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Downtown Aurora Tours

http://www.auroradowntown.org/living.cfm

Living Downtown Tour

Sunday, June 14, 2009

from 1 pm to 4 pm

Advance tickets purchased online are $10;

tickets purchased at the door are $15.

Ticket are available online at: www.historichometours.com

The tour starts at 74 S. La Salle Street in downtown Aurora, IL.

We think you'll be intrigued and delighted by the eleven homes

open for the Living Downtown tour.

Welcome to the past, the present,

and the future of American cities. Welcome home.

View Photo Slide Show

Form Based Code for Peoria

The current Land Development Code for the City of Peoria (which is based on form based coding) is located here:

http://www.ci.peoria.il.us/development-codes

The 2009 Money Smart Week (MSW) will be April 18-25. MSW is a series of free classes and activities designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. You can learn everything from teaching your children how to save to preparing for a financially sound retirement.

While classes are free, some do require registration. Please visit the online calendars at www.moneysmartweek.org/illinois to receive more information and class schedules. In addition, hard copies of the calendars are available at the City Managers office and Planning and Growth Management; and where also included in last week's paychecks.

Live Work Space

Live Work Space is a concept that is consistent with both new urbanism and sustainable "green" development. More people are working at home at least part of the week. Condo and apartment developers around the country are beginning to promote live-work units as part of their mix of offerings.

The concept is consistent with historic city patterns, where small business owners operated their business on one floor and lived above the store. Artists love the the artist's loft, where they both live and create, and use their space as a studio.

Work at-home work spaces target professionals and entrepreneurs. My wife, Beth Ruyle, is a Financial Advisor to municipalities, working for Ehlers-Inc, with offices in Lisle, Illinois near Chicago. But she typically spends only one day a week there, working out of our home office overlooking downtown Peoria and Giant Oak Park. She actually drives less and spends less time in the car now, with one trip a week from Peoria to Lisle, then she did when we lived in the Chicago area, with a 3 hour round trip every day to and from work.

Pat Sullivan has developed some great live work space in the Kellehers Block. People can both live and work from their unit, and meet in the pubs and restaurants downstairs.

This type of development is consistent with both new urbanism and green sustainable development. It eliminates travel time from home to work, with resultant savings in energy, time, air pollution, and public cost for maintaining roads.

Devonshire Inc proposes to build a mixed use building on Main Street at the site of the old Walgreens Store. This building will be new urban, with retail on the first floor facing Main Street, and apartments above. The units above the first floor will be live work space, with people living in the units and if they wish, operating small businesses as permitted by the building owner covenants and city codes.

Congratulations - Build the Block

Congratulations to the voters of the County of Peoria who voted to support Build the Block. It is very tough to support a tax increase, even when it is small. But the great new Museum and Cat Visitors Center overlooking the Riverfront will greatly improve our region as a World Class destination.

Build The Block

I will be voting for the referendum to help Build the Block. In my judgement, this is an important step for the Peoria region. The Museum and the Caterpillar Visitor Center would become a premier destination. It would function much like the very successful Harley Davidson Center in Milwaukee, or the John Deere Center in the Quad Cities.

It is always tough to propose a slight sales tax increase in difficult economic times. But the money gets put right back into our ecnonomy. The sales tax is County wide, and is paid by everyone who makes purchases in our County.

http://buildtheblock.com/

Planning Commissioners Journal

Circle the USA

http://www.circletheusa.com/

http://www.pcj.typepad.com/