I blogged before on the evils of urban sprawl and the $20 million to be spent on redoing the jnntcure of Allen Rd. and Alta Rd., including W. Alta.
Back on October 5, 1998, the JSEB printed the following: "Five Guidposts For Wise Capital Spending."
Continuing, "With the help of renowned urban expert David Rusk who spoke in Peoria last year, we offer these guideposts:
1. Fulfill your committement to the riverfront (no mention is made of a museum because a $145 million project wasn't being considered). Had Rusk known what is happening now, I believe he would have asked, "who is paying for all this" Sure, I know Cat is using stockholders money for part of it.
2. Don't forgo the opportunity to grow the city. Rusk said, 'You must not let growth grow beyond your boundaries" (The City of Peoria has quadrupled in acreage while shrinking in inner-city population).
3. People flee neighborhoods for the same reasons they move in. It's much more the the social environment than the physical environment that needs attention. Targeted investments, a few blocks at a time near the downtown, are more likely to pay off than a upgraded intersection.
4. Curb the appetite for new construction. (There is no glory in renovating)
5. Hold the property tax at the same level (the city, county and park district, may brag that they have but they mandated the garbage fee and raised all other fees) and commit the gain from growth and inflation to capital investment. Then - and here is the hard part - resist the temptation to boost CAPITAL spending by a like amount. Rather, use it to pay cash for some projects and save a little of that borrowing capacity for years to come.
So now the city, running a deficit that can only grow without raising taxes and fees, has sprawled out and contiunes to sprawl causing costly projects like the $20 million Allen Rd project. IDOT enginners, always ready to enhance their own coveted positions, say the intersection is dangerous without providing ANY statistics to show it is more dangerous than the exit and entrance to and from Caterpillar Trail to Memorial Drive..
For a dangerous intersection at Allen and Alta, why didn't the "marter than thou state and city engineers" put up warning signs saysing 'dangerous intersection'? Why no flashing caution lights? Why no stop light especially during rush hours? With the stupid Steve Van Winkle stop lights, less than 400 yards further north on Allen Rd., and another at RT.74, how can there be a smooth flow of traffic anyway?
Why wasn't the uphill grade heading South on Allen Rd. raised so it wasn't uphill as it neared Alta R.? Now, those powers are considering a roundabout, about as sensible as a proposed roundabout at Sheridan and Loucks.
For traffic heading on Allen toward downtown or east turn on W.Alta ( it's called west Alta even though it is traversed both east and west; east takes you to Knoxville and west up Atlantic takes you to Dunlap or points northwest).
$14 million is coming from a "going bakrupt State of Illinois" and $6 million from the city which means more wasboard streets like W. Glen Oak .
Our politicians like Leitch can brag of all the money they bring from Springfield to Peoria while the this mother sow teats dry up to the point the state can't even pay their bills.
If you are an ordinary citizen of the City of Peoria, has the hundreds of millions spent or being spent enhanced your own life and caused the city to grow. Unless you are a special interest person; includes those working in the public sector, most of you cannot possible answer yes.
Meanwhile, instead of saving for a rainy day, most all current revenues are being of will be spent to pay for all the money borrowed or being borrowed for years to come.
So consultants come and go. The city sprawls and goes deeper into your pocket or deeper in debt. When the County employed a consulting firm called ADY, some of us asked how we will know the benefits rendered from the OPM spent. I'm still waiting for an answer 5-6 years later. And I certainly haven't seen the much growth in the City and County unless you call non-tax paying entities, some competing with the private sector, the sign of a prosperous community.
If we are so prosperous, why the garbage tax, rising fees and sales taxes and why so many charities pleading for money for the poor among us??
Another reminder. The Riverfront Museum was to be 2/3rds financed by the elite in Peoria, Instead, it is the taxpayers who are paying the 2/3rds with probably a lot more to come in 3-5 years after opening day this year. Statitics show that nationwide rural musuems lose visitors yearly.
Like the closed Lincoln Musuem in Fort Wayne, the cosed Rose Art Museum, sinking attendance in Wichita, KS. ( the JS once called it the "model museum plan", first year attendance 400,000; today around 150,000 visitors, and Dubuque. In 2010, taxpayers helped bail the Springfield Lincoln Museum out of a one year $7.45 million deficit. (JS, July 4, 2010).
Again, we wonder why so many cities, (think Stockton, CA) states and counties (think Jefferson County, GA) are going bust.
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