Peoria Illinoisan

I did a double-take while reading the Police, Fire & Courts today.  A feisty woman was bit in the arm Thursday night while trying to wrestle her stereo back from a theif.

What time did this happen?  10:30 at night.

What was she doing?  Tending to her flower garden while listening to music.

What time did this happen?  10:30 at night.

And her name?  Victoria Shipley-Flower.  Seriously.

No word on what Mrs Flower was jamming to while she was working on her flower-garden in the dark.  Maybe the theif was actually the neighborhood noise police who didn’t approve of her choice of music.

               

Today’s nice Journal Star article about the Children’s Museum got me thinking…

The Peoria Park District, Lakeview Museum and The Junior League of Peoria.  Interesting how these three groups are tied together.

The Junior League of Peoria helped found Lakeview Museum.

The Junior League holds their monthy meetings at Lakeview.

Lakeview sits on Peoria Park District property.

The Park District is vacating it’s offices for the Junior League’s Children’s Museum.

The Peoria Park District’s offices will move to the old Lakeview Museum.

Lakeview is moving out and thumbing their noses at everyone on the way.

If you’re wondering why the Children’s Museum isn’t part of “Museum Squareâ€?, the answer is very simple: The powers that be at Lakeview have an ego and elitistism that can’t be denied.  Small children will likely not be very welcome at the new museum.  I was at Lakeview’s version of an interactive kids exhibit not long ago.  It was what it was- not great, a few simple playthings, but not horrible.  Lakeview was trying.  But in a moment that typifies their attitude, an older lady who was working there was staring down my kids as if she were guarding the Mona Lisa.  Aren’t the kids supposed to play with the ‘interactive’ exhibit?

Would the Children’s Museum be a good fit downtown?  Talking in generalities, yes, but not with Lakeview running it.  The Park District, while they like to cause their own controversies, have bent over backwards to make this thing work but at the same time are wisely keeping their hands off of it.  The Junior League is doing their own private fundraising (not begging the city for cash), designing and building it, involving the community, and recruiting local experts.  They’re doing it right.

I hope Lakeview succeeds.  Lord knows with all of my tax dollars going to them, it’d better succeed, but unfortunately Lakeview’s elitism screwed up an opportunity to add a great exhibit to “museum squareâ€? which people actually will travel to.  In the end, it probably works out better this way… at least for the youngins.

I’m not the superstitious sort, but maybe I shouldn’t have made the Arbors my #13 post on Peoria Landmarks. I noticed the council voted down the rebuilding last week, based on cost. Today’s article sheds light on the subject.

Here’s my win-win solution. Let Bradley, who’s creeping over that way in a big hurry and turning the neighborhood upsidedown, as a neighborly gesture of good-will to the residents of the Arbor District and the entire West bluff, pay or at least help pay the costs to rebuild the structure. In concrete.

The Arbor district is already fighting for survival, with Bradley taking out Maplewood and possibly more, will we look back and realize that when the last remaining Arbor came down, it was the final blow?

I recently found this photo and thought it was worth sharing. The Par-a-Dice appears to be in the foreground, with Peoria in the distance; downtown on the lefthand side. The photo was taken by InChase, an Indianapolis based storm chasing team.

5-1

3-2

8-4

Better luck next time…

There are three projects that the PJStar reports the Catholic Diocese is looking into.

1. Adding a grade school to St. Jude Parish, out north. I can’t speak to this. With all the expansion out north, I would imagine a school is needed and who wants to drive all the way into town to go to St. Vincent?

2. The High School. I like how they talk about the aging and troubled Notre Dame school building. Ironically, that’s why Spalding Academy was closed, to move up the modern Bergan building. 17 years later and it’s “aging” and has “building issues”. Code for: WE’RE OUTTA HERE!

3. St. Mark Grade School tearing down it’s school and rebuilding in the exact same location. I’m not one to advocate taking of land, but with the acquisition of some not so significant properties (probably already owned by Bradley), St. Mark could greatly expand. Simply giving the school a full size gym and a separate lunch room would increase it’s footprint on their tiny lot with a tiny playground and no parking.

Should be fun to watch, whatever they decide. Give them credit for this much- At least they aren’t pretending to want the public’s input (after the decision was made anyway) such as 150 does.

NPR has an extensive 40 minute interview with Ray Davies, focusing on his recently released first solo album (which Rolling Stone calls a “masterpiece�)

Most interesting is Ray talking about exploring his musical roots, which eventually led him to move from the England to New Orleans in 2001 and then to his being shot in 2004. He recounts chasing down the man who stole his girlfriend’s purse because “I didn’t feel it was right�, and tells of the look of fear on the man’s face before the trigger was pulled.

Good stuff from the storyteller.

Thanks to CP for the link.

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=3-Apr-06

   

Strange update from deepthroat…

Did a Peoria city code enforcement agent drive by, or did the owners come home and realize that their contractors were smoking pot and the fence looked like hell?

Update: The city made them take it down.  Good to see someone’s doing their job. 

A friend of mine sent me this picture.

The house on the left is a notorious “party house” (to phrase it nicely)

The family house on the right apparently got sick of the party house and erected this fence.

Notice the nice side of the fence is facing the owners of the fence. Usually the posts face the owners of the house, and the fence boards face out. Not here.

I want to know what’s up with the curve at the end? My first impression was that the party happy hippie neighbors put it up and couldn’t dig a straight line, but since it’s the homeowners on the right who actually put it up, I’m a little confused.

Also interesting is that it is in their front yard, continuing all the way to the street. I’m no expert on city code, but this can’t be legal (not that what happens at the party house is legal either, but that’s another story)