Why are Peoria city bonds being used to pay for a dead-end street that will destroy 1.1 acres of tallgrass prairie and hundreds of trees? These TIF funded bonds also pay for parking lots and bases for four, four-story proposed River Trail Apartments taking 5.8 acres of publicly owned downtown parkland away from the public forever. Issues with the city sale of the north end of Riverfront Park are not over. Concerns exist for what is underground where the city-bonds-paid pilings for the proposed buildings will go. How often does an incentive for new construction include the foundations of buildings? Why do developers get incredible deals and the public loses so often in Peoria? Public parking near the memorial trees honoring Dorothy Sinclair, city council member who led the effort in the 1980s for this land, will be destroyed, taking away close access to this tribute to her. What pushes construction projects that are clearly not fitting with the existing city plan? Too much of the downtown riverfront is already paved over. Many questions about real risks with the proposed River Trail Apartments exist. Let Peoria City Council know. This issue will have to be back on the City Council agenda near the end of August or early September after the zoning vote on the project Aug. 6.

Joyce Blumenshine

Heart of Illinois Group Sierra Club