And then it struck me: Are the powers-that-be planning on using eminent domain to grab the land needed to build the spiffy new and taxpayer funded expansion and renovation at the Pere Marquette?

So, I whisked off some letters to members of the council:

The first to reply was Gary Sandberg:

Question: Will the city use eminent domain to make this project happen?

In any earlier discussion, the use of eminent domain has never been mentioned. With the purchase of the Zuccarini /Abraham property by conventional means, I would think that eminent domain is not necessary. The only other potential use would be for he purchase of the underlying land at the Pere Marquette which for nearly a century had been under a land lease I believe. I asked Gary Mathews about what he “HAD” (note tense) purchased with respect to Pere and he stated that he had purchase agreements on both the building and the land. I suspect the presence of the term or power is more indicative of boiler plate and sloppiness of parties drafting the give-away than a power necessary for the development.

Question: Has there been any commitment with the developer to use eminent domain if they have trouble reaching a deal?

Not by the Councilperson, but I have NOT committed to anything more than the availability of any additional H tax from the Hospitality Zone for the local subsidy. In as much as meetings have been ongoing since and before Henry Holling was officially employed by the City as interim City Manager, yet he was involved and attending these meetings, I suspect that whether I have not made any commitment is mute,

Question: If eminent domain comes up for a vote, will you vote for it? Why or why not?

NO! I do NOT believe that the use of eminent domain for private development is legal. I do NOT believe (or have drank the kool-aid to make me believe) that the construction of a hotel, a skywalk, or a parking facility is public benefit. I also do NOT believe that economic development projects meet the legal threshold for public purpose. So NO!

I couldn’t agree more. It’s easy to understand why he has fans.

Patrick Nichting, 5th District, also replied, but he was much more brief:

I have not seen the development agreement so I can not comment as to its content.

Fair enough.

And then Barbara Van Auken, 2nd District, replied:

I know of no plans (or need) to use eminent domain. The City could not use eminent domain for this project in any event, as it involves a private versus public development. Even if the Supreme Court hadn’t ruled as it did in such matters, I wouldn’t support use of eminent domain for a private development.

And Mayor Jim Ardis put the issue to rest, as far as this project is concerned:

Eminent domain is always a possibility, but it won’t be necessary as the developer and property owners have already agreed on a price for the property.

Well, that’s that then.

Meanwhile, Merle Widmer takes a lok at the numbers here and here, while C.J. looks at the hype here and here.

UPDATE: Eric Turner replied:

One thing about this council is there is a belief in avoiding Eminent Domain we truly believe in and support property rights and will do all we can to avoid Eminent Domain. Hopefully we can agree by way of fair negotiations. As a council we are willing to work with all involved to avoid the negatives I.e. Eminent Domain.

Mayor Jim Ardis announced today that he intends to file nominating petitions for another term as Mayor. With solid support from his family, Mayor Ardis is committed to continuing his focus on providing a strong environment for business, maintaining an intense focus on crime and supporting strong neighborhoods with an emphasis on education.

Mayor Ardis will hold a press conference in the coming weeks to outline his re-election platform.

]]> http://pundit.blogpeoria.com/2008/11/24/politics-ardis-is-running-for-re-election/feed/ 1 http://pundit.blogpeoria.com/2008/11/07/politics-shadid-for-mayor-of-peoria/ http://pundit.blogpeoria.com/2008/11/07/politics-shadid-for-mayor-of-peoria/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:17:22 +0000 Billy Dennis http://pundit.blogpeoria.com/?p=3960 Two different sources — who asked to not be named — tell me that’s the rumor going around Peoria. These sources belong to different parties and don’t run in the same circle of friends.

Here’s what one tells me:Â If Shadid does run, the motivation will be political payback and an attempt to relieve boredom.

• He’s mad at Mayor Jim Ardis for endorsing Ernie Russell over Dave Koehler for State Senate back in 2006, and considers it a betrayal.
• He’s bored with retirement and wants to be in the center of the action.
• He’s mad at Ardis for backing Darin LaHood over Kevin Lyons, and Shadid was co-chair of Lyons’ campaign.

One source tells me that a lot of this is ego on Shadid’s part. Shadid is taking too much credit for Ardis winning the mayoral election in 2005. Shadid’s endorsement came after a four-man primary election, instead of before, when it would have done Ardis the most good.

I’m guessing Shadid, a Democrat, also took some grief for endorsing a Republican like Ardis, and might think that this entitles him to expect that Ardis would not back someone Shadid opposed. That’s a little unrealistic, considering they are in two different parties. But then, Shadid places a premium on loyalty.

Another source, while not confirming having heard the Shadid rumor, said it makes sense. He heard that Steve Shearer, who managed Aaron Schock’s successful campaign for Congress, is no longer looking for a candidate to run against Adris (which would have been payback to Ardis for endorsing Jim McConoughey in the primary). The next logical source of opposition is State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons and the Democrats.

And Ardis might not even run for re-election. Ardis has many admirers, but he also has his detractors. He’s not happy with how the council has, of late, become more acrimonious. If friends and allies Bob Manning and Bill Spears decide against running, Ardis probably will not run for re-election.

If Ardis doesn’t run, look for George Jacob to do so. General Parker, husband of city employee/School District 150 member Rachel Parker, is planning a run. He’s supposedly bought street signs already.

I’ll try to have a more complete list of potential Peoria City Council candidates later today.

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My two cents: Let that sink in for a moment folks. The elected official who’s job it is to put those he believes are criminals in jail let these people charged with a crime to walk out without posting bond. This includes 22-year-old Justin Rodgers. He faces six felony drug and weapons, according to HOINews.

Rodgers is convicted felon.

Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and City Councilman Bob Manning held a press conference Sunday to ask publicly why these people were released.

And then Lyons held his own conference:

In response to Ardis’ questions, Lyons said Rodgers was released from jail because he planned to use Rodgers’ arrest this week against him at his Dec. 4 hearing to revoke his probation for previous Tazewell County drug charges. Lyons said his decision is Rodgers’ “quickest and most direct way to the prison door.”

And exactly what is wrong with letting this knucklehead stew in a jail cell waiting for Dec. 4 hearing that Lyons is oh-so-sure will send him away? That way, the good people of the East Bluff would have an extra month without having to suffer his presence.

Lyons also said that he wasn’t quite ready to decide by Friday exactly what to charge the people who were arrested on Wednesday, and because he can’t hold people without charges for longer than 48 hours, he cut ‘em loose. And it was Friday.

Seems to me that solution would have been to — hold onto your hats folks — actually charge them with something. Police has this joint up for two weeks. If we had a state’s attorney actually capable of working well with police, Lyons might have been in a better position to know exactly what to charge these them.

Lyons is right about one thing. He says politics was the motivation for the press conference.

Absolutely. GOOD politics. The kind of politics that’s all about trying to put the needs of the public above the needs of hack career bureaucrats like Catch-And-Release Kevin Lyons.

Kudos to Ardis and Manning.

Lyons also complained that all the attention on this cases puts the prosecution at risk. Lyons said this at his own press conference.

I came to the conclusion years ago that Peoria would never fully get a handle on the crime problems driving families away from the city and out of our schools. I don’t think that the election of Darin LaHood will be the cure for crime. But it’s a start to making things better.

In today’s column, Adams looks over minutes from the September meeting of the Peoria Race Relations Commission. She excerpts sentences and paragraphs and “translates” them. Well, she calls them “translations,” but if any United Nations translator were to take the agenda-based liberties Adams does, they would be shipped back to their home countries:

For example:

“Mayor Ardis had hoped more commissioners would have attended today so he could have addressed the entire group but trusted his comments would be conveyed to all commissioners.”

(I didn’t come to listen to your dialogue, I came to make my own.)

Adams doesn’t like Ardis, so a simple statement that he wishes more people were there gets “translated” into Ardis being an autocratic ogre. I’ve sat in on council meetings ranging back to when Dick Carver was mayor. Ardis might be the least autocratic, although he does like meetings to move along.

From what I can tell, there’s a bit a coup attempt in program on this commission. Some folks don’t like that it’s being chaired by Amir Al-Khafaji. At the time he was appointed, the grumbling I heard was that some black people thought a black person should be in charge. Adams doesn’t mention the reason behind the discontent, which is too bad because it would be good if the Peoria Journal Star’s lone black columnist, and the only columnist who almost exclusively covers race issues, would in fact cover an issue involving prejudice against a person of color.

Last week, Adams brought Willie Horton into the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s race. She implied Republican candidate Darin LaHood was a racist. Why? Because he wanted to speak to the father of a white rape victim, when the other victims of the black man accused of the crime were black. Therefore, Adams somehow concludes, LaHood was planning Willie Horton-style ads against Kevin Lyons.

There are several problems with this conclusion, the most obvious of which is that Adams doesn’t possess the powers of precognition any more than she she posses the powers of telepathy in regards to what Mayor Ardis was thinking.

The other is that LaHood didn’t exactly pull the name of Monterius Hinkle from a hat. The vast majority of Americans had Peorians who pay attention to crime already knew about the guy and what he is accused of doing. I think that most Peorians assumed that because of the location of the crimes, ALL the victims were black. That’s what I assumed until I read Adams article. Not that it mattered to me as much as it does to Adams.

And here’s a point that Adams doesn’t mention. The basic facts of the Willie Horton ads were true. He was a convicted murderer given a furlough. He did flee to another state and commit rape and murder. Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, didn’t create the furlough program, but he did support it vigorously.

But then the facts don’t matter. Horton was black, therefore the ads were racist. It’s always that was with Adams.

And what are the facts of the Monterius Hinkle case, as they relate to State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons? He declined to prosecute the first time Hinkle was under arrest, saying he didn’t have enough evidence and willing testimony from victims. This last crime happened after Hinkle was released. Would LaHood have mentioned these facts if Lyons had not staged his disastrous press conference accusing LaHood of interfering with the case? Clairvoyant Pam says yes.

And since Adams is concerned about how Peoria’s power structure ignores the concerns of black people, including police brutality, I am wondering when she will mention that association of black ministers have endorsed a candidate for Peoria County State’s Attorney, saying they are convinced this candidate would listen to their concerns, and would actually diversify the office.

They endorsed Darin LaHood, the man Adams says implies is racist because cops like him.

Also, Jim Ardis has endorsed LaHood, which no doubt is further evidence of racism, as far as Adams is concerned.

Adams has always implied that candidates who run on anti-crime platforms are really just trying to scare white voters, never mind that most crime victims are black and that most of the people who are forced by economics to live among crack houses and gang violence are black.

Four years ago, then mayoral candidate Ardis and Eric Turner held a press conference in front of two crack house on Peoria’s South Side. She complained that Ardis was using black people.

There are two types of people who insist that in all discussion of crime, black people are somehow involved: White supremacists, who litter my Website and the Journal Star comments; and folks like Pam Adams, who cannot conceive that anyone who makes crime an issue is not, somehow, complaining about how black people commit crimes.

Perhaps one day, we will have a columnist at the Journal Star who is willing to engage in honest discussion of race from all perspectives, and not just be the organ for those who with one view on the matter.

PEORIA PROMISE FOUNDATION HIRES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Peoria Promise Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of Tara Gerstner as the organization’s first Executive Director effective October 1st.

Tara brings a strong marketing and leadership background in both corporate and nonprofit management to this position. She has led the revitalization of established programs and has experience in the creation and implementation of both marketing and development programs. She has a number of honors from past assignments and is consistently recognized for her intelligence, passion, and energy.

Tara is a native of Chester, IL and comes to Peoria with her husband, Dr. Greg Gerstner, and their two young children. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2001 and obtained an MBA in marketing from University of Texas at San Antonio in 2004.

“We are very excited and fortunate to have Tara as our new Executive Director. She will significantly increase awareness about Peoria Promise in the community and increase the much needed community investment and support we need to grow and be successful”, says Mayor Jim Ardis, President of the Peoria Promise Foundation Board of Directors.

Ken Zika, Treasurer of the Peoria Promise Foundation Board of Directors, states, “The hiring of Tara demonstrates the Peoria Promise Foundation’s commitment to the future opportunities of this remarkable program which provides stimulating economic growth potential to Peoria and its residents.”

For more information on the Peoria Promise Foundation please visit www.peoriapromise.com.