A Matter of Time

The East Bluff neighborhood of Peoria is an area struggling to survive. Many of us love the diversity of the neighborhood and have made investments in our homes. We plan to stay. Unfortunately, the actions of a few keep the neighborhood in the news and gives the city a perception of the neighborhood that is far worse than reality.

That being said, I arrived home last evening to the sound of sirens. That is not an unusual sound. I thought about going out to the street to see if I could tell where the sirens were headed, but didn't. It was later that I learned of the shooting down the street that took the life of the clerk at the Peoria Food Stop on the corner. Sad, but not surprising.

Those of us who live near the store have complained since "Day One". We celebrated when the store closed while the owner was out of the country and were saddened when it re-opened. It became a magnet for those who like to loiter and "hang out". The patrons of the store increased the amount of litter in the area. The owner of the store tried to control the loitering and keep the area close to the store clean. He painted over the graffiti that was placed on his building. Personally, I was in the store one time - and that was to complain about the negative impact the store was having on the neighborhood.

At this point, I do not know if the owner was clerking last night. He was often there. It is always sad when a life is taken, but those of us in the neighborhood knew "it was only a matter of time".

Still Kicking

Fifth Tuesday of the month was alive and well at The Fieldhouse tonight! Glad to see that the blogging community has not faded into the sunset as many of the blogs I used to read have faded. Seems everyone is on Facebook. I know I spend too much time there and playing games. There are things I think about and care about, but I have not been motivated to write about them.

It was nice to talk to people about city council, county board, restaurants past & present, the demise of Peoria Times and challenge of the paper in Woodford County. We talked old jobs, new jobs and present jobs. And we laughed. Maybe, just maybe, the Blogger Bash has motivated me to write more.

Most of all, the evening was just plain fun and enjoyable!