Post Office plan doubted at officials' presentation

A Feb. 21 presentation by U.S. Postal Service officials brought together Democrats and Republicans, labor and management to voice concerns and skepticism about a 10-year, $40 billion plan that could drastically change USPS in the guise of upgrading the system.

The plan (“Delivering for America”) could include upgrades, but the presentation had a disconnect with the likely result of moving operations to suburban Chicago and how workers would be affected.

USPS officials shared a summary of the plan, stating that “the business case supports transferring some mail processing operations to the South Suburban Processing and Distribution Center” in Bedford Park, Ill.

Some tension stemmed from differences between business’ profit-oriented private sector and the historically public service, and also the enthusiasm of business vs. the impact on communities and workers.

The USPS says it’s still gathering public feedback, but the overwhelming consensus by the 100 or so in attendance was that the plan is a “done deal.”

U.S. Reps. Eric Sorensen (D-17^th District) and Darin LaHood (R-16^th District), in an open letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, objected to the proposal.

“While we are pleased to hear that USPS is planning to invest in new equipment and upgrades to the Peoria facility, any proposal that would jeopardize timely mail delivery, diminish customer service, or risk local jobs is unacceptable,” they wrote. “Our constituents rely on the services provided by USPS, and our local postal service centers are important cornerstones of our community.”  

Days later, before a USPS meeting in Champaign, Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-13^th) and Mary Miller (R-15^th District) also wrote a joint letter to DeJoy sharing similar concerns and questions, calling the proposal “incredibly troubling.”

“Delivering for America” also proposes moving Champaign operations to Beford Park and a Chicago regional plant, Springfield work to St. Louis, and Milan/Quad Cities operations to Des Moines.

Doug House, an aide to Sorensen, whose 17^th District stretches from Peoria and Bloomington through the Quad Cities to Rockford, expressed disappointment that the meeting at the Peoria Public Library was scheduled midday on a workday. He also shared concerns about on-time delivery, especially for medications and Social Security checks; election mail ballots, causing [Postal Workers’] families to be uprooted, and said Sorensen was “seeking assurances” about disruptions, wholesale failure or unforeseen consequences of its implementation.

“USPS has lowered its delivery standards from 1 day to 3, 3 to 5,” said House, asking, “When will they get a handle on this? 

“Peoria was recently recognized as one of the most efficient depots in the nation. Why change how it’s working now?” House added. “Peoria has been a recipient of mail from other depots that have become overwhelmed during peak mail seasons. Now you’re moving mail from Peoria and Milan to those very depots that have not been keeping up? This makes no sense.”

Some see an ulterior motive in the dramatic overhaul.

“This whole 10-year plan is to privatize the postal service,” said Bud Toft, President of Local 854 of the American Postal Workers Union. “Postmaster General DeJoy has attacked the postal service by ending delivery standards, ending or limiting the amount of mail transportation by air, thus delaying the delivery of mail, [and] closing distribution facilities – trying to consolidate many distribution centers into one.

“All this is an effort to sway public opinion of the service,” he continued, “allowing Congress to privatize under a new law. This would end the unions’ contracts, which would allow new owners to hire low minimum wage part-time workers so their profits would be higher.”

For its part, the USPS claims that the plan will be more effective, will keep Peoria’s State Street plant open – noting that “there will be no career employee layoffs as part of this initiative” – and have no effect on service.

USPS official Tim Norman said “Delivering for America” would modernize lighting and flooring, get new vehicles and sorting equipment, and improve overall working conditions, none of which relate to consolidation.

“It’s just a better way to do things, more efficient, and it also saves cost as far as transportation and logistics,” he said, offering no evidence to bolster that assertion.

Brian Wagner, immediate past President of the National Association of Postal Supervisors, said, “USPS officials will want postal customers to believe since respective postal retail services are not [immediately] impacted, customer delivery will not be impacted. This is a false narrative.

“If the implementation of the Peoria plant operational changes are implemented, mail deposited in Peoria to be delivered in Peoria could take at least 3-4 days to be delivered,” he continued. “Currently, local mail (Peoria to Peoria or to surrounding communities) takes on average two delivery days). Moving Peoria operations four hours away, one-way, most likely will double the current mail.”

The plan also would force postal workers in outlying communities to start their workdays much earlier by driving to Peoria, Wagner said, and it’s virtually silent on options for worker technically not laid off but reassigned to relocate 150 miles north to Bedford Park, and undergo training for new positions.

“This is one domino,” Wagner said. “There’s more coming.”

 

 OTHER COMMENTS

“I believe they are not transparent, and they have already planned to do what they want way before they did this so called review and public appearance. It is clearly obvious by the time they set the meeting.”

- Bud Toft President of Heart of Illinois Local 854 of the American Postal Workers Union

 

“Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s leadership, things will likely only get worse. Why? Because of DeJoy's 10-year plan to further slow down mail delivery, eliminate thousands of jobs, and raise postage prices. DeJoy is a GOP mega-donor Louis DeJoy hand-picked by then-President Trump to run the USPS [who] spent most of 2020 trying to sabotage this vital public service – imposing outrageous restrictions on postal workers, removing mailboxes by the truckload, and more – in service of Trump’s plot to silence mail-in voters during the election.

- Aaron Scherb, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs at Common Cause

 

“The Peoria facility employs 120 people [and “Delivering for America” would be moving] “good-paying, high-quality jobs from downstate Illinois.”

- From the letter by Republican Darin LaHood and Democrat Eric Sorensen

Peoria judge trims attorney’s fees in County Auditor case

Addressing requests for fees submitted by Justin Penn – representing former County Auditor Jessica Thomas – Judge Stewart Umholtz on Jan. 29 decided Penn’s rate was “reasonable,” but the judge disallowed all fees and costs related to two complaints added later.

“They’re denied,” Umholtz said.

Peoria County’s Auditor office was changed by the County Board in a 16-2 budget vote in 2021, after which Thomas sued to restore the office and its funding. In November 2022, 70% of voters casting ballots abolished the office.

Penn had been appointed in 2022 due to a conflict of interest with the Peoria State’s Attorney’s Office. Thomas’ first attorney left the case and two State’s Attorney lawyers recruited for the role from Marshall and Stark Counties also had conflicts.

A separate action was brought in September 2022 by Thomas and community advocate Karrie Alms, objecting to the referendum asking voters whether to eliminate the Auditor office. That was dismissed in May 2023 by the Appeals Court, which ruled that Thomas no longer had standing since voters abolished the office.

The original lawsuit and appointment of a special prosecutor didn’t include issues about the referendum. Before being reassigned to Marshall, Putnam and Stark Counties, Judge James Mack in November of 2022 issued a preliminary injunction maintaining Thomas’ status quo and granted Penn’s request to add Counts 12 and 13, pertaining to the referendum.

Representing Peoria County, attorney Lisa Meador had objected to the extra complaints, saying that Thomas and her lawyers “have known for months that that office could be eliminated” and were seeking to add a different issue to the lawsuit that was about restoring the Auditor’s budget and duties.

“Now they’re challenging the language and effective date and the constitutionality of the referendum,” Meador said. “Plaintiff fully recognized that she could not seek appointment of a special prosecutor to prosecute her personal claims.”

Perhaps anticipating an unfavorable ruling by Umholtz, Penn said not granting his fees and costs for Counts 12 and 13 “would put the plaintiff on the hook for private attorney fees.”

Nevertheless, Umholtz said, he had an “obligation to strictly and narrowly construe [the law].

“There is a method to expand the special prosecutor authority, but not by a court’s determining an amended complaint can be filed,” he said. “The law requires me to interpret the [special prosecutor] order carefully. There has to be certainty, based on specific facts.”

Umholtz’ order, filed Feb. 2, said, “The parties are directed to submit a final order with the amount of attorney fees to be paid consistent with this order within 21 days, at which point the Court will also dismiss the case with prejudice and terminate the matter.”

Penn’s December 2022 petition in fees and costs was $42,087.50; in January he requested an additional $83,452.50, for a total of $125,540.

On Feb. 12, Peoria’s Acting County Administrator Shauna Musselman told the Community Word the difference between what Penn sought and what the judge approved is about $40,000.

“Given that Plaintiff’s counsel is out of town for the next few weeks this is only an estimate,” she said. “We will work with Mr. Penn when he returns to finalize the amount.”

In other business Jan. 29, Umholtz officially dissolved the preliminary injunction issued by Judge Mack.

America's malls are changing

As a Baby Boomer, I was never a “mall rat.” After school or on weekends, I’d meander past Doc’s Newsstand, the sporting-goods aisle at Firestone, a clothing store, Ben Franklin’s, and either the drug store for a cherry Coke or the diner/soda shop Grab-A-Snack if I wanted to hear a jukebox – all around the small-town square a few blocks from home.

The closest near-mall was the Town & Country Shopping Center 45 miles away in Quincy.

However, as a Peorian in my late 20s and early 30s, I often spent time at Northwoods Mall. So when I heard that Northwoods was losing another anchor store due to a bankruptcy, I realized I hadn’t visited the commercial space for years and wanted to see what some people’s hand-wringing was all about.

It was a wistful visit.

Now owned by the Kohan Retail Investment Group, the Great Neck, N.Y., company that has 45 U.S. malls, including 14 in the Midwest, Northwoods celebrated its 50^th anniversary last summer. Its private-company owner has had a “checkered history,” as reported by the Times-Republican newspaper in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Kohan has the Marshalltown Mall.

“Most of the disputes revolve around nonpayment of utility bills, property taxes and mortgage payments,” wrote T-R editor Robert Maharry.

Nevertheless, Northwoods manager Julie Revallo expressed surprise at last month’s announcement by the RoomPlace furniture store that it will close at some point.

Today, Northwoods is markedly different than years past, but there are no Illinois tumbleweeds bouncing through a virtual ghost town (like Galesburg’s Sandburg Mall, which closed in 2018).

Stopping at Northwoods on a winter day, there were familiar sights, such as seniors enjoying a walk and a sense of community, illusion or not. But I missed spots I recalled: KB Toys, Coach House Gifts, Swiss Colony, Hardee’s, Fannie May, Garcia’s Pizza…

I’d bought a suit at Bachrach, a sofa at Montgomery Ward, eyeglasses at Sears, and clothes at Eddie Bauer; all gone, I’d lunched at Skewer Inn’s salad bar, sat at a book-signing at Waldenbooks, rang a bell for the Salvation Army “Red Kettle” campaign, and spent more than a few quarters playing Asteroids or Battle Zone at Aladdin’s video arcade.

Gloria Jean’s Coffees and Auntie Anne’s survive, in new locations, and, seeming to aim for a teen hangout customer base that no longer has JR or Musicland, FYE offers new and used music, movies, video games, and more (although it seems to have more candy than an explosion at a Casey’s). But Sears is empty as are at least four other spaces.

Of course, Northwoods isn’t unique. The global real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc. says mall vacancies are at their highest level in 15 years, and that’s after decades of decline. In the mid-’80s, there were about 25,000 U.S. malls, according to Business Insider, before the 2008 recession, a 50% drop in holiday mall shopping between 2010 and 2013, some 7,000 retailers shutting down in 2017 alone, and the pandemic dramatically increasing e-commerce.

Through the decades, shopping evolved. In Peoria, downtown was hurt by Sheridan Village and other shopping centers, which in turn felt the effect of an indoor alternative at Northwoods. Plus, the International Council of Shopping Centers reports that between 48% and 73% of younger consumers still gravitate to malls’ communal experience. Obviously, there are differences between Boomers (born 1946-1964), Gen X (1965-1980), Millennials (1981-1996) and Gen Z (1997-2012), so it’s understandable that savvy mall managers are adjusting marketing and atmospheres to compete.

Furthermore, successes exist. Last summer, market analysis from Coresight Research found foot traffic in “top-tier” malls was up 12% from 2019 to 2022. (Coresight defines “top-tier” malls as those located in affluent areas “where a typical shopper has an annual income of over $200,000,” with newer brands and luxury retailers.) And lower-tier malls can be stable, too. The Quad Cities’ Northpark and Southpark Malls, owned by the public company Macerich, seemed busy at a recent visit, with food courts full of families and crowds throughout. And entrepreneurs are repurposing former malls: Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Va., is being converted to a medical center; The Avenue in downtown Milwaukee is being redeveloped as a multi-use space featuring apartments and “co-working” offices; and, ironically, Amazon is turning shuttered malls in Baton Rouge, La., and Knoxville, Tenn., into distribution centers.

Maybe it was a mistake to return to retrace old steps in a new time. The sense of a convenient substitute for a town square was artificial anyway. It’s tempting to remember novelist Thomas Wolfe’s title “You Can’t Go Home Again.” On the other hand, he also wrote, “Look Homeward, Angel.”

My real hometown is different, too, but alive and thriving.

Data on Peoria’s Cost of Living raises questions, ire

Despite Wall Street booming, inflation easing, prices improving, and joblessness falling, it still can seem like a financial struggle to make ends meet.

That may not be our imagination, according to new research.

Last month:

* the Dow Jones and the S&P set record levels, and the Nasdaq came within 0.4% of its all-time high,

* the labor market is strong and wages are up,

* in the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index for Illinois, released in mid-February, gas prices fell 5.2%,

* utility prices were down 5.6% and

* dairy prices fell 1.2%.

 

However, such numbers reflect a big picture, and a new, comprehensive measurement of financial well-being reveals challenges at local levels, potential difficulties some tie to financial differences between the top and the rest of us.

The most recent Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) released in November showed “some increase in income inequality over this period.”

Released every three years, the SCF showed one of the largest three-year increases in income inequality in the survey’s modern history, worsening a trend that started in the early 1980s. The top 5% of earners in 1980 received about 16.5% of all income; now the top 5% gets 23.5%. Meanwhile, the bottom 40% in 1980 received about 14.4%, but now gets 6.4%.

Such a gap could present itself in what a household needs to have a modest but adequate standard living. In Peoria County, that’s shown in the Economic Policy Institute’s “Family Budget Calculator,” which breaks down what families in every U.S. county must have. A home with two adults and two kids requires $8,417/month, or $101,008, EPI shows.

In Peoria County, the break down is $912 (housing), $1,006 (food), $1,384 (child care), $1,454 (transportation), $1,857 (health care), $1,125 (taxes), and $679 (other necessities, such as clothes, personal-care items, furnishings, phone service and school supplies).

EPI’s more granular-level statistics come from detailed research such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Agriculture’s “Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels,” the National Database of Childcare Prices, the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing and Transportation Affordability Index, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s “2023 Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator” and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, and the National Bureau of Economic Research’s TAXSIM modeling program.

“There are many indicators of family/individual well-being,” said Dr. Joshua Lewer, Economics and Finance Department Chair at Bradley University and Acting Associate Dean for Future Initiatives. “These data could serve to supplement Cost of Living estimates.”

EPI’s Director of Data Management and Analysis told the Community Word that what sets EPI’s calculator apart is using contemporary resources instead of decades-old templates.

“The federal poverty line is based on a measure from the ’60s, which is largely unchanged aside from being updated for inflation. There is also no geographic variation,” said Zane Mokhiber. “The federal poverty line for a family of four is $30,000 for 2023, which is much lower than our budget estimates for every single county and metro area in the U.S.  The [Census Bureau’s] Supplemental Poverty Measure is a much better measure, as it takes geographic variation into account (among many other factors). However, it still underestimates what it takes to get by – no matter what part of the country you look at.”

Variations between counties exist, of course. In the Tri-County area, Tazewell County residents need $100,417/year, and in Woodford, it’s $107,401, the increase driven mainly by higher housing and transportation costs. Nearby, McLean County, with the Twin Cities and colleges, is comparable to Peoria, at $102,688, with slightly higher costs estimated for housing, transportation and health care, but a few predominantly rural counties have understandably lower costs: $91,951 in Bureau County, $91,643 in Knox, and $92,583 in Mason.

Other Illinois counties: Cook County residents need $106,066, EPI says; Winnebago (Rockford) is $94,784/year, and the Quad Cities metro area (encompassing Henry, Mercer and Rock Island Counties in Illinois, and Scott County in Iowa) requires $94,438.

Elsewhere, using population of a county’s major city as a gauge, two counties provide some comparisons to Peoria (population about 112,000): In Lafayette, La. Parish, where the city of Lafayette is about 122,000, residents need $95,091/year, with child care, health care and taxes lower than Peoria. In Montgomery County, Tenn., home of Clarksville (pop. 170,000), residents need $88,365/year, also with lower health care and taxes.

What’s difficult-to-impossible to determine is how public assistance influences social costs. For instance, if a substantial number of people use public transportation, rely on family for child care, or are eligible for Medicaid or subsidized housing, that may affect data on collective costs.

After digesting all the numbers and factors, maybe there are no good answers.

But at least there should be good questions.

 

The interactive link to EPI’s Family Budget Calculator is https://www.epi.org/resources/budget/

WTVP completes new board, grassroots questions remain

On Feb. 9, WTVP-TV 47 was notified by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that the agency will conduct a financial audit of the operation covering the last three years.

Four days later, the reconstituted board approved five new members. In alphabetical order, they are:

Emily Galligan of Morton, a partner at the Peoria office of Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen, a former board member for Destiny for Women Health Clinic, and a former adjunct professor at Bradley;

Kevin Hicks, a Eureka College grad and teacher at Metamora high school who serves on the board at Peoria Players and has written a novel and dozens of plays;

Robert Senneff, president and CEO of Graham Health System based in Canton, is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives who previously held comparable posts at medical centers in Princeton and DeWitt, Ill., Davenport and Hillsboro, Kan. His service also includes being on an audit committee at the Mid-America National Bank, plus Carl Sandburg College Foundation, Illinois Hospital Association finance committee and others;

Jessica Tilton earned a B.S. and M.S from Bradley, where she also taught for two years before pursuing a medical degree at Southern Illinois University. An advocate with several groups promoting organ donations, Tilton also was Miss Illinois 2023; and

Chet Tomczyk, who retired from decades in public and educational TV at the local, national and global levels. President and CEO of WTVP for 18 years, and its Director of Development for two years, he’s consulted with clients including the Smithsonian Institution, Great Plains National Television Library, and the U.S. Department of Defense, and serves as a Notary/Auditor for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

 

Chris Anderson, co-chair of the Friends of 47 citizens group trying to help put the station on the right footing, said he’s hopeful.

“I am optimistic that the current leadership can turn this situation around,” he told the Community Word. There are a lot of good people at the station whose work makes our community better, and the sustainability of that work depends on senior leadership at the station. They need to get this right.”

John Wieland, a financially successful businessman installed as board chair in January, has said WTVP could be helped by a foundation that will contribute more than $1 million over the next three years to help the station. However, Wieland – an active philanthropist who leads such an organization (His First Foundation) – won’t reveal the source of the pledged donation, which is reportedly conditioned on receiving CPB funding.

“We wonder: Where is that money coming from?” said Friends of 47 co-chair Becky Doubleday.

Meanwhile, Wieland told the board that the station has received many applications for WTVP’s next president/CEO, but Doubleday said she also wonders about the process for hiring and selecting board members.

“How were they picked? she asked. “Who decided? What criteria is used?”

Wieland has said that he personally chose the first round of new board members, seated Jan. 16, but Doubleday said running a public-broadcasting service is unique.

“This is not a private company,” she said. “Such a public [enterprise] has a greater responsibility to have a board truly representative of the community and staff interests. This is the people’s station. They need grassroots listener support, not just the well-to-do.

“Also, leadership said they were going to amend the bylaws,” she added. “What do they want to change? Will there be open discussion?”

There’s too much secrecy, Friends of 47 says.

“The lack of information is still frustrating,” Anderson said. “I understand the position the current leadership is under given the pending investigations and so on, [but] transparency and accountability are very important given the breach of trust and fiduciary responsibility of the previous board. It seems that the station is moving in the right direction, although they are far from being out of financial peril.”

A primer for the March 19 primary in Peoria

On March 19, Peoria County voters will nominate candidates for either the Republican or Democratic Party for U.S. president. Other contests include races for state representatives and state senators, judges and County positions. Early voting is now underway and runs through Election Day.

There also are referendum questions on the ballot: on levying a special tax in West Peoria for an ambulance service, and, separately, on increasing West Peoria’s maximum tax rate.

Voters can also still apply to vote by mail or online at https://votebymail.peoriacounty.gov/searchWizard.aspx

Meanwhile, the Peoria Election Commission has enough poll workers, according to Executive Director Elizabeth Gannon. Election judges can make up to $200 for working Election Day, and $14/hour minimum wage if they work with Early Voting or mail-ballot verification.

“We’re not fully staffed, but we’re OK for the Primary,” Gannon told the Community Word.

Peoria County uses between 470 and 500 election judges.

Peoria County voters will elect a candidate for either the Republican or Democratic Party for:

- U.S. president nominee

- Delegates and alternate delegates to National Nominating Conventions

- U.S. representative

- Illinois state senator

- Illinois state representative

- Illinois supreme court judge

- Illinois appellate court judges

- Circuit court judge

- State's attorney

- Circuit Clerk

- Coroner

- Nine County Board seats (even-numbered districts)

- A nonpartisan Peoria Public School seat from District 3

- Precinct committee positions

Some positions have no candidate or no opponents.

In the primary election, voters must choose a Republican, Democratic or Non-partisan ballot. Non-partisan means NO party. Therefore, you will only be voting on contests with no party affiliation, such as the District 150 school board race or referendums. You can bring notes into the voting booth; if you have children with you, they may be brought into the booth, too. Voters who are physically impaired or cannot read or write, a friend, relative, election judge or another voter is permitted to help complete ballots. Voters are prohibited from posting a photo of a finished ballot online. (For voting by mail, see below.)

Peoria County this election has implemented a “voting center” standard for Election Day, so any registered voters can vote at any of Peoria County’s voting locations that day. For early voting, see all 12 early-voting satellite locations in Peoria County and the hours and dates, at https://www.peoriaelections.gov/175/Early-Voting-Locations

You can register to vote online or at a polling place. The last day to register online is March 3. Through March 18, people may register to vote in person at the Election Commission or any early-voting site with two forms of identification (such as driver’s license, passport, lease, etc.). On Election Day, you may still register at the Election Commission and must vote at the time of registration.

To see if you are registered to vote in Illinois, go to- https://ova.elections.il.gov/RegistrationLookup.aspx

 

Vote-by-mail available for all registered voters

Starting in 2009, an excuse was no longer necessary to be able to vote by mail, and in 2016, Illinois stopped using the term “absentee ballot.” “Absentee” is now the same as “Vote-by-Mail.”

Voting by mail is available for all registered voters.

In 2022, the option of being put on a permanent vote-by-mail list became available. Voters can sign a permanent application that is on file in the election commission.

You may request a ballot from the election commission through March 14. No ballot will be mailed out after that date.

Once election staff or a bipartisan team of election judges receive your ballot, they will mark you in the poll books as having voted. Two judges, one Democrat and one Republican, will verify that the ballot envelope is sealed and confirm that the signature on the envelope matches the signature in the records. Once the ballot has been verified, it will be removed from the envelope and added to other verified Vote by Mail ballots. These ballots will then be run through a tabulator.

A bipartisan team must be present at all points in the processing.

After tabulation, ballots will be placed in a secure location in case they’re needed for future verification. The tabulators will not be closed and the vote totals/results will not be calculated until after the polls close on Election Day and the 14-day window following the election is complete so any ballots postmarked on Election Day can still be counted.

For Vote by Mail or other questions, go online to https://www.peoriaelections.gov/ or phone (309) 324-2300.