Wind powers ArcelorMittal Steel Mill in Gary

November 27th, 2008

(Merrillville) Post-Tribune By Gitte Laasby, Post-Tribune staff writer glaasby@post-trib.com GARY - For the past year, 220 workers at ArcelorMittal's plate mill in Gary have been the best-kept secret in Northwest Indiana. To them, "green jobs" is more than a catch phrase in a presidential election campaign. It's food on the table every day. Nearly a year ago to the day, the workers rolled their first slab of plate steel at the Gary mill formerly owned by U.S. Steel. ArcelorMittal spent $35 million to revamp and reopen the plant, allowing the company to meet increasing demand from the energy market. Much of the steel is used for windmills, and demand is growing. Read more: http://www2.chicagosouthlandedc.org/2008/11/27/wind-powers-arcelormittal-steel-mill-in-gary/ Article courtesy of Reggie Greenwood, Director of Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation. http://www2.chicagosouthlandedc.org

Happy Thanksgiving

Property for sale in the Warehouse District

It is a tough time to sell a home, but a good time to buy one. The Federal Government has passed a tax credit program for a first time homebuyer. It only lasts for a limited time, so look it over carefully to see if it can help you buy that first home.

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/

The City also has some programs to help low and moderate income people buy homes. Call the City Planning Department for more information. Call 309 494 8600 for more information.

http://cityofpeoria.blogspot.com/2008/08/great-opportunities-for-first-time-home.html

You call that a River, Chicago?

Chicago is Green with Envy when comparing the Chicago River with the Illinois River in Peoria.

Written by a recovering Chicagoan. I still love her but I left her.

More Photos Below:

Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/peoriamaps

Riverfront
http://peoriariverfront.blogspot.com/

Renaissance Park
http://www.renaissanceparkpeoria.com/

Rivers Edge Redevelopment Iniative http://riverssedgeredevelopmentiniative.blogspot.com/

River Trail Drive
http://rivertraildrive.blogspot.com/

LIFE's Photo Archive

Ten million images in total will soon be available on a new hosted image service from Google, Time Inc. has announced. Ninety-seven percent of the photographs have never been seen by the public.

These images can be found when conducting a search on Google.com or on Google Image Search. Users can also search through the LIFE Collection directly by visiting

http://images.google.com/hosted/life

HOSPITALITY IMPROVEMENT ZONE

HOSPITALITY IMPROVEMENT ZONE

CITY OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS

Tax Increment Financing District (TIF)

and

Business Development District (BDD)

The City Council of Peoria adopted the Hospitality Improvement Zone (HIZ) Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) on October 28, 2008. The City Council adopted the Business Development District (BDD) on November 11, 2008. Both of these districts will last for 23 years. The map above shows the BDD. The TIF is slightly larger, omitting the Civic Center property south of Monroe.

The City of Peoria is making a concerted effort to assist downtown hotels and other businesses to improve. The City has a great downtown and Civic Center, but more and improved hotel rooms are needed to support larger conferences and conventions.
The City has created a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District and a Business Development District (BDD). The TIF will capture new property taxes generated by improvements to the hotels, and put some of the increased property taxes back to the hotels to help pay for the improvements. The BDD permits an up to 1% Sales and an up to 1% Hotel tax to be established. The City would refund these tax revenues back to the hotels to help fund their improvements.

The City encourages all hotels to plan for improved facilities. A great first impression of the City is vital in securing new investment. Our downtown is beautiful, overlooking the Illinois River and wooded bluffs. Improved hotels, restaurants, and retail will help improve our image, and increase the number of people visiting our community.

More info at:

http://hospitalityimprovementzone.blogspot.com/

http://www.peoriaed.blogspot.com/

http://peoriatif.blogspot.com/