Peoria Journal Star Editorial Board: An Embarrasment

I know it must be tough to work at a place that used to be the sole source of Peoria information.  It must be tough to realize that the internet is threatening your very existence.  It must be tough to read stories online that in the old days would have been covered and probably covered well by your own paper, which is now impossible due to a lack of staffing.

Sadly, it seems that a paper that once employed a great writer like Rick Baker now finds itself as the City Of Peoria's cheerleader.

Take the current situation on Thrush.  I won't rehash this again but I found it disturbing and a bit odd that their analysis of the current environment in parts of Peoria, an environment that cannot be blamed on "gullible" or "dumb" council members (Courtesy Barbara Van Auken), an environment that can't be washed away with "It's Better Here" or a new Museum, that the PJStar Editorial Board would choose this reason to tread with caution regarding this:

"Second, a story like this, moving up the information chain, can undo much of the good PR that local organizations such as the Convention and Visitors Bureau or Chamber of Commerce spend good money trying to spread to put this community in the best possible light for the benefit of those who live and work here. If something like this really happened and it gets out to the wider world, so be it. But if it didn't occur as represented and the fallacy prevails, well, how do you unring that bell, undo that damage?"

If that isn't proof enough that our paper is carrying the city's water, I don't know what is.  Wouldn't the proper response of our paper be to maybe write some in-depth articles about what's going on in the South End?  Or is it only considered news when someone is shot?

Let me clue you in Mike Bailey......the people with a functioning brain that "live and work here" know what the situation is.  And it sure as hell isn't worrying about what the Chamber of Commerce or the Convention and Vistors Bureau is doing.

The situation is that crime is rampant and D150 is a mess......which is why people leave this town and don't move here.

Embarrassing and disappointing to say the least.  What a joke.