A new police station originally expected to cost $18 million is likely to cost several million more as the price of construction materials – in particular steel – keeps rising. Glenview Police Chief William Fitzpatrick said his department had been going over plans "room by room," searching for ways to hold costs down.

Fitzpatrick said it’s difficult to scale back on a station because so much of the design is dictated by the demands of police work. Special areas are needed to store evidence, question suspects, detain prisoners and train officers. Fitzpatrick defended plans to build a $500,000 state-of-the-art firing range, saying it would give the village maximum control over training schedules. If officers had to train elsewhere, he said overtime pay might be necessary, and officers would not be in the community should an emergency arise.

The village board is expected to vote soon on final plans for the station, making it possible to request bids from construction companies. When that is done, officials say they’ll be able to better predict the final cost of the project.

The police department also hopes to purchase a new, computer-assisted dispatch program later this year with funds from a telephone surcharge imposed by the state. The system, already used by many neighboring communities, will help dispatchers store and share information, locate people in trouble and advise officers of possible hazards in the area. Fitzpatrick said the $200,000 computer program should help the department manage a growing workload without hiring more people.

The force is now at 78 sworn officers and 30 civilians, but next year’s budget may contain funding for additional police. Fitzpatrick cited "huge demand in neighborhoods for selective enforcement" of speed limits and other traffic laws.

Even with the new officers, the police chief said traffic would continue to be a problem for the community. "Lots of people are making predictions about that," he said. "The one thing they agree on is that it will increase."

Fitzpatrick said The Glen had not caused a particular drain on resources, although he admitted the growing number of restaurants and bars at Town Center warrants watching. "It brings a different crowd, and you worry about a possible increase in people driving under the influence of alcohol. We’ll see whether that actually becomes a problem."

Fitzpatrick says Glenview’s motorcycle detail has been a big success – especially on Lake Avenue where drivers are often tempted to disregard cones, flagmen and lower speed limits during construction. Last year, a flagger was actually hit, and the department got many complaints about reckless driving. With four officers trained to ride one of two Harley Davidson’s, it’s easier to chase offenders down. The department could soon expand its motorcycle detail and is also looking at new technology that would allow the village to mechanically monitor individual streets to document problems with speeders.

In 2001, the Wall Street Journal reported that modern safety precautions had reduced the number of home and building fires by 40 percent, but the ranks of firemen who enjoy excellent public relations had risen 20 percent. In Chicago, the paper said 90 percent of fire department calls involved auto accidents and other medical emergencies.

That could explain the massive public safety presence shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, September 3 on West Lake Avenue between Monterey and Shermer roads at The Glen. An accident involving one man on a motorcycle drew a dozen firemen to the scene, along with several fire trucks, at least one ambulance and several police cars. When the paramedics arrived, they found two area residents – both doctors – already attending the victim who suffered a serious leg injury. He was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in stable condition.

Editor’s note: It’s reassuring to know Glenview is so rich in this important human resource, but as the village heads into negotiations with a new bargaining unit for the firemen, it’s worth looking again at that Wall Street Journal article published in February 2001. To keep firemen busy when there are no blazes to battle and no accidents to attend, some communities have reportedly asked them to help with neighborhood beautification projects, substitute teaching and other forms of public service.

After years of silence over a controversial plan to fund redevelopment of The Glen using tax dollars that would otherwise have gone to public schools, the superintendent of high school district 225 plans to sit down with Glenview officials, according to a report in the Glenview Announcements. The meeting with David Hales was scheduled after Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs Craig Schilling said the TIF, now expected to end around 2015, would deprive Glenbrook South and its sister high school Glenbrook North of $33 million in property taxes the district had hoped to start collecting in 2010. The village had, at one time, predicted the TIF would end in 2008.

Schilling forecast a possible financial crisis for the high schools and said he hoped the district would be consulted before any more decisions are made about TIF dollars being used to fund improvements at The Glen. He warned the school board that its operating fund would fall into the red by $16 million if current budget practices continue.

Board member Tom Shaer, who has never objected to the TIF before, wondered aloud if the school district had "any bargaining chips with the village. [Glenview] needs to recognize that this is a great development for the village, but it’s hurting the schools."

President Carol Rogal, a political ally of Village President Larry Carlson, sat on the board in 1998 when members gave full support to the TIF. Rogal now says she and the others believed Glenview officials when they promised to end the TIF as soon as possible.

In School District 30, Board President Karen Roloff was also singing the blues. She and superintendent Harry Rossi once appeared before the trustees to give their wholehearted support to the TIF. At the time, Roloff’s friend Nancy Firfer was president of the board. Today, Roloff says District 30 would like to see the TIF retired sooner.

Glen Redevelopment Director Don Owen told the Pioneer Press the village had planned The Glen to benefit the districts. "We didn’t load the development with residential [properties]," he said. "We wanted to avoid a negative impact to schools."

Owen also reminded the public that districts get a tax payment for each student from The Glen. The number of high school-aged students is smaller than expected, costing District 225 nearly $15 million it had expected. District 30 gets no kids from The Glen, so no tax dollars flow to Maple, Willowbrook or Westcott schools.

School District 225 now has e-mail. Anyone with a comment or question for the board of administration is invited to write to boardofeducation@glenbrook.k12.il.us .

School District 30's Superintendent Harry Rossi has announced plans to retire. He will step down on June 30, 2005 after 32 years of service as a teacher and administrator. Assistant Superintendent Linda Vieth will succeed Rossi.

School Board President Roloff says the district decided not to bother with a search for Rossi’s replacement after it determined that Vieth had all of the qualities school board members wanted in a superintendent.

WAGNER FARM WINS $800,000 GRANT

The Waverly Family Charitable Foundation has awarded Glenview’s park district $800,000 to help build a $3.25 million visitors’ center at Wagner Farm. The district is expected to contribute $2.25 million in tax revenues for the facility, and a volunteer group called Friends of Wagner Farm hopes to raise another $118,000 to reach their goal of $1 million. That organization will host an exclusive barbeque on September 9 to raise funds and is soliciting contributions by mail.

The Waverly Foundation is administered by two long-time Glenview residents, Lynne and Chip Shotwell. It’s committed to funding education and conservation-related projects.

Northfield will host a meeting with officials from Glenview, Northbrook, Wilmette and Skokie to discuss plans for a defunct Union Pacific Railroad line. As rails and crossing gates are removed, planners are exploring other uses for the corridor that runs from Skokie to Northbrook, and some are calling for a bike and jogging path. Skokie is still holding out for an extension of its Swift line, providing a longer connection from the north suburbs to Chicago’s El, but Village Manager Al Rigoni says a bike path is his second choice. In 2002, Northbrook’s Village President Mark Damisch protested plans to extend the Swift to Lake-Cook Road, because he claimed it would make it easier for criminals to reach his town. Acting Village Manager Joe Wade, an avid cyclist, has made no public comment on plans for a bike path.

While there are often surprises in reports from the village manager, president and attorney, this week’s agenda for the bi-monthly meeting of the village board is thin. The trustees are expected to okay a permit for OLPH Oktoberfest on October 2, waive the village sign ordinance so the chamber of commerce can sponsor its first annual Halloween window painting contest for kids in grades 1-8, and approve a contract for tree-trimming in southeast Glenview. The board will also be asked for $178,206 to bury electric lines in front of the new police station site on Shermer Road north of Lake Avenue.

As a formality, the board is expected to swear allegiance to something called the National Incident Management System and to promise training for public officials responsible for emergency management. Doing so will make Glenview eligible for federal aid to implement security programs. What the trustees won’t say is that much of the cost for homeland security will be borne at home. Glenview’s police department, for example, recently got a grant for protective clothing and respirators. Once the new gear arrived, however, the taxpayers had to pony up for medical exams to make sure officers were fit to use the respirators and for consultants to fit masks and train people to use them.

Glenview and Northbrook trustees met last week to discuss matters of mutual interest, such as plans for a specialty grocery store on the northwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten. Fresh Farms, which already operates a store on Dundee Road in Wheeling, would like customers to enter its parking lot from Willow Road but says it could do business with an entrance off Pfingsten. Glenview trustees made it clear they would not approve a curb cut on Willow. If Northbrook approves the project, construction could begin next spring.

The trustees also discussed Willow Road widening from the Edens to I-294. The bottom line: Illinois has no money for the project, except between Milwaukee and Landwehr.

Meanwhile, plans for a shopping center on the northwest corner of Willow and Waukegan have stalled after the Society of the Divine Word fired its developer. George Olsen and Kent Brisbin were unable to sign a single store for the proposed retail center to be known as North Shore Village. Others are now coming forward to investigate possibilities including the developer for The Glen Town Center, Oliver McMillan.

The furniture maker Lazy Boy hopes to build its newest showroom next to Home Depot at Willow and Patriot roads. The retailer will unveil plans before The Glen Redevelopment Commission and then make its case before the village board.

The Cook County Highway Department is tentatively set to resurface Sunset Ridge Road between Lake Avenue and Willow Road on Tuesday, September 7, 2004. Officials hope to be finished in early November. A flag man will direct traffic, since just one lane will be open at all times. For more information, call 847-657-3030.

If you’re planning construction in unincorporated Glenview, you can now get a building permit and take care of other paperwork close to home. Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin will offer forms and assistance at his Glenview office, 3801 W. Lake Avenue on September 16, October 7 and October 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 847-729-9300.

The public is invited to a free performance of "The Guys" at 3 p.m. Saturday, September 11 at the Wilmette Public Library. The play tells the true tale of a New York City fire captain who’s asked to eulogize men lost at Ground Zero. He gets help with the job from a journalist. Seating for the Next Theatre Company Production will be limited.

– Join the Glenview Area Historical Society at 1121 Waukegan Road for its annual ice cream social from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, September 12. The Dixieland Band Ensemble will perform, and visitors will be able to tour the 1864 farmhouse that’s home to the society. Sundaes, cones and floats will be sold. For details, call 724-2235.

– The Glenview Public Library offers free career counseling on Tuesday, September 7 from 9 a.m. to noon. For a half-hour appointment, call 729-7500.

– You can register to vote at the library on Saturday, September 11 from 9:30-11:00 a.m. and from noon until 5 p.m.

– The library, which suspended Sunday hours over the summer to save money, will be open again on Sunday, September 12 from 1-5 p.m.

Local gardeners are invited to dig native plants from the home Peter Chen who laments having lost a decade-long battle with his family. Relatives apparently prefer the manicured look and have hired a landscaper, so Peter is offering nearly a hundred different kinds of prairie plants at no charge. For more information, call him at 630-357-2338 or visit the house at 516 E. Iroquois Ave in Naperville.

EB is worried about tax dollars diverted from our public schools through a tax increment financing (TIF) scheme at The Glen: "The school districts in the area should consider hiring former Trustee Donna Pappo as their attorney to force the village to pay the districts what is rightfully their share of the tax dollars. As I remember, Pappo was instrumental in demanding and getting a change in the formula by which developers of more than two new homes are required to pay schools for the impact of their projects. This TIF gets sicker and sicker. Shame on you trustees who can't see that this was ill-conceived and should be corrected."

TH fears some trees here in Tree City, USA are neglected: "Driving down Glenview Road, it's impossible not to notice a lot of parkway trees (which were purchased by Glenview's taxpayers) that are dead or dying due to lack of watering. The trees located in parkways in front of residential homes are doing fine. This makes me really angry, because there's no reason for it. I've seen huge water trucks giving The Glen parkway trees a regular drink. Why isn't the village using its
equipment to take equal care of the rest of Glenview's trees? At this rate, we'll never achieve a canopy over Glenview Road or Lake Avenue. Instead of smugly hugging the bear, we should be hugging our trees."

Tom Sexton is unhappy with the paving of Linden Lane and Balmoral. "While we under- stand that the job is not finished, you would think the first phase should be done right. It looks like a drunk drew the line for the edge of the street. It is narrower in spots than it originally was, and the corners are smaller. Maybe the reason the village relies so much on consultants to make decisions for them is so when something goes wrong they don't have to accept any blame."

Several residents of northwest Glenview have written to complain that mailings from School District 30, which begin their journey in Northbrook, take more than a week. We contacted Tim Ratliff, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service for this explanation: "Mail is divided into different services, called ‘classes.’ Each class of mail has different features, service levels, postage rates, and pre-sort requirements. The U.S. Postal Service is the most efficient postal service in the world, with some of the lowest postage rates in any industrialized country. Dollar for dollar, you get a lot of value from your mail. This is especially true for Standard Mail or ‘bulk’ mailings. The delivery standards for bulk mailings are usually seven to 10 days. How the mail is prepared, including the size, shape and address labeling, all contribute to delivery efficiency. Many customers choose Standard Mail because postage rates are very low. Customers know upfront what the costs are and what the delivery standards are. If a customer needs a faster delivery standard than Standard Mail, the customer then needs to choose a different class of mail service. On our national web site at www.usps.com there is an educational module titled Business Mail 101 with a sub section titled, ‘What is Bulk Mail? Is it Right for You?’ There customers can find information and make the best decision for their mailing needs."

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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