Local: Van Auken fights for neighborhood, hands foes an issue
I wasn’t at the scene when a Bradley University fraternity called the police on Peoria City Council member Barbara Van Auken. She and County Board candidate Andrew Rand knocked on their door the other day to complain about noise.
The fraternity president says, and a BU campus police report concurs, that Van Auken was intoxicated. I wasn’t there, so I cannot agree or disagree with that assessment. Van Auken herself says she had a few drinks earlier, at a dinner party she and Rand attended. It’s entirely possible she was.
Sigma Nu president Caleb Matheny says Van Auken was “outspoken, slightly confrontational and totally unwilling to work things out.” Guess what? She’s like that, especially when she’s fighting on behalf of someone she thinks is a victim of a bully. Remember, this is someone who fought for workers’ rights and women’s rights. This is no demure little wallflower we’re talking about, even when she’s cold sober.
And what is there to “work out” when it’s after midnight and the neighbors are complaining about the noise coming from an outside party? When a neighbor knocks on your door, you settle down. Well, at least you do when you are a grown up. Children whine about their rights.
Even if she had been drinking, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there in her capacity as a member of the Peoria City Council. She represents the 2nd District residents, and one of the big issues around campus is the disruption some college students’ lifestyles have on others.
And let’s remember this wasn’t the porch of some random private home. This was a fraternity house. The article doesn’t state, but I’m guessing the building is either owned by Bradley University or the fraternity, an approved organization of the college. Either way, I’m thinking that BU has some obligation under the law to make sure that there are no noise ordinances violations going on.
Perhaps someone in the city’s legal department, or the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s office, can provide some clarity on whether trespassing happened. If so, then Van Auken owes the fraternity an apology at the least. I have a hard time seeing a sitting city council member getting convicted of trespassing for knocking on the door of a rowdy frat house.
Regardless, Bradley University needs to live up to its promise to start being a better neighbor and take a firm hand with Sigma Nu and its noise problems.
Politically, I’d think some of her constituents might be concerned about the allegation she was intoxicated. No doubt that some of her usual political enemies are smiling about this. On other hand, others no doubt are more concerned about the noise violations she was trying to fight on behalf of a neighbor, who was having no luck getting Bradley University to notice.
Politically, she safest thing would have been for her to stay out of it, that night at least. She handed whoever is going to run against her an issue.
Tags: Andrew Rand, Barbara Van Auken
I think Van Auken just won more votes in Moss-Bradley, the Arbors, and the Uplands with that confrontation. Getting the University to take noise (often derived from alcohol) seriously has been a problem for years. The University has never given it the seriousness that the surrounding neighborhoods feel that it deserves. President Glasser has shaken things up by taking a much firmer stand on student behavior. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Caleb Matheny may be in for a rude surprise about whether the university has his back or not. I think this incident will be a defining one for Moss-Bradley residents on whether Glasser is serious about student behavior or not.
Since when does getting drunk and telling your rude, inconsiderate neighbors to knock it off make headline news? Ya gotta love Peoria.
I thought she was elected to represent the voters of the 2nd district, not serve as the district’s law enforcement offficer. She should have stayed out of it, and let the real police do their job.
The ‘real’ police had to be called in by Van Auken cause the BU police were not doing their job.
The protocol generally follows that if it is the BU area and involves students then the BU police handle it with CoP Police backing them up if needed. The BU police saw no problem. Obviously the residents disagreed with that assessment. What are the residents to do? ok so they call the CoP police.. they would basically say an officer (a BU one) had already been there and saw no problems. Now what? Clearly the BU police are not on the same page as the residents and possibly not on the same page as the CoP police. This is a problem. Yes this where your city council person has a role.
It just happens that Van Auken was in the area and got to deal with the problem first hand and see the difficulties residents face.
Note: she confronted a fraternity in the west bluff. I assure you this type of event would not have happened in the areas of the district with “starter homes” to use the exact words where gangs of thugs selling drugs recently threatened to blow up a resident’s house,bullied a woman and her child and stole money from a vehicle parked well into a property in broad daylight. In fact not one official responded to that event. In fact those events don’t even make the news. The same bad landlords have rented to the same bad thugs again and again, yet no resolution. Perhaps Sheridan Liquors should put out a few bottles to attract attention to the area and someone could stagger over and resolve this issue.
Billy you missed a great opportunity for a eye catching headline. Something like “City Councilperson gets liquored up at Frat House”
How about this headline?
“Barbie, Booze, and Brats Brew Up Confrontation.”
That’s “brats” as in frat boys, not as in sausage things.
I can see this is going to be a fun day…lol
The PJS story buries the fact that the frat has videos and audios of the event. Let’s see and hear those. YouTube anyone?
I spoketo Council woman Van Auken this morning. She provided more details that I plan to use in a post later today. The highlights:
There have been more than 50 tickets issues to student occupied properties on this block since the end of June. Neighbors who complain often are themselvesd accused of being drunk, trespassing, etc. Somecomplain about harassment by students. Previously, it was the policy of the city dispatchers to send city police to these properties when neighbors complain. For somereason, this wasn’t being done recently. It’smy impression the city will now start sending city officers to investigate noise complaints made by full-time city residents.
It’s my understanding BVA isn’t worried in the least what these YouTube videos will show. We’ll see.
someone hold the pig, Billy you grab the lipstick…..
sorry couldn’t resist
Not that I condone such conduct by fraternities or sororities, but I have lived in the Bradley area for 5 years now, both as a college student and post-college. I will say this… if you don’t want to deal with the college student life, you probably shouldn’t be living in this area. It’s part of the day to day here.
However, the police, both campus and non, should be upholding these laws accordingly. Just because you are in a campus organization doesn’t give you any special treatment than Joe Schmo in his house down the street who had a party and got busted.
As for Ms. Van Auken, she probably should have stayed home, like everyone says. As for her remarks to Billy, I look forward to what she says. It seems to me she might be making up these “statistics” just to have someone back her up as well.
We’ll have to see.
Your article is full of shit Billy. Go figure you would defend her by saying you weren’t there and yet you call Sigma Nu a “rowdy” frat house. You was there then?? Which is it? To those that think this type of behavior is acceptable by a councilperson that had too much to drink (it’s in the police reports) then this is what is wrong with Peoria. Elitists neighborhood people who think their shit doesn’t stink.
Em, I agree she was completely out of line. She’s not a police officer she is a council person. If she wanted to witness the disturbance that is one thing, but she doesn’t have the authority to enforce anything. She should have kept her big mouth shut (which has been a problem for her it seems) and called the proper authorities. Instead what Peoria gets is a ridiculous story about a boozed up power-monger acting like she runs her own police state. Anyone other citizen would have been cited, but the police on duty recognized the potential backlash for that kind of action.
Mark this day 11Bravo. I agree and well said.
The Anti-Pundit ripped you Billy, go figure. You gonna take that? I say after recess in the playground, let’s have a throwdown.
If that happens, youtube.com will have reached its apex. Two bloggers from some town in the Midwest beating the crap out of each other over an online comment in response to a blog post on a stupid event involving a local city council member…
It can only go downhill from there.
No crap beating. It’s my opinion and Billy is pandering to Van Auken. Back peddling or whatever. I just hope the frat has the video they claim and they do post it so we can see exactly what happened. All I have is the PJS article, what Billy has said from Van Auken and what 3 police officers (Peoria not the fake ones) have told me. They (the officers) are not happy with the outcome.
the video is at the police department, it’s only a matter of time, despite the press conference held to dismiss the issue.
[...] In bullet form, are some of the points Peoria City Council member Barbara Van Auken made regarding the dust-up this weekend at the Sigma Nu frat house. The PJS article is here, and my earlier column is here. [...]
I’ll remember next time I get robbed or something gets stolen from me to just buy a case of booze and sick Barbara Bulldog on the world. Heck, if she can turn a small frat party into a city-wide controversy with one drunken wave of a wand, then she should be our sitting Transgressor Catcher for the whole city. Poof! Be gone evil doers, for I am the Van Auken. Do you know who I am?
Or…maybe she should stay home next time she gets drunk and loud and wants to yell at others who are drunk and loud.
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