We had hoped to take a few weeks off from watching Glenview’s public officials, but one look at what the board of trustees will consider on Tuesday, August 17 makes a short issue of the newsletter necessary. Specifically:

The developer, OliverMcMillan, is back – asking for a no-interest loan to make The Glen Town Center a "long-term financial success." The firm wants $750,000 – money essentially being borrowed from our schools, park district and library – with a payback date of August, 2008.

What we need, the San Diego-based developer says, is:

– To "project identity" with "way finding" signs

– To decorate the walls and elevators

– To play music in the parking garage

– To host a "Taste of Glenview" at The Glen

In addition, OliverMcMillan asks for a donation of $165,000 to install more landscaping, street lights and tree lights.

Editor’s note: In the past, such requests have gotten a mixed reception. Some trustees, like Larry Carlson, Jim Patterson and Jeff Lerner, are enthusiastic – happy to give away more tax dollars to benefit merchants and the developer. Others, like Kimball Woodrow, Mary Beth Denefe and Kerry Cummings, question the expense but are ultimately resigned to the notion that Glenview must shoulder new costs to make Town Center a success. Independent Mike Guinane generally votes against further subsidies to the developer.

We think it’s time the village board made it clear to OliverMcMillan that Glenview is not a bank. We are a partner in a business venture, and we did not agree to unlimited expenses. What’s more, we have a right to demand that our partners live up to their promises. OliverMcMillan came to us claiming expertise in retail development. Why didn’t these experts tell us about the need for project identity or wayfinding signs in the first place? Shouldn’t we have been informed that decorated walls and music in the parking garage were essential to the "long-term financial success" of our mutual venture?

Agree? Disagree? Don’t waste your breath on The Watch. Send your thoughts to the trustees.  Larry Carlson, Kerry Cummings, Mary Beth Denefe, Jeff Lerner, Jim Patterson and Kimball Woodrow all have e-mail.  LarryVillage@aol.com,  Cummingsclan@ameritech.net, mbdenefetrustee@aol.com, JLE5715104@aol.com, JimPattersonJr@pattersoncompany.com, trusteewoodrow@aol.com .

And don’t forget to tell the superintendents and your friends on the school boards of districts 34, 225 and 30 to show up on behalf of parents and children who are being robbed of public education dollars so the private sector can profit. The trustees are expected to decide this matter Tuesday, August 17 in the board room of Village Hall. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m.

Last year, for the first time, Glenview was required to clear snow from streets at The Glen Town Center and from parking decks there. Ignoring the fact that shopping areas like Carillon Square, Glen Oak Plaza, The Target and Kohl’s center on Willow and the Plaza del Prado take responsibility for their own snow removal, Public Works Director Bill Porter explains that, "The Village is obligated to provide a commensurate level of maintenance services to The Glen Town Center as we do other commercial areas of the Village."

Last year, village crews took care of public areas, and a private company was hired to handle snow and ice removal in other parts of Town Center. Porter says "there were understandable problems and coordination issues that arose each time it snowed."

This year, he proposes Glenview hire the same contractor who did the private areas to look after public roads, sidewalks and parking. The village has negotiated a flat rate with Tovar’s Snow Plowing – $186,950. "Given the unpredictable nature of winter’s severity," the public works director adds a 20% contingency – pushing the contract to $224,340. The fee is based on an above average winter – up to 45 inches of snow. If we get more than that, Tovar will charge us more. If we get a whole lot less – 20 inches, Tovar will give us an unspecified rebate. Chicago’s winter average is about 31 inches of snow.

Porter’s memo does not explain why we’re assuming heavier snow fall in agreeing to the proposed contract, nor does he say what public works crews will be doing while Tovar is plowing public spaces at The Glen. What he does say is that Tovar is willing to wait for its money. We won’t have to make the first payment until 2005.

Editor’s note: Is this a sign that Glenview is running into a serious cash flow problem? Why was it so tough for public crews to coordinate with a private vendor last year? Shouldn’t a simple map have shown which crews were responsible for what? We hope the trustees will ask plenty of questions before signing off on this significant public expense.

In June, Glenview awarded a contract to the DiPaolo company for $48,160 to remove 10,000 cubic yards of dirt from a lot at The Glen where the Kohl Children’s Museum and a senior residence called Thomas House are to be built. DiPaolo edged out another local company, Lenny Hoffman Excavating, by $65. Now the bill from DiPaolo is in. Applying a 10% contingency fee standard in Glen contracts, the construction company wants $52,976 plus another $3,929.20 because the pile of dirt turned out to be a lot bigger than originally estimated. DiPaolo says it actually moved 12,636 cubic yards of dirt.

Competitor Hoffman is unlikely to complain. He’s making money on another site at The Glen – more than half a million dollars to fix drainage problems and add left turn lanes near the Kohl/Thomas House construction site at West Lake and Patriot Boulevard.

Editor’s note: This feels like yet another situation where contractors and consultants let us down. Shouldn’t DiPaolo – an experienced construction company – be able to accurately estimate volumes of earth to be moved? If not, does the firm bear no responsibility for the error? Did anyone actually count the number of loads moved from one site to the other? And what about these corrections that Hoffman is making? Where was The Glen’s engineering consultant when the land was being graded poorly and the roads being built without turn lanes? Someone at Village Hall should step up and demand accountability, but management and trustees seem content to take the easy way out – letting taxpayers foot the bill for these booboos.

An ad for Glenview’s new village manager has been posted by the second consultant hired to find us someone. One key credential – experience with tax increment financing. Here’s what the consultant wrote:

Salary: $150,000 +/-, plus excellent benefits, negotiable dependent on qualifications and experience.

Village of Glenview (pop. 44,000)

Glenview, Illinois

Recruitment re-opened. Village seeks an innovative municipal executive to lead the Village organization in this high quality community in the Chicago Metro area. Two Village Managers since 1962. Manager appointed by the Village President with the advice and consent of the Village Board of Trustees. Residency required after appointment.

The Village Manager provides visionary leadership to a dynamic organization and its 330 employees. Experience with tax incremental financing and the ability to manage in a complex financial environment required. The Village has a FY04 operating budget of $80.8 million and a capital budget of $53.9 million. Candidates must be able to quickly understand the growth and diversity of the community and support the community's shared values. Candidates must have unquestioned personal integrity, well-developed professional ethics, and a mindset toward the innovative and progressive.

BA in Public Administration, Business, Finance, Political Science, or related field required; MPA or similar advanced degree preferred. A minimum of 8-12 years of increasingly responsible administrative experience in municipal management in a comparably sized organization with similar political, economic, and business environments also required.

Editor’s note: Does the specific call for a TIF expert suggest more tax increment financing is likely in Glenview? It’s been mentioned in connection with downtown redevelopment and construction of a new post office. God save our schools!

SHOUTING "FIRE" IN A CROWDED COMMUNITY

With so much new development going on at The Glen, you might have expected the village to keep its building code up to snuff – demanding that new construction put public safety first. Instead, it turns out Glenview allowed dozens of town homes, condos and offices to go up without demanding sprinkler systems. As a result, Acting Village Manager Joe Wade warns, the current code "promotes an unnecessary risk to citizens and firefighters."

Sprinklers are a proven way to stop fires before they can do much damage. Developers resist the extra expense, but Wade argues it would cost no more than $6,000 to install sprinklers in a 3,000-square-foot town home selling for $600,000-$800,000.

The current code exempts buildings of under 7,500 square feet including the new Steak N’ Shake where Wade says "cooking, grilling and grease" create a "high risk" situation. Glenview’s Fire Prevention Bureau did prevail on the developer to install sprinklers at that restaurant, but the law did not require it.

The fire department is also concerned about medical buildings which are treated like other places of business under local code. Since many doctors now administer anesthesia for outpatient procedures, patients might not be able to escape in the event of a fire. New medical buildings that have gone up on Compass Drive are large, so sprinklers were required, but three more health complexes are now on the drawing boards, and they are smaller than 7,500 square feet. The director of prevention for Glenview’s fire department wants the law changed so sprinklers would be required.

KK from Kenilworth likes our regional approach to local coverage: " It is a constant source of amazement and disappointment that our Pioneer Press newspapers have such an amazing myopic vision when it comes to what news they think is appropriate for which area. We live in Kenilworth, three blocks from the Winnetka border. But Winnetka might as well be on the moon as far as our paper (the Wilmette Life, which includes Kenilworth in its area of focus) is concerned. And with no coverage whatsoever of Winnetka, it's hardly surprising that Glenview could be in the Andromeda galaxy in the view of the Wilmette Life. There was no coverage at all of some major stories that affected the entire area around here, including the closing of Glenview NAS, the creation of The Glen, or the massive amount of development around Willow and Waukegan."

SH is disturbed by the memorial erected to a boy who was killed while crossing the railroad tracks in Glenview: "I walk past the site of the Oliveri child's death every day. A week ago the numerous displays of remembrance and loss had been removed at the request of the family. This morning, I discovered a new memorial – a cement cross. I sincerely feel sorry for parents who lost their son. I respect their need for rememberance, and I applauded their ability to get the village to pay for and install the pedestrian gates on Glenview Road, but I resent having a permanent memorial in the form of a cross to mark the site. It is inappropriate for the railroad and the village to allow this display in the public right-of-way. It was my understanding that a permanent display honoring the boy's memory was to be provided at OLPH, not at the railroad station. As sad and as unfortunate as his loss was to the village, it is time for closure and an end to the religious displays on railroad property. Even the village veterans’ memorial doesn't have any religious signs. Why this?"

The Watch replies: In a village that would not let firemen decorate their stations at Christmas and insisted on removing the cross from an historic chapel at The Glen, this does seem odd.

ALF dislikes signs on Lake Avenue and Willow Road announcing The Glen: "As a resident of the Glen, I find it very odd that with all the upscale amenities available and the thorough planning that went into them, that the garish signage at the entrance to the Glen is so out of place. Is there any plan by the GRC to upgrade the signage? It looks like a mall entrance and the white and colors are out of sync with all the brick and stone. Haven't all the homes sold by now? I see the appropriate entrances for Heatherfield and Valley Lo, the Glen deserves this treatment."

And a reader who signs himself ‘Wondering,’ wonders: "Why oh why must we spend more money when we already have an exceedingly capable manager in Assistant Manager Joe Wade? He certainly has my vote. It seems our village board just likes to spend the taxpayers’ money. In this case, as far as I'm concerned, there's no need to do so!"

Glenview’s own J Lo questions a key cost of downtown maintenance: "I saw an item about repairs to the brick pavers around town quoting the sum for repair at just over $47,000! Now come on guys, every year some of them are dug up and replaced. I'm putting in a new patio and guess what? Stamped concrete looks just like brick, or slate, or whatever you want it to be, and it lasts! Do we really need real brick pavers, and why is this an ongoing expense? Who's benefitting here?"

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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