The Chamber of Commerce held its candidates’ forum at Park Center last week, giving many residents their first real look at six candidates for trustee who are not yet serving on the Glenview Village Board. Presidential candidates from Unite Glenview (UG) and Glenview Good Government (G3) were also invited to speak and answer questions.

G3's Donna Pappo recalled her reasons for seeking a seat on the board two years ago and said these same issues are driving her presidential bid in 2001. "Taxpayers were not listened to and were considered problems. Our downtown didn’t work. Many homes had flooding, traffic was a nightmare, development was allowed to control our village and was now threatening our quality of life."

Pappo cited a series of accomplishments in her first two years as a trustee. She spearheaded the drive to raise impact fees collected from developers for Glenview’s schools and parks. She discovered a mistake in the formula used to compensate Districts 34 and 225 for students attending from The Glen and said the correction of that error will mean thousands of additional dollars for the schools. She called for a change in the contract with Glen consultant Mesirow Stein, saving the village an estimated $4.3 million.

UG’s Larry Carlson began by discussing his personal history, pointing out that he has lived in the village since 1959. "Glenview is my home. I try to participate in civic affairs as much as possible because it’s very important to me to try and keep Glenview the special place it was when I grew up here."

He cited four years on the Appearance Commission, 14 on the Plan Commission and a year on the Village Board, adding that he has served as President of the Chamber of Commerce.

He blamed the demise of downtown Glenview on the rise of shopping centers but said, "It doesn’t have to be that way. . .We’re going to form a committee of business owners, property owners, interested citizens, architects and anyone else who’s concerned and wants to help put downtown back on its feet."

"We need to listen to the community and find out what they want," he added. "The answer will be in balance. We don’t want to go the route Arlington Heights has taken with eight and 13- story buildings in their town. That’s not Glenview. . .We want to keep the small town, friendly character of our village that many of us grew up with and that people moved here to be part of."

In her rebuttal, Donna Pappo expressed surprise. Noting that Carlson supports high-density housing downtown, including the Optima West Building with 48 apartments per acre, she said, "There’s nothing small town about that – maybe small town for Skokie, but I don’t think it’s small town for Glenview."

G3's Gail Anderson spoke next, describing her experience as finance director for a Chicago law firm with a budget of more than $80 million. She also pointed to six years on Glenview’s library board. "Because of my financial background, I’ve been chair of the library’s budget committee every year. I streamlined the process in an effort to encourage someone else to take it, but they keep giving me that job year after year," she said.

When library bonds were paid off, Anderson said, she insisted on lowering the tax levy, and she was the only library trustee to protest a village plan to finance development at The Glen with a TIF (tax increment financing) that takes money from our schools, parks and library.

Anderson pledged to work hard "to make our village what we all want it to be – a Glenview that respects everyone, values every citizen’s viewpoint, excludes no one and that works together to create a brighter future."

UG’s Mary Beth Denefe (pronounced Duh-NEFF) spoke next. An attorney by trade, she said she is taking a leave from her career to spend more time with her children. Denefe described volunteer work for her church and school and said she had personal qualities that would serve her well on the Village Board: "listening, using investigative tools and just using common sense and reasonable judgment."

Turning to her team, Denefe continued: "It’s been suggested that we’re the party of overdevelopment. I would respectfully disagree. Our ticket would look at each project on a case by case basis to see if it complements the vision that we have for downtown. She said the party would not support "10 or 15-story buildings that would wreak havoc with the traffic."

She then praised the Unite Glenview ticket for geographic balance. "We have one candidate from the LaFontaine area, which is the area south of Lake and Pfingsten, another from an area that is Glenview Road and Milwaukee Road, another from Indian Ridge, which is West Glenview and still another from Glen Oak Acres, which is East Glenview. . .This is in stark contrast to the other ticket, all of whom live in East Glenview."

Editor’s note: Denefe’s argument on geographic balance begs analysis. She lives in Indian Ridge, off Landwehr Road. Larry Carlson is in LaFontaine near Lake and Pfingsten. Jeff Lerner is close to the intersection of Glenview and Milwaukee while Mike Guinane lives in Glen Oak Acres. In other words, three of the four live west of Greenwood Road in newer subdivisions. None live near downtown or in south Glenview. We would hardly call that a balanced ticket.

The bottom line, however, is that all of our trustees represent all of our neighborhoods and will be challenged to solve a range of community problems. That’s why the real question for voters is not where candidates live but what they know.

As for Denefe’s claim that her ticket would consider development on a case-by-case basis, that is a given. It’s the way our Plan Commission and Village Board work. The difference will come in how our elected officials decide each case. Given Larry Carlson’s track record on the Plan Commission and Village Board, one could reasonably expect a pro-development approach with greater acceptance of high-density downtown. Carlson says he won’t go for eight stories, but that leaves the door open for seven.

G3's Tom Cernek said he’s running for trustee to give voters a choice. A 35-year resident of the village, Cernek once ran for board president. He was endorsed by the Glenview Announcements but lost narrowly to a candidate from the entrenched political establishment now led by Larry Carlson. From that time forward, Cernek said he was shut out of public service. "The signs were clear. No help wanted. No admittance."

Cernek is an award-winning attorney who specializes in arbitration – helping people to resolve disputes. He promised to try and "bring all sides of the issues together and to bring back a sense of civility."

He also pledged to "attend to the needs of residents before the concerns of developers," saying he would work to improve planning, to control growth, and "mostly importantly, I will demand open and inclusive government."

UG’s Mike Guinane, who lost his bid for trustee in 1999, said he has served as president of the Glen Oak Acres Homeowners Association, sits on the Northfield Township Human Services Commission and is a member of the Wagner Farm Steering Committee. A local contractor, he pledged to simplify the paperwork required for home improvements and to make permits available through the Internet.

"I will work to protect the unique characteristics of each neighborhood," Guinane continued. "I respect the right of individual homeowners to use their property as they see fit, but this right must be tempered with reasonable development consistent with the surrounding characteristics of the neighborhood. The rights and concerns of the residents must always come first before the developer," he said.

Editor’s note: The Township’s Human Services Commission is often used as a springboard for people who want a career in politics. They need only express interest and be approved by the township’s supervisor to serve. Last year, the commission met just once to decide how much money various social service groups would get. As for the Wagner Farm Steering Committee, members say Guinane has done little. Finally, it should be noted that the village planned to make permits available online long before Guinane made his suggestion.

G3's Grant Ireland began his dinner-time speech with a joke about a pig and chicken walking down Waukegan Road. They pass Carson’s and see a sign in the window offering ham and eggs for $2.99. "The chicken said to the pig, `let’s go in. I’m hungry.’ The pig replied, ‘No way. For you, it’s only a small contribution. For me, it’s a total commitment."

Ireland said service on the board would be a total commitment for him. As a management consultant, he pledged to use his expertise to resolve traffic, flooding and other problems that plague the village and to control spending. He promised to establish better communications between Village Hall and the public and proposed an annual survey to identify the wishes of residents and merchants.

"You can depend on me to be frugal," he added. "Just ask my wife. You can depend on me to listen with an open mind. You can depend on me to change the focus from The Glen to all of Glenview, and finally, you can depend on me for that total commitment."

UG’s Jeff Lerner batted clean-up, describing his experience on the District 225 school board. He was proud of his role in the $40 million building program for both high schools and touted the district’s AAA bond rating.

Lerner portrayed himself as an independent, distancing himself from the party that selected him. "I am not here to expound the philosophy of others or those that came before," he said. "It is not for my candidacy to defend their decisions."

"Our government must be simple, fair and effective," he said. "I fully believe that if we temper reason with progress, Glenview will remain a community where children may play in the back yard, where summer nights mean the Dairy Bar and a concert at Jackman Park, and where a community parade means saying hello to your neighbors."

Editor’s note: We trust those traditions will endure, regardless of who is elected on April 3, and we note that three days after Lerner’s remarks about his expertise in finance and construction, the Glenview Announcements reported that District 225's building program had "run into a few snafus," that could cost taxpayers an extra $4 million.

During the question and answer period, a member of the audience asked Lerner why he had abstained early last year when the District 225 board voted to join other schools in Northfield Township to fight developers’ requests for tax breaks.

Lerner hotly denied that claim. "That question is incorrect," he said. "I’ve only abstained on one vote in the four years I was on the board, and the reason I abstained on that is it was a matter involving my personal physician."

The minutes of District 225's meeting on January 10, 2000 read:

"Motion by Mrs. Long, seconded by Mrs. Beyne, to direct the staff to contact the township elementary districts regarding collaboration on real estate tax appeal interventions. Upon call for a vote on the motion, all present voted aye, with the exception of Mr. Lerner who abstained."

During last week’s debate, Lerner added, "I voted against tax abatements for commercial developers," then admitted supporting a tax break for Crate and Barrel in Northbrook.

When Mike Guinane was asked why he had been silent on the major issues facing Glenview since his unsuccessful bid for trustee, he replied, "I believe that the process should work itself through the system, and at that time let our elected officials make the decisions that they were elected to make."

Asked if he would support the village paying for new sewers and roads in his neighborhood, Glen Oak Acres, Guinane sighed and stalled for more than 20 seconds before responding that he did not like a village plan to pay only 25 percent for the cost of storm water management in that part of town.

During her speech, Mary Beth Denefe seemed composed and comfortable until she turned to the issues. There, she stumbled over words like "revitalize," "infrastructure," and "Jeep distributor deal," then looked down and read her speech, word for word, to the end. In speaking about the new zoning ordinance that imposes a maximum building size she stated, "The other ticket supports an ordinance that’s unworkable."

Startled by that statement, G3's Gail Anderson said, "We’ve just been accused of supporting an ordinance I know nothing about. Can you tell me what you’re talking about?" Denefe made no response and Anderson concluded, "We have not discussed any revisions to the maximum building size ordinance."

Viewers were left to wonder if someone else wrote about the issues for Denefe and whether she had any understanding of what she was reading.

Finally, in the course of questioning, Larry Carlson described himself as "pretty much of an independent." His voting record suggests otherwise. During his time on the board, Carlson has cast 479 votes – 473 of them with the party controlled by Nancy Firfer, John Patton Jr., Jim Smirles and Tim Doron – the party now known as Unite Glenview.

It didn’t take long to fell a landmark tree on Pleasant Lane last week, but Village Manager Paul McCarthy tapped danced for more than five minutes at this week’s meeting of the Village Board – trying to explain to the trustees how a giant elm with a trunk exceeding 25 inches escaped the protection of Glenview’s tree ordinance.

McCarthy said the village had stopped construction at the site of a teardown while it investigated and discovered that the developer, a prominent local architect who works for the Park District, actually had a permit to take down the tree. "If there is a mistake, " McCarthy said, "the responsibility rests here, and we’re going to do whatever we can to measure it, mitigate it and correct it."

He didn’t explain how that could be done, but the Glenview Announcements had an idea. The paper reported that the village was swamped with requests for tree inspection and began sending building inspectors to do a tree expert’s job. In this week’s editorial, the newspaper wrote:

"Please! Everyone gets mired in paperwork from time to time, but public works personnel aren’t suddenly asked to answer fire calls when there are many of them, and a building inspector ought not be sent to evaluate the health of a tree. The tree preservation ordinance has been on the books since November. Months ago, staff should have devised a system for reviewing permit requests that ensures the village arborist is the one who judges a tree’s health."

The word from the Watch: Amen!

Glenview residents John Ranz and Larry Miller, who have presented reams of information to support their case against a tax hike for Glenview School District 34, are feeling vindicated by another story in this week’s Announcements. It confirms their claim that, by law, a yes vote on the referendum could mean more than a one-time increase of 29 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

District officials say they don’t need any more than 29 cents, and the school board is expected to address the subject at its next meeting on March 19, but Ranz told the Announcements, "This is confirmation that district personnel and the school board don’t understand their own referendum."

State Senator Kathy Parker, State Representative Beth Coulson, Glenview Village President Nancy Firfer and Northbrook Village President Mark Damisch did all they could last Monday night to give 50 people a guarantee that Willow Road from Landwehr to Waukegan will not be widened any time soon. The project is not in the five-year capital improvements budget for the Illinois Department of Transportation, so for the time being Willow will remain four lanes.

Work, however, will begin later this year to widen Willow west from Landwehr to Northwest Highway in Arlington Heights. What that will do to traffic from Interstate 294 east through Glenview and Northbrook is anyone’s guess.

What Firfer and Damisch failed to address during their session at Glenbrook South High School was what their two communities have done over the last 10 years to dump even more traffic on Willow and what will happen over the next 10 years as development proceeds unabated.

Ten years ago, these developments did not exist along Willow: Stonegate and Glenridge Meadows residential developments and a new synagogue at Landwher; LaSalle National Bank at Pfingsten; the Princeton Club near Shermer; the North Shore Corporate Park with Kohl’s, Target and other retailers at Old Willow Road; Willow Hill Golf Course and the residential and commercial development known as Heatherfield near Waukegan.

Under development or soon to be developed is the northwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten, The Glen with its retail, commercial and residential development north and south of Willow Road, North Pointe, the Convent Property and the vacant lot around Waukegan and Willow.

Editor’s note: The two villages along Willow Road have, in fact, done plenty to make traffic problems worse on Willow and to feed demand for its widening, even as they pledged to oppose a six-lane highway through our communities. One resident who has lived along Willow Road since 1947 and had heard earlier promises not to widen Willow to four lanes from two was skeptical of the latest round of promises. We remain skeptical as well.

PLR writes about a complaint filed by the UG Party which has been pledging a return to civility: "I would suggest to Mr. Doron and Mr. Carlson, ‘You can run, but you cannot hide!’ These two continually show their true colors by their ignorant, crude and rude comments. In their book, everyone else is supposed to play by their rules, but not them. They have removed themselves from any reasonable code of conduct. I suppose it is good, though, that they are so blatant so that people may always be reminded of who and what they really are! You know, I'd really like to see them run – run away!

"This a late response to the February 18 Watch re: Henry Hill wanting people to use their names, not initials. "I see no lack of courage in those choosing not to use their names. Is there lack of courage by not listing your phone number in the phone directory? If I thought my comments would be taken any more seriously by printing my name, I would, but I think the content of statements in reaching people in this type of forum is the main importance, and I am not shy about telling people I love reading the "Watch." Controversial or not, it is doing a very fine job of communicating."

Zcloser returns with kudos for Kathy: "Here, here to Kathy Schulte and her comments on the fact that the Glenview Watch indeed has an agenda of its own. How about a nice cheddar or Swiss to go with the whine that is consistently coming from the GW and its puppet party, G3?"

The Watch replies: You’re a pretty good whiner yourself, Z. Maybe we can share the cheese. As for G3, you can be sure they are not puppets. They’re a better bunch than the UG’s – more open-minded and less likely to roll over and play dead in the face of Paul McCarthy, but you can bet G3 will do their share of disappointing. All politicians do.

In this election year, we’re making a campaign promise too. We’ll keep watching, informing and attacking those people who are elected, appointed or paid to serve the public whenever they fail to do so.

CM wonders what’s going on with the property at Shermer and Golf: "How long ‘til we find out what is going to happen with the Old Nicor building? It looks terrible with all the broken windows. I'm scared to think what has made its home in the abandoned building. With the spotlight on The Glen, has the village forgotten its back burner issues?"

The Watch replies: We talked with Assistant Village Manager Joe Wade who called Development Director Mary Bak. She has pledged to send an inspector out. By law, Nicor must board up any broken windows and fence the abandoned property until it is torn down. So far, no demolition permit has been requested, but based on the utility’s future plans, Wade expects the property to be razed.

The more important question is what the neighborhood is doing to save the property from development. Nicor is still intent on making money, and a survey of area residents showed they prefer to keep the property as open space. Just a reminder. If you want it, you’re going to have to ask, and there’s no better time than during the month before an election.

Glenview promised, when it first unveiled a tax increment financing plan at The Glen, that it would set aside 20 per cent of the revenue from land sales for capital improvements in other parts of the village. Acquiring land is a capital improvement, and the kitty in question now contains more than $30 million. Ask Presidential candidates Carlson and Pappo where they stand on using some money from The Glen pot of gold to prevent further congestion in your area by preserving open space.

If you don’t move quickly, you can bet Manager McCarthy will be using the cash to build himself a new Village Hall.

Alan Butman has a question for traffic planners at Village Hall: "Why is it that I can turn right on red onto Lake Avenue eastbound from Shermer, but I can not turn right on red onto Shermer southbound from Lake? Lake is a busy street with traffic moving at 45 miles per hour. The traffic moves more slowly on Shermer and there are very few cars coming southbound from Lake. A right onto Lake seems riskier, but that’s what’s allowed. What gives?"

The Watch replies: Traffic engineers apparently felt that drivers turning from Shermer to Lake had a clear view of the road ahead, and a right on red would not endanger cars or pedestrians. That is not the case for those turning right onto Shermer. Houses and trees restrict the view of Shermer, and pedestrians crossing just south of the intersection or cars turning onto Shermer from nearby Park Lane might be at increased risk from traffic turning on red.

Rick Nasello is also concerned about traffic safety: "The intersection of Ravine and Willow Road is in desperate need of some sort of overhead lighting. I was turning onto Ravine last Friday at around 7 p.m. and almost hit the center median.

"The other thing I would like to comment on is the uproar over the widening of Willow Road. Everyone is forgetting the fact that the state can claim eminent domain. If and when IDOT decides to widen Willow, they will do it regardless of protests from the community. Unless opponents have some heavy hitters on their side – people with a lot of influence – they had better accept the fact that they are being pacified to keep the fires of controversy on a low flame. As far as IDOT’s director Kirk Brown is concerned, he has a boss. He was appointed to his job. He must play ball, and when he leaves IDOT, his promise regarding Willow Road goes with him.

"So let’s stick to what we control. How about an overhead light at the intersection of Ravine and Willow Road?"

The Watch replies: According to one source at Glenview’s Department of Public Works, the village rarely installs street lights. Most of the ones we have were put in by the state, the county or a developer. Lighting of the area you write about – the road that provides access to Target and Kohl’s – could be provided by the state, which is responsible for Willow Road, or by the North Shore Corporate Park, which is responsible for Ravine. Since you probably don’t want to be bothered with either entity, we suggest a call to your favorite trustee immediately after the April 3 election – while he or she still remembers the promise to provide better service to the voters.

And Evelyn Lucas wishes drivers would start stopping: "Glenview might as well do away with all the STOP signs. I get dropped off at Prairie and Lehigh near the train station. There are three signs at that one intersection, but I have yet to see one car come to a dead stop. Most just fly right through. It is a wonder that a person can make it across the street without being hit. If I were a policeman, I could make a fortune for the village with the number of tickets I would issue.

"I’d also like to comment on the ‘downtown’ debate. Why doesn't this village just admit that we have no downtown. Most people go to Old Orchard or Northbrook Court where there’s a large selection of stores. There’s also Carillon Square. Why can't more retailers be enticed to go into that location? I could write a book about this village -- and I haven't lived here long."

Barry Gardner responds to our profiles of the library board candidates: "Great stuff I thought running the biopsies on the candidates for the Library Board brilliant. It’s incredible that you get people actually contesting for these positions. We have problems getting people to serve on school governing bodies."

The Watch replies: Yes, the school situation is a real problem first called to my attention by the controversial but often correct Art Wulf.  Wulf argues that this area has so many little school districts that the talent pool runs dry when it comes to choosing a board. If we were to consolidate 30, 31, and 34 under the 225 banner, I'd venture to say education would be just as good, but we'd spend far less on administration, attract better people to the board and be able to offer more programs like early foreign language. We could also deal more effectively with crowding problems by shifting children to schools with excess capacity. District 30 has very small classes while 31 is jammed, and we're right next door. We are also told that there are state incentives for districts that merge, but it won’t happen any time soon. People have a parochial notion that they would lose control of their schools if their districts got any bigger, and their superintendents are not about to lead a fight for consolidation. We’ll let you guess why."

Your Turn. What's on your mind? Send us an e-mail. We are Sandy Hausman and Dean Schott – GlenviewWatch@aol.com.

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