Private Sector USUALLY Eats Their Losses When Dealing With Customers in the Public Sector

When Lakeview Library was built or re-built, my company was unfortunate to receive the order for the library shelving. The librarian showing everything tan but the supports and bases. After the shelving was installed and books replaced, the librarian came in to approve our work. She then said that she meant the entire "stack" was to be tan. I offered to discount the "stack" considerably but she said she wanted the stack all one color. So we contacted the manufacturer who said he would refinish if we brought the parts back. The librarian couldn't wait until new parts were manufactured. So we disassembled and hauled the parts back to Ringgold, Georgia. Our driver waited overnight and then brought the refinished parts back to Peoria. We re-installed the shelving only to find the paint on the re-finished metal started to flake. This time, we reordered everything new. We took down the old shelving and reinstalled the new. She was happy and my company lost a bundle.

The "stack" is still in use at Lakeview, except I believe she later had the end panels repainted a different color.

There is a name people use sometimes to describe an unreasonable woman but I can't recall what is is but it starts with a b.

Matthews Retires - How is the Hotel's Census Doing?

One of many questions by those of us paying attention and unanswered by local media is this. The deadline to complete the remodeling of the old Pere was March 1, 2013. The deadline was NOT met. The penalty for not meeting the deadline was $41,000.00 a month. Did the City of Peoria collect the penalty?

Since no one, including the local medias, did not report this addition (to my knowledge) to the financially strapped City coffers, my speculation is, no, they did not.

Why not? The developer ran into problems he didn't anticipate. In the priavate sector, you eat the losses. Maybe the City did collect. Anyone help me out here?

And by the way, why didn't any of the media and local "movers and shakers" comment on the $16 million in new business that the Cat Visitors Center and the new museum were to bring into the City of Peoria? Who made this widely publicized statement? Why, two economic gurus' from our own Bradley University.

City administrations recently noted that sales taxes were down by $1.5 million. I said at the time, these gurus' were wrong. But who was I? Just a guy that started a business in 1964 with $5,00.00; $2,500.00 borrowed, and built it to $11 million sales under harsh circumstances. I sold this business in 1992 with NO bank loans or any other loans outstanding.

The building still bears my name 22 years later. But "Mutt" and "Jeff" or "Frick" and "Frack", who write a Monday column in the JS print I'm just a .........

From 2000 through 2010 I served on the Peoria County Board, electing to to run again as I was 85 years old, and left my position with ALL County funds in a positive condition.

And yes, I was arrested once in my life, but never found guilty. Sorry to disappoint some of my detractors.

Peoria County - How Did it Get in Dire Financial Straits??

Peoria County is controlled by Democrats. A majority of the Board are Democrats. The past administrator and the current administrator are Democrats. They voted to abandon BelWood Nursing Home and build a new $53 million new nursing home. (The Democrats said County owned nursing homes are "safety nets" for the poor). The new home, Heddington Oaks lost $900,000.00 in the first half of 2014. It was supposed to be self-sustaining. You recall that Heddington Oaks, like BelWood is also supported yearly by approximately $3 million of property taxpayer money.

Approximately $49 million of the $53 million to build Heddington Oaks is borrowed money to be paid back in 20-30 years with interest. In the meantime, the old nursing home, BelWood must be maintained of demolished. Estimates are $1.5 million to demolish.

Peoria County is one of the few counties, 7 at last count in 2O10, to publicly own nursing homes. The County now owns the Peoria Riverfront Museum, a museum that does not come close to meeting projections in attendance.

Peoria County also unwisely accepted the closed Correction Center on Rt. 116. The only use of the area is for old record storage. And at least one board member has the key or combination to the enclosed deteriorating 42 acre complex. To visit the records storage, two people must be present. More waste of time since the round trip is around 32 miles.

Now, Peoria County wants to cut 40 jobs, either through early retirement offering those accepting a check for $10,000.00 and $25,000.00 in extra health care benefits. Most of the cuts are to come from the Sheriff's Dept. according to the Journal Star, which makes one wonder if the county was over-staffed. No public comment yet from Republican Sheriff  McCoy.

I recall back in the mid-2000's, cuts were made in county employment yet I heard personally of no complaints by the public. I also learned that most of the positions cut were eventually filled.

In the meantime, complaints are coming from the rural area about the condition of county roads. Less and less information about what is happening to taxpayer dollars spent in the public sector is coming from our main local paper and local TV Stations. Saturday's front page of the JS had 7 FULL page ads out of 13 pages and the few reporters left at the paper are writing columns "outside" their area of history and overall knowledge. 

A good example is my next blog.

Peoria, Illinois Park District A Long Time Victim of "Biting Off More Than They Can Chew":

The Peoria Park Board, led by attorney Tim Cassidy, always bought all of Queen Bonnie's dreams of making Peoria another Cincinnati, Portland, New Orleans, or Memphis on the riverfront. They have missed every projection starting with the acceptance from the State of Illinois of the old IDOT Building on Knoxville (which they still own and maintain) the RiverPlex, the approximately $30 million zoo expansion and now their expensive move of park headquarters to the recently deserted 33,000 sq. ft. Lakeview.museum building. Plus the money they will need to borrow to the remodel the now empty old YWCA building while borrowing more money to pay for the upkeep once remodeled..

.While Pat Quinn and the Democrats stick the taxpayers with paying off all the monies owed by public entities like the Peoria Park District and the overwhelming debts of the State of Illinois.

Do not expect the closing of Donavan Golf Course and deals with private organizations to take over Central Pool to come anywhere near to closing the deficits the park district is facing presently. Expect the deficit to rise higher next year partly caused by the deficit funding RiverPlex, far greater maintenance costs of the new park headquarters, the maintenance of the new trail and the aging expense of other park facilities

The park can stave off some further deficits by raising fees and possible property taxes. The movement of dollars out of the area served by the Peoria Park District, to different tax collecting entities such as Tazewell County plus reductions in state and federal monies, was evidently not anticipated.

Back in 2002, Cassidy and Noble protested emphatically that these deficits would never happens.

I do not oppose nice things. But I've always believed one should;d have the means to pay their debts without sticking the taxpayer,especially when so many park activities are not FREE..

What is the old saying that is true? "Shit happens". Hmmm. But this s--t should have been forseen if they had a couple of intelligent business people on this "upaid" board.

What is the Queens salary? Around $135,000 plus all benefits and a later sizebale pension. Hmmm, again.

PPD Should Raise Property Taxes to Cover Park Deficits

So writes Curt Wardelman on the JSEB Opinion page. I suggest Curt must live in another County or if he really lives in Peoria possibly with a wealthy property owner. Or he is very wealthy himself. Typical political leadership; cover incompetency by raising taxes. Curt and others of the same mindset, pay attention to how and why the "leadership" of the Peoria Park District led themselves into this 'pickle'.

 Raise already very high property taxes in the Peoria area?? Good grief, Curt.

Pregnacy No Danger to Mothers

So writes Carol Arnold of Metamora on the JSEB Opinion page. Really, Miss Arnold???? Good grief.

ISIS Terrorists Compared to Abortionists

On Oct. 4, Darrell Pine of Peoria wrote on the JSEB Opinion page the above. Really, Darrell. I suggest you go to either Syria or Iraq or both and combat the ISIS while at the same time promoting the evils of abortion.

Common Core Falters

From The Hechinger Report [Independent Education News], Friday, October 3, 2014. See http://hechingerreport.org/content/teachers-souring-common-core-finds

-one-survey_17581/

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More teachers are souring on Common Core, finds one survey

By Emmanuel Felton

Fewer teachers are enthusiastic about Common Core implementation and fewer think the new standards will help their students, according to a survey sponsored by education publisher Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The percentage of teachers who are enthusiastic about Common Core - a set of academic guidelines in math and English that more than 40 states have adopted - is down from 73 percent last year to 68 this year, according to a poll of 1,600 teachers across the country. And while more teachers continue to believe that the standards will help not hurt their students - 48 percent compared to 17 percent - the percentage of teachers in the survey who think the Common Core standards will be good for most of their students is down sharply from 57 percent in last year's poll. The percentage of teachers who think it will hurt has more than doubled from 8 percent to 17 percent. And the percentage of teachers who think the standards won't make much of a difference remained the same at 35 percent.

Related: Hope and anxiety: What do teachers think about the Common Core standards? [http://hechingerreport.org/content/hope-and-anxiety-what-do-teachers

-think-about-the-common-core-standards_14897/ ]

Teacher enthusiasm appears to be declining despite the fact that more teachers report that they are prepared to teach Common Core - 79 percent this year compared to 71 percent last year - and more say implementation in their schools is going well - 68 percent compared to 62 percent.

Margery Mayer, president of Scholastic Education, points to factors outside school buildings as the reason for decline.

"Among the three most cited external factors viewed as problematic, teachers identified uncertainty about their states continuing with the Common Core. This tells us that many of the debates permeating the national dialogue are reaching and affecting teachers," said Mayer. "Despite all of this, the data says that the further along teachers are in implementation, the more likely they are to be optimistic towards the impact of the standards on their students' skills."

The survey, which was conducted in July, came after a bruising few months for the Common Core in state capitols across the country. Politicians have succeeded in getting the standards either revoked or put under review in several states. Some critics have argued the Common Core is federal overreach because it was endorsed by the Obama administration during the Race To The Top initiative, which incentivized states to adopt more rigorous standards. Others have linked the standards to increased testing and student data collection.

Related: The 'common' in Common Core fractures as state support falters  [http://hechingerreport.org/content/common-common-core-fractures-stat

e-support-falters_16420/]

The political furor over the standards has spilled into both mainstream and social media. And while the survey didn't ask about how politics were affecting teachers' perceptions of the standards, the survey did find that the teachers who had positive feelings about Common Core were more likely to have received information about the standards from professional development sessions than their peers and less likely to have received information through either the media or social networking.

The number of teachers that report receiving information about the standards from the media increased from 19 percent to 32 percent. The number reporting getting information from social media doubled from 9 percent to 18 percent.

In a separate poll recently released in Tennessee, where a debate about whether to keep the standards has escalated in the past few months, only 39 percent of teachers said they believe the standards will help students, down from 60 percent last year.

Related: Will weak teacher training ruin the Common Core? [http://hechingerreport.org/content/teachers-ready-common-core_17538/

 ]

The poll also found that a majority of Tennessee teachers - 56 percent - want the state to scrap the standards.

The hostile political environment for Common Core may not be the main reason for the decrease in support among teachers, however. The survey found that teachers with negative views of the core are more likely to express concerns that the standards are not grade appropriate and more likely to worry about how student standardized test results will affect teacher evaluations.

The survey of more than 1,600 teachers - an update of a 2013 survey also sponsored by Scholastic and the Gates Foundation - asked teachers from the 40 plus states and that District of Columbia implementing Common Core to respond to the same set of questions asked the previous year.

On the top of teachers' Common Core wish lists: 86 percent say they need more Common Core-aligned instructional materials, 84 percent say more quality professional development, and 78 say they need more planning time and opportunities to collaborate.

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Federal Workers Are Rewarded When They Waste Your Money

This IS OUR tax monies!!

 

October 1, 2014

By Diana Furchtgott-Roth

 

The federal government's fiscal year ends on September 30, concluding the month-long spending spree known as "use it or lose it" season in Washington--resulting in a slew of questionable purchases this month:

• The IRS spent $2,410,000 on "toner products" in a single purchase.

• The Department of Homeland Security paid $251,016 for "Aeron Mesh Task Chairs" and $15,198 for two pianos. Music to sooth Russia's President Putin, perhaps?
• The State Department obligated $24,969 for a "50 inch LED HD TV" for the embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, while the embassy in New Delhi, India, made a $20,362 alcohol purchase. This brought the total booze tab for the State Department to nearly $100,000 for the month of September.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs spent over $1.8 million on artwork, including $375,000 for a "Lobby Piece" and$285,000 on a "parking structure facade project" for the Public Artwork Commissioned Project at the Polytrauma & Blind Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto.
But it does not have to be that way. If federal workers were rewarded on the basis of saving taxpayer dollars rather than on spending them, some of these expenditures could be eliminated.
Of course, these purchases are a drop in the bucket compared to our total 2014 budget deficit, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will come in at about $506 billion ($3 trillion in revenue and $3.5 trillion in outlays). The year 2014 is an improvement upon 2013, when the deficit was $680 billion ($2.8 trillion in revenues and $3.45 trillion in outlays). The deficit is driven by entitlement spending, not pianos and paintings.
Even so, there should be a way to save last-minute unspent dollars, rather than spending them.
Funds appropriated to federal agencies must be obligated before October 1 or be forfeited to the Treasury. Agencies are encouraged to spend every last dime in their budgets to justify their current funding levels, in an attempt to avoid becoming a target for future spending cuts in Congress.
This results in a predictable rush for agencies to spend the rest of their budgets in the days before the end of the fiscal year. A 2013 National Bureau of Economic Research study

 by Harvard professor Jeffrey Liebman and Stanford professor Neale Mahoney found that federal spending on contracts in the last week of the year is five times higher than the weekly average.
Here are two suggestions for how to align bureaucratic incentives with those of taxpayers.
Agency employees could receive a bonus from a pool of funds equal to the smaller of half of the agency's unspent funds, or ten percent of employee salaries. (This cap would avoid the cancellation of an aircraft carrier turning federal workers into millionaires.) Pity the poor administrator determined to spend all of an agency's funds, thereby denying every employee a bonus.
Alternatively, all employees could receive an additional 1-step pay increase in the agency with the greatest savings as a percentage of its budget. All employees with the greatest increase in spending year-over-year would receive a 1-step pay decrease. Again, agency employees would compete to see who can cut costs the most.
The next Congress could make these changes and send a bill to President Obama for his signature.
Many of the purchases made during September are emblematic of government waste. Last year, the State Department spent $5 million on crystal glassware for several embassies from the Vermont manufacturer Simon Pearce and $1 million on a granite art installation for the embassy in London. TheWashington Post reported that the notorious IRS Star Trek parody video and the "lavish conference" it was screened at resulted from the 2010 use it or lose season.
Poorly vetted I.T. purchases made during use it or lose it season can have a lasting impact. In 2010, Liebman and Mahoney found that I.T. projects signed at the end of the year were about six times more likely to be of a lower quality than projects undertaken during the rest of the year.
Wasteful purchases are hardly restricted to the final months of the fiscal year. The State Department spent $400,000 on a statue entitled "Camel Contemplating Needle" for the Islamabad Embassy, in a contract order dated March 7, 2014. On June 6, 2014, the Department spent $125,199 on a Fourth of July celebration at the embassy in Ottawa, Canada.
The year-end federal spending spree will last right up until midnight September 30 as federal workers try to use up valuable unspent taxpayer dollars. The rush to spend in the month of September is a case study on the misalignment of the interests of taxpayers and federal bureaucrats. With a little resourcefulness, such as bonuses for reduced spending, Congress could encourage agencies to save money, rather than spend it.
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2014/09/30/federal_workers_are_rewarded_when_they_waste_your_money_101301.html

Peoria Illinois Park District Gets $2.5 Million From Democrat Quinn For Recreation

Of course, PPD President Tim Cassidy, a lawyer and a strong Democrat is a very poor guardian of taxpayer dollars. And Queen Bonnie while explaining the PPD would also need to kick in $1.4 million quickly stated that this PPD borrowed money would not add to the park's unusually high deficit. She states that the money would come from new bonds, bonds that must be repaid with interest. Bonds, that the JS and other naive voters must feel are paid for by "autumn leaves" which are becoming more plentiful.....

Much of the money will be spent to remodel a gym with air-conditioning to compete against the likes of the Clubs at River City, a privately owned club that pays large amounts of money to help support the park. The gym also competes against schools with gyms that SHOULD BE OPEN all year round.

The rest of the money is SUPPOSED to be spent to remodel the old YWCA facility and it's surrounding grounds.

Back in 2002, I widely predicted this day of huge park deficits would come but the JSEB, mainly Barbara Manz Drake and Mike Bailey, Bailey, who lives in Tazewell County, wondered publicly who a businessman like myself could be so wrong. Of course, Cassidy and Noble kept raisng fees so they could avoid raising taxes until they finally reached and impasse as shown by the recent publicity on over-priced and under-maintained park golf courses (I predicted someday a $60 million budget for the park. It now stands around $53 million and rising).

While the property tax payers are stuck with the increased taxes that I long ago publicly predicted, Democrat union bosses express thanks to Quinn for getting the State of Illinois further in debt for things like museums, zoos, and recreation centers (think the Riverplex that could not meet their bond payments as Cassidy and Noble promised) that create hardly any livable wage jobs after the construction money is spent. As one union boss told me, "we don't give a damn what is built, we need jobs". Of course, their generous union pensions will pay for their personal tax increases so "what the hey".

For those few of you who read me hoping to abuse my name, do not know all the good I have done for this community, including the company I founded in 1964. I employed over 70 people when I sold it in 1992. 22 years later my name still stands on the company mast.

And I have never been convicted of any offence in any court of law.

Air Strikes Far From Defeating the ISIS

And it's followers; thousands meeting in Mosques all across the world and in the United States of America. Today, 3 air strikes were initiated with TV commentators stating that one vehicle, one artillery piece and one tanker were destroyed. At the same time, 6 new vehicles, 2 new artillery pieces and 3 tanks crossed the borders into Syria and Iraq also today, all to support these "merchants of death" who POTUS believes can be annihilated without "boots on the ground".

All I can add is 'dear God' and ask the sane American people to hold he and his ilk responsible for all the deaths of our armed forces and innocent people loyal to  the United States of America.

Does Obama do some good? Sure and so did Bernie Madoff.

Peoria Public School District 'LATHANS' Want Summits' to Listen to Public Input

Such a sad request coming from so many sincere but incapable people serving as public servants; both paid and unpaid. Let's go back in time when the citizenry was also highly concerned about the direction #150 was heading. On June 3, 2002, a summit was called by board members and the Superintendent and staff. The meeting was called "The future of education in Peoria". Over 200 interested citizens signed up. The meetings were held over three days, 5:30-9:30  at Lincoln Middle School. No paid consultant ran these meetings. "The purpose is simple and important: to bring together concerned people from all across District #150 to create a shared vision for our public schools. The results of our work will provide the foundation for moving forward together". An eighty-five page document summarized this well-organized meeting.

I was in attendance all three evening and participated in 3 sessions, sometimes moving from one to another. The summit brought some 60 key recommendations. Few were followed with intensity.I have a copy of this document and would be willing to give it to Zach Oyler if he or one of his followers wish to study the contents. In fact, all board members and the current Superintendent should thoroughly study this document before calling another summit'

Did the summit succeed? Probably not as well as expected or the district wouldn't be in the somewhat sorry state it is in today.