Peoria Disappoints Once Again
It having proved not possible to send a long-form email attachment* to the progressive mayoral candidate in our hometown of Peoria, Illinois, who came in fourth out of five candidates (9%) in the city’s local primary on Tuesday, we’re publishing our letter to her, composed over the past few days and very slightly revised for the blog.
(*I did send her a couple links, however, via her campaign “Contact” form.)
Background: For our own piece on this unprecedented candidate and her campaign, see here; for her campaign Facebook page, see here; for her campaign website, see here; for a long-form interview with a political reporter for the Peoria Journal Star and a local radio figure (90.7 FM), see here.
Our letter:
Dear Ms. St. Louis,
We’ve never met, but I followed your campaign for Mayor with great interest, and wanted to write to tell you how saddened I was by your loss on Tuesday.
Your analysis of what ails Peoria was spot-on throughout your campaign, and your four-pronged platform (economic development / participatory democracy / rethinking the justice system / community support & investment) was a strong one. The fact that you were endorsed by several progressive organizations was impressive and well-deserved.
I watched your Facebook concession remarks, and was interested to learn that you plan to speak with numerous Black leaders in the city over the coming days. I suspect you know what they’re going to tell you, and I also suspect what happened – I had a look at the Peoria Board of Elections results, and it was pretty obvious.
Here’s my working hypothesis: Without wanting to put it too bluntly, it’s seemed to me for a long time that Peoria’s Black population trends conservative, and thus a number of the community’s leaders probably united behind Dr. Ali, whom they saw as their “safe” candidate. She may even win in April – she’d be a “safe” Black Mayor, but hardly a progressive one. If anyone doubts this, we have a homegrown Exhibit A in this category in Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
As you noted, it looks like voters were frightened at the prospect of a Mayor like you – which is pretty ironic, because what Peorians should fear is the status quo, which has been stifling and depopulating the city for decades.
I don’t know what you will decide to do next, but I’ve been thinking about my hometown a lot over the past several years, and below are a few thoughts:
- Low primary turnouts (on Tuesday, 15% – just under 12,000 people) mean that only a small percentage of registered voters is “awarding” both Mayoral and City Council seats (and others). What can be done? Local elections are far more important than most voters think they are.
I know you’re a master of organizing, and I think it’s vital to keep Peorians informed about the City Council’s activities on an ongoing basis. What about organizing “standing watch” committees in each of the five Council districts? Some members could prepare for upcoming meetings by studying the agenda and getting questions ready in advance; others could do “live reporting” as the meetings are broadcast, while others could study the minutes and match them with agenda items. And then, get the word out to everyone – not just on social media, at which you’re terrific, but through flyers or perhaps even a weekly printed newsletter (“Council Business” / “Council Matters”).
This, so everyone, not just the media-savvy, can learn more – a lot more – about what their Council is doing. When information is easily available in lots of places and mediums, and people see that what the Council does is directly relevant to our daily lives, interest tends to tick up. It’s a long process, but it could work.
- If you can find volunteers for more in-depth work (why not reach out to Bradley University and see if you could find faculty / student volunteers and partners?), you could ask groups to carry out deep dives into some of the persistent problems facing the city. For example, one group could analyze and comment on the budget (which deserves serious, ongoing attention throughout each fiscal year); another could research the history of the Pere Marquette debacle (for the record, let’s say; unfortunately, it’s indicative); another could do the same on the history of the city’s bailouts of the Civic Center (they just asked the State of Illinois for $25 million, so that debacle is very much still with us).
There are many other recent and upcoming issues. For example, I recently saw that they’re talking about a $10 million-dollar parking lot: Does Peoria really need another parking lot? The location and description fit the bill of a “peak gentrification” project – really, building a $10 million parking lot in the middle of a health and human services crisis? Whose idea was this?
- Do people know that the city is trying to sell off McKinley and Harrison schools on eBay? Does everybody understand that both schools – however old and in need of remediation (or demolition; it’s not clear to me what their actual state is) – are public assets which belong to us all? Who had the bright idea to auction both schools off for a song ($89,000 / $99,000)? Inquiring minds would like to know.
What about investing that $10 million parking-lot money for the “Warehouse District” in these two schools, partnering with construction firms that specialize in rehabbing old public structures, applying for both federal and state “green – clean energy funding,” and then ensuring that Peoria’s own residents in the construction trades are hired to work on these projects and learn about green / sustainable construction methods and techniques in the process? One of the schools could be converted to affordable housing, and the other, into a community center … there are so many possibilities. Demolition of public institutional real estate stock should be seen as a last – and desperate – resort.
Note: I see they’re hedging their bets and also asking the State of Illinois to pay $4 million to demolish both schools, which the City Manager appears to be pushing for very hard. However, the chances of the state coming through with funding for demolition are slim to nil in this second pandemic year.
- Once you have a trained construction workforce, Peoria could compete to become a regional center for sustainable development projects, including the retrofitting of our oldest housing stock (there will be federal funding for such projects once Pres. Biden’s equivalent to the Green New Deal – “Build Back Better” or whatever it’s ultimately called – passes Congress). The city could eventually host a large number of small and medium-sized businesses geared towards producing green building materials and implementing the retrofitting of the country’s housing stock. Nearly all of that stock will have to be retrofitted in light of climate change; why not start with the houses in zip code 61605? And note, this is a vision our Governor and his Clean Energy and Jobs policy experts would favor. After all, what’s the point of Peoria’s GA Rep* becoming Speaker pro temp if we can’t lobby in Springfield for ideas that make good business, environmental, and racial equity sense?
(*Jehan Gordon-Booth, IL-92, recently promoted to Speaker pro temp in the Illinois House under new Speaker Chris Welch)
- When the city issues RFPs for procurement purposes to vendors, is it following the State of Illinois’ regulations regarding female and minority-owned businesses/vendors? Yes, this law applies to state contracts – and there have been problems with initial implementation – but it should be applied by municipalities as part of standard good governance practices. No contracts to friends or friends of friends, and no no-bid contract should ever go unnoticed and unremarked.
- What’s up with all those vacant properties in Peoria’s poorest zip codes? Is there a central database of registered land bank properties (There is, apparently, but I can’t find out much about it online)? Is there a public database (complete with specs and maps) that those keen on land use and rehabilitation could study and employ for proposals to the city? And shouldn’t Southside residents have easy access to land bank properties’ identity – especially when they’re concentrated in their neighborhoods?
You ran a strong grassroots and media campaign, and the fact that you didn’t come in first or second in the primary wasn’t due to any failing on your part – you and Andres Diaz came in fourth and fifth, which is just one more indication of how conservative those who actually vote in local elections are. Andres was a sincere and hard-working candidate – my favorite discussion was the long-form interviews you both had with Chris Kaergard and Marc Supreme in early February; when you were given the time to develop your platform fully, it made sense and the four “planks” cohered well with each other.
I hope you will maintain and strengthen your ties with the progressive groups which endorsed you during the campaign, and that you’ll be able to build a bigger and broader grassroots network over the next few years. Peoria may not be ready for a candidate as forward-looking as you, but that doesn’t mean Peoria doesn’t need progressive candidates like you.
Finally, with respect to the election in early April, I see neither you nor Andres have any plans to endorse either of the two finalists – that’s wise, actually. Neither finalist speaks to your own values or those of your supporters; in fact, one of the two appears to be a committed fiscal conservative. This may play well with voters, but it’s a disastrous approach during an economic crisis.
In short: You didn’t disappoint Peoria, Ms. St. Louis; Peoria disappointed us all, and we’re going to pay a steep price for it over the next four years.