A Look Back From the 90's Through 2009 - Part 4

IDOT believes the half billion in upgrades to I-74 gives a new front door to the community and will help lure businesses downtown. (JS 11/16/06)

What businesses that pay good wages and pay all the taxes they should, have come downtown since the renovation of I-74? IDOT touts the Gateway Center (loses $500,000 a year and a burden on the city, now to be recovered by passing the Humane Animal Center back to the county saving the city over $500,000 a year), the RiverPlex, that loses money every year and is a tax COLLECTOR: 40% of the users live outside of the taxing area and pay no property taxes to support this Peoria Park District" a venture into the private sector; "O'Brien Field"(still called O'Brien Field because no takers were found after O'Brien cancelled their naming contract before last season started), Rt, 74 has no real bearing on this money-loser, Hooters, wow, but Damons Restaurant closed and River Station went broke. (sitting empty now) As to the subsidized Water Street Apartments; Rt. 74 has no bearing as these residents moved downtown so they would have less use of their vehicles. Then, of course, the under-funded hole in the ground (new 'world class' museum) where State and Federal Earmarks and City and County grants and a 1/4% sales tax assessed almost all buyers of merchandise in Peoria County for at least 20 years still leaves the museum project underfunded by millions of dollars. Evidently not much help from an upgraded I-74, actually more costs because of city street upgrades and sewer line relocations.

On 9/7/08, almost two years after the dedication of the new 74, JS reporter, John Sharp, gave us the news that should have shocked the "MS's in Peoria. John wrote, "Drivers sticking to alternate roads rather than using I-74". He quoted average usage figures that were startling, at least to the MS's, such as in 2003, traffic counts along six areas along Rt. 74 totaled 251,000 compared to 186,000 two years after the new highway was opened. So 65,000 less vehicles used the new highway than used the old highway through 2008.

And what happened to the great growth this highway, now 4 years old, has brought to Peoria. Please don't say the Shoppes. Most traffic to the Shoppes come down old Rt. 150. To the downtown, most businesses who came and left would have done so anyway and many of those "new" facilities pay little or no taxes. One reason why the City of Peoria faced a $14 million budget deficit and may face a bigger one next year.

By the way, I attended two of the first planning Rt. 74 input meetings conducted by IDOT and the estimated cost was then around $199 million. Costs are now well over $500 million and growing as IDOT continues to enhance the freeway areas.

Overall, looking back from the 1990's finds quite a period of missed projections where public dollars were spent and still are being spent like the unfinished Zoo and the unfunded museum. Question marks such as fiscal sustainability, still hang over the expanded Civic Center. We know that a financial commitment by the city may allow another hotel to be built while the old Jumers is vacant and City Center is asking $8 million from the city to help them survive.

JS reporter Omar Sofradzija wrote that the "road to Chicago" had little outside support on June 2, 2001. A few months later Omar was gone from the JS and Peoria. Many more realists left since 2001 and some now write back from Arizona, Naperville, and Colorado to tell us how great a city we live in. I suggest they send money instead of LTE's.

And where was Congressman LaHood from 2000 to 2009? On 4/13/97 the JSEB wrote "Chicago route LaHood's transportation priority", Congressman won't support "ring road" until a four lane highway to the Windy City exists. "I have never considered the ring road a high priority, LaHood said. "I have made it clear to the Department of Transportation that the ring road is a secondary road in terms of our priority".

On 8/04/04, the JSEB said, "LaHood had come full circle". They continued, "Unfortunately, it looks like no road will be built here. High speed highways are NOT the total reason, but they can help explain why so many Illinois cities are booming and others, like Peoria, are not". Could they have been talking about Rockford with it's 15% unemployment, possibly the highest in the state? Or LaSalle-Peru? What growth there? Didn't a big steel mill just close in LaSalle County, no iot was Putnam County, next door, and wasn't a 13 mile freeway built to accommodate this steel mill? The answer is, yes. Or Bloomington with their debt ridden Colliseum and General Electric closing up shop? On 7/9/06, the JSEB was still trying, "Not too late to look at sensible highway to Chicago." Yes, the JS buys paper and ink by the railroad car, just a LOT less recently.

LaHood IS now the head of the U.S. Transportation Department and the MS's are back hitting on a new ring road. From what I was told, they didn't plan to dust off the old plans, just hire consultants and engineers, this figure now well over $24 million, maybe over $30 million and growing; these "roads to ruin" keeping all the highly paid planners, managers, department heads like the EDC, engineers, consultants, all paid with taxpayer dollars.

But here comes the crusher. You know how are MS's are big on consultants? Well, back in 2006, our County Administrator convinced the County Board to combine with the City Council and hire the national renowned consultant firm, Ady International Co., to tell us why we weren't attracting new business to Peoria. Ady report was buried by the JS and other MS"s because here is what Ady told us: Peoria needs to expand its availability of sites to companies if it wants to attract new businesses. Among the advantages Peoria has, is its higher education, HIGHWAY ACCESS and culture. The Times newspapers told it like it was, "Consultant says direct highway to Chicago not that important to success. Peoria's disadvantages include crime, LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES, community appearance and workman's compensation costs." Ady said, "Peoria has all the highway access it needs and that few communities have better access than Peoria."

The city and county didn't need to hire Ady International. In a LTE to the JS, I wrote back in 1998, "Lack of highways is excuse for economic failure". I was tired of the JSEB whine "that if only we had a highway to Chicago, we would have gotten this deal or that deal. I distinctly remember one big deal we lost to Rockford. It came and left Rockford stuck holding the bag. And remember when we lost Spiegel to Morton? Spiegel has long ago gone bankrupt.

When renowned community developer Duany came to Peoria a few years ago, he couldn't believe that this highway was being built to the tune of $500,000,000 and said he would have tried to get it stopped because it divided Peoria into two parts, making coordinated growth impossible. And cross country traffic traveling at high speed THROUGH the city, no slowing down to stop and shop.

What Peoria needs are more consultants (out of the area experts who couldn't make it running their own businesses but tell us what to do that most of us who have ever run a business and met a payroll could tell many of these "local" dreamers. That's what former newspaper editor, Don Axt said when on occasion writes about Peoria , "Dreamsville" with a "Baseball World Series some day between Peoria and Rockford."

Dream on, you MS's but in the meantime figure out how to get more money out of the community without raising taxes. Otherwise, as Ady International said, and any else with "common sense"; higher taxes will drive business out, not bring business in. As does #150, the uneducated and at least two, belligerent unions.

My next blog will be about more looking back at history and then I'll blog soon about what lies ahead. My projections have been nearly 100% accurate except that I did not believe Bergners could support two stores in Peoria "without a highway to Chicago" As to bankruptcies predicted? Some have come and more are in progress or soon will be. The future of Peoria is not about to get any better except for those who are tenured, work for any government body and many unions and/or already have guaranteed fat pensions. You can no longer count on Caterpillar and did I not hear "rumors" about the closing of a major hospital in Peoria?

I hope not but this community sure had done a lot of medical building space and more being built.