Why Cat Headquarters Is Leaving Peoria? The Rest of the Story - Part One

Fact. Several hundred people knew Cat was leaving month before the news was issued. I suspect that Doug Oberhelman's wife was in contact with high level Cat administrators and SUSPECT that she may be under a contract to help find and help decide where to relocate. I have no proof of this but common sense might enter in the equation??

Peoria is classified by those who classify cities as a RURAL community. Many of the elite have done their best, mostly at taxpayers expense, to make this an Indianapolis or Cincinnati. All their projects missed projections, some by a mile or more.

All Public bodies in Peoria are in poor shape, both in lack of finances, infrastructure and much needed businesses of fill the huge amount of empty commercial buildings,. Some sitting empty for a long time.

Growing pensions in Peoria public bodies are a growing disaster. Our Governor is rightly attempting to slow down this Statewide trend. The unions really don't give a damn about the rest of us, only for their employees who are vast in numbers, especially in the public sector.

To hold your job as a union boss, you always have to get better condition and more money or you will no longer be BOSS. The union motto is, "we don't give a damn what you build, just build it".

Cat is again faced with the possibility of a strike. If either union involved, strikes, Peoria is "dead in the water"

Peoria has a water cleanser and distribution problem. No one know the cost of replacing water mains and water lines, yet at least 2 Councilmen and one expecting to be elected want the system to go for a public referendum. The government owns the water. Many people do not understand this. Those who want a referendum evidently didn't pay much attention to the last one that indicated 82% of the people did NOT want  city ownership. The City Manager wrote that city owned water cost to consumers would RISE 3% per YEAR if the City owned the Water Company.

I have an inch thick file on his "almost" disaster. Find me on my search bar under "Waterlogged" or water, 6 blogs or more,  or anything connected to the past attempts to get the council to agree they want to buy. I am given credit by many to have been the one who convinced the Councilman with my blogs who cast the 6th vote that killed going forward with the buyout.

Cat did not want their name on the ballpark because knew it had financial problems so they used "Dozer". They will miss their luxury suites and so will the Chiefs.

Davis-Bacon Act - Passed By The Democrats

Republicans will try to kill it. It shroud have been killed long ago. Even our Democrat former County Administrator admitted it was a bad law. By making every business pay their employees the same amount of the union scale on government projects, killed competitive bidding. 

The Demos and perhaps some politically motivated Republicans, and the unions will fight hard to stop the erasing of this nasty bill, I hope the WISE Republicans will win.

Trump Administration All Talk - Hardly

God Bless America

 

PAUL 
RYAN'S PROPOSED BUDGET CUTS

A List of Republican Budget Cuts

 

Notice 
S.S. And the military 
are NOT on this list.

 

These are all the programs that the 
new Republican House has proposed 
cutting.

 

* Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy -- $445 
million annual savings.

* Save America 's Treasures Program -- $25 million annual savings.

* International Fund for Ireland -- $17 million annual savings.

* Legal Services Corporation -- $420 million annual savings

* National Endowment for the Arts -- $167.5 million annual savings.

* National Endowment for the Humanities -- $167.5 million annual savings.

* Hope VI Program -- $250 million annual savings.

* Amtrak Subsidies -- $1.565 billion annual savings.

* Eliminate duplicating education programs -- H.R. 2274 (in last 
Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon , eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.

* U.S. Trade Development Agency -- $55 million annual savings.

* Woodrow Wilson Center Subsid y -- $20 million annual savings.

* Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding -- $47 million annual savings.

* John C. Stennis Center Subsi dy --$430,000 annual savings.

* Community Development Fund -- $4.5 billion annual savings.

* Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid -- $24 million annual savings.

* Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half --$7.5 billion annual savings

*Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20% -- $600 million annual savings.

* Essential Air Service -- $150 million annual savings.

* Technology Innovation Program -- $70 million annual savings.

*Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program -- $125 million annual savings..

* Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization -- $530 million annual savings.

* Beach Replenishment -- $95 million annual savings.

* New Starts Transit -- $2 billion annual savings.

*Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in 
Massachusetts -- $9 million annual savings

* Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants -- $2.5 billion annual savings.

* Title X Family Planning -- $318 million annual savings.

* Appalachian Regional Commission -- $76 million annual savings.

* Economic Development Administration -- $293 million annual savings.

* Programs under the National and Community Services Act -- $1.15 billion annual savings.

* Applied Research at Department of Energy -- $1.27 billion annual savings.

* Freedom CAR and Fuel Partnership -- $200 million annual savings. 
*Energy Star Program -- $52 million annual savings.

*Economic Assistance to Egypt -- $250 million annually.

* U.S. Agency for International Development -- $1.39 billion annual savings.

* General Assistance to District of Columbia -- $210 million annual savings.

* Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority -- $150 million annual savings.

*Presidential Campaign Fund -- $775 million savings over ten years.

* No funding for federal office space acquisition -- $864 million annual savings.

* End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.

* Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act -- More than $1 billion annually.

* IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans 
for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget -- $1.8 billion savings over ten years.

*Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees -- $1 billion total savings. WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?

* Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees -- $1.2 billion savings over ten years.

* Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of -- $15 billion total savings.

*Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress. WHAT???

* Eliminate Mohair Subsidies -- $1 million annual savings.

*Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- $12.5 million annual 
savings. WELL ISN'T THAT SPECIAL

* Eliminate Market Access Program -- $200 million annual savings.

* USDA Sugar Program -- $14 million annual savings.

* Subsidy to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -- $93 million annual savings.

* Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program -- $56.2 million annual savings.

*Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs -- $900 million savings.

* Ready to Learn TV Program -- $27 million savings.

* HUD Ph.D. Program.

* Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

 

*TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

My question is, what is all 
this doing in the budget in the first 
place?!

 

Maybe this is why the Democrats are attacking Paul Ryan.

 

Now will you....send this to.... everyone you know.

Barbara Streisand - Now Both Fat and Homely

"Trump did it" she claims. He may have helped make her fat but she was always homely. No, I never listened to her sing unless forced to. Maybe she has a late pregnancy by artificial devices.

Hmm.Charles Schumer????

Public Earnings Out Of Control - Yes, as Pension and Other Benefits Continue to Grow

SAN RAMON, Calif. -- Despite ever-tightening budgets, hefty paydays are actually becoming the norm for a lot of firefighters.

In 2015, some firefighters with the San Ramon Valley Fire District were making as much as $400,000 a year in total compensation, CBS San Francisco reports. More than half of the full-time employees at the department make more than $300,000 in total compensation a year, according to data collected by the watchdog group Transparent California. 

“Does it make sense that a battalion chief in San Ramon should earn $300,000 when our governor only earns $180,000 a year in compensation?” said Jack Weir, president of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association.

But one department said that paying out a lot of overtime is actually saving taxpayers money.

San Ramon Valley Fire Chief Paige Meyer says the $300,000 figure doesn’t tell the whole story. That number includes pension and benefits, so in reality, he says, firefighters take home about half of their total compensation.

“So, if someone makes $1, we ending up close to spending 90 cents for their pension, so that’s $1.90, roughly,” Meyer said. “And then we also have the costs of healthcare.”

Meyer said pension and healthcare obligations can mean it’s cheaper to pay a firefighter overtime instead of hiring someone new and adding an extra set of benefits costs.

“Saving can be upwards of 25 to 30 percent,” Meyer said.

Firefighters are guaranteed about 70 percent of their income after retirement in their 50s. In San Ramon, firefighters contribute close to 25 percent of their income to their pension.

Weir believes the system won’t work in the long run.

“It’s unreasonable, it’s unaffordable and most importantly, from a taxpayer’s perspective and from the perspective of the firefighters, it’s unsustainable,” Weir said.

But Meyer says San Ramon is an example of a fire district doing things right.

“We have a very sustainable system,” Meyer said. “We’re paying all of our unfunded liabilities. We’re actually one of the only agencies that I know of in the United States that pays extra money toward our unfunded liabilities in retired, medical and pension costs.”

Meyer also says a starting firefighter in San Ramon would make about $90,000 in salary alone.

Heddington Oaks - For Fear of the Loss of 168 Union Jobs, a Horrendous Mess

The JS says today that the State of Illinois has upped the fine to Peoria County and Peoria County taxpayers for negligence at HO. Almost always incidents like these lead to massive lawsuits. Last I heard, Peoria County insurance stops at $50,000.00 per incident.

Aren't you Democrats and some Republicans happy that you ignored my plea to sell BelWood? Instead, in trying to save union jobs as a pretext to a 'must have' a County owned nursing home for the poor, you have created a $7 million a year disaster off Western Ave. called Heddington Oaks.

The latest I heard was that the 214 bed facility, some Democrats and Republican Mary Ardapple wanted 274 beds, has bed occupancy of between 150 and 180.

Also, learned that HO can't be sold to a private investor before 2020.

I haven't commented recently about the Peoria County disaster at the old Hanna City Correctional Center. I expect to hear from the JS about this unsolvable situation before this year is over. I will blog the "rest of the story" then. Expect Dave Leitch's name and his role to be in my blog.

Peoria's Litter Problem

I started the litter drive in 2/2016 and followed the drive with a Letter to the Editors of the JS. The JS criticized my efforts in a headline on the editorial page, 3/4/06. The Mayor quickly appointed a Litter Czar. Today's LTE in the JS by a highly concerned citizen highlights the litter problem all over Peoria.

Jim and the JSEB, my question is what went wrong with your plans to rid Peoria of litter forever??

Roger, What Happened?? Development in Peoria at a Standstill?

In February, 2016 issue of Community Word, Monroe wrote this as a headliner, "Expect an announcement by a developer about some new businesses to be constructed in space once occupied by McComb Chevrolet. WE can't give you any INSIDE information but the University Merchants Association has to be excited about plans that will provide at least three businesses in what is the busiest intersection in the city".

Sign on lot today says "available".

Hmmmmm.

With taxes to rise in all areas soon, expect there to be more vacant buildings than the abundance we already have by the end of 2017.

Peoria, Il. - Open Your Business Here -Lot's of Empty Buildings and Vacant Lots

Check us out.

Poor Democrat Chuck Schumer - He Sees Beavers' at Work Destroying Every Pond

Cutting down precious trees. He sees Zinke as opening up 400 MILLION acres of Nationally owned land to people with saws, bull dozers and drills to destroy 400 MILLION ACRES. He must take one to two sleeping pills at night or is he just the typical Democrat "leader" trying to undermine everything the Republicans are doing and are going to do.

Most likely, both. Talk about loose cannons.

Schumer is part of the "swamp" Trump described in Washington along with thousands of Democrat bureaucrats.

So sad. Trump was at his best last night and in one hour, with over a dozen subjects, he nor Jesus Christ could explain in detail as to how all were to be accomplished.

Mainstream liberal left-wing media were working hard to try to undermine Trump as usual even before he started speaking.

Local Elections Pretty Much as Expected

Sid, John, Zach and John/ Others on the ballots not vital to Peoria's economy.

Trump's Greatest Speech Ever

Stock market responded. drastically upward. losers go into deeper depression with the Democrats finding fault with everything he says..

Real crybabys..