READ IT AND WEEP!

The Real Estate section of Sunday's Tribune carried a front-page story about the Glen.  Among other things, reporter John Handley notes that "take-off has been slower than anticipated.  Critics have attributed delays to micro-managing and slow decision-making by the Village, staffing shortages at the Village, and inexperience in managing such a massive endeavor."

The story goes on to describe Gallery Park and to quote Don Owen on the man-made lake: "We'll have piers on the east side.  It should be great fishing. Boat rentals – canoes and sailboats – will be available. We intend the park to be the crown jewel of the region.  It will be for everyone, not just Glenview residents.  An amphitheater will be for concerts."

Glenview Watch wonders:  were you, as a taxpayer, consulted about building a jewel for the region?  Do you look forward to hosting concerts here?  How do you feel about the guestimate that maintenance will cost $1 million in the first year alone?  Does it concern you that a village with no experience in park management will be in charge of this property?  Do you look forward to fishing in the man-made lake?  Did you know that the average goose produces a pound of fecal material each day?

THE MOST PRODUCTIVE MEETING: NO MEETING AT ALL

Sometimes a meeting is more effective when it doesn't happen.  Take the ill-fated summit with Paul McCarthy – the one where citizens hoped to gain a better understanding of school finance under TIF.  McCarthy backed-out at the last minute, alarmed by the growing number of people who wanted to attend, but meeting organizers could say their mission was accomplished anyway.  Consider:

– A top village official called the business managers of Districts 225, 30 and 34 to go over the details of TIF financing with them and to promise annual meetings to review the numbers.

– Trustee Pappo spotted a problem with the formula for calculating school payments, and President Firfer has promised that a change will be considered.
   
– Trustee Patton, who recently told school advocate Art Wulf to shut up and sit down, changed his tune at the latest board meeting. "I personally want to thank all the people who've taken the time to speak," Patton said.  "It's been very beneficial to become understanding and educated on the different viewpoints, and clearly I think we can all recognize that there's been some misunderstandings along the way."

Indeed.  Patton has misunderstood the public mood on development and  McCarthy has misunderstood the public need and right to information.

Is it time to launch a series of summit meetings on all of the issues swirling in Glenview?  Should we invite McCarthy and Patton – or would that be "political."  What would you like to do?  Send us an e-mail at Glenview Watch@aol.com.

IS THE PARTY OVER?

The Glenview Announcement's star political reporter Mike Ulreich must be color blind.  To him, everything is black or white.  Either you're with the Glenview First or the Village United Party, and if you worked for Glenview First, your actions are always "political."

The truth is that Glenview First was a loosely knit group formed to elect three new Trustees to the Village Board.  The Firsters agreed that Glenview needed better local government.  Party organizers did not agree on all of the issues then, and they don't agree on all of the issues now.  Party Chairman Mark Ganchiff no longer attends strategy sessions, several Firsters have distanced themselves from former spokesman Sandy Hausman, and at 84, Norma Morrison says she's fed-up with all the fighting.

So let's admit it:  The Party's over.  We achieved our goal.  It's time to go home and regroup.  People are still dissatisfied with the old guard – powerful folks like Nancy Firfer, John Patton, Kent Fuller, Larry Carlson, Tim Doran and Charlie "The Flying Squirrel" Goetz.  (Whenever Goetz meets environmental advocate Hausman he likes to tell her about the flying squirrels he sees in his east Glenview yard, then jokes about how much he loves owls.  "They're great in soup," he tells her.  "I just shot one the other day.")

In 2001, we'll have the chance to elect three new Trustees and a Village President.  It won't be Glenview First, but a new group will form with the same mission – to re-elect nobody.  The party may be over, but the fun has just begun. 

In the meantime, if you have a beef with the Trustees or Village government, get on the phone and complain.  Would anyone else like to see this town clear its sidewalks when it snows.  We hate seeing kids, the mailman,  housekeeper or guests slogging through slush in the street, and we can't count on everyone to shovel.  Some seniors can't.  Some juniors don't.  What's to be done?

GOOD PLANNING OR CHEST THUMPING?
   
Manager McCarthy has been heard around town boasting that every other Friday night, the Village delivers a 700 - 900 page compendium of memos and documents to the trustees' homes.  Sometimes, he says, there are two full boxes of papers –  background materials for Tuesday's Board Meeting.

Is this good management?  Shouldn't the trustees have more time to read and investigate the issues? Does McCarthy find it easier to manipulate the Board by sharing a mountain of material at the last minute?

Before the last election, several Board Members admitted they didn't even read the "packet," and at their last meeting, President Firfer objected to some language in a document involving property along Milwaukee Avenue.  She was then informed that the paragraph in question was routine and is always part of annexation agreements.  Firfer became flustered, noting that she must be reading things more carefully these days.
   
WHY IS KENT FULLER NAME CALLING?

The right to name streets and parks at the Base falls to all of the Trustees, but according to the latest issue of the Announcements, Trustee Kent Fuller gets to decide what the prairie and its education center will be called.   Last year, Fuller ignored recommendations from the public and chose three of his acquaintances to sit on the Environmental Review Committee.  Earlier, he put a regional group to which he belongs in charge of the prairie, ignoring the existence of a Glenview group formed to protect and preserve the prairie. 

Fuller makes no secret of his disdain for the Park District and suggests that they are not capable of managing natural lands for passive recreation.  Has he been to the Grove lately?   

If Fuller's environmental empire-building concerns you, it's time for a call to your favorite trustee or a letter to the editor of the Announcements.  Don't be silent.  This man is on the move – retiring from the EPA this spring and searching for a new line of work.  Do you want to pay his salary?
            
THE TUMBLING TWINS ... TOGETHER AGAIN

Did you know that Dan Walsh, major domo of Mesirow Stein, and Warren James,  mega-developer at the Base, were on the same high school gymnastics team?


YOUR TURN

What's on your mind? Drop us a line by e-mail at GlenviewWatch@aol.com or the old-fashioned way. We're at 3537 Maple Leaf Drive, Glenview, IL 60025. Thanks for reading. Dean Schott and Sandy Hausman, Co-Editors of The Watch.

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