear off after some years especially with misuse.

Now on to those 30 students. In this District, it appears we do not hold students accountable for their actions. Oh sure, if the kid pulls a gun and starts shooting, the law steps in. No I am talking about the disrespect, the foul language used against staff, the assaults like pushing a teacher or even striking a teacher.. The kid gets sent to the office usually by an armed guard escort. (America. Richest most powerful country on Earth and we have armed police in our schools, that is sad) The kids knows he/she isn’t going to be held accountable and in fact in many cases, is released right back to the same class. I’m sure to the teacher's delight but this is a poor deprived child. It must be a condition this child has that is causing this behavior. We must spend money on studies and open special schools to help these kids. We must also open special schools so kids that do want to learn but can’t because their teacher couldn’t teach class because she/he was cold cocked by a deprived student.

So we have Charter Schools for those special kids but wait. You have to enter a lottery to get your kid in. So some parents go away pissed when Susie doesn’t get picked. Why the hell do we need these schools? Because the poor deprived foul mouth shitheads, the (according to the District) 10% that ruin learning opportunities for other children. I think the percentage is much higher and I think most teachers will agree with me. I call them thugs. They come from what we in America have coined economically stressed families. I say bullshit! They come from generation after generation of very young single girls having babies and these inexperience girls try and raise their babies but find out it isn’t a part time job. But yes it is. We have Head Start, we have Viniska Hinton Early childhood school, we have social services and we usually have a mother who can raise the kid because, damn girl, you need to party. Shit, the State should raise and watch and feed my kid. Fathers are rarely held accountable and the cycle has continued and here we are. Before you label me, this happens in the good ol white trash areas just as much as the blacks. It just happens that in District 150, if you are white, you are the minority.

That is the ELEPHANT that nobody wants to see. Oh, people notice the smell and for some it’s enough to move and they do. But others continue to think that Glade will mask the the air. Glade in like Charter Schools, special schools for problem students. (in the 1950s we called them jails) and money. Throwing money at things makes everything better. Trouble is, when you have nothing to throw, nothing happens.

To fix the problem is simple. Add a class to the schools. High schools only but if you think middles schools could benefit add it there also. After all, I had a fifth grader draw a knife on me once. I would have loved to have kicked is ass to his chin but that would be depriving this child of corrective action by professionals.

The class would be called Repercussions 101. It would be the first hour every morning and it would be staffed by Parole officers, the kind with no necks, and they would instruct the students that for every action you do, they will be an opposite and equal reaction. A parent has to be there also or the kid is sent home. You will be held accountable as will your parent(s) for everything you do. No more detentions. You punch a member of the Staff, you spend five minutes in a locked room with a professional boxer. You shoot a weapon off, you go to prison. Your parent(s) are then investigated and if drawing aid, it is revoked. Time to get a real job huh? You cuss, you pay a fine. $20 for every cuss word. Don’t worry about having the money, most kids I see in the lunch line asked the lunch lady to break 50s for them so they can buy out of the soda machines. Still, no money? Comes off the Link card. No more free lunches for anyone. Your parent makes your lunch or you by it. Hungry? Improvise, get a part time job. The horrors! Learn that not everything in this world is handed to you. The earlier the better.

If you succeed and do well, then you will, along with your parent will be honored at the end of the year.

Hey, sound tough? If you have kids and think it’s cute to be pregnant before you graduate, well then don’t expect the State to pay for your delivery. You will pay. It’s called repercussions for actions and in life. It is a reality. You are not animals yet you treat public property and public schools and even the teachers like you do the McDonald’s cup when you are through with it. Out the window of your car. Like trash.

Time to lead the elephant back to the jungle and it’s time to cut the crap and address the real problems of society today. Too many think that someone owes them something and that is simply not how it works. It’s time to hammer it home that there are consequences to one’s actions. Time to break the generations of idiots raising idiots.

Yeah yeah I am an insensitive prick. Well this prick got a job and this prick worked hard and paid when his children were born and this prick showed up to schools to support the teacher because I knew my kids didn’t know every fuckin thing. This prick made sure his kids had lunch money and never expected anyone else to pay for their lunch. Many many other parents struggle and have done or doing the same. It isn’t fair to their kids and to the hard working parents and teachers to let a bunch of thugs run or schools and effectively create policy. Is it? Christ, it doesn’t take a $200,000 a year person with a doctorate to figure that out.

PS: Yes I have railed on this before. I know. But it seems so simple. The problem with District 150 isn’t so much the Board, money or teacher’s, it’s more the clients.

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-29T10:27:00.001-05:00

I wish to thank all the veterans, servicemen and women now serving or who have served for their service.

I hope that people take time out to reflect on those who have died for this country no matter your politics. It was those that have died who allow freedom of speech, the right to vote, and the right to protest, not politicians.

Thank you…

BTW, This is me circa 1974 in Pearl Harbor, Hi, while serving with the U.S. Navy.

Wonderful Moments…

2011-05-29T10:09:00.001-05:00

I wonder… Why almost every Chevy truck I see has a burnt out front running light.

I wonder… Why almost every Chevy Venture van and Trail Blazer has a burnt out brake light.

I wonder… Why people will take the time to check and see if the lights on their vehicles even work once in awhile.

I wonder… Exactly what words are on Billy Dennis’ “Black List” that causes my posts to be rejected. I have used shit, crap, asshole, assbag, clown whore, and none seem to work. Maybe it’s Golly Gee.

I wonder… Why people buy homes next to a huge fair ground that has been there for eons and then complain about the noise there.

I wonder… Why the city hasn’t painted the lane lines and other valued lines on our streets. Some streets you can’t tell what lane is which and to some drivers, that can be important. Most don’t give a crap. Too busy on the phone to care.

I wonder… With many of our streets like washboards (University north of War for one) why our city leaders spent $90k to fund a study on building a new road where nothing instead of fixing the streets we have.

I wonder… With new fees, taxes, less police, more crime, how some people on the Council keep getting re-elected. Are they that well shielded why out in the rich 5th or is it the powers to be don’t give a rat’s ass about the less fortunate neighborhoods they never have to slum it to? I guess if you have your nearby Starbuck’s and you shop an outside anal retentive mall, the rest of the people can fend for themselves.

I wonder… What exactly is the Old Navy? I mean I was in The Navy but after going in Old Navy I found out three things; 1) It looks like a garage sale of old clothes, 2) If you have an ass that’s 6 inches across, you’ll find plenty to fit you, otherwise forget it, and 3) I guess if you dress it up, price it up, people will buy anything.

I wonder… Why people seem to flock to Emo’s for chilidogs. I think they taste like crap. God, I miss Wonderdogs.

I wonder… How the asshole directing traffic from his car seat decided it was OK to stop in the right lane and wave a car out of a business to turn left with out asking me who was in the left lane and had no idea a car would soon be pulling out in front of me so I could lock up the brakes.

I wonder… Why drivers who love to dead stop in traffic and let people pull out or turn just don’t apply at the police station for a job so they can legally direct traffic instead of doing it on their ass in the front seat and endangering others.

I wonder… Why every young blonde girl I see driving turning left on two wheels has a cell phone pressed to her ear.

I wonder… Why every dump truck I see has their left turn signal stuck on.

I wonder… Why I get behind the person at the ATM who needs to fill out an envelope, sign four checks, check their balance, and then get cash while I watch the sun go down.

I wonder… Why there is a big water main leak on Glen Ave. every even month.

I wonder… Is there still a test given in this state to get a driver’s license? Can you simply get one out of a machine at Wal-Mart? I mean I see driver’s ed cars all the time. Are they teaching these kids about turn signal use, lane usage, speed limits, etc etc.? It seems the only time I see someone using a turn signal is 5 seconds before some assbag cuts in front of you. It’s like; “Hey I had my signal on so I am entitled to switch lanes and squeeze in front of you at 45 mph.” Then, that is the last time this jerk uses one. Will stop in front of you and turn all without the signal. Driving defensively in this town is really driving defensively. I have seen people turn right from the far left lane right in front of me all the time using no signal. Then the speed limits. The newest sport in Peoria is on Main heading east in front of Bradley. If you play, you get into the left lane because you know, as do the other drivers, that the right lane becomes a right turn only lane at University. So you slowly give it the gas and watch your right mirror as those in the right lane will speed up and cut you off at the last second before University street. If you do it right, you can actually get up to 60 mph. I have seen people who must be going that fast just to get in front and make the left at University (without a signal).

Yep, that new lane configuration as slowed traffic up alright as this sport can be seen any day. And if you play by the rules, drive the 30 mph limit and keep a safe distance from the car in front while watching for wandering j-walking Bradley students, your reward will be to slam on your brakes as some ass clown cuts you off. Bonus? Hit the horn and get the finger for being in this clown’s way.

and then I wonder…

Since I can’t respond because I am once again blocked on Peoria Pundit…again

2011-05-23T06:17:00.001-05:00

This is for the David Jordan’s out there and I was going to respond on good ol Billy’s site but every time I do, I get the message I have been blacklisted….so….. enjoy and if any Right minded person can explain, please do.

Try to remember, when you vote, who helps the rich and who cares about YOU.Who is CALLED "tax & spend" & who actually IS.Who gets rich & fat after public office, where they helped the companies they wound up working for. And who picks up a hammer & helps build housing for the poor.

Hat tip to Laura D!

I told you so!

2011-05-18T16:24:00.001-05:00

Back when last winter or was it fall, Old Chicago closed it’s doors. A temporary closing until April for remodeling. LMAO This is the Old Chicago on the famous pad downtown on our riverfront. That’s when the riverfront is where it’s supposed to be. Sadly, the riverfront tends to creep up in March and ends up flooding the parking deck under the pad which makes it hard for customers, unless they have fins and gills, to get to the businesses on the great pad.

Makes one wonder how The Heartland employees get to work on those days. I know. They can walk on water. Still, another bogus design feature some developer talked our city leaders into building so the developer can make money. Never mind the stairs have rotted out or I should say rusted out and need replaced. What is that costing us, the taxpayers? Quarter of a million? Half a million? Who cares, it isn’t the developers money and it sure isn’t the high and mighty leaders of our city’s money. Taxpayer money is easy to spend. And spend it they do.

So, it was announced today that Old Chicago isn’t reopening. They are gone. Apparently the remodeling was to get their gear and furniture and get the hell out of Dodge. They did. I said this would happen on a few of the local blogs and if I wasn’t lazy, I think I said this on this blog, but I don’t want to look it up.

None the less, we are now getting a new bar called…ready? Retro American Tap. Family friendly they say. Games and a Jukebox they say. Over 30 American beers on tap with good old horseshoe sandwiches. Wow! Wasn’t this once called Inplay? Oh yeah, that was up the street, on dry land and it went broke and closed.

“Hey kids! Lets go wade in the water at the riverfront and see if we can get on the pad and go to the Retro American Tap. You kids can play pool while me and mommy drink ourselves silly.”

Geez. Family friendly? A bar? Ok, I would like to see this place make a go of it but I don’t want to sit a booth trying to suck down my Schlitz draft while some kid wails in the next booth. There is no such thing as a family friendly bar unless of course you drink to keep from killing your kids. Beer has saved mine many times.

If you want family friendly, then go to Joe’s Crab Shack. That is the nosiest place on Earth. Do they still dance on the tables with the music at deafening sound levels every 15 minutes? They do that so you can’t hear the 18 year old expert cook in the back opening the Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks box. It amazes me to this day the Joe’s is still there in business. Is it? I guess selling boxed fish at New Hampshire prices is keeping them there. Good for them.

But! I told you so. I knew when Old Chicago closed, that was the end. Even Stevie Wonder could see that coming. Must make you wonder what shit spin our Mayor was putting on this and our Council at the time. They had to know. But of course let nothing get in the way of opinions at election time, right?

Nuttin To Do…

2011-05-15T10:08:00.001-05:00

The way this City designs things, I wonder where on the new Kellar Trail this is. No matter. I wonder if one would bounce when wearing spandex.

Another beautiful weekend in Peoria huh? Let’s see. Driving rains all day Saturday. Winds and temperatures worthy of northern Minnesota. This is May in Peoria? Yes it happens but couldn’t this shit happen on say a Tuesday or a Wednesday? Why the weekend?

Yep, ya know there is nothing to do when you sit at home and realize that the fart you just let was the longest you have ever had. You’re sad you didn’t record it. Ahhhhh, life in Peoria.

What’s 7 Grand anyway?

2011-05-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

You just have to love Councilman Eric Turner. Here’s a guy who was really concerned about our seniors on fixed incomes, that when he voted for the famous Garbage Fee, he was worried that taking $18 every 3 months via the water bill would be hard on elderly people with fixed incomes. I mean $18 could mean a prescription or groceries that month.

Bear in mind that Turner was one of those on the council that help dream up and pass the Garbage Fee, which doesn’t go to garbage collection at all. It is basically a tax that like the HRA tax that will never ever go away, as originally promised, and will probably increase in the future.

At any rate, Mr. Concern, er… I mean Mr. Turner proposed that instead of billing the Garbage Fee every 3 months, the city bill every month and make it so that the water company will collect it. To ease the burden on our seniors he said. This costs the city approximately $88,000 a year to do. Yes, Illinois American water collects the Garbage Fee but not for free. Chump change right? After all this council just threw away $89,000 (Turner, Mr. Concern, voted for this) to study a road that isn’t going to be built for maybe 10 years. We all know how dead on balls accurate the City Planning office has been over the years.

Ok, Mr. Turner. You now balk at the $7000 income Expo Gardens was going to take for go kart rentals. Doesn’t sound like a lot of cash to him. Christ sake. Expo is a shit box. The place has been losing money for years. The annual summer fair isn’t what it used to be but granted, Expo is a business here in Peoria and they are trying to survive.

Enter a few home owners that object to a go cart track at Expo because of the noise it would create. Shit, do these same people leave town during the week of June whatever when the fair is going on? How about the beer fest. Ever go to that? I have and there is nothing like seeing young men helping their buddy puke in the parking lot while they are urinating on the car parked next to them. And Turner and the neighbors are concerned about go karts?

What a bunch of hypocrites. I would think there is more noise coming from the bus barn when District 150 fires up a 100 diesel buses every morning. But 10 go karts will kill their beautiful neighborhood’s peace.

Ok Mr. Turner. Whether you take $72 a month out of a seniors pocket 3 times a year or 12 times a year at $6 a month, it’s still $72. And just maybe $7000 income to Expo is what is needed to make a business survive when added on top of the other events Expo has. Just maybe it is a place to go and do something in this town, which if you looked around, there is very little to do.

Please don’t tell there is plenty to do in Peoria. Going downtown at night is not only dangerous but in some cases it’s like watching paint dry. Steam Pit days is just that. Overpriced beer from RJ Distributing and it’s served luke warm because the volunteer at the beer station likes to fill up 30 plastic cups so they can chat and hand out freebies to their friends.

Taste of Peoria is a bust. Nothing like have to buy tickets, then buy a dripping BBQ rib and eat it all standing up while holding your $4 beer in the other hand. All held in the humidity and heat on the shore of beautiful Mosquito Lake. And if you’re lucky, there might be a band so you can pay to get in and stand and watch.

Go ahead Mr. Turner. Slam another business down the drain to keep a few people happy. What’s another vacant lot in Peoria? I have one last question. How in the hell do you keep getting elected?

What Happened?

2011-05-13T14:24:00.001-05:00

I was watching channel 47 the other night and there was this program called Global Voices I think. It was a documentary on some Chinese school kids, about 11 years old, in China’s public schools. It focused on one classroom of kids and 3 of those kids were running for something called Class Monitor. It involved them doing a talent portion in front of the class and campaigning for the office. It also showed the home life and parents of the children involved. A true look into life inside China. This was all sub titled.

As the program went on I noticed that despite what the children were wearing they all had a red neckerchief on around their necks tied like a tie sort of. There was no police in the school. Lunch room while noisy was orderly and the children didn’t throw away any food. That they respected each other and even while some were making fun of a girl student, they took it upon themselves to approach her later and apologize for their actions. No teacher prodding, no parent prodding. They had learned respect.

The talent show also gave me pause. These 11 year old kids each played an instrument for their talent portion of their presentation to the class. Two played the flute. I don’t mean Mary had a Little Lamb either. They played some sophisticated pieces. If this is what is going on in China’s schools, we are simply fucked back here.

Speaking of back here. Over on Peoria Illinoisan’s site there is this article on the old Richland Bottom’s school that was recently torn down. This K through 8 school closed early in the 70’s but served children living in the Bottoms or shadow of the CAT East Peoria plant back in the days when shift change meant the streets were packed and traffic didn’t move. There are over 1,800 comments on this school! Mostly from people now in their 60’s that recall their childhood going there. They can remember teachers, staff, lunches, friends, and even neighborhood people who lived around the school. Sadly, the school which stood empty and decaying for many many years was finally torn down.

If one reads the comments, even a little of them, what struck me was the close knit relationships these kids had with teachers and staff. How they respected the Principal’s paddle he kept on his office wall. How they walked from clean over by the old Steak N Shake to school everyday. Imagine making a kid walk that far to school today. How they learned values and respect from not only teacher’s but from their parents. By reading comments there it is obvious that these “children” have grown up, raised their own families, seen careers end with retirement, and yet still hold to the values they learned at this school.

So…What Happened? I mean today in our schools, which are occupied by basically the same economically strapped students (The Bottoms was not a rich place to live) we have armed police. In the high schools, a lunch period will almost always end with a fist fight. Grades can not be maintained for these schools to even pass state standards. We have had kids shooting guns in the hallways. Gang fights outside after school. Parents who fear sending their child to our schools. Where respect is something demanded by a kid who thinks he/she deserves it after being arrested for punching a teacher. Where it is deemed cool to wear your pants to your knees. Where instead of class rings the jewelry of choice is handcuffs.

So…We hire out of state six figure experts to come in and fix our problems. Most of the time these so called experts revolve on a hiring list like a revolving door. They come and they go. Sometimes via a lawsuit, sometimes at great expense to the taxpayer and nothing changes. We have another so called expert. It seems to be passé at this point that we hire a woman and if that woman is a minority, then I guess we get bonus points. We just usually get screwed is all. Changes were made, schools were closed. Parents were pissed. Parents always seemed pissed. Very few seem happy with this newest Administrator. Others are doing the wait and see approach. The violence still goes on.

It is so simple to blame the teachers and they do. After all, these poor kids need an education. If they punch a teacher, called them a bitch, or break up school property, they are simply mis-understood. They must have ADD or some disorder. They can’t be suspended. That doesn’t look good on paper. Never mind the kid was raised by idiots. Generation after generation of idiots. Who holds the parent responsible anymore? Never mind that the kid doesn’t want to go to school to learn anything, that the only reason he/she is there is to “network” with their friends. So the teachers have to be at fault. They are overpaid, 3 months a year off, and heaven forbid, they can’t make Johnny sit down and shut up. Now we got politicians, who can’t teach, don’t know how to teach, making laws about teaching. Another attack on the teachers. Like fixing the hole in the boat by drilling another hole to let the water out.

Look, Richland School in the bottoms had it’s problems. The kids were from poor working families. Not all were angels either but they didn’t need armed police. If a kid got into a fight, it was afterschool with fists, not weapons and if they got caught, the Principal wacked them on the ass. No parent came to school screaming someone hit their kid. In fact, the kid probably got his ass beat when he got home. Values, respect were taught. Kids didn’t have to have everything they saw on TV. No texting then You actually had to speak a coherent sentence to a live person. And guess what? Homework was done. Studying was done. No one ever heard of ADD and the only pill to take was an aspirin.

We are dealing here in this area, especially Peoria, with a different type of kid. Usually a 3rd or 4th generation of kid raised by a kid, then handed off to a grandmother. A disruptive family. Violent neighborhoods because drugs are what buy the 20’s for your $600 car. Glorified multimillion dollar athletes that can barely speak a complete sentence when interviewed or in some cases arrested in the off season. True role models. I mean a kid only learns from what he/she sees. Kids who come from homes where they think it’s a right to have a medical card. Where housing is provided. Don’t own it, don’t give a shit about it. Where lunch is indeed free. Don’t want to eat? Then throw it away. Hell you didn’t pay for it, right? Where it’s OK to call the teacher a bitch and waltz in 10 minutes late to class with no book or even a pencil. Where if you are kicked out of class, you know you’ll be right back, because gee. you have a problem. It must be the school’s fault. It must be the teacher if she or he can’t reach you.

We here need to quit fucking with the teachers. We need to stop looking on rotation list to bring people here to our community to solve our problems. Like $200,000 a year person will fix everything right? Well it hasn’t worked since the old Harry Whitaker days. You can be poor but you don’t have to be stupid.

Richland Bottoms kids were mostly poor. They were known as river rats. They went to a poor school. They learned, they came to know respect and they knew what values were. They may not have liked all their teachers but they respected them none the less.

You know. Richland Bottoms was a very rich neighborhood after all.