SANDY HAUSMAN PLEADS FOR THE FROGS  

It was a week of small heartbreaks in Glenview. 

On Sunday, March 12,  I took a walk – to see what was new at the Glen.  I wandered past the official observation deck near Shermer Road toward the 31-acre prairie preserve – across land that once sported runways,  tall grass, native plants and weeds. 

The ground was mostly bare – dried mud marked by the tracks of construction equipment.  A hawk soared, and  I heard a sound from my childhood – the trilling song of birds that lived near farm fields, on the edges of suburbia in the 60's. 

As I got closer to the green oasis, I came upon a wetland and a different sound – a continuous song like the chorus of insects in August – the mesmerizing music of nature.  Frogs are rare in Glenview.  Scientists consider them an important indication of environmental health and a critical link in the food chain.  They eat insects and are, in turn, eaten by snakes.  If the frogs die, then mosquitoes multiply.  If the snakes die, then rodents multiply.

I stood, surrounded by the newly barren fields, and listened to dozens, maybe hundreds of tiny chorus frogs.  I felt  wonder and sadness.  I asked myself how our Village officials could have kept this secret – fenced it off from public view – denied us the right to see and hear what is left of nature in our midst.

Then, I looked up to see a figure in the distance – pacing the prairie – and I began walking toward him, raising my binoculars to see who else might know this secret.  It was, of course, Kent Fuller – the unofficial Village ecologist – armed with a notepad, trying to figure-out how to burn the prairie (a matter of routine maintenance)  without destroying the wooden stakes erected to define it.

Fuller seemed startled to see me and was, I think, reluctant to discuss what was on my mind at that moment.  What will happen to these frogs?  Fuller wasn't sure.  He thought they would be okay – living in protected wetlands, but no one really knows.  When the official environmental impact statement was done at the Base, nobody bothered to look for reptiles and amphibians. 

The Village has an environmental review committee that should be investigating how development around the prairie will impact the frogs, but that group can't act until it gets orders from Village Hall, and Glenview Planning Director Mary Bak says, "We're just not ready."

On Monday, I read in the  Tribune how jungles in Africa have gone silent with the slaughter of so many wild animals.  I shook my head  –  and then I thought about our own sad situation.  In the United States, about one-third of all plant and animal species are in trouble.  Since 1980, 250 have become extinct – wiped-out by the loss of habitat.

On Tuesday, I visited the new nature museum in Chicago.  It's a beautiful building, but there isn't much to see.  One exhibit features a model urban landscape.  Kids can pull a lever and watch it rain.  The polluted water then runs-off, just as it will here in Glenview when our industrial park is built next to the prairie.

And what will happen to our frogs?  Perhaps they will end-up at the nature museum in Chicago – stuffed, like the other wild animals, observed by children who may never see or hear a real frog.

It's tempting to turn on the television – to try and forget what we cannot control, but I'm an incurable optimist – still hoping that together North Shore residents can preserve more of the natural gifts we received at no charge from the federal government when it closed the Base.  Let's see who reads their weekly Watch.  Let's find-out who cares about the environment – and who's watching tv.

Write a short note to Glenview's Trustees.  Tell them you want the Environmentally Significant Areas Ordinance enforced before construction begins this spring in the industrial park or the Northern Triangle.  Then e-mail it to Glenview Watch@aol.com.  We'll deliver it – along with the letters of others in this area who care. 

Do it for the frogs.   Do it for the kids.

BAK'S BUREAUCRACY A BLACK HOLE

The Environmentally Significant Areas Ordinance is not the only important matter buried in the bowels of Bak's Bureaucracy.

What has happened to the idea of posting large signs on any property slated for re-zoning?  That proposal came after residents of south Glenview were surprised by plans for re-development of the NICOR property at Shermer and Golf. 

Years earlier, Glenview's Grand Dame of government – Norma Morrison – had offered the same suggestion. Northbrook routinely informs its citizens of such plans with signs, and members of the Glenview Village Board agreed that this method of public notice is a good one.

It's been nearly six months since the Trustees asked for Plan Commission consideration.  Anyone seen any signs?

OH GOOD – ANOTHER WALGREEN'S!

While the Village Board tinkers with plans for an office building at the north entrance to the Glen – arguing for more setback to ensure a grander look – Glenview State Bank is plotting a whole different look for the west gate. 

The bank sent a lawyer, land planner and appraiser to last Tuesday's meeting of the Plan Commission to ask that property at the corner of Lehigh and Chestnut be zoned for business.

It's now industrial, but Glenview State Bank wants to build a 30,000-square foot office.  One neighboring property owner spoke in support of the change, noting that he'd like to create a small shopping center and has had conversations with Walgreen's.

What better symbols for this new development at Glenview's heart – one drive through window for big bucks and another for big headaches.  The Plan Commission postponed any decision until April 11. 

THE NEIGHBORS SAY "NO" – THE COMMISSION SAYS "NO GO"

Residents of the area around Glenview and Greenwood roads will apparently prevail in their plea to prevent re-zoning of a lot next to the Amoco station.  The owner argued that improving his modest Cape Cod home purchased in 1995 made no sense.  For a marketing standpoint, he said it would be better to build three townhouses.   The neighbors turned out in force to argue for consistency in a block of single-family homes, and the Plan Commission handed  them a unanimous victory.  The issue now goes before the Village Board. 

‘TIL THE COWS COME HOME

The group that saved Wagner Farm  – COWS – holds its annual hoe down at Village Hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 23.  This year's guest speaker is the prairie designer from Prairie Crossing, a model development in Lake County that puts emphasis on open space, recycling, solar power and a rebirth of community spirit.

A NEAR DISASTER IN  DOWNTOWN GLENVIEW

Not since Christmas have so many lights blazed in downtown Glenview.  Dozens of emergency vehicles with their lights flashing converged on the intersection of Glenview and Waukegan roads Saturday, blocking traffic to avoid a possible disaster.  It seems that one of our newest developers, Optima, cut into a gas main producing a major leak at the Cloisters construction site.  The gas main was capped, and disaster averted.

SMIRLES ACTION IRKS FIRFER

Village Board President Nancy Firfer was, no doubt, surprised when  her predecessor mailed a letter to Glenview Republicans and Independents, urging their support for Northbrook Mayor Mark Damisch in his bid to win the GOP nomination for the 10th Congressional District..

The return address read:  Jim Smirles, Village of Glenview.  Firfer, no friend to Damisch, quickly issued a statement informing the public that Smirles does not speak for the Village. 

Question – how was Smirles able to send these letters for 13 cents apiece?


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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