Shortly before the Fourth of July weekend began, Village Hall placed an explosive package at the public library – an outline of plans to be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting of the trustees. First, the manager’s office is proposing the sale of $50 million in bonds to pay bills for The Glen and to cover the costs of a new police station. Half of that money would be repaid through the TIF fund, delaying the day when local schools and the park district will benefit fully from the development.

Editor’s note: There is little detail as to how the new Glen money will be spent, and no explanation for how the village will pay debt service on the police station in the long term. These are questions the public might have put to Village Hall if documents had been available sooner. Sharing them with the taxpayers on a holiday weekend, leaving no time for public discussion or debate is typical of how Village Manager Paul McCarthy has handled every controversial aspect of Glen development. Is it any wonder he’s retiring at the first possible opportunity?

The manager’s office is also suggesting Glenview expand the scope of a consultant’s downtown study. Already, the trustees were planning to pay Steve Friedman $160,000 to advise the community on how to proceed, but Development Director May Bak says for an extra $25,500 we could also get advice for Waukegan Road from Lake Avenue to Henley.

Friedman has also offered to analyze a three-block redevelopment along Railroad Avenue from Grove Street to Dewes. This project was devised by "a number of Glenview Road and downtown property owners," according to Friedman who writes: "A developer has been selected by the owners and conceptual level architectural documents have been prepared. In order to ensure that this development meshes with the village’s overall goals and vision for downtown. . .we propose to perform a detailed review of the proposed project. This review is intended to aid the village in negotiations with the developer over site plan, building height, density, design features, and public amenities."

For no more than $10,000, Friedman says he will tell the village what information should be provided by the developer, review the likely costs and returns of the development, study the proposed design of the project, evaluate the impact on traffic and storm water, and attend any negotiations with the developer."

Editor’s note: Glenview’s development director has overseen dozens of planned developments, and our plan commission has frequently evaluated the very issues Friedman offers to study. The chairman of our plan commission has proven especially adept at analyzing what developers have in mind and blocking deals that are not in Glenview’s best interest. What’s more, developers routinely bear the costs of studying issues like traffic, economic impact and storm water control. We hope the trustees can explain why the services of a consultant should be needed now at taxpayer expense.

Even more puzzling, Friedman indicates that his findings could be used by the developer to help attract investors. We hope the taxpayers are not being asked to help private interests turn a bigger profit. While Village Hall does not identify the players involved, we believe they are the owners of the Glenview State Bank, Bess Hardware and the Glenview House.

Finally, we note that the consultant offers to conduct a walking tour of the downtown study area with village representatives and members of the downtown planning commission. "The team will visit points of interest, problem locations, vacant sites and adjacent residential neighborhoods, observe the street network and physical conditions," Friedman writes.

In last week’s e-news from Village Hall, spokesman Janet Spector Bishop wrote: "Lace up your sneakers and join the Village’s Downtown Planning Committee as it takes a walking tour of the downtown revitalization subject area on Thursday, July 15 at 5 p.m. This is your chance to get a first-hand look at points of interest, problem locations, vacant sites and adjacent residential areas, as well as observe the street network and physical condition of the area."

Editor’s note: Looks like Friedman’s contract is a done deal. What’s more, the tour will run along Waukegan Road from Lake Avenue south to Glenview Road, suggesting that the trustees have already decided to expand the scope of planning without a word of public discussion. We can only assume these decisions were made in executive session, and if that is the case, then Glenview’s trustees have once again violated the public trust and the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

Official awards for the best entry in this year’s Independence Day Parade went to traditional displays like the Henley Street Statue of Liberty and a Wilmette boy scout troop’s giant barbeque grill. (The kids marched alongside, squirting water at the crowd from red and yellow squeeze bottles normally used for ketchup and mustard.) We’ll have a complete list of winners in our next edition, but we think some other awards are in order now.

The most embarrassing entry, for example, was a red, white and blue float ordered by The Glen Town Center from Associated Attractions, a Chicago firm that makes floats. You might have expected to see smiling young residents of The Glen, enthusiastic shoppers or even employees of the newest stores in town on board. Instead, the float paraded down Glenview Road completely empty. It was too tall to fit under the gates at O.L.P.H. and was forced to wait on a side street where its driver says people who were supposed to ride were apparently unable to find it.

Next we offer the bad taste award to Joseph Mullarkey – a beer distributor located in the North Shore Corporate Park. Its truck carried a number of teenagers and proclaimed, "It’s Always Miller Time."

The funniest entry was boy scout Troop 69's Precision Drill Team. The kids had one foot attached to a long plastic pipe, forcing them to march in unison.

The most ironic entry was Mission Greenlight, a new non-profit group that helps people who don’t have insurance get cancer screenings. One banner holder for the organization marched along smoking a cigarette.

The most surprising participant was the Regina Lyons Marching Band – a group that had come from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, and the most popular entry – once again – was the Jesse White Tumblers.

The most bizarre entry involved an avant garde theater troop from Chicago called Red Moon. More than a dozen rag tag actors sported bizarre uniforms and face paint, played brass instruments, rode offbeat vehicles and pumped a sulfurous stench into the air from a mysterious kettle they pushed down Glenview Road.

Gone but not forgotten – Citizens Organized for Wagners, the Shriners on their motorized carpets, the giant Jewel shopping cart, the Euchre Club and the Glenview Squares were not a part of the 2004 procession.

On page one of it’s July 5 edition, the Chicago Tribune reported that The Glen has divided Glenview. While some describe the village’s newest neighborhood as "Pleasantville," others "complain that the glitzy mixed-use development is an extravagance with a $450 million public cost that will create an enclave for the luxury-SUV set and siphon off money and attention from the village’s downtown," writes reporter Trine Tsouderos.

The story documents a similar pattern in other communities where developers have built a village within a village. "It’s a tricky aspect to really good planning – to make sure you have a place for everybody but not upset or disrupt the existing feeling of community," says David Goldberg, spokesman for Smart Growth America, a coalition that promotes preservation of open space and pedestrian-friendly revitalization of existing neighborhoods.

Tsouderos reports that Glenview will spend nearly $100 million on consultants and incentives to lure companies to The Glen. Already, she writes, San Diego developer Oliver McMillan has received $75.5 million from the village to build The Glen Town Center, including $5 million to lure one of its anchor tenants – Von Maur. Jumping the gun on a deal not yet approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, she adds, "Another $2.2 million will go to local car dealer M.E. Fields to move three dealerships to Glenview."

The Trib story says both Anixter and Beltone are getting village money for locating corporate headquarters here, while real estate giant Mesirow-Stein walks away with $11 million for advising us.

"Village leaders say these incentives are simply the cost of doing business, and the taxes paid by the companies eventually will far outweigh the initial payments," says the Trib. Maybe yes, maybe no, says downtown businessman Joe Barrett, owner of Cookies in Bloom.

"If the story we have been told is accurate, I’d be fine with it," he told reporter Tsouderos. "But I’m starting to doubt that. . .I am starting to get nervous that this will get dumped on the village as a whole."

Dismissing the flap with a line originally coined by Manager McCarthy, Village President Larry Carlson says The Glen is "like a new baby coming into the family. There’s always a little jealousy about how much attention it got." He recalls similar feelings and doubts as new subdivisions were built in the western part of town. "It took a while, but that has gone away," he said. "Five years from now, this won’t be there. We are one town. We are one community."

Editor’s note: This story suffers from the same serious short-coming as every other story that’s been done about The Glen. It’s told by and through laymen who know nothing about public finance and officials who know plenty but have a vested interest in portraying The Glen as a huge success. It gives no perspective on how massive Glenview’s debt has become. It doesn’t tell us whether and when that debt might be repaid. Instead, the Trib quotes Redevelopment Director Don Owen boasting that the village still enjoys a AAA bond rating. That rating is no assurance that all is well in the village. It’s simply a sign that most residents here have money, and the trustees can raise taxes any time they please.

The story doesn’t say that Glenview was forced to add a sales tax this month, that it cannot afford to keep its library open on Sundays and is closing its fancy fitness center at 4 p.m. on weekends to save money. It does not disclose that we can’t afford to install the stormwater sewers promised to many neighborhoods. It doesn’t say that Northbrook is paying a disproportionate share of costs for the operation of School District 225 because of the Glenview TIF, nor does it mention that School District 34 has been forced to make significant spending cuts. Even if a reporter were to ask the school boards about this situation, members could say nothing because they signed an agreement pledging not criticize the way Glenview chose to finance The Glen. Don’t you wonder: If things were so peachy, why would such a clause have been necessary?

True, The Glen Town Center provides the ultimate in bread and circuses, with lively new restaurants and a movie theater filling up on summer weekends, but how long will the buzz last? Will folks be turning out on weeknights in January? And how satisfied are anchor stores like Von Maur and Galyan’s, where customers are sometimes outnumbered by sales associates?

Finally, this story misses the real reason thoughtful residents are upset about The Glen. Planners have said from the start that this new development will make the community rich – paying millions of new tax dollars to our village, library, schools and park district. That may be true, but it won’t happen until the TIF fund is retired. Officials now predict retirement in 2014. By then, most of the children now enrolled in Glenview public schools will have graduated, and many of their parents – who may spend the next ten years paying higher taxes and fighting bigger traffic jams – will have moved. The Glen has divided Glenview alright. It’s present taxpayers against future taxpayers. If all goes as planned, we pay for The Glen, and they will be rich.

Glenview will apparently lose its only Jewish house of worship to Deerfield. The Milwaukee Avenue congregation known by its Hebrew initials – BJBE – has outgrown its building, and leaders say the facility would need extensive renovation and repairs if they were to stay. BJBE is now searching for a 7-acre site in Deerfield where the congregation hopes it can grow even larger. Worship is expected to continue at the current location until 2007 or 2008.

Glenview’s fire chief says we will probably never know what sparked a devastating blaze at Red’s Auto Body shop on Lehigh Road last month. Dan Bonkowski says it’s not unusual for critical evidence to be destroyed in such a fire. Four separate agencies investigated: Glenview’s fire and police departments, the Illinois State Fire Marshall and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. With as many as 30 cars destroyed in the blaze, Bonkowski now puts the total loss at around $4 million. He says there’s no reason to suspect foul play, and the owner of Red’s says she plans to rebuild.

– A major labor union, the United Auto Workers, has endorsed democrat Lee Goodman in his challenge to incumbent 10^th district Congressman Mark Kirk. Goodman is a professional mediator with extensive experience settling workplace disputes.

– A liberal group called the Americans for Democratic Action, is out with its ranking of U.S. Representatives. Based on his votes, the group has agreed with Kirk just 10 percent of the time. His ranking was identical to other conservative Republicans from Illinois – Henry Hyde and Phil Crane. The ADA complains Kirk voted against allowing people to import prescription drugs from Canada, in support of private school vouchers and against funding for affordable housing.

– An Orange County-based chain of Chinese restaurants, Pick-Up Stix, has closed its Glenview eatery at Heatherfield.

– Also closing its doors, Northbrook’s Stonefish Grill on Skokie Boulevard.

– The business community in Winnetka is said to be lamenting a steady loss of local stores. Peter Skalski, who owns a store on Elm St. called Phototronics, blames high prices for property, rising insurance costs, a parking shortage and absentee landlords.

– The County says it hopes to finish road work on Greenwood Avenue before school starts this fall. Crews are making water main improvements from Westbrook School south to Knollwood, closing one lane to traffic.

– State officials have taken Glenbrook South High School and Westbrook off the list of places that had failed to make satisfactory progress under the No Child Left Behind program. Both were originally listed due to statistical errors. More than 800 Illinois schools were on the list last year, but at least half were apparently placed there by mistake. Still Barbara Dill-Varga, Assistant Superintendent for GBS, says the district’s low income and special needs students will have trouble keeping up with the law’s requirements. "The goal is worthy," she told the Glenview Announcements, "but it’s just not realistic."

When the Moore brothers announced plans to build 66 town homes on their property off Landwehr Road, the village of Glenview was not happy. The trustees wanted the Moores to incorporate and subject their development to local regulations, but the Moores resisted, opting to stay out of the village and build under more lenient county rules.

An angry village president talked about erecting a sign across from the Linden Tree Ventures project, warning residents that their water would come from wells and not from the village. No sign was posted, but Glenview did take the Moores to court recently over fire department requirements to which they are subject. Glenview demanded the Moores install a fire suppression system with a sufficient flow of water to extinguish any blaze at the construction site. Village Attorney Jeff Randall said the developers probably wouldn’t have installed the 180,000-gallon underground storage tank until September or October. "They never told us we had to have the finished product up and running during construction," Victor Moore complained. Still, he says the tank will be in place to provide the necessary 1,500 gallons per minute by a court imposed deadline of July 9.

Glenview resident Jack Mabley, who’s had a newspaper column for more than 50 years, is retiring from the Daily Herald but planning to keep on writing. The 88-year-old says he’s ill-suited for conventional retirement and plans to visit his office three days a week to produce a personal Internet publication or blog. The Chicago Sun-Times says Mabley "rose to prominence by telling stories, righting wrongs and defending the defenseless." He also distinguished himself with years of public service as the village president of Glenview. Now, Mabley looks forward to sharing his accumulated wisdom – breaking the traditional journalist’s mold and expressing his opinions on the passing parade. "It’ll be kinda’ fun," Mabley says. His first Internet edition is expected to appear on July 11 on the website www.dailyherald.com

Glenview’s park district is planning an "end of an era" celebration at Roosevelt Pool – a beach party set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Organizers promise music and live entertainment, dancing, hors d’oeuvres, an open bar and silent auction of pool memorabilia. Dress is casual. The rain location is Park Center and the cost is $75 per person. Only 400 tickets will be sold at Park Center or the Prairie Street park district offices. For more information, call 657-3222 or 657-3203.

Editor’s note: We trust the evening’s fare will not include sushi made with goldfish.

Lawrence T. Miller is alarmed by Glenview's plan to sell more bonds: "The Village is proposing Tuesday to issue an additional $50 million of bonded indebtedness, $25 million for a police station and $25 million for the Glen, with options to seek a couple of hundred thousand more.

"As of March 2003, the last time the Village sold bonds, the total general obligation bond debt of the Village was $99,450,000.  The now proposed sale will bring total debt to a whopping $150 million.  That is an eye-popping ten percent of the assessed valuation of all the taxable real property in Glenview in 2001.  And that does not count internal debt, loans from village funds that the Village looks to have repaid from TIF taxes.

"Does the Village think it’s a problem?  No, they say this is 'self-supporting debt.'

"They are wrong.  This outrageous amount of debt is supported by Glenview taxpayers.  First, it is a lien on taxpayers’ property.  Second, these bonds will be paid with Glenview real estate taxes.

"First, these bonds are General Obligation Municipal Bonds.  They are supported by first liens on everybody’s real estate.  The stated opinion of retained bond counsel will be “that these Bonds will constitute valid and legally binding general obligations of the Village of Glenview, Illinois payable both as to principal and interest from ad valorem property taxes levied against all taxable property therein, without limitation as to rate or amount, …”  Ad valorem taxes, that is, general real estate taxes are a first lien on everybody’s real estate.  This $150 million of bond debt is an effective average tax lien of approximately $10,000.00 on each household in Glenview, not just the Glen, each household.

"Second, these bonds will be paid with Glenview real estate taxes. 

"The TIF is a shell game.  To understand the TIF, you have to understand how your real estate is taxed.  Few people do, probably fewer than 5 per cent. Village administrators know that and have counted on that to gull Glenview taxpayers in to the belief that they can spend almost $500 million dollars developing The Glen, and get a 142-acre great park, a nine hole golf course, free land for a school, a park center, and a library/post-office and other amenities, all at no cost to taxpayers.  The truth is, there is no free lunch.

"Because by state law, the Glenview Naval Air Station never was on the tax roles, there is no 'initial tax amount' that goes to schools and parks.  The 'incremental tax' on the former navy property that goes to the Village is all the taxes, 100 percent of the cake, including all school, park, county and other tax levies.  Because all Glen real estate taxes go to the Village, everybody else ends up paying more. 

"Supposed 'make-whole payments' are crumbs back to schools and parks, while the Village takes the whole cake.

"Enough is enough.  The Village Board should stop this madness and turn thumbs down on these additional bonds."

In response to our story about village plans to pave 10 acres of wetlands, LC wrote to us and to the Army Corps of Engineers: "As a Glenview resident, I am not in favor of paving over wetlands. The village trustees tend to want too much commercial and aren’t concerned with possible flooding, damage to wildlife habitats and enough open space."

The Watch replies: Unlike many government agencies that appear to be strongly influenced by politics, the Corps claims independence and has shown interest in public opinion in the past. Anyone wishing to protest plans to replace wetlands with a car dealership on Willow Road can send e-mail to kathy.g.chernich@usace.army.mil . You must include your name, address and telephone number if you wish your views to be included in the public record.

PM was upset by last week’s story about Congressman Mark Kirk who attacked the World Bank’s staff for leaving Iraq because their safety was not assured. Kirk’s political opponent, Lee Goodman, thought Kirk had a lot of nerve lobbing that criticism from the safety of his office on Capitol Hill. P wrote: "I thought the Glenview Watch was concerned about Glenview matters, not 10th Congressional district campaign politics. Did you seek clarification or confirmation from Mr. Kirk about the allegations you printed in the last issue? Should you call your email letter the ‘Democratic Glenview Watch’ for the sake of journalistic accuracy?"

The Watch replies: We think we're well within our mission to cover the Congressional race, as The Watch is first and foremost a blog committed to good government. You make a fair point about checking with Kirk's office. Unfortunately, our work often gets done on the weekends when Congressional offices are closed. That's why our story very clearly indicated the information was coming from Kirk's political opponent. Had Kirk's office contacted us with any counter claims during the week, we would gladly have reported their side of the matter.

After reading last week’s Green Scene in which we credited local birder Jeff Sanders with sighting a record nine piping plovers in Cook County, an employee of the Society of the Divine Word offered us this "news swoop: We’d like to report that a solitary Black-Crowned Night Heron is a frequent daytime visitor to the ponds on the Techny campus."

The Watch replies: Lucky you. We’ve seen that bird at the Techny Basin, and he is beautiful!

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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