Bumping this up to remind the East Bluffers about the Coffee With the Mayor with special guest, Tim Riggenbach tomorrow evening at the East Bluff Community Center.

Oh, that's right, I'm not feeling well. Where is my boss's phone number?

The East Bluffers are fighting an urban war to reclaim their neighborhood. They need to organize and put pressure on city leaders to aggressively work with them on a large-scale neighborhood clean-up.

@conrad Whenever I drive through the East Bluff, I never understand why there has been 0 redevelopment of homes there. There are some really nice homes, much nicer than a lot of the dunlap stuff.

@jimthompson A lot of the trouble with the East Bluff is the CRAPPY people who roll through the area have said it for decades. We get really nice people who move in and then they see all the crap rolling through and don't want anything to do with it. How long would you want to live in area with drives by shootings??? Bet if this happened outside someone important/MONEY's house there would be Cops on every corner to catch them poor little old us who cares. We only rank when its an election cycle and then only some hot air then they go away until next time they need our votes. I want to see council out mowing grass and picking up garbage in empty lots show they actually care about us. Not just show up when the news crews are here and then VANISH as soon the cameras get turned off.

Last week we spent a few days in the Hudson River Vally and stopped in Hudson, NY. We had heard about the drastic changes there over the last 10-12 years. Downtown was all boarded up and housing was even in worse shape.The city took the bull by the horn. Downtown stores have been redeveloped by creative types from furniture designers to creative chefs. The housing is roaring back The Amtrak station there has become the 3rd busiest in NY State and in the top 10 percent busiest of all Amtrak stations. Pretty impressive for a town with about 6,500 population. I will add that it is also a river town and the views from the parks there are stunning. Another example of a place that got it right from the start and another example for Peoria to learn some lessons. gotohudson.net/

@billybob Thanks for the link they have some GREAT things going on Peoria needs to take serious notes from what they have done. History is BIG bucks and we keep letting some new and shiny tear it down.

@jimthompson : There has been some new construction. House on corner from me just got new siding. Across the street got a new roof. Several new porches and fresh coats of paint can be seen. Maybe you are not driving down my street. Two neighbors, one in my block and one in the next received Orchid Awards a couple of summers ago. There is still much to be done, but it is far from "0".

@RambleOn That is great to hear. I am thinking more in the idea of flipping houses, I guess. Someone buys several houses in a row or block and restores them to like new conditions then sells them. How could the city help something like that along?

@jimthompson :I dont know about flipping. But some places that have been revitalized have offered real estate tax breaks if the homes are occupied for a specific period of time. However, I can see that being an issue right out of the starting gate.

A friend of my husband just relocated to Peoria and he and his wife bought a house in the East Bluff. They are a youngish couple and are gutting the house and remodeling. And yes, they moved there on purpose.