This year's Music Fest will be on Friday, August 6, and on Saturday, August 7. As always, there is no admission charge. The musical acts are as follows:
Friday August 6
5:00 - 6:30 Roundstone Buskers
7:15 - 8:45 Storyline
9:30 - 11:00 Five Guys Named Moe
Friday August 7
2:00 - 3:30 Motorbiscuit
4:15- 5:45 Caribbean Sol
6:30 - 8:15 Brainchild
9:00 - 10:30 DriveTrain featuring Nick Boettcher
We'll also have food and drink vendors; a beer "trailer"; a dunk tank; and two big inflatables for the kids to play on, only on Saturday, from 2:00 to around 8:00 pm.
We hope for good weather, and also hope to see lots of people there!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Heights Population is Down...
And, unfortunately, rather dramatically. We lost over 5% of our population from 2000-2010. I was certain that we would not be gaining any population, but I was anticipating around a 3% drop. No such luck.
Much of this loss can be attributed to the loss of a number of our houses; torn down, normally, for commercial development. I believe we lost around 40 or so houses for the new Walgreen's; a few houses for the Liberty Plaza; and a dozen or so around where some development will be happening (soon, we hope) along War Memorial. There certainly is value to our land, but it appears to be more towards commercial rather than residential uses.
We have to try and do as much as we can to somehow grow the population over the coming decade. Why? Because so much of our federal dollars are based on population; population growth means a likelihood of an increase in students at our schools; and it's just a healthy way to grow.
It looks like our best possibility to increase our numbers will be in the condo and multi-family dwelling areas. We hope that the condo plan at Heritage Square and off of Gardner Lane will begin yet this year. The Cohen's building area is ripe for 2-4 story senior living complexes. We've called many developers; sent "feelers" out to many more; and there seems to be genuine interest, but like most major projects, not much will be happening until the economy gets out of its present doldrums.
The next several years will be a blueprint for the Peoria Heights of the near and far future. It's up to all of us to be as progressive as possible in building towards an even stronger community.
Much of this loss can be attributed to the loss of a number of our houses; torn down, normally, for commercial development. I believe we lost around 40 or so houses for the new Walgreen's; a few houses for the Liberty Plaza; and a dozen or so around where some development will be happening (soon, we hope) along War Memorial. There certainly is value to our land, but it appears to be more towards commercial rather than residential uses.
We have to try and do as much as we can to somehow grow the population over the coming decade. Why? Because so much of our federal dollars are based on population; population growth means a likelihood of an increase in students at our schools; and it's just a healthy way to grow.
It looks like our best possibility to increase our numbers will be in the condo and multi-family dwelling areas. We hope that the condo plan at Heritage Square and off of Gardner Lane will begin yet this year. The Cohen's building area is ripe for 2-4 story senior living complexes. We've called many developers; sent "feelers" out to many more; and there seems to be genuine interest, but like most major projects, not much will be happening until the economy gets out of its present doldrums.
The next several years will be a blueprint for the Peoria Heights of the near and far future. It's up to all of us to be as progressive as possible in building towards an even stronger community.
Friday, July 2, 2010
From The Archives: Let's Talk About "Spending"
The "Word on the Street" (at least in Peoria Heights) is that the Peoples Party hierarchy is gearing up, rock solid, for the 2011 Board of Trustees election. In other words, the Silly Season will soon be upon us. It's important to consider the facts in regards to spending in the Village, so from the archives comes the following:
"It will be sort of like comparing apples to milk jugs, but I'll give it a try, anyhow {to compare spending in the Village between now and during the 'Carter years.'}. Let's start by comparing February 2005 to February 2010.
There was roughly around 1.8 million dollars in the general fund in February 2005, a few months before I came into office. That sounds pretty good, I agree. A couple things need to be understood along with that, however, before comparing it to February 2010. First, about $300,000.00 towards the new ladder fire truck was going to come out in 2005, no matter who was mayor. So, even if Mr. Carter had been re-elected, that 1.8 million was going to go down to about $1.5 million, no matter what.
Second, a number of items had been ignored by the Carter administration, so that the general fund could go up. For example, curbs and sidewalks. I've been over that a few times, but over the four years prior to our getting into office, around $75,000.00 had been spent on curbs and sidewalks. That's over FOUR YEARS. Since we first got control of the budget (fiscal year 2006-2007), we've put in over $500,000.00 into curbs and sidewalks. That's over FIVE TIMES the amount that the Carter administration put in.
Let's go further. Columbus and Moneta continued to flood after any substantial rain we received, under Earl Carter. I can't even imagine how bad it would have been this past year, what with all of the rain we had. We addressed the problem, and corrected it. That costs money, of course. The Carter administration had no plans to do anything regarding expanding the police department: whether it be adding onto Village Hall, or purchasing an existing building. They were more than content to keep the police department in its four closets. We purchased an existing building for the police department to locate in, at about half the cost of adding onto Village Hall, and yes, that costs money, too.
We've added an Advanced Life Support EMT unit, staffed 24/7; available to get to our Heights residents at a much quicker time frame than AMT could, without any doubt. At a cost of roughly half of what AMT charges for the people they transport. While we do receive revenue for the EMT service, it does cost money (for now) after all is said and done. About $75,000.00 this past year. I believe that is a bargain. We're hopeful that in the next year or two, the EMT service might be self-sustaining. Regardless, it's a service that we have control over in the Heights. And, that's a good thing.
We've added recycling; and yes, that costs money, too. Around $82,000.00 a year. This is a positive service for those living in the Village. We've added a School Resource Officer for our schools; added a police dog to the police force; bought a new street sweeper; the list goes on and on.
Now, bear in mind that the Carter administration knew how to spend money, too. But, on what? Tower Park: Over $780,000.00. On Poplar Lane Park (about to flood again): Over $225,000.00. And, what do you think Mr. Carter was saving for when he wasn't going to spend money on curbs and sidewalks; EMT services; flooding problems; etc.?
Streetscape, of course. Saving up for what was going to cost at least $1-2 MILLION dollars (our share) for that extravagance. But, that's different, right? It's all well and good to pump money out for concreting in Tower Park; building a park that has flooded dozens of times already; and prepping us for the biggest fiasco of all, Streetscape.
Like all other municipalities in Illinois, we've taken a beating from this recession. Illinois revenues are way down, which the Carter administration didn't have to deal with. Even with all that has been accomplished over the past five years, and the hard hit regarding loss of revenues from the state, we are still close to $1.3 MILLION dollars in the general fund. The next fiscal year will see that figure climb a bit more, as we have to tighten our belts with the lack of state revenues.
So, Peoples Party hierarchy: you had realistically around $1.5 million in the general fund in February 2005, mostly because so many issues in the Village had been ignored. And, a huge chunk of that amount was about to be dumped out for the coming Streetscape.
The Peoples Party hierarchy machine is mostly on life support, but it's still chugging and shooting its mouth off with its half truths, innuendos, and outright lies.
Stay tuned."
"It will be sort of like comparing apples to milk jugs, but I'll give it a try, anyhow {to compare spending in the Village between now and during the 'Carter years.'}. Let's start by comparing February 2005 to February 2010.
There was roughly around 1.8 million dollars in the general fund in February 2005, a few months before I came into office. That sounds pretty good, I agree. A couple things need to be understood along with that, however, before comparing it to February 2010. First, about $300,000.00 towards the new ladder fire truck was going to come out in 2005, no matter who was mayor. So, even if Mr. Carter had been re-elected, that 1.8 million was going to go down to about $1.5 million, no matter what.
Second, a number of items had been ignored by the Carter administration, so that the general fund could go up. For example, curbs and sidewalks. I've been over that a few times, but over the four years prior to our getting into office, around $75,000.00 had been spent on curbs and sidewalks. That's over FOUR YEARS. Since we first got control of the budget (fiscal year 2006-2007), we've put in over $500,000.00 into curbs and sidewalks. That's over FIVE TIMES the amount that the Carter administration put in.
Let's go further. Columbus and Moneta continued to flood after any substantial rain we received, under Earl Carter. I can't even imagine how bad it would have been this past year, what with all of the rain we had. We addressed the problem, and corrected it. That costs money, of course. The Carter administration had no plans to do anything regarding expanding the police department: whether it be adding onto Village Hall, or purchasing an existing building. They were more than content to keep the police department in its four closets. We purchased an existing building for the police department to locate in, at about half the cost of adding onto Village Hall, and yes, that costs money, too.
We've added an Advanced Life Support EMT unit, staffed 24/7; available to get to our Heights residents at a much quicker time frame than AMT could, without any doubt. At a cost of roughly half of what AMT charges for the people they transport. While we do receive revenue for the EMT service, it does cost money (for now) after all is said and done. About $75,000.00 this past year. I believe that is a bargain. We're hopeful that in the next year or two, the EMT service might be self-sustaining. Regardless, it's a service that we have control over in the Heights. And, that's a good thing.
We've added recycling; and yes, that costs money, too. Around $82,000.00 a year. This is a positive service for those living in the Village. We've added a School Resource Officer for our schools; added a police dog to the police force; bought a new street sweeper; the list goes on and on.
Now, bear in mind that the Carter administration knew how to spend money, too. But, on what? Tower Park: Over $780,000.00. On Poplar Lane Park (about to flood again): Over $225,000.00. And, what do you think Mr. Carter was saving for when he wasn't going to spend money on curbs and sidewalks; EMT services; flooding problems; etc.?
Streetscape, of course. Saving up for what was going to cost at least $1-2 MILLION dollars (our share) for that extravagance. But, that's different, right? It's all well and good to pump money out for concreting in Tower Park; building a park that has flooded dozens of times already; and prepping us for the biggest fiasco of all, Streetscape.
Like all other municipalities in Illinois, we've taken a beating from this recession. Illinois revenues are way down, which the Carter administration didn't have to deal with. Even with all that has been accomplished over the past five years, and the hard hit regarding loss of revenues from the state, we are still close to $1.3 MILLION dollars in the general fund. The next fiscal year will see that figure climb a bit more, as we have to tighten our belts with the lack of state revenues.
So, Peoples Party hierarchy: you had realistically around $1.5 million in the general fund in February 2005, mostly because so many issues in the Village had been ignored. And, a huge chunk of that amount was about to be dumped out for the coming Streetscape.
The Peoples Party hierarchy machine is mostly on life support, but it's still chugging and shooting its mouth off with its half truths, innuendos, and outright lies.
Stay tuned."
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