Author Archive for Billy Dennis

You get what you pay for at Peoria Notre Dame

Peoria Notre Dame High School is not a public school. They are under no legal obligation to be open or transparent. No one is going to vote a member off the Notre Dame school board for any reason. Mainly, because…

Why is Dewberry, an architectural firm that does business with the city, sponsoring the State of the City address?

I got the following press release: “The Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce presents the 14th Annual State of the City Address with Peoria Mayor Ardis TOMORROW- Tuesday, January 28 at the Peoria Civic Center Ballroom. Nearly 600 people have reserved…

City Beat for December 2013

Boycott all NFL games As I am writing this, word is that the NFL is telling the Chicago Bears that they are NOT allowed to wear patches promoting Washington High School. This would be a way of showing support for…

White flight doesn’t work

Three weeks. Three home invasions in Peoria. Well, actually there have been three home invasions in North Peoria. I’m trying to not chortle, because it really isn’t funny. Whether you live on the South Side or the East Bluff, or…

District 150 is at war with residents

It’s entertaining, momentarily, to watch a school district at war with citizens. Then you realize YOU are getting the dirty end of the stick along with everyone else. I mean, it’s one thing for District 150 School Board Rick Cloyd…

Shame on the city council — shame

The Peoria City Council ought to be ashamed of itself. This was not a case of some street department worker caught leaning on his shovel. This was not some clerk at the finance department caught pocketing a buck. This was…

Gary Sandberg could be a royal pain in the butt

I loved Gary Sandberg. But the man could be a royal pain. Certainly Peoria’s mayors found him to be a pain. He opposed just about every developer make-work giveaway project they could conceive. Developers who have their hand in taxpayer’s…

Ignoring the naysayers is the All America City way

I have a question. If the designation “All America City” — they give it out annually to ten different cities — is so doggone prestigious, how is it that the only time I hear of the award is when Peoria…

Developers put the heat on Peoria

When I worked in Cape Girardeau, Mo., one of the civic lessons that twice-daily newspaper tried to instill in our readers was that while growth was good, especially in the inner city, growth needed to be considered along with the…