Sweater knits for the thug in your life

Personally, I love soft, flowing sweater knits. However, I would have never envisioned sweater knits the way Natalia Mencej did... six cool, black guys walking down the runway; all holding cute lil pugs; wearing slouchy, urban insprired gear; made out of cuddly sweater knits. I think I like it. What do you think? Should we call the fashion police?

Please send prayerful thoughts to Sharon Crews

Lately I had been missing Sharon Crews' dialogue in comments and imagined that she was probably out swimming and playing with her "pretend grand kids." Unfortunately, that's not the case. Sharon, our local advocate for teachers and better schools, is currently undergoing some very serious health issues.

Sharon, your absence is hurting the dialogue. If you don't come out, Jon won't come out and then we see less of Frustrated. In other words, my page views are down! Namaste'

Marching On - taking on Logan Park

Join Howard Nathan & Co., on Saturday, July 28th @ 1414 S. Livingston Street, Logan Park.

Photos from Kerry Hayes' Facebook page.

Ken Hinton coming to Carver Center could mean Magic

If you recall back in April it was reported in the local newspaper that:

"Carver Center is being considered as a possible home for a Magic Johnson Bridgescape learning center program, which is designed for urban high school students who have dropped out, or who are at risk of doing so, but who want to earn a high school diploma.

The Bridgescape center program, if enacted in Peoria, would be the first in Illinois. The program was formed last year through a collaboration between Magic Johnson Enterprises, founded in 1987 by former Los Angeles Lakers great Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and EdisonLearning, a leading international educational service provider."

News that former Superintendent of PSD150, Ken Hinton is taking over Carver Center, renews hope that the Magic Johnson Bridgescape learning program could indeed find a home here in Peoria. It's certainly a plus that Mr. Hinton is also a former regional vice president for Edison Schools.

One familiar face in Peoria is making a re-emergence to civic duty.

The call to action came when the doors at one local community center shut last year. Former district 150 Superintendent Ken Hinton has long been known for educating young minds in the city of Peoria. Now Hinton is taking on a new job as Interim Director at Carver Center. His challenge reopening the center which closed last September due when the money ran out.

For months Hinton and a core group of supporters have worked behind the scenes gathering information to put into expanded activities he hopes will serve diverse groups. Right now the focus is on trying to get the building repaired which could costs up to $2 million.

Hinton realizes that turning George Washington Carver Center into a world class facility will take time but he's preparing a business model he says will support programs in his absence.

Carver Center hopes to get a sizable portion of tax increment financing money from the city of Peoria. Hinton says collaboration with other groups will be a big part of the agency's success. He's reached out to the United Way to restore funding the agency had lost and plans to seek more financial help through grants.

Hinton credits his family with a lesson he learned long time ago...serving others and he believes reopening these doors again will show residents what kind of valuable asset the center can become.

It's as if programming at Trewyn and Harrison was an after thought

The first full day of school in District 150 is August 20, 2012. At Monday night’s Board meeting the school board was prepared to vote on expanding the ELITE program, which has been highly touted as “successful” (although there is no data to prove it) into Harrison School. The founder of the ELITE Program, Carl Cannon was “caught by surprise” by this information and is not prepared to expand.

Now the vote has been tabled until the August 16, 2012, Board meeting – four (4) days before school starts. Here’s the problem with that…the programming for Trewyn, which is totally based around the ELITE program is now up in the air, because everything about the ELITE contract is now open to renegotiation. As an extension of that debacle, the programming for Harrison is now up in the air.

The Superintendent “announced” in May that she was expanding the program. Why didn’t the Board make sure that Administration was making the necessary plans in May, instead of waiting and finding out a few weeks before school starts that as a result of the ELITE snafu, they have major programming issues at two of the inner city schools that need the most planning and attention?

ELITE founder surprised by concerns

ELITE founder Carl Cannon says he's not ready to expand his behavioral management program to a second District 150 school this year.

Monday, the board tabled a vote to renew the one-year licensing agreement with Cannon for use of intellectual property rights for ELITE at Trewyn until the Aug. 16 board meeting. Delaying the vote gives them a chance to settle questions about who can make decisions to carry the program to other schools - Cannon or the park district.

District 150 Superintendent Grenita Lathan announced plans to start the program at a second school during her State of the Schools address in May. She eventually decided to expand the program to Harrison. Neither Cannon nor the park district has made public pronouncements about expanding the program this year.

City Manager vacation

The President of our Neighborhood Association is doing a really good job keeping us informed. Lately she has been sending us a copy of the Issues Updates that the City Manager provides to the Mayor and other City leaders.

Today, I received the most recent Issues Update. As I skimmed through it, what jumped out at me was a paragraph entitled "City Manager Vacation..."

"Beginning next Friday, July 27, 2012, I will be... on vacation... In my absence, Chief Settingsgaard will be Acting City Manager."

Silly me, I thought Police Chief Settingsgaard was otherwise occupied.

The magic of Carl Cannon

The biggest problem that many who comment on this blog seem to have with District 150, is that they roll out programs so fast that they don’t check back to make sure that the administrative procedure is in place to implement it; or they don’t check to make sure it’s working before they start boasting about it. The ELITE Program is just the latest example of this dysfunction.

It would appear that Grenita Lathan’s way of rolling out a program is not conducive with the way Peoria Park District President, Bonnie Noble rolls out a program. As a result, expanding the ELITE Program into another District 150 school has been tabled until the Board can talk to Carl Cannon and Bonnie Noble about the issues of the licensing agreement.

Superintendent Lathan doesn’t appear to appreciate the fact that the Park District actually has the final say in how the program is expanded, is now threatening to reopen and renegotiate the contract and it's fees.

What’s wrong with the contract and the fees? If there were issues with it – why was it on the Board Agenda to be renewed? Additionally, why was it on the Board Agenda, when they hadn't even talked to Cannon or Noble about the expansion or seen results?

What I find MOST interesting, is the fact that this School Board entered into three contracts, totaling $365,000 a year,  in the first place, without even knowing who owns the program. Before signing the next contract, they may want to look further than Carl Cannon as to who really owns the ELITE Program, from what I am hearing somebody else actually owns it and Carl is limited as to how far he can actually take it.

Plans to expand ELITE program hit snag at District 150 board meeting

Peoria School District 150's plans to expand the highly praised ELITE program from Trewyn Middle School to Harrison Community Learning Center have hit a snag over questions about the total cost of the program - almost $1 million over three years for one school - and who has the right to authorize an expansion, ELITE founder Carl Cannon or Cannon's employer, Peoria Park District.

Three different contracts, totaling about $365,000 a year, govern the school district's use of the ELITE program, according to District 150 treasurer Dave Kinney. Two are with the park district, including one that pays for salaries of several ELITE program workers. While the park district pays Cannon's salary, District 150 also has an $80,000 licensing agreement with him for use of the ELITE program, which is his intellectual property.

Concerns about the program came out when the board was scheduled to vote on renewing the licensing agreement with Cannon.

"The question I keep trying to settle in my mind is how much we're paying at one school and what we're paying for," board member Linda Butler said.

Her question resonated with most of her colleagues, who voted 5-1 to table adopting the licensing agreement until they could talk to Cannon and Peoria Park District Director Bonnie Noble. Martha Ross voted no and Rick Cloyd abstained.

District 150 Superintendent Grenita Lathan said she initially was under the impression Cannon had the right to make decisions on when and how to expand the ELITE program to other schools.

Earlier Monday, Noble said The park district wants to see results from ELITE's experience at Trewyn before spreading the program to other schools.

"I don't know if we're talking about expanding," Noble said. "I want us to be positive that we don't do it too fast and that we do it right. I want to make sure there's data that shows the school has stabilized."

Noble said the park district also wants to be sure ELITE can sustain itself without Cannon.

Meanwhile... the gun play continues in the streets of Peoria

Wake up Peoria, with all the gun play going on, ANYBODY is a potential victim.

The video above was shot locally, all participants are locals. Michael Alexander is a native PIAien, who has lost loved ones in the struggles with the streets; he is a product of PSD150.

The video was shot mainly in Taft Homes, where Alexander grew up and is respected as a grass roots leader. Lately Michael has been marching with Howard Nathan &  Co. to Stop the Violence. He is also the younger brother of Roosevelt, who is the coach for the Proctor Center Baseball Team, who recently won the City Championship over Notre Dame.

Take The Guns From Your Sons is currently up on cdbaby.com. When you download the song for $.99, part of the proceeds will go towards helping uninsured gun shot victims with funeral assistance.

Of course it’s not necessary to have a new backpack…

… every year, but it sure makes kids feel good when they do.

I confess, every year we purchase a new backpack for our student, rather she needs one or not. Every year her “colors” change. I support that whole heartily. We also purchase at least a couple of new mechanical pencils; but we recycle paper, notebooks, crayons, markers and colored pencils.

The topic of student backpack and supply needs have come up recently in comments. We all know the annual backpack give away season is upon us. And yes, we all realize that many of the same people attend more than one event and get more than one backpack.

At Quest Charter Academy, they purchase a backpack and supplies for all of their students. Those who get free lunch and/or books get the backpack and supplies for free; others are required to pay the school about $17. Is it a stretch to then think that more than likely, some of the Quest students also receive free backpack and supplies from other places? Not really.

In my opinion, it would be very difficult to regulate something like a backpack give away, when all across the City of Peoria church groups and civic organizations are looking to help their patrons and or clients who may need help getting students ready for back to school.

These backpack giveaways are also happening in Pekin, Canton, and Morton, as well as other places; and there are many opportunities for all types of people to “be greedy” and chase down “free stuff” that they allegedly “feel entitled” to have.

There are some good suggestions coming through in comments about how to stop people from getting more than one backpack. I like the one where the backpacks are donated to the School District and they are given out by the teachers in the classroom. That really is one way to make sure that each child receives one backpack.

However, keep in mind that the main backpack event at the Dream Center is about more than backpacks and supplies. It is also an opportunity for students to receive the necessary physicals so that they are truly ready for school. Any dent that can be made in the number of students who show up to school without the necessary physicals is worth giving folks a couple of extra backpacks.

Sure, those knuckleheads running around getting as many backpacks as they can are annoying. However, let’s not let the fact that some folks may be “greedy” make us lose sight of the good work the Dream Center is doing for the whole student, which in my opinion is what really matters.

Congratulations to Proctor Center's Baseball Team...

They won City Championship today!

Related article: At Proctor, baseball again is on the rise.

Stop the Violence March-Pierson Hills - Today

This evening at 6:00 p.m., Howard Nathan and Company "will be taking on the Pierson Hills."

                                 

Yes Dennis, there is a double standard in sentencing...

... and this is a prime example:

Drug rehab requested by judge

A mother's call to help her grown son produced a large heroin and cocaine arrest in Washington this spring and, in the long run, perhaps the help her son will use.

Tyler W. Mabrey, 25, of 202 Main St. will spend the five-year prison term he received Monday at a facility with a drug rehabilitation program if the state Department of Corrections can find room to accommodate the request by Tazewell County Circuit Judge Scott Shore.

Washington police on May 5 knew only that they were responding to a mother's report that her son was suicidal and had locked himself in the bathroom, according to a court affidavit. Mabrey's brother told them when they arrived that he had heard a thud from behind the locked door.

With the mother's permission, the officers kicked the door open and found Mabrey unconscious on the floor with several hypodermic needles around him, the records stated.

They also found $39,000 in cash bundled in $1,000 and $2,000 packets "in a manner consistent with those who sell drugs," according to the affidavit.

Among the drugs police found were two loose bags of crack cocaine, seven more sealed ones and 13 bags of a brown, rocky substance they later determined was heroin, the affidavit stated.

The officers also found drug paraphernalia and learned from tests conducted that Mabrey's clothes contained drug residue.

Mabrey pleaded guilty to possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver after a second charge was dismissed. The Class 1 felony was punishable by four to 15 years in prison.

Mabrey's mother told police her son was unemployed and was receiving disability payments. Source

Grinnell Street Boys & Girls Club closed for security reasons

What does that tell us about the success of the Harrison School/Neighborhood Impact Zone?

The East Bluff Boys and Girls Club (shown in photo above) is already crammed full of kids, in an area where crime is just a little too normal (the Glen Oak School Neighborhood Impact Zone). They are confined to playing on a very small lot, directly across the street from the Glen Oak Community Center. Now the Boys and Girls Club is adding 60 children from the Grinnell Street location to the mix - is there even room? And why bus them from the Harrison area to the East Bluff, can't they make use of the Harrison School, birth-through-eighth grade Community Learning Center?

Boys and Girls Club's site closed for summer
About 60 children being transported to East Bluff due to security concerns

The Boys and Girls Club's Grinnell Street site near the old Harrison Homes is closed for the summer because of security reasons, according to Leslie Matuszak, the agency's director. Instead, employees or parents are transporting about 60 children daily from the Harrison Homes area to the Boys and Girls Club along Kansas Street in the East Bluff.

"We're primarily running everything from our East Bluff location, primarily because of safety and costs," Matuszak said.

The closing stemmed from concerns about the safety of staff, as well as children who walk back and forth to Boys and Girls Club programs during the summer. Though the club is not responsible for children en route, Matuszak said some children have been approached by drug dealers or bullies as they walked back and forth to the Grinnell site.

"I can't pay a security guard $28 an hour and that's the going rate," she said. Security is less of a problem when school is in session, Matuszak added. Increased activity in and around Harrison Community Learning Center acts as a safety buffer.

One mother, dropping her children off at a van parked at the Grinnell Street site Monday, said her children preferred the East Bluff location. She did not want her named used.

Though the Grinnell site is closed, the agency still offers some programs on the south side this summer. For instance, children walk to a tutoring and mentoring program the Boys and Girls Club offers at Manual Academy.

The summer closing has also resulted in adjustments in the maintenance of a teaching garden the club maintains at Harrison school. Originally, children from the Grinnell Street site would care for the garden during the summer months. Currently, Boys and Girls Club staff transports children from the Kansas Street site a few times a week.

The Grinnell Street location has been closed since mid-June and will reopen in mid-August. About 500 children are involved in the club's summer programs. Source

Chastian Park is the perfect outdoors venue for the Jackson's Unity Tour. Personally, some of my best concert experiences EVER were in Chastain Park. However, I'm not so sure I would buy a ticket to see these guys. At the very least, I would need for them to come with a Pepper's Ghost (often called a hologram) of Michael Jackson. They don't sound too bad though...

Pepper's Ghost/hologram of Tupac

Is the Addidas "slave shoe" controversy a double standard?

Not kahute!

ADDIDAS

“The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery. Jeremy Scott is renowned as a designer whose style is quirky and lighthearted. Any suggestion that this is linked to slavery is untruthful.”

TOM FORD

Black leather wedge sandal with chain ankle-strap, 5″ heel, in sizes 5.5–12. $1,290. Italy. Bergdorf’s.

Very kahute!

Louis Farrakhan to Lead Nation of Islam...

Into Streets to Stem Chicago, Urban Violence

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan announced that he would lead the members of the Fruit of Islam, the men of the Nation of Islam, into the streets to stem the bloody tide of violence that has gripped Chicago and many cities across America in an interview with the “governor of talk radio” Cliff Kelley of WVON 1690AM July 6.

Despite record-breaking heat outside, Minister Farrakhan arrived at the radio studio looking cool, calm and focused for the discussion with his long-time friend.

Mr. Kelley spoke of the recent killing of seven-year-old Heaven Sutton, who sadly was gunned down outside of her family’s Westside home as she sold candy and cold drinks with her mother. She was buried earlier that day. Minister Farrakhan addressed the killing going on in Chicago, which has made nationwide headlines.

“When the Nation of Islam was strong, we were in the streets and when we were in the streets, the violence—we had it—but it was not like it is today, so Brother Farrakhan is going to lead the Fruit of Islam into the streets. We are going to help our people,” said Minister Farrakhan. “We have to take our teaching and our example to our people,” said Minister Farrakhan.

“It is a tremendous tragedy and a scourge on our community that after we have suffered so much from so many, for so long, that we would become the worst enemies of self. This is grievous. We are filled with self-hatred and I have to say to us as parents, we took our eyes off the prize,” he added.

When Dr. King and the civil rights movement opened the door for integration and made great strides in the areas of politics, education, employment, and public accommodations, those who lived through the era did not sit down and teach the struggle to the generations that followed, the Minister noted.

“I say this to those who ‘so-called’ are wise and want to retire, there’s too much ignorance in our community for us to retire. Young men for war, old men and women for counsel. It’s the counsel of the elders that is missing in the community, and it is such that there is such a gap that the youth sometimes don’t want to hear from their elders. We’ve got a lot of work to do.” - Minister Farrakhan -

“The only way leaders will unite is when there is a cause bigger than our vanity, bigger than our egos and the cause is the survival of our people for we are facing extinction,” he added.

He said the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the presence of the men of the Nation of Islam could forestall some of the senseless violence, and the youth have to be given gainful employment.

“We have to put our young people to work and give them hope that there is a better life for us, not sitting around waiting for President Obama or others to create enough jobs for us. We have to get together and create jobs for ourselves and our people and this we hope to share with all of our people because the battle is in our hands now, and we should take up the challenge to create jobs, employment and give our people intelligent discourse that they may come alive as human beings rather than the way we are acting at present,” the Minister said.

He also chided some spiritual leaders for their “bourgeois attitude” staying inside of their houses of worship while death, havoc, and mayhem fills the streets. The young people don’t feel a connection with the religious leaders, nor do they feel the presence of love, he said.

“These young people are our children. They are our flesh and our blood, so we don’t go in the streets like some army to ‘take back our streets’ we didn’t own the streets in the first place. But if we get our young people together and pool our resources, we could own every street where we live,” said the Minister. “We’re coming in the streets to show our young people the love that they are missing.”

Then, with specialized training and highly militarized police forces in the cities of America, the Minister, spoke words of warning.“Time is on our side, but time can be our enemy if we don’t act in accord with the time,” said Minister Farrakhan. “A slaughter is on the way if we don’t make the change now,” he said.

Coverage of Saturday's Stop the Violence March-Taft Homes

Dozens of Peorians took the street Saturday night in an effort to curb violence in the city. The "Stop the Violence March" took off on Adams Street and continued through the Taft Homes.

Organizer Howard Nathan said he knew he had to do something when his Mom called him, scared of the growing violence in her neighborhood. "These kids are not out here just fighting anymore," said Nathan. "They are out here shooting. They are using guns, big guns, guns we don't even know, haven't even heard of."

Participants said it's not one area of Peoria that's the problem, but violence in the entire community has to stop. Currently the city's homicide count for 2012 stands at seven.Nathan plans to march in a different area of the city each week until the violence stops.

"Every week, every week, as long as we can just get more people listening and coming out joining us," said Howard. "Who knows how long it will go, until some of this stops."

"We just got to take it to every area that's experienced a homicide, you know what I mean," said march participant Kelvin Parker. "Not even necessarily gun violence but just a death is a death. Homicide or not, a death is a death. We just got to take it city wide and not just down here. We got to take it far and beyond."

Participants said an attitude change has to take place in the city, with an emphasis on family and self-respect.

"We just got to take more interest in our children cause sometimes the children can turn to the streets if they can't turn to their parents for guidance and love," said Parker. "If we as parents give our kids that time they need to listen and see what their life is like, then I think that might stop it."

Nathan hopes the message spreads across Peoria and beyond.Source

It was supposed to be an oasis in the urban desert

... instead the new Glen Oak Community Learning Center looks like a desert. The grass is dead, newly planted trees are dead and the property was devoid of any activity on a beautiful summer day. A "four-city-block area" with dead grass all around.

It could be that the District doesn't have the funds to run the sprinkler system (assuming one was installed for brand new landscaping); or maybe it's because they can't afford the water bill.

Recall the hype: Glen Oak Community Learning Center In the very heart of Peoria’s historic East Bluff neighborhood, a four-city-block area is being profoundly transformed via a unique set of public and private partnerships. The crown jewel in this development is an all-new 126,000-square-foot Glen Oak School and Community Center that will serve pupils from birth through eighth grade. From both urban and architectural design perspectives, the school itself breaks new ground by providing an all-weather pedestrian street that links a two-story academic wing with a one-story community facility wing. This pedestrian way is on axis with Frye Street, an important east-west connector that extends all the way to Prospect Avenue on the eastern edge of the East Bluff, and to Knoxville Avenue on its western edge.

Back of Community Learning Center

Glen Oak’s all-weather pedestrian street is intended to serve as the nucleus for the entire four-block development. Both the school’s expansive media center (to the north) and its cafeteria and multi-purpose community space (to the south) open directly to this interior venue. In the academic wing to the north, integrated learning laboratories can be found on both levels, which can be used collaboratively by student groups across several classes and grade levels. In the community wing to the south, residents of the surrounding neighborhood can take a night class, utilize the full-service gymnasium, or enjoy an exercise routine while looking out over the public park.

The Glen Oak development does not stop with simply a new school building. It includes a new public park (above the 110 deep wells that were dug for the geothermal heating and cooling system serving the school), designed in cooperation with the Peoria Park District, and a coordinated ensemble of new streets and intersections around the perimeter of the four-block site, designed and built by the City of Peoria. Beyond these public stakeholders, the private businesses in the adjacent Wisconsin Avenue Business District have begun organizing themselves in an effort to provide a powerful and dynamic private-sector complement to all of these public sector inputs.

Frye Street side of Community Learning Center

The Glen Oak Birth—8th Grade Community Learning Center development represents all the best and most profound elements of sustainability. The new school itself includes a geothermal heating and cooling system, generous amounts of natural daylighting, extensive use of recycled materials and systems, numerous bioswales and other natural catchments, and other up-to-the-minute green features. More importantly, it returns a significant portion of formerly “developed” urban area to a “natural” state (in the form of a public park, school sports fields and several outdoor nature explorer classrooms). And, perhaps most critically, it rejuvenates and “recycles” an existing, older neighborhood taking full advantage of all of the embodied energy and infrastructure that such a neighborhood has to offer.

UPDATED: Construction on the new Quest Charter Academy has NOT begun

Photos taken today, back/front Loucks on left, back/front Columbia on right.

School starts back at Quest Charter Academy in just a little over a month and it looks like construction is finally underway they are doing some work on the roof.

Quest is slated to make improvements on a portion of Loucks and the old Columbia School this summer. The work was reportedly scheduled to begin after the school year ended in June and is scheduled to be completed by August 16, 2012, in time for school's first high school class.

For the 2012-2013 school year 5th – 6th grade students at Quest will move to the Columbia School building at 2612 N. Bootz Ave; while the 7th - 9th graders will attend school in the Loucks building.

The plan is to demolish about 25,000 square feet, leaving about 55,000 square feet for school use. The part  of Loucks scheduled for demolition is in the oldest section of the building (shown in the photo above), which was built in 1914. (click images to enlarge)

District 150 sold the two buildings to Peoria County for $300,000. The County sold the buildings to Quest. The County also extended a $500,000 line of credit to the Quest board to make repairs on the building. Quest's board members were reportedly scheduled to vote on issuing bids for demolition and improvements immediately after receiving the funds. A quick review of the website for the Quest Board did not clearly indicate what date that meeting would be held.

click image to enlarge

Romney makes lip smacking promises to the NAACP

With much smacking of his lips, Romney vows to ‘make things better in the African-American community’...

Making the most prominent appearance in front of a largely black audience of his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney criticized President Obama’s record on education and the economy at the NAACP’s national convention and boldly declared he was the candidate who represented the “real, enduring best interest of African-American families.”  “If you want a president who will make things better in the African-American community, you are looking at him,” Romney said, causing many in crowd to boo.

The mood in the room was tense. Most of Romney’s 25-minute speech was greeted with silence and muted applause by the largely pro-Obama crowd. But the Republican candidate drew boos several times from the audience of more than 1,000, the loudest when he declared his plans to repeal “Obamacare,” the term he used to describe the national health care law passed by the president.

In front of a crowd that was almost entirely black, Romney emphasized he wanted to campaign in front of all Americans, even if he is unlikely to win their votes.

Romney’s remarks were much different than those he gives in front of largely-white crowds, as he pointedly emphasized his education reform ideas, which make it easier for students to attend charter and private schools. He noted that millions of African-American children attend low-performing schools. And he reeled off data to illustrate the economic challenges African-Americans are facing.

In his speech, Romney praised the NAACP as an organization and pledged to attend the convention next year if he is elected president. He quoted Martin Luther King, Jr and Frederick Douglas and invoked his father George, who marched for civil rights and pushed anti-discrimination legislation as governor of Michigan in the 1960′s. Source

As an African-American, Mother and accidental Peorian, I am continually offended by the local newspaper

I find the high level of condescension and what I believe to be race baiting that continues to appear on the Editorial page of the Peoria Journal Star, nothing short of offensive. I would think the "type" of people they feel free to slam in these editorials don't read the newspaper, so one begins to wonder - exactly who are these editorials directed to? 

The continued editorials in a newspaper that is known for allowing hateful comments on articles about African-Americans is the reason I don't allow my children or any out of town visitors to read the local newspaper. Unfortunately, the editorials sound a lot like the hateful rhetoric that appears regularly on pjstar.com and local blogs - including EmergePeoria.

Below are just a few of the comments from recent editorials that I find in poor taste. Below that are just a few of the comments that racists are allowed to make on pjstar.com. The comments are seldom if ever removed for racist content.

July 6, 2012

"One wouldn't give them too much credit for self-restraint, however, as their enthusiasm for mayhem was likely quelled somewhat by the earlier presence of 22 police officers patrolling the public housing project, hoping to prevent a repeat of last year. As always, that uniform presence makes a difference. As soon as that disappeared, all hell broke loose."

"Some locals don't like the badges hanging around, of course. One visitor to Taft told a Journal Star reporter, "I don't want to say it's (military) tactics, but that's kind of what it feels like ... I understand the police presence to a degree, but this is overbearing."

" To which police Lt. Mike Eddlemon responded, and rightly in this view: "That's too bad ... I'm not doing and my officers aren't doing anything other than providing a safe atmosphere for everyone here."

"It's fair to ask: When was the last time police felt compelled to fire pepper balls to try to disperse a mob in a surrounding community?"

"At what point does the bar get raised not just for external influences - teachers, law enforcement, etc. - but for those who have the most direct responsibility for what they choose to gift to or unleash on the world? These kids have parents or some contact with an adult who should know better, don't they?"

"Here's one rule of thumb: Police yourself, police your own family, police your own block, and in time there will be no need for an "overbearing" police presence anywhere in the community."

"Meanwhile, the irony should not be lost on anyone: Even on Independence Day, independence can be too much of a burden for some."

Posted Jul 09, 2012 @ 11:01 PM

"… making their presence known, confronting young people in traffic stops, enforcing curfews, issuing citations for even the most innocuous of violations, impounding vehicles, just generally hassling those who are up to no good in a community that would be immeasurably better off if they shaped up or took themselves elsewhere."

"Few people wish to live with an occupying force in their neighborhoods, but apparently quite a few don't dislike it enough to cooperate with police so that indefensible crimes such as the drive-by shooting that killed 8-year-old Albert Billups in his sleep a year ago don't go unsolved."

"They hate the police, they hate the neighbor who wants to clean up the neighborhood. They are ... hell bent on destruction and disorder," noted Lt. Mike Eddlemon, who's leading the task force.

"Arrests are made when people who will not tolerate living like that tell police what they know, as someone did regarding the whereabouts of those allegedly responsible in the homicide of an East Peoria man in June. Two Peoria men are now in jail on first degree murder charges, facing the bleakest of futures."

"Of course, if you enjoy the nightly gun play, if you want your kids growing up in an environment where "you never know when a bullet could fly off in the wrong direction" - where if you don't lose them to violent crime you might forfeit them to gangs and jails instead - then by all means, keep your mouth shut. Most folks, it's safe to say, would weary of that lifestyle, but hey, the world is made up of all kinds."

"In any case, it's very troubling to hear a young teen say "we're not scared" while describing that kind of existence. The adults in the community have failed him, because that is not the right reaction. He and his siblings should be frightened. Peoria's leadership owes it to them to help them appreciate that shootouts in the streets are not normal. For those who disdain the tactics in preventing that, well, get used to them."

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What exactly is the PHA doing about crime and safety

There is a great deal of the crime happening in Peoria's housing projects (Taft Homes, RiverWest, Harrison Homes), Section 8 properties and scattered site housing areas. These are all housing types that are managed by the Peoria Housing Authority (PHA).

As we continue to hear about crime throughout the city on PHA property or involving PHA residents, I began to wonder what exactly is the PHA, as a management company, doing about crime to make the clients who do abide by the law safe. Are they going into their pockets to provide extra security? Are they updating their No Trespass List on the regular and expunging old information?

I went to the website, hoping to take a look at the minutes of the Peoria Housing Authority Board to see how they are currently addressing these issues. Unfortunately, the last minutes from a Peoria Housing Authority Board meeting published on the Internet are dated March 28, 2011. The minutes are shown at the bottom of this post, notice there is no mention of crime, security or safety, even though the following was happening at the time...

I took a look at the Trespass List after Elaine Hopkins posted about it and made the following observations: 

                         

Apparently there are names on the list of several people who are now deceased. There are names of people on the list who have children named after them - but there is no distinction as to age, or any descriptors other than M/B or F/B (black male or black female). The lack of updating of the list would seem to indicate that there is no dedicated knowledgeable security person working with the the Housing Authority.

Remember this article in the local newspaper talking about the Housing Authority buying security cameras? If they purchased security cameras, how come they aren't solving more of their own crimes? If they got the grant in October of 2010, they should have had the cameras in July of 2011 - how come they didn't have more information about exactly who had fireworks and was starting trouble?

What I did notice from the minutes of the Peoria Housing Authority Board is that there is a lot of discussion about getting money from the government and spending money (tax dollars), but there is little to no discussion about safety or quality of life of the people who reside on the properties.

Peoria Housing Authority Board Minutes