VILLAGE TO LIBRARY: "STAY PUT!"

A letter from Village President Larry Carlson to the head of Glenview’s library board drew an angry response at Monday’s meeting of library trustees. The letter said village board consensus favors a new library at the current site – the northeast corner of Glenview Road and Washington. "Having the building downtown is in the best long-term interests of the entire village," Carlson explained, adding that members of the plan commission and comprehensive plan commission had also recommended a downtown location.

Several downtown sites were considered by the village and library boards, but Carlson concluded the existing site "is essential to the economic health of downtown and also provides an important sense of community. This site is neither the most expensive nor the least expensive, but our over-arching concern has to be the ultimate benefit to Glenview as a whole. A library at the current site serves as a strong anchor for the downtown and will do so for the next 50 years."

With the exception of Library Trustee David Johnson, the library board prefers a site at The Glen. Construction there would not disrupt library operations, and library trustees say there could be ample above-ground parking there. At a downtown site, they say costly underground parking would be needed.

Library President Grant said he arranged a meeting with Carlson over the weekend, hoping for a change of heart, but Carlson was not receptive. Trustee Jack Neymark lamented a Village Hall preference for construction downtown, saying he did not feel the loss of the library would hurt merchants on Glenview Road. "It’s not Bloomingdale’s," he concluded.

Trustee Jerome McQuie said the decision could cost the village $7-$14 million more than building at The Glen, based on estimates from the library board's real estate consultant.

Johnson challenged that figure, saying it was hypothetical and chastised Board President Grant for failing to tell the other trustees about his meeting with Carlson.

"I have a life, and I was busy this weekend," Grant replied.

Johnson called on the board to dust off old plans for renovation and expansion of the existing library as a starting point for discussion, but the board preferred to spend time reviewing new plans for a building at The Glen and passed a six-page resolution calling on the village trustees to reconsider.

Grant said there are no current drawings for downtown, but the panel has commissioned preliminary sketches of a 100,000-square-foot building to be erected on Patriot Boulevard north of the Dominick’s shopping center. Those will be on display in the library’s lobby soon, and Grant hopes they will generate public pressure to go with The Glen location. "Carlson has no plan, no time line [for a building downtown]," he added. "I’d like to see something happen in my lifetime."

PARENTS WANT SUPERINTENDENT’S SCALP

Now that parents of Glenbrook High School’s lacrosse team have spared their sons the pain of expulsion, they’re gearing up for another fight – getting rid of the administrator who recommended the kids be kicked out in the first place.

Kathy Jeffery, whose son was a star lacrosse player before this year’s season was cancelled, appeared at the latest District 225 meeting to read a letter to the board. In it, she called for a return to "community control of our schools," and a move away
from "the negative publicity and unnecessary heartache we have all endured."

Jeffery said Superintendent David Hales was only trying to save face when he called for expulsion of lacrosse players who took part in a paddling party that he branded "hazing."

"Our leadership should have spent as much time educating as they did trying to save face," Jeffery argued. "Dr. Hales did not even have enough facts or details to hold an effective and fair news conference. He was overly anxious to crucify a few at the expense of the total student body."

She then asked the board to let her know what steps must be taken to remove Hales from his post.

Parent Bill Smigiel said he was confused by a newspaper report that the board never intended to expel the lacrosse players but allowed the expulsion process to play out. "The anguish was pretty tough," he recalled. "Each step along the way felt like a funeral march."

Smigiel said the incident had caused "a great deal of distrust" at Glenbrook South, "pitting one side against another."

DISTRICT IS QUICK TO ACT, SLOW TO PROVIDE FACTS

A Northbrook resident sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the district asking for a copy of Superintendent Hales’ contract. The law allows seven business days for a public body to respond to such requests, but two weeks later the resident was still waiting.

"We're getting a bit of chuckle out of that," said one observer. "It's taking longer to get a copy of a document already on file than it did to suspend 24 kids, mail three separate packets of letters and contracts to each affected family and conduct 11 expulsion hearings."

When Hales' contract finally arrived, it showed he will be up for renewal in July 2005. He earns $181,800 per year plus a pension payment of $25,000 annually, gets three weeks of sick leave, five weeks of vacation, two personal days, all legal holidays and three days for consulting work. One parents figured the total days off could amount to 20 percent of the year.

GLENBROOKS COULD FACE FINANCIAL SHORTFALL

Glenview could soon be asked to raise taxes for its high school, rather than face significant cutbacks in its budget – spending reductions required to keep a growing deficit from draining the district’s cash reserves.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs Craig Schilling warned the board that in the next 5-10 years additional revenue would be needed to avoid cuts in programs and staff. Schilling said he and school administrators had already pulled $1 million in expenses from this year’s budget, but he said $600,000 a year in spending reductions were still needed.

Glenbrook’s top money man said "make whole" payments from The Glen had not met expectations, and predicted the district would not begin to benefit from development in Glenview’s new neighborhood for up to a decade.

The news also cast doubt on proposed improvements to high school buildings, including a new pool at Glenbrook South and at least 21 new classrooms at North. School Board President Carol Rogal wasn’t sure the public would go for a tax hike, but member Skip Shein said the community should be given a chance to make that decision.

MORE CORPORATE WELFARE IN THE WORKS

When village trustees meet Tuesday, they’ll discuss plans to give Beltone, a Chicago-based manufacturer of hearing aids, $637,500 in tax breaks to build its new corporate headquarters at The Glen. Beltone is owned by GN Stone Nord – a multi-national with $1.29 billion in assets, but Redevelopment Director Don Owen says the village must pay to attract companies to The Prairie Glen Office Park. He says the market for suburban office space is soft, and the company could locate in Lake County if Glenview doesn’t pony up. Over a 10-year period, he says Beltone will pay at least $1 million in property taxes, and with 1,000-2,000 visitors coming to its Glen office each year, Beltone could be good for business at The Glen Town Center.

Likewise, M.E. Fields hopes to locate three car dealerships (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep) at the shopping center anchored by Home Depot on Willow Road at Patriot and will apparently get financial assistance from the village. A briefing packet for this week’s board meeting did not contain details on that deal. The site in question is a manmade wetland created by the village in exchange for permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to destroy natural wetlands at The Glen. Experts agree the wetland on Willow Road is poorly situated and environmentally deficient. It’s not clear whether and where the village will be required to create yet another wetland to offset this loss. Fields is already doing business on Waukegan Road in Glenview but had threatened to move toNorthbrook.

THE GREEN SCENE

– Glenview’s Friends of Nature will join forces with Friends of the Chicago River to host a clean-up from 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, May 8. In case of rain, the event will move to Sunday, May 9 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Adults and children are invited to join the effort. Bring sunscreen, a hat, work gloves and water. For more information, call Kent Fuller at 847-729-4642.

– The Illinois EPA is accepting hazardous household waste at various locations this spring. From 8 a.m.- 3 p.m. Saturday, May 22 you can bring oil-based paints, household batteries, paint thinners, used motor oil, herbicides, pesticides and other lawn chemicals, drain cleaners, solvents, gasoline, antifreeze, pool and hobby chemicals, cleaning products, aerosol paints and mercury fluorescent lamp bulbs to Mount Prospect’s Public Works Facility at 1700 W. Central Road. For other locations and details on what to drop off, visit http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/hazardous_waste/household_haz_waste/ or call 847-336-9340. Do not bring latex-based paint, propane tanks, smoke detectors, explosives, fire extinguishers, lead acid batteries or medical wastes.

THE CASE OF THE MYSTERY PLACENTA

Glenview police were mystified when a maintenance man at Gallery Park called to report finding something strange in a trash can near the corner of Chestnut and Patriot. The medical examiner’s office subsequently
identified the item as a human placenta, once connected to a full-term baby. Detectives put out the word, hoping to learn more, and a member of the public did come forward to explain the situation. It appears
a couple decided to deliver their baby at home, and rather than alarm the neighbors by putting the afterbirth in their own garbage can, they took it to a public place for disposal. No crime was committed, and
the department says this case is closed.

OLD FRIEND WINS $100,000 CONTRACT

Flooding remains a problem for many Glenview neighborhoods, and last year the trustees decided to hire a consultant to study the community’s storm water situation and to propose flood control projects. They set aside $100,000 for the job, but when bids came in from five prospective vendors, the lowest was $155,601.

Village Engineer Russ Jensen and his staff reviewed the bids, discarded two of them and did interviews with the other three firms. In a memo to the trustees, Jensen doesn’t say which two were tossed out, but two bids were lower than the one being recommended.

Jensen says the job should go to a firm that has gotten close to Glenview over the years – Montgomery Watson Harza, the village’s chief engineering consultant at The Glen. Harza offered to do the work for $230,000, spending 2,098 hours. The low bidder felt it could be done in 1,800 hours.

Because the village only set aside $100,000 for the job this year, it will ask the consultant to begin by assessing commercial and industrial areas first, saving the residential study for next year when Jensen hopes the rest of the money required by Harza can be found.

Additional details may come out when the trustees debate this matter during their regular meeting which begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 4 and is cablecast on channels 17 or 6, depending on which company provides your cable service.

VILLAGE COULD BE LIABLE FOR FLOOD DAMAGE

In a case that’s bound to make municipalities nervous, a jury has awarded Lake Forest resident Robert Rasmussen $238,000 after he sued, claiming the city should not have allowed a neighbor to build a home on higher ground, blocking a natural drainage path. Rasmussen also contended Lake Forest had provided inadequate storm and sanitary sewers. His home was heavily damaged when rainwater ran down his driveway and raw sewage washed into the lower level of his house. Lake Forest says it will appeal the Lake County Circuit Court decision. City Manager Robert Kiely says communities can’t afford to pay damages every time a
house floods.

GLEN WATCHING

– The Glen Redevelopment Commission has approved plans for the new Beltone building next to the Air Station Prairie. The company pledged to increase green space in its parking lot and will submit landscaping plans
to Glenview’s prairie consultant. No trees will be planted closer than 200 feet from the nature preserve to protect rare grassland birds. "They are very sensitive to the presence of trees," said Kent Fuller,
chairman of the Glenview Natural Resource Commission. "They are genetically programmed to avoid them. What goes on in their tiny brains we can only speculate, but apparently they’ve been conditioned over millennia

– putting up with predators that perch in trees, thenswoop down and eat them."

– The village is expected to spend about $400,000 to maintain Gallery Park, landscaped medians at The Glen, the Air Station Prairie’s western berm, the Navy Ditch, Techny Basin and Lot 16 under a contract that comes before the village board Tuesday. Eubanks & Associates, a firm now in charge of maintaining Lake Glenview, is expected to get the contract.

– The trustees are also expected to spend about $85,000 to conduct a special census at The Glen. That’s because revenue from three state taxes (income, motor fuel and use tax) are redistributed to local communities based on their total populations. Officials figure Glenview has grown significantly since 2000, and they say each new person living here could bring an extra $102 per year from Springfield.

BUS SERVICE MAY EXTEND TO THE GLEN

In response to a letter that appeared in The Watch last week, Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin wrote: "I agree that more public transit is needed at The Glen. Late last year, in my capacity as chairman of the Glenview Chamber and as Cook County commissioner for Glenview, I convened a meeting to discuss this issue with senior care facilities, the Glenview Senior Center, the village of Glenview, the chamber of commerce and representatives from PACE. At that meeting, local employers said The Glen is under served by public transit, making it more difficult for employees who want to work there. We decided to survey businesses about their interest and expected usage. As a next step, the village of Glenview and PACE will hold two meetings regarding this issue. These are scheduled for 8 p.m. on consecutive Tuesdays – May 18 and May 25 at the Glenview Park District Café on Shermer Road south of Glenview Road. I or a member of my staff will be at both meetings. We hope anyone who is interested will join us."

WHERE TO TAKE THOSE TRAFFIC WOES

If you have concerns or complaints about traffic in Glenview, if there are intersections you feel could be safer, traffic lights or signs that should be installed or parking problems, the new man to see is Traffic Committee Liaison Terry Urbanowski. Sgt. Urbanowski succeeds Commander Phil Perlini who was promoted to oversee the midnight shift earlier this year. To reach Urbanowski, call 729-5000, hit zero and ask for him or send e-mail to Turbanowski@glenview.il.us .

RESTAURANT ROW

– The Glen Redevelopment Commission is reviewing plans for Wildfire – a restaurant patterned after a supper club from the forties. Two architects on the commission agreed the design was good, but Mark Igleski complained that builders planned to use 10 different materials on the structure set to go up near the corner of Patriot Boulevard and Lake Avenue. "I think the Wildfire image has got to be one of very high quality," said Commissioner and architect Bruce Burch, "and you’ll never get it with 10 materials." The builder returns to present revised plans at the next GRC meeting to be cablecast at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 5.

– Jimmy John’s, a subway sandwich chain, is expected to open at The Glenbrook Market, a shopping strip at the corner of Willow and Pfingsten Road anchored by Blockbuster and Walgreens.

LIBRARY LORE

International Night – Wednesday, May 12 at 7 p.m. – features Linda Ruben, a native of South Africa, showing slides of great colonial architecture in Cape Town, magnificent scenery from the wine country, game parks, Zulu and other tribal groups.

Adults also may register for DaVinci Decoded: The Art of Leonardo at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 12. Art historian Michelle Mishur will explore the artwork of Leonardo DaVinci made even more popular in Dan Brown's runaway bestseller, The DaVinci Code.

You can register for any of these programs at the information desk, by calling 847/729-7500 ext. 112 or online at http://www.glenview.lib.il.us/programform.html.

You can also sign up for Internet instruction including classes on tracing your family’s history through the Internet, learn to lead book discussion groups, join the Salute to Soldiers Project or subscribe to the library’s online notification service at http://www.glenview.lib.il.us/lns.html or by sending an email to 4readers@glenview.lib.il.us with "Subscribe" in the subject line.

READERS WRITE

JAS was upset by the questions we asked about the new $18 million police station: "You do not have a problem with five fire stations, yet you challenge replacing the small, antiquated police station. Statistics prove our officers and dispatchers are doing a mighty fine job even while working in cramped quarters. I believe their current building was built in 1974. How much has our town grown since then? Wouldn't Glenview love to better its crime statistics by giving our police what they need – or are we going to wait for that really heinous crime? What is this town giving to the fire departments that the police don't deserve? As for pooling resources with neighboring towns, we did -- with Red Center, and that arrangement is now down the tubes."

The Watch replies: We are not opposing construction of a new police station, but we do question the need for a fitness center and locker rooms for civilian personnel. After all, Park Center offers an excellent fitness facility just a few blocks away, and plenty of workers in this country put their uniforms on before leaving for work. We also questioned the need for a firing range, thinking perhaps one at the neighboring Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy could be used. We have since learned that NIPSTA’s range needs an upgrade – which raises the question of whether cost-savings might be achieved by collaborating. This is the kind of thinking we want from our trustees. Questions must be asked and ideas offered. If planners can justify all the facilities they want at the new police station, great! But so far, we have not heard a word of discussion, suggesting tax dollars may be spent unnecessarily. We think the board was equally negligent when the fire department asked for two new stations, and we were very public in our criticism of the decision to leave RED Center. It cost Glenview a fortune and left us with a service that appears to be no better than what we had at RED.

Chris Lienhardt, a member of the Regional Emergency Dispatch team in Northbrook and a former law enforcement dispatcher responds to our questions about top security, a special work-out room and firing range for the new police station: "The crime stats are down, so does that mean that people who get arrested are less likely to take their frustration out on the closest village-owned vehicle? No, they will strike back. Of course you would not know anything about that never having worked in public safety. As for your idea that the police officers should go to the Park Center and work out, gee let's see, can the 3_11 guys who will be done with their paperwork at 10:30 barring a late call have access to the Park Center? And let's take a moment to address the security gate comment. News flash folks: Once again, it's a police station, and it may shock you to find out that not everyone likes the police. Furthermore, in a post 9_11 environment, security measures everywhere are increased. The fortified passageways for secure transfer of criminal suspects? Do I really need to explain the importance of this to you! As for the firing range, when all else fails the only thing a police officer has is his or her training, and what an excellent way to ensure that the officers receive the most training possible. Training can be done on shift, minimizing overtime, keeping officers available for calls and proficient in their weapons skills. What you fail to understand is this: police officers have two responsibilities. First, they must protect and serve. Second and equally important is to return home to their families. Speaking of family, I would love to know why you take issue with a locker room for sworn personnel and civilians and dispatchers? What is wrong with having a place for people to change and shower, or should they wear their uniforms everywhere? Police officers accumulate a vast amount of gear and end up using quite a bit of locker space. Civilian personnel and dispatchers are required to have uniforms on hand as well, so why not give them space close to their work area? As for combining the police and fire dispatch, again HELLO. The village just spent over $500,000 getting their fire dispatch center up and running."

The Watch replies: Security is always a trade-off between risk and cost. Glenview residents could, for example, install expensive, high-security fences around their homes and be more secure, but weighing the risks, few opt to spend the money. We would venture that the risk of an attack on Glenview’s police station or even damage to squad cars is relatively low. Civilian locker rooms and work-out facilities are swell perks, but they’re not necessities, so the real question is how large a tax hike are residents willing to support. Glenview plans two new swimming pools, a new library, a new police station, a new village hall and may want a tax hike for its high school. At some point, someone has to exercise some fiscal responsibility, and we think that can be done without jeopardizing public safety, putting our officers at increased risk or depriving them of job benefits provided to police in other communities.

Barb Lewis writes about our coverage of the Kohl Children’s Museum and its presentation to the village board: "As an educator, I was delighted to hear that Kohl was coming to Glenview. The Kohl Museum provides children with hours of fun and educational experiences that don't involve plugs for action figures or computer games. My own children used to love to go there to play with Kohl's giant bubble wands and ‘shop’ in the grocery store. It has always been a popular destination for parents with young children in Wilmette, and draws people from the surrounding communities. Parents can host birthday parties for their children there, and they had (and assume still will have) a great educational toy store. It will boost foot traffic at the mall and lead to more daytime revenue in the restaurants. According to your figures, Kohl has already secured the lion's share of their building costs ($19.5 of $23 million) themselves and will seek the rest through private bonds. I am at a loss to understand why you have denigrated this project as a ‘fairy tale.’ and refer to the director in all but name as a ninny. I am thankful that parents will have a place to take young children that won't cost $20 a pop to visit or require a trip to Toys R Us afterwards. Lighten up!"

The Watch replies: We, too, have enjoyed the museum with our children and are delighted that it’s coming to Glenview. Our coverage was not intended to denigrate the museum, but we did poke fun at the presentation. Maybe you had to be there. Chairman Sheridan Turner could have been wearing a tiara and waving a wand the way she spoke. Clearly she intended to inspire reverence for the museum, but when she played that little bird song from her lap top and spoke of children plucking seeds from the sunflowers to feed the birds, we had to laugh. Think about it. Thousands of kids will be going through there each month, so the sunflowers aren’t going to last long! In listening to a description of the home construction area, the automotive section, Pet/Vet and the mini-Dominick’s we could see big opportunities for corporate sponsorship – something Sheridan did not mention. It would have spoiled the fairy tale image she chose to create in order to sell the board on a low-cost lease of land. And while it’s true that the museum will cost less than a visit to Disney World, some families will find the $6 per person admission fee steep, and many will be enticed to buy lunch, snacks and gifts before heading home.

Gayle Nelson is enjoying spring on the prairie: "My family and I recently went walking at the Air Station Prairie. As we began our trek throughout this 32-acre preserve, we marveled at the sounds and sights. Blackbirds chirped from the trees and the wetlands, surrounding us in a flurry of activity. Snipes and killdeers called, and as we ventured toward a marshy area, we heard a chorus of frogs called spring peepers. It was hard to believe that we were just a few miles from the center of Glenview. With our 10-month-old daughter’s snuggly slung on my husband’s chest, we enjoyed the eruption of life that is the dawn of spring on a prairie. This experience was even more fulfilling because we knew first-hand the hard work that went into saving this treasure. We were part of a group called the Glenview Prairie Preservation Project formed to fight for protection and expansion of the prairie. Natural open space is at a premium in Glenview, and we were not going to let this area be turned into a larger corporate park or another village green full of grass requiring pesticides, mowing and perpetual maintenance. We wanted land for solace, peace, bird watching and for nature itself. The sights and sounds we heard this spring were a chorus proclaiming our progress so far. We also fought for open space at the Techny Basin and for purchase of the 10-acre Lot 16 bordering the river, adjacent to the basin. It provides valuable habitat for wildlife but was zoned for more corporate office buildings. Today, it serves the majestic great blue herons and egrets that fish the river and provides a home for rare grassland birds.

More work is needed to ensure that Glenview citizens can enjoy these areas for the long term. At the Techny Basin trash from the nearby shopping center and corporate park is an eyesore and hazard to children and wildlife. This spring, we pulled out a number of shopping carts and large construction waste. There are only two trash containers, constantly overflowing with rubbish. On May 8, the public is invited to participate in a river clean-up (see The Green Scene above). Afterward, we hope residents will encourage the trustees to devise a plan for on-going maintenance of an area that the village board has declared environmentally significant.

Glenview is still offering to sell land on the western border of the Air Station Prairie should the neighboring corporation want to expand its parking lot. This extra land provides an important buffer for the prairie, attracting more birds and wildlife. Residents should discourage its sale and press for construction of the interpretive center the village has promised at the prairie. Glenview has created a commission on which my husband and other committed citizens serve to protect these areas. They need to hear from all of us. Together we can protect, restore and enhance these lands for future generations.

Mr. J. recently witnessed an arrest outside Kohl’s on Willow Road: "On the evening of April 23 I watched as a man and woman were taken into custody by police. The officers had their guns drawn, and it seemed like a big deal. There was also a child present in the car. Was this a simple case of shoplifting, or was this a drug bust?"

The Watch replies: The incident you observed actually involved a case of mistaken identity. Officers had run a check on the license plate of a man whose name and car model matched those of someone wanted for aggravated armed robbery. As officers applied the handcuffs, their suspect said he had been stopped several times now and provided information to exonerate himself. When his story checked out, the police released him. A spokesman for the department says officers are authorized to use their weapons if they feel a situation could be dangerous.

JA read our story about public officials refusing to help neighbors of noisy Lake Avenue, then wrote to tell us about a story in the Los Angeles Times headlined, "Honk If You Love Quiet." Published April 22, it describes the problem and says officials are turning a deaf ear to public complaints. Among other things, the story says, "Traffic noise is growing sharply in communities across the country. . .Pickups and SUVs, which are significantly louder than cars, are proliferating on residential streets. As well, more vehicles of all types are being equipped with noisy, high-performance exhausts and powerful stereo systems. Activists say the rising din is no mere annoyance. Noise well below levels that damage hearing can increase blood pressure, fatigue and stress, medical studies show. Researchers have found that traffic noise near schools interferes with learning. . . In a 1999 census report, Americans cited noise as their most serious complaint about their neighborhoods, surpassing even crime and concerns about public schools. Nationally, noise is the leading reason people want to move." To read the rest, go to http://www.latimes.com/includes/classrail/splash.html


And one of the neighbors concerned about noise, Matt Overeeem, wrote to say the village board may have misunderstood his request and should be better informed about the problem: "The main mission of our two neighborhoods is to obtain a fence of sufficient size to be of benefit to our neighborhood – reducing the noise so we can enjoy living here. We really don’t care if it’s six feet or 12 feet tall, just as long as it is done right. I contacted the county, and they haven’t done a noise study on Lake Avenue in over a decade. One could be done quickly, as all of the plans and elevations are readily available in digital format with the county, but Village Hall did not even offer to provide a little more background or a proposal to the board."

And Tom Severin sends a list of "stupid traffic lights" in Glenview:

"The green signal for westbound Lake Street traffic at Waukegan is too short. Sometimes only eight or nine vehicles make it through during each sequence. That is ridiculous during rush hour. That six-point intersection at The Glen gives too much priority to the Patriot Drive traffic. Even when there is little traffic on Patriot, you wait and wait and wait for a green light. The left turn signals for that intersection appear to be traffic actuated so that they change too quickly if there is a pause of two or three seconds in vehicular traffic. It’s too short! I agree with some other readers. Right turn on red should be allowed at the Patriot/Chestnut intersection, at least for westbound Chestnut and northbound Patriot. In addition to Lake/Waukegan and Glenview Road in the downtown area, I try to avoid that six-point intersection at The Glen. I routinely take Greenwood up to West Lake and duck into the parking structure from the Northwest entrance where there are no traffic signals – yet."

Jennifer Kozicki writes Glenview’s downtown property owners and business people have reason to be hopeful in the wake of judicial trends in eminent domain cases. "As founder of the Strategic Plan Coalition I follow the issues of municipal condemnation of private property. Local businesses fear having their property taken from them. This fear stifles economic growth. Glenview’s plan commission says there are no plans to condemn property and turn it over to developers for commercial use, but public comments by village officials about razing commercial blocks downtown and the withdrawal of façade improvement funds seem at odds with that statement. The property owners are not willing to sell, so they are fearful they will be treated like EPCO paint store owner Mark Puls who is currently defending a suit to condemn his property.

"Regarding the first business district formed in 1989, Village Attorney Jeff Randall said, ‘Once such a business district is established, among the powers that may be exercised by the corporate authorities. . .are those of eminent domain.’ Representing several downtown businesses, attorney Marty Miller counters: ‘Adoption of such a plan should not be used to force tenants out of existing businesses by using public money to sell property to another businessman.’ The downtown business community shares that view.

"Take away the fear, and the downtown will develop without the help of public dollars. Village planners have yet to offer assurance that condemnation is not part of their agenda. This single fact has kept progress at a standstill downtown. Local shops are displaying yellow signs in their windows asking for patron support. I hope residents will show that support by letting Glenview trustees know they oppose condemnation downtown."

John K writes about the developer of The Glen Town Center: "There seems to be nickel and diming of our village by Oliver McMillan. That firm appears to be getting money from the village for things that are not available to other Glenview businesses. People in positions of power should come forward to assure that The Glen does not prosper at the expense of original Glenview."

Mrs. S. has a 17-year-old son who parties late, so she was alarmed by our report that Glenview’s curfew applies to kids under 18. In fact, she did some checking and wrote to correct us. Curfew is only enforced for children 16 and younger.

And one of our British readers, Barry, marvels that we have a curfew at all: "I found it amazing to read that Glenview was able to impose a curfew on young people. Is this common in the states? Such a law would be very welcome here in the UK in a effort to curtail the activities of some of our teens."

TS has some thoughts on a new banner at The Glen and an old skunk in Rick Nasello’s yard: "After all the hullabaloo on signage in Glenview now they are going to hang a huge banner on The Glen that says what? ‘Apartment for Rent.’ How against our own rules and how tacky! Rick and your problems with Mr. Gas Bomb -- sorry I don't need any gifts at the moment, but you truly gave me the gift of laughter. Thanks. By the way, does your singing make the skunk’s tail stand at attention?"
 

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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