An ominous new crack has developed at Roosevelt Pool, and a top park district official warns that any repairs will be "a year-to-year Band-Aid." Director of Leisure Services Bob Quill said the crack runs 100 feet and is so wide that the pool could not possibly hold water. Fixing it will cost more than $9,000, and Quill says maintenance is likely to cost even more at both of Glenview’s outdoor pools in the years to come.

Roosevelt is now 64 years old while Flick Pool opened 41 years ago. Quill said the life expectancy of a swimming pool in this region is 25-30 years. Wilmette recently spent $10 million to replace its pool at Centennial Park with an aquatic center. Quill said Glenview might not have to spend that much at Roosevelt, but any replacement would require a tax hike.

Noting that a referendum would not even be possible until spring 2004, Parks Commissioner Chris Warren told Quill, "You’ve got to hold those pools together for at least two more years."

"Everybody on staff is saving their chewing gum," Quill quipped.

Repairs will begin almost immediately at Roosevelt so the pool can be filled and tested next month. If necessary, additional repairs could still be made before opening day. The district will also spend more than $20,000 to repair 650 feet of cracks at Flick.

Three new members joined the Glenview Park Board Thursday, taking an oath of office and thanking their families during the panel’s monthly meeting. After Commissioner Ted Przybylo introduced his kids to the board, Commissioner John Winand joked, "Say goodbye to Daddy. You’ll see him again in about six years." (Members serve 6-year terms.)

All three participated in their first meeting, asking questions and making suggestions. Bill Casey proposed the park district give free pool passes to the families of military reservists serving in the Middle East. The idea won speedy approval, and Parks President Judy Beck insisted the offer also be extended to Congressman Mark Kirk – a reservist who lives in Deerfield. Recognizing a large military presence at The Glen, the cash-strapped board wasn’t sure it could afford to provide the same benefit for the families of active members of the armed forces, but Casey pointed out they are not taking the kind of pay cut that many reservists face.

Commissioner Mary Jean Coulson raised the subject of golf and a "shooting range," prompting a speedy correction from duffer Doug Kaiser who has spent many happy hours at driving ranges. A short time later Coulson said she would be interested in serving on the board’s golf committee. "Not if you’re going to a shooting range," joked Kaiser.

During the discussion of swimming pool troubles, Commissioner Ted Przybylo asked several important questions of staff, but the candidate who promised to "save" Flick and Roosevelt pools during the campaign offered no suggestions.

The board spent more than an hour discussing fences. One will be installed at Jackman Park to keep toddlers from racing onto Lehigh or into a parking lot north of the playground.

Another fence will be taken down after more than two years of discussion with residents of Heatherfield. Before giving park land on Willow Road to Glenview, the James Company created a drainage swale along the property line. Perhaps fearing a wood fence would rot there, the developer installed a fence as much as 29 feet into park district property. The neighbors have come to like their large backyards and had offered to buy the land– less than half an acre -- from the park district at $4 per square foot, but the district wants $7 a square foot – more than residents are willing to pay. The commissioners will make one final offer to the neighbors – giving them the fence if they agree to move it from park district land to their own property.

The park commissioners were none too pleased when they received a preliminary copy of Glenview’s comprehensive plan for development over the next 10 years. In it, a consultant refers to village of Glenview parks and recreation facilities. In fact, most of Glenview’s recreational land and buildings are owned by the park board – a separate unit of government which actually has jurisdiction over a much larger area than the village. Parks’ president Judy Beck also wondered if the comprehensive planning commission had even bothered to read a letter from the park board outlining its priorities for the next decade. Beck noted that almost every meeting of the commission had been scheduled on a night when the district was having its monthly meeting. As a result, she and Commissioner Doug Kaiser, selected to serve as the park board’s liaisons, have not been able to attend most sessions. Now, as the planners prepare to approve a finished document, Beck and Kaiser said they will be at the next meeting on April 17.

– The park district is lowering some rates for golf, hoping to revive the sagging sport in Glenview. Commissioner Kaiser said this area is clearly "overbuilt" when it comes to golf, and while cheaper rates might produce a short-term boost in revenue, Glenview would only be robbing its neighbors’ courses, prompting them to drop rates too. Instead, he said, the district should work hard to interest more members of the public in golf.

– Commissioners agreed to promote the café at Glenview’s main golf course more heavily. "It’s a beautiful spot to have lunch," said President Beck. Most members agreed and praised the food, but one thought newly-elected Commissioner Przybylo, a professional chef, might find ways to make the cuisine even better.

– Wagner Farm Director Todd Price said mud is a serious problem impacting the health of animals there. Admitting that the manure pile runs into muddy sections of the farm, Price said cows were contracting mastitis "from walking belly deep in mud." He promised to research the question of how drainage could be improved.

– Work will soon begin on a Lake Avenue sidewalk adjacent to Wagner Farm. Resident Henry Hill, who sits on a committee appointed to assure historic accuracy in redeveloping the farm, proposed the concrete be colored to blend with the landscape. The park board agreed that white concrete can have a stark appearance, and Commissioner Warren asked what color the new walk might be. Leisure Services Director Quill described it as a "brown/gold." "Fine," said Warren. "Anything but red." Members of Citizens Organized for WagnerS have strongly objected to talk of painting the barn that color.

Citizens Organized for WagnerS received a cash infusion and a shot in the arm last week when leaders released the results of a public survey on the future of Wagner Farm. Nearly 600 residents were questioned on a range of issues, and the vast majority agreed with positions taken by the group’s board of directors.

For example, the survey asked if the barn should be painted or sealed to retain its weathered look? Nearly 87 percent preferred to seal it. Likewise, residents felt the fences, chicken coop, corn crib and pump house should match the barn’s historic look. Should cows be transported to local schools for educational purposes? More than 98 percent said no. And what about the business of giving new calves numbers instead of names? Nearly 87 preferred names, like Milkshake and Moodonna.

By a substantial margin residents also favored keeping a bull at the farm and thought cows should be allowed to stay even after they stop giving milk as long as they’re in good health.

Residents did not favor building a walkway under Wagner Road to assure safe and easy access from the parking lot at St. Peter and Paul’s Church, an idea initially proposed by the COWS board.

On the financial front, COWS announced receipt of a $10,000 grant from the NIB Foundation. There’s no word yet on how the money will be spent or whether it might influence the attitude of Glenview’s park district. A top executive there recently branded the farm’s advocacy group as a "liability," after COWS refused to promise blind support for whatever the park board decides.

Finally, the group awarded a $50 savings bond to Joey Carini, a first-grader at O.L.P.H. for suggesting the winners in a name-the-cows competition. Carini thought a baby the park district originally named Calf 86 should be called Tux (short for Tuxedo) and its mother, known to the park district as Agent 85, should be called Patch. Most of the 17 kids who entered the contest were from O.L.P.H. Glenview School District 34 opted not to participate in the competition. All participants were given tee-shirts.

Three new trustees will be sworn in at Tuesday night’s board meeting and will then tackle a full agenda including whether to allow drive-thru businesses at The Glen Town Center. The board is also expected to approve a contract for nearly half a million dollars to add landscaping at Gallery Park and may consider a request by Meier’s Tavern to expand from 82 to 140 seats. Residents living around that eastside Lake Avenue establishment object to the plans for expansion and wonder why this matter did not go before the zoning board or plan commission first. The meeting will be cablecast on channel 17 or residents can attend the meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the board room of Village Hall, 1225 Waukegan Road.

Glenview resident John Ranz and former resident Terry Wodder continue to attack the library board, saying plans for a new building are far in excess of what the community needs. In a letter to The Watch, Wodder says the library would have 96 percent more patron seats per thousand than the average for 11 suburban libraries that have recently expanded. 

He attacks the library board for failing to perform a survey of how many seats are occupied at any given time, and quotes a University of Wisconsin expert,  Anders C. Dahlgren, who recommends 4.5 seats per thousand for communities of 25,000 residents and 3 seats per thousand for cities of 50,000. The library Glenview plans would provide 11.34 seats per thousand.

In last week’s Watch, recently re-elected board member Arlene Anthony said a seat count had been done in 2001 and 2002 every half hour for a period of two weeks, but Wodder offers e-mails from former library director John Blegen that cast doubt on Anthony’s claim. On February 13, 2002, Blegen wrote, "We have tried several approaches to those kinds of counts but have run into method or staffing problems and haven’t been able to complete them."

Executive librarian Vickie Novack did provide The Watch with a survey of how many patrons used the library last year between March 3 and April 20, but that report did not indicate how many people were actually seated. Daily visits ranged from 249 to 567.

Wodder, a professional auditor, says he made four visits to the library last year and found the average number of occupied seats was just 21.5. Now he asks, "Does the library really need 465 seats?"

Former library board President Gail Anderson rejects Wodder's numbers. "The American Library Association stopped publishing standards for public library construction and size back in 1966, citing overwhelming evidence that it really depends on the community and how the library is used.  One size definitely does not fit all. Technology alone demands more patron seats."  She dismisses Wodder's personal survey saying, "Four visits to the library does not a study make."

In a press release issued March 24, the library supports that view,  saying Glenview should not be compared to other communities. "[They] may use their libraries in significantly different ways," the release asserts. "We turn away many groups each month who would like to host meetings at the library because we just don’t have the facilities to accommodate them." What’s more the release predicts that if more parking were provided at a new library, use of the facility would increase.

The library release suggests building at The Glen may be "the most cost-efficient solution," and that site must be considered as a matter of public trust, but the document goes on to say, "cost is not the only nor the most important factor." Several downtown sites are still under consideration, but the library says it has not reached an agreement with the village about which one would be best.

Resident John Ranz attacks the library’s call for more meeting space, suggesting there are plenty of empty rooms each night at the Park Center and in local schools. He fears the taxpayers will be hit twice for a new facility, once to build it and once to pay increased maintenance costs. "You need look no further than Wilmette to find a library board that overbuilt in the 1990's without the funds to keep the heat and lights on."

Wodder says the library board has been blinded by its love of books, and he questions the credibility of the space consultant who worked for a company that might have won a contract to provide architectural services for the project. The bigger the library, he charges, the more money Frey, Gillian and Molinaro would have made.

Wodder believes a new post office could be built by the village at The Glen and the current library could be expanded by about 30,000 square feet at its current location with ample parking for less money than the library board would spend to build a new 110,000-square-foot facility.

Gail Anderson thinks maybe Wodder, a former Glenview resident who now lives in West Virginia, should return and run for public office. Wodder replies, "If I see a bank robbery the next time I’m back for a visit, I guess I should look the other way because it's not my town and not my bank."

The new Home Depot on Willow Road and Patriot Boulevard will host a "neighborhood night," from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, offering residents a preview of the facility. Smaller than a traditional Home Depot, the store puts more emphasis on home decorating. Company executives told the Glenview Announcements they hope to appeal to women. The store will offer more designer home merchandise and less lumber but will have a full-sized garden center. Tuesday’s event will feature donation of a $1,000 check to Glenview/Northbrook Youth Services and a board-sawing ceremony with Village President Larry Carlson. Home Depot will be open for business Thursday from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Rotary Club of Glenview Sunrise will hold an auction of fine art – original works and prints – and certified sports memorabilia from 7-8 p.m. Saturday, May 10 at The Glen Club. Hors d’oeuvres, wine and cheese will be served. The price of admission: $10 per person or $15 per couple with proceeds going to the club’s charitable foundation. For more information, call 847-374-0660.

Glenview/Northbrook Youth Services will host a dinner, live and silent auction and comedy show at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, May 4 at the Northbrook Hilton Tickets are $50 per person. For details, call 847-724-2620.

The Glenview Symphony Orchestra will perform at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, May 4 at the Christian Heritage Academy, 315 Waukegan Road, Northfield. The program, titled "Tradition," will feature Chicago Symphony violinist Albert Igolnikov performing John Williams’ "Three Pieces from Schindler’s List," and "Baal Schem" by Ernest Bloch. Music Director Philip Simmons will also conduct Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Tickets are $18 and $12 for students and seniors. For more information, call 847-920-9569.

A small district with two elementary schools and a middle school in Glenview and Northbrook, District 30 finds itself on a financial early warning list along with 182 other districts that could find themselves in a cash crunch soon. Officials say the classification is a fluke – the result of unusual circumstances last year when District 30 did major construction at Maple Middle School. Nevertheless, Superintendent Harry Rossi joined other school officials in Springfield last week to urge that the state provide more funding for the special programs it requires. School District 34 landed on a list with others considered financially solid, but administrators there warned that wouldn’t last long given plans to spend down its reserves.

– Want to get rid of old cans of oil-based paint, anti-freeze, auto batteries, garden or pool chemicals, motor oil, household cleaners and other toxic substances? Take them to Niles North High School, 9800 N. Lawler Ave. in Skokie on April 26 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County will assure proper disposal but ask residents not to bring explosives, fireworks, smoke detectors, tires or latex paint. For details, call 312-751-6633 or visit www.mwrd.org.

– Help clean the banks of the Chicago River where it runs through Glenview. Friends of the River and Glenview Friends of Nature will begin that job by meeting just east of Kohl’s parking lot on Willow Road from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, May 10. Participants are encouraged to bring gloves. Trash bags will be provided.

– Northbrook’s Earth Day celebration will feature a race of rubber ducks down the Chicago River where it passes through Northbrook. Set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, the Rotary Club contest will raise money to eradicate polio worldwide. Tickets are $5 per duck or $25 for a Quack Pack of six. The winners get cash prizes of $1,000 and $500, a spa gift certificate or a round of golf for four. The day will also feature buggy rides, food and entertainment on the Village Green. Call 847-272-5050 ext. 247 for more information.

– A correction: In last week’s Watch we reported that a prairie burn at the Techny Basin brought the smell of smoke to offices and shops along Waukegan Road. The burn was conducted by the village of Glenview and not by the park district which was busy doing its own burn at The Grove.

– Evanston is embroiled in debate after a member of the District 65 school board referred to multiracial students as "mutts." Hecky Powell, an African-American, was talking about how the district identifies students of different races in record-keeping. "In this country, we basically all are mutts," he said. Resident Tracey Wallace was indignant, complaining that "an elected official would be asinine enough to refer to children with such a derogatory description." Despite that complaint, Powell was elected vice president of the board.

– Deerfield is pondering a plan from Red Seal Development to put 64 condos and 69 town homes at the old State Farm Insurance site on the south side of Lake-Cook Road. The area is not now zoned for residential use.

– Northbrook appears poised to again debate ways of regulating McMansions. Critics say a provision that allows people with the smallest lots to build a 3,500-square-foot home should be eliminated.

– A parking war has broken out in Wilmette after one store owner demanded others keep their employees from parking in public places downtown. Bob Danon, who owns an art gallery, passed out flyers suggesting people boycott any business that did not support his approach. That led others to create a poster depicting Danon as an ogre with one eye and a second showing him standing on a balcony next to Saddam Hussein. "That’s not funny," Danon told the Pioneer Press.

Many Glenview residents have called for more civil conduct at local board meetings, but none has gone so far as officials in Palo Alto who are considering a ban on raised eyebrows, loud guffaws, smirks or other facial expressions that imply disagreement or disgust. The city council may also require that members refer to each other with the title of Mr. or Mrs. before the last name, even though most are on a first-name basis. In explaining the call for tough new regulations, Councilwoman Judy Kleinberg cited the White House as a model. "I don’t think people sitting around the cabinet with the president roll their eyes," she said.

JC raises an issue not covered by the media during our last election: "Two individuals and one institution must be especially grateful for the recent election results. Now that the village board is controlled by a single party, no one is likely to question the credentials of Appearance Commission Chairman Bruce Burch and Plan Commissioner Joseph DiMattina. Burch does not live in Glenview although he owns rental property here, and notices in the Glenview Announcements indicate the bank is foreclosing on DiMattina’s house. Also celebrating, no doubt, is the North Shore Country Club. That exclusive institution now has two representatives on the village board. Mary Beth Denefe's husband is a regular member, although – as a woman – she is not. Kimball Woodrow succeeds a long line of NSCC members who have served on the village board in the past including John Patton Jr. and former President Tom Smith."

Editor’s note: Commissioner DiMattina says he will continue to live in Glenview.

EB is sorry to see John Crawford go: "I'm just as upset as many are, since we are back to a one-party, big business government, but I can't help but wonder if this will work out. Former Trustee Crawford knows where the skeletons have been buried the last few years. I hope he will continue to help expose some of the irregularities that have occurred. I thank former Trustees Donna Pappo, Rachel Cook and Crawford for trying to bring honest, sensible government to Glenview."

FM has set her sights on the next local election: "Glad to hear that Crawford will begin planning for 2005. I liked his idea of having the school bus drivers take Glenview citizens around on their off-time instead of parking in Flick Park and burning gasoline for hours."

Andrew Przybylo – director of the Cook County Zoning Board, Democratic committeeman of Maine Township and a Trustee on the Niles Village Board -- objects to our coverage of the park district race in which his brother, Ted, was the top vote getter: "Your reference to Mr. Przybylo as ‘Big Spender’ and your questioning his honesty with regard to the pools, are obviously prejudicial. You seem to have branded him for his past political affiliations to the Democratic Party of Maine Township. My suggestion to you is to rise above dirty politics and judge a person for his policies and his past deeds. I doubt that you even asked him about his pool positions, if in fact he even authored what you purport him to have done."

The Watch replies: We have no objection to Przybylo's past involvement in Maine Township politics. In fact, we think political experience can be a real plus. As for those lawn signs that urged people to vote for Przybylo in order to "Save Flick Pool" or "Save Roosevelt Pool," surely the candidate knew what was being said on his own lawn signs. It was an impressive trick played on the poorly-informed voters of Glenview. Neither pool is expected to close, and to date Przybylo has presented no special proposals for raising the money needed to replace them when the time comes. Finally, we know what four-color mass mailings cost, and relative to the other eight candidates against whom he ran, Przybylo was clearly the big spender. That said, we await good things from Ted Przybylo and will be the first to praise him if he proves a capable and enlightened commissioner.

WS Dose thinks public officials are not aiming high enough when it comes to the look of downtown Glenview: "I was glad that someone asked the candidates for trustee about neon regulation. Kerry Cummings' reply that she is ‘not against neon signs’ was both telling and disturbing. Our elected officials are charged with advocating for the highest possible quality of life for Glenview's residents and the best possible image for its downtown. They must objectively embrace the highest appearance standards possible and not act solely on what they are able to tolerate personally. I fear our commissioners and trustees may already have subconsciously put a ceiling on the level of quality we can expect to see downtown. It’s a sad breach of trust and symptomatic of our self-defeating ‘second city’ complex. Rather than aspire to the quality image and downtown ambiance of our neighbors to the east, our officials seem comfortable settling for the mediocre appearance and design standards of downtown areas in less appealing suburbs."

A reader who calls himself the "Insider" writes about Glenview’s library: "Shame on library board member Arlene Anthony. She glibly sidestepped honest, factual replies to critics of her oversized new library proposal, preferring to betray the very taxpayers she is supposed to represent. Here are the facts, some of which appear on the library’s own website:

"Glenview’s library attendance grew a healthy 43 percent from 1986 to 2000, a 14-year period during which there was limited online home computer use. Since 1997, attendance has declined substantially, and up to 50 percent of households have access to the Internet – a number which can be expected to grow. We need only expand our library on-site by a reasonable 50 percent, but the library board ignores facts, preferring to construct a new building elsewhere that is double the size of our existing building, equal to Evanston and similar to Arlington Heights libraries that serve towns with twice the population of Glenview. A building that size will saddle us with mammoth construction costs and exponentially rising operating expenses while home Internet use grows and library attendance dwindles.

"Ms. Anthony was a strong supporter for building a large new library at the site of the old Rugen School. Never mind that the library board's own survey of Glenview residents revealed that 63 percent of taxpayers preferred keeping the library at its current location on Glenview Road. Which begs the question, why have our library trustees betrayed taxpayers stated preferences?

"The library board now wants a 24 percent tax increase in part to pay for legal expenses and consultant services in searching for a new location for a new library. How about some new thinking at the library board?"

PS has been shopping and worrying about standing water: "What is the village board doing about the land that is gathering water at the west end of the new Home Depot/ Costco land. There is so much water there, the birds think it's a lake. Shouldn't that be filled with something quickly before the mosquitoes come to breed? We could have a huge problem there."

The Watch replies: That, my dear, is a restored wetland mandated by the Army Corps of Engineers in exchange for permission to build yet another shopping center on open space in Glenview. Perhaps the birds will eat the mosquitoes. Maybe the frogs will do their part if they survive the sea of asphalt surrounding their little pond. That is certainly the idea, but there are no guarantees. Man-made areas rarely work as well as natural ones.

GG writes from Glen Oak Acres about CD’s stray cat troubles. "I can sympathize with this person as our street has been slightly overrun with feral cats over the past year and a half. First there was one lone black male, then last summer, another male and three kittens. Status of the mother of the kittens is not known. My cat goes nuts when he sees any one of the two outdoor males, but I try to yell at them to get them out of the yard. My neighbor took it upon herself to get all five of these strays caught in a trap, neutered and given the shots they needed. She had to let the two older males loose as they are feral and couldn't be adopted. She and her husband took in the three kittens to join a household with two dogs and two other cats! Bless her heart for this gesture. She caught another one just Monday, and it is being spayed today. I just wish that whoever is responsible for dropping off these cats or just letting them run wild could be caught and punished."

CS may be moooving to Glenview: "I've recently put a bid down on a property on Lake Avenue by Wagner Farm. Being a country girl who grew up in a farming village my husband thinks that close proximity to cattle will cure my urban blues. However, when we were toodling down Lake I noticed a lot of construction. What the hell are they doing? Cows don't like cars and neither do I. What crazy person suggested this?"

The Watch replies: Lake Avenue is being widened so each lane is at least 12 feet across, and at many intersections turn lanes are being added. There was considerable local opposition, but the county bureaucrats got together with the village bureaucrats and there was no stopping them. 

YOUR TURN: Write to glenviewwatch@aol.com or 3537 Maple Leaf Drive, Glenview, IL 60025. If you haven’t already done so, please consider making a contribution to support The Watch. Non-deductible checks should be payable to Glenview Watch. Thanks for your support and for reading. Dean Schott and Sandy Hausman, Co-Editors.

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