Peoria Pundit

Today’s Word on the Street mentions that parents who are upset at D150’s decision to cut a month’s work of instructional time out of their primary schools are taking their concerns to members of the Peoria City Council. I’ll paraphrase the positions taken by two of the council members quoted in the article. Mayor Ardis: ‘People sure are upset and concerned about this.’ Barbara Van Auken, 2nd District: ‘My constituents sure don’t like it.’ Past Nichting, 5th District: ‘Balancing the budget comes first.’ It needs to be said, however, that many of Nichting’s constituents reside in the Dunlap school district.

So why even bother complaining to the city council? It’s not like our city government — unlike other communities — has any official role in running the schools. Here’s why? For all it’s faults, Peoria City Hall is fairly responsive to the community. I’ve been observed the council as reporter and blogger for many years, and I’ve seen the council change course in the face of public opinion. Not so much with District 150.

Today’s award-winning (snicker) editorial page opines on teenagers who help pick up litter. They are in favor.

Still no comment on the drop in the the murder rate.

The Peoria Journal Star couldn’t find a way to mention Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis’ name even once when it devoted four stories Sunday to how the murder rate has dropped (details avaialable here).

But when they ran a story today casting doubt on the success of a committee that’s just getting off the ground, this is the first paragraph:

As Mayor Jim Ardis’ Race Relations Commission begins its work, there are some black leaders in the community who are skeptical on how much the group can accomplish.

My two cents: Expect more of this bias the closer we get to municipal elections.

When I first heard about the parental uprising over the drastically shortened instructional time at District 150 primary schools, I was outraged. Imagine the outrage if you are parent of primary-age kids:

Seriously, what do the parents, city leaders and property owners in Peoria plan to do about the fact that our school district seems perfectly capable of single handedly ruining this town? Will we wait until there is not a single self respecting family left in the district? Will we wait until we realize that the children of Peoria are not keeping up with their Dunlap (or Edison) counterparts due to the fact that they spend 18% less time in school? Will we wait until we see a reduction in our property values? Seriously, folks – all the City great news in the world won’t make a hill of beans difference if our schools are in the crapper.

Soon you will be offered opportunities to voice your opinion and make a difference. Please stay tuned. I call upon the Mayors of Peoria and West Peoria, The Council Members of same, The Regional Superintendent of Schools, Gerald Brookhart, a wonderful man, to stand up, look Mr. Ken Hinton and his merry band of rubber stampers in the eye and say “STOP THE INSANITY!” C’mon people, put down the remote, pul-lease check my math (and I’m serious), engage thyself, and lets get busy. This is our children’s future we are talking about!

I think D150 ticked off the wrong person in Diane Vespa.

Expect changes.

Grandpa John’s Rib Shack
200 W. McClure, Peoria IL
(309) 685-8902
Three out of five stars

I had lunch with Mom and Dad at this venerable, third-generation rib joint today. They had the beef sandwich, I chose Monday’s daily special: A turkey sandwich with fries and a soda. I should have ordered the beef, as the bun looked empty. Tasty, though, especially with a dab of BBQ sauce. The French fries were delicious, of course.

I noticed one big improvement over my last visit. As Peoria natives know, the BBQ place is located inside a former Hardee’s restaurant (which is, itself, located on the former site of a Sandy’s). The heir’s to Big John remodeled, but they opted to keep the booths and the tables and chairs that were bolted to the floor. This is bad news to a plus-size guy like myself.

Well, they’ve decided to supply guests with free standing chairs. So my parents sat in the booth while I slid a chair over and dined with them. A elegant solution to an uncomfortable problem.

And again, I found the counter staff at Grampa John’s to be down-home friendly and helpful.

Kudos to Peoria Anti Pundit, for correctly calling me out on the negative attitude that permeated this post, in which I advised Peorians with young kids to get them enrolled in private school or to get the Hell out of Peoria.

In my defense, it was a post out of character. Even though I’ve been critical of the way the powers-that-be in this city run things, I’ve consistently advocated activism and participation in the process. I loathe the White-flight attitude so many people possess. Anyone inclined to pack up and leave Peoria didn’t me to give them the idea.

The fact is that there are many things that can be done to fix District 150. All of them begin with replacing the board and the current set of administrators. The decision to eliminate 45 minutes of instruction time from the district’s grade schools may just have been the tipping point. There are a lot of angry People out there and they are getting organized.

Expect change.

I was chatting with one of the parents who unsuccessfully tried to convince District 150 to NOT gouge 45 minutes of instructional time from primary schools. His assessment mirrored my own: HOI News has presented the best coverage, hand’s down, of the whole controversy.

And this was before today’s story about how at least one school’s plans to try to count recess as physical education is contrary to a state law requiring actual physical education classes (which means recess doesn’t count). This particular newscast also included a report on how the number of guns being brought into schools might be higher than the media is being led to believe.

I’m not saying that other news organizations are ignoring the whole mess. But HOI News has made itself the station to watch if you have kids in D150 and are concerned about how the district is being run. Kudos.

Conversely, WEEK’s coverage is considered to be the weakest. Sorry Mac and Mike.

Vacation is over.

After a three-week break, the Peoria City Council will meet at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. And judging from the agenda (viewable here), it looks to be a long meeting. Bring a pillow, as I would not be surprised if this thing doesn’t end until after 10 p.m..

There are seven proclamations scheduled. There are 31 items on the consent agenda that could, theoretically, be approved with a single vote. Fat chance. At a glance, I can easily envision half of these items being taken off the consent agenda for additional discussion.

Here’s one I noticed: Staff is recommending spending ,227 to fully fund neighborhood association newsletters. This program was cut last year, much to the consternation of neighborhood associations. This year, they have decided to forgo spending ,500 on the “Citizen Academy” and instead divert the money to the newsletters. No doubt there will now be complaints about that, as some have praised the program for helping neighborhood groups learn how the city bureaucracy works.

And the issue of whether to issue a Class A license to Elliot’s is scheduled to be taken off the table. As I reported earlier, the matter may be resolved after federal mediation.

That’s what a resident told me today. I was neither shocked, nor surprised. My source says it’s happening on his block, and that he’s called the Peoria Animal Welfare Shelter (PAWS) AND the Peoria Police Department, only to see it happen again in that neighbor’s back yard, with children present.

He’s a bit miffed at the powers-that-be because the problem hasn’t stopped. I told him there could be any number of reasons that the animals weren’t taken away, from a lack of manpower at the time his call was made, and the lack of physical evidence at the time police stopped by. I’ve spoken to PAWS director Lauren Malmberg on several occasions and found her to be deeply concerned about this issue. Without tougher laws and licensing requirements, they have to rely on luck to get there in time to stop the righting before it happens. She says the police have been very helpful.

UPDATE: I just spoke to Lauren and she’s going call my friend and touch base. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some extra enforcement on that street.

I’ve been meaning to post on the latest “progress” (I use the term loosely) on the Democratic Party quest to nominate a candidate for President. Today I ran across this article in the Wall Street Journal (linked from Drudge). The article is Damsel of Distress By Peggy Noonan and it is a doozy.

Noonan breaks down the campaign strategy of Hillary Clinton. Here’s a tidbit.

It’s not math anymore, it’s psychodrama. If she can’t have it, no one can have it. If she has to tear the party apart, she will.

I can’t think of a better way to phrase the situation. Hillary, by spending her own money – close to million so far – is forcing Obama to spend money he could be saving for the General Election. Every dollar they collectively spend now is a dollar in the pocket of John McCain.

Hillary keeps punching Obama and McCain’s hands remain clean. While Obama continues to volley with Hillary, McCain can just watch and look presidential.

Is there no one in the Hillary camp that can see that?

The question that I have had for this nomination is “How well will Hillary take losing?” I think we are starting to see the answer…and it isn’t pretty.