Peoria's new Library- Additional Taxes??

Listening to the radio yesterday morning, there was a lot of talk about how much the new Library would cost the individual taxpayers. Like this was a surprise.

The electorate voted for the Library and they did not understand there would be a tax increase? Come on, give your citizens more credit than that.

Last year we heard a lot of rhetoric on what is going on at District 150, and how they want it to improve the education level. Then they are against the Library. Does not this seem a little odd. We want to increase educational opportunities but we want to stifle any new educational opportunity by not supporting a Library.

We get back at the economy. If you look at the long term outlook if there is not action on the Library soon it will not happen due to economic forces. If this is the true concern, why not come out and say that the Library and other Capital intensive projects need to be put on hold until the tax base straightens out.

Are we going to see massive amount of people protesting taxes this coming year as we see the drop in housing prices, thus lowering the base for the taxing bodies. Is this the reason that we are seeing the foot dragging on this issue?

JAZZ ON THE RIVERFRONT

Jazz on the Riverfront is Thursday nights, This coming week Todd Kelly Quintet will perform. Its on the CEFCU Stage at 7:30 P.M. It is a great venue and it is free.

Sponsored by the Peoria Park District, Cefcu, And the Central Illinois Jazz Society.

Head to the Riverfront and listen to some great music.

See you there.

Madison Golf Course

In the last few weeks the PJS has been talking about the golf courses in Peoria. From a safety standpoint and from the lack of play. I had the fortunate opportunity to play Madison today. It was a quick round and we were done before 10:00.



Probably to early to see the non golfers on the course. It was very noticeable that the amount of golfers was definitely down for a Sunday. Remembering back years ago you could not get on a Peoria course before noon without a reservation. Not the case today.



It was a great day, a good round, maybe to many putts with my new putter.

While I was in the area I stopped at Haddad's Market and picked up some items that looked great. The Stuffed Pork Chops smell great as they are finishing cooking.

I was glad I could get out today and enjoy another beautiful day of this great weekend.

Riverfront Market

It was great morning to visit the Riverfront Market in Downtown Peoria. The rivers edge is always a great place to visit. The weather was great, ane veryone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
There was a nice selection of early season crops. The arugala, beets, radishes, and onions looked great. I did purchase some Herbs and a few Mint plants for the Garden.

There was abundant parking in the nearby lots. Also quite a large amount of Baked good, bread, cookies, muffins, etc. The cut flowers were all very vibrant and quite plentiful.

There was also quite a few Jewelry and other craft booths. It was really an enjoyable part of the morning.

A definite must attend on a Saturday Morning.

Independence Day

Have a safe 4th of July. Will resume regular blogging tomorrow.

Go Redbirds!

Community Gardens where did they go?

With the current economic situation, the thought of a garden makes a lot of sense. I for one enjoy the fresh Tomatoes, Zuchini, Peppers and Onions. In the late 80's community gardens were quite common. If you lived in an apartment or house with no yard, you could rent a small space and make your own garden.

As I drive around town there are many vacant lots. Can the Neighborhood associations approach the city or county to sell them the lots that are behind in Taxes and make community gardens. Or approach Landowners to use this space for flower and vegetable production.

Looking at a garden of Pumpkin, squash and other vegetables is better than look at long grass and weeds. Put some production in the land so people have vegetables. Beside being a green alternative, this will also slow the import of crops from far away and save fuel.

In the mass merchandisers you will see food imported from all over the world. What a waste when we can grow those commodities here in Central Illinois in the summer. Home grown veggies and flowers are better than the import variety. Why not make this option available for those that have limited funds.

Productive time in the vegetable garden is a great experience. We should not forget about the lost arts of canning fresh crops. Stewed tomatoes, fresh vegetable soup, and the wonderful colors of home grown flowers.

Even though tomorrow is July 4 it is not to late to plant items in the yard. Planting marigolds today. Tomorrow will see more planting. It gets you out of the house and in the fresh air. Lets bring back the community gardens, make local grown produce a great option.

Get outside and smell the flowers.

"Another one bites the dust" continued

Watching the news tonight learned of the closing of the River Station Restaurant. Due to its loss of liquor license. Was just reported on WHOI. They are saying they will be open for the Fireworks on Friday. That will probably be its last hurrah under the current owners.


Similar instance a few blocks away the same happened at In Play before Christmas. They were selling Gift Certificates on one day and the next they are closed. Many had made plans for receptions and other events.

Yesterday there was an article that Starbucks is going to close 600 locations. There are 6600 Starbuck locations. This closure will affect 12,000 Baristas.

The economy is not a friendly environment for the big and small.

Congressional Medal of Honor

This week I was sitting in Harry Carey's restaurant in Lombard, and we were having a chat with a gentleman from Norfolk. During the discussion he was talking about taking his son to Little League. His son's team mates father was honored with The Congressional Medal of Honor. He went on to tell his son that that gentleman was a Hero.

I have never had the pleasure of meeting a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. On the way home it made me think, what do the next generation look up to as heroes. Kids today idolize sports figures, Rock and Hip Hop stars. But who are the true Heroes that these kids should look up to?

Is it the Titan of Industry, is it the hometown store owner. Is it the volunteer firefighter, is it the local Policeman.

It seems that there are many Heroes that the new generation should try to emulate. It is the hard working next door neighbor, the volunteer that gives up hours of their own time to make a difference. In this economy, these are the people making a difference. Not some brainless actor or actress. Not a Hip Hop or Rock star. They need to look around them and see the people that really are making a difference in their community and their life.

We are heading into the Fourth of July, Independence Day, a day of celebration and a day of remembering those that have gone before. Think of the Founding Fathers, Think of the people around you that make a difference in any positive way.

Have a great Holiday.

PJ Star- Monday's interesting look at the economy

Inside the local and State section you will find the bankruptcies and the DUI's. What an interesting combination. And today they threw in the Peoria County Court records. What a Bonanza of information.

We were discussing this info today. It seems like the bankruptcy numbers have been rising. With the change in the bankruptcy laws you would have thought that these numbers would not be rising.

What an interesting read today.

Safety on the Golf Course

Today's PJ Star had a commentary about the hazards of playing golf at Madison and Newman Golf Course in Peoria.

Earlier in the week there was also an article about the number of rounds being played on Peoria courses is behind last year.

Is this a coincidence?

I did play at Kellogg today and the Madison/ Newman situation was quite the discussion. I personally like both courses. Especially Madison it is easily walkable and close to downtown. This course seems to have a lot of senior and women players. The news about the course will affect these two groups the most.

To preface this I also belong to the Riverplex, I have never had a problem there or at Madison and Newman. It is unfortunate that these types of things have come up.

With the episodes at Steamboat Days, and now the golf courses it could be a long Summer.

Is this a result of a poor economy, or are there other things involved. I am addicted to Golf, I hope we do not have the results of another golfing trip I had several years ago. There is a Country Club next to the Office of Emerson Electric in Saint Louis. The Country Club is fenced with Concertina wire around some of the fenced area. They also had security on the course. This was several years ago. Hope it does not come to that. Golf is an enjoyable game, we are spoiled here in Peoria since it is very reasonable to play a round.

Let us hope that these were isolated cases. This is one sport that young and old can play. Taking the opportunity away from so many would be a travesty.

Pizza Inn- a place that is worth the stop

Tonight we dined at the Pizza Inn, As always it was excellent. This little spot with its buffet of salad, pizza, stromboli, spaghetti and tonights feature was chicken wings.

With the coupon out of the paper the mea for 2 was 11.00 and some change. Sweet!

Check it out, its worth the visit-- look for the coupon to make it an extra value.

Remeber the song that had the lyrics "Another one bites the dust"

The local economy has taken its toll as another restaurant bites the dust. Schlotsky's on Scenic Drive recently closed. Adding to the growing list that includes The Cutter in Dunlap, The Steak /Italian restaurant on Court in Pekin, The Chocolate shop across from the Pekin Mineral Springs Park.

Will the sluggish economy support local businesses or will we turn into Restaurant Chain, Retail Chain or another Bloomington Normal?

tracer bullets all around

Tonight, riding back from Chicago, The lightning bugs resembled tracer bullets being fired at you from the deck of an aircraft carrier. The fields were filled with the little glow of millions of these wondrous creatures.

Nature has wondrous ability to amaze.

The Proud Uncle

I received a phone call tonight that my Nephew had finished school and had received his PHD from Illinois State. It is in Psychology. He will be working in Byron IL as a School Psychologist. He also got married this year over Memorial Day Weekend.

My other Nephew finished his school this year as well. Getting his law degree from Stanford University. He to will get married this year.

These guys accomplishments are great. But I can still beat them in Golf.

New Season

Today, I was listening to the radio and a commercial came on about the five seasons of the year. The fifth season was a special season. Deere Season.

I think we now have a Sixth Season. It starts this time of year when these tents start to pop up all over Peoria and Tazewell county. Some have big Black Cat symbols others just the famous big banner announcing FIREWORKS.

Every kid in the area wants Mom and Dad to stop to get FIREWORKS!

Could we call that Sixth Season Firecracker Season.

here must be quite the markup in these items, they pop up quicker than the PayDay Loan businesses.

Hope you all have a safe Firecracker Season.

Coyote Creek

Finally played Coyote Creek!

You have heard the stories about the Golfball eating Landscape. Do not take in the stories, go out and play the golf course. It is fun and a Beautiful course.
Saturday was a great day, the course was in great shape and it was fun.

The greens were fast, the fairways, though narrow were great.

Oh by the way, the golfball eating landscape should be full from all of my golfballs. So go soon before they get hungry again.

ALLERGIES

Have you noticed at work, school and out and about that the people with Allergies are seeming to be everywhere. I was picking up a Prescription this morning and on the drive back it made me wonder.

Is the increase in Allergies we are seeing directly or indirectly related to the economy. The observation is that as the price of fuel has increased we see less maintenance on the right of way of the infrastructure. Along I74 and I474 much of the grasses and weeds have not been cut or sprayed. This gives and increase of Pollen production of Golden Rod, and other noxious weeds. Then add the grasses that are now big enough to flower and produce seeds. The range of the that little pollen speck is huge.

Then add the wet conditions, and early cool spell allowed these grasses and weeds to get off on a great start of production.

When we get used to the headlines of the cost of this rising, and that rising due to fuel prices. We now have to wonder if it affecting our health as well.

From this runny nose to the next you encounter, it may be the grass and weeds that we have not had at this level for many years.

Ethanol and $8.00 corn

This week looking at the price of gas in Houston TX, I noticed the station did not have 10% ethanol in their fuel. We in the Midwest are used to seeing the little sticker on the pump. With the escalating price of corn will we see less Ethanol being used in the future.

If you read the newsmags, Ethanol has a large target on its back. It will be very interesting to see the first Etahnol plant come on line in Soperton GA that uses BioMass to make the ethanol and not the "Yellow Gold" Corn.

The downside to this is the hit the farm community will take if the Ethanol market does show some weekness.

Hope the farmers that will have a crop to bring in this year can make a great living on the high priced corn. The inputs for producing this crop have escalated as well. If you look at some of the inputs like Anhydrous the prices have doubled and tripled. Herbicide, Pesticide and Seed have risen greatly as well.

Some say farming is legalized gambling. I wish them well in the new economy.

Dr. Economides from the University of Houston recently spoke in Charleston about Ethanol and BioDiesel. This is an excerpt from Charleston.net report.

"Economides described ethanol, a much-touted alternative "green" fuel, as "the biggest scam in the energy business of the last 100 years."
It takes so much raw product — in this case, corn — to produce a gallon of ethanol that it takes more energy to produce the fuel than the product provides, he said.
If the U.S. converted all its corn supply to ethanol, it would provide for only 20 percent of the country's oil consumption, he said.
Further, if all soybeans in the U.S. were converted to biodiesel, 96 percent of diesel fuel in the U.S. still would come from traditional sources, he said.
By 2030, 87 percent of energy still will come from oil, gas and coal, Economides said. There are no alternatives to traditional fuels in the foreseeable future, he said. "

To many flights...to many ceremonies...

Sorry for the absence from the blogosphere.....It is time to start back in the world of blogging.

Since the last blog the price of gas has blasted off the scale. The price of any known vegetable or fruit has risen beyond its true value....

A friend had talked about eating healthier with organics- hope they have a money tree at home.

Sorry folks with Kids, The station wagon and every travel team possible. Do not know how you do it.

Looking around town at lunch time during the week the restaurants are empty. The golf courses on weekends have tee times available before noon.

The Market down today over 200 points, where will it stop? Wait till the new headlines tomorrow.

Lets find some free things to do!!!!!

PJS DO THE CUBS PROUD

I was reading my morning Journal Star and went to the Major league standings for the scores. I see that the Cubs are listed in First Place. The News last night said they lost in extra innings to to the Brewers.

How could this be?

Is it a new conspiracy by Gatehouse to make the Chicago Teams look better. We get the news snippets from Chicago in the First section.

Where is Muldar and Scully? Is this something the Lone Gunmen have been working on and can provide the correct answer.

"The Truth is out There"