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The Glenview Watch
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BEST WISHES FROM THE WATCH
With Village Hall, the park district and schools in holiday mode, we’ll be taking a little time off. Look for our next edition on January 15. In the mean time, we want to thank you for reading and for giving. Your non-deductible contributions to Glenview Watch help defray the costs of maintaining our website. Should the spirit move you, please make checks payable to Glenview Watch and send them to 3537 Maple Leaf Drive, Glenview, IL 60026. Again, thanks and best wishes for a terrific 2006.
FIRE CHIEF TAKES A CHRISTMAS HIKE
As first reported by Glenview Watch, Fire Chief Dan Bonkowski will retire Friday, December 23. Village Hall made an announcement Thursday – depriving the Glenview Announcements of a chance to break the news, and officials declined to provide any details on why the popular leader of local firefighters would suddenly depart.
Bonkowski cleaned out his office and official car in October, telling his men he would be attending to some family business. Sources close to the department say a disagreement with Village Manager Todd Hileman may actually have prompted Bonkowski’s departure. Bonkowski had been on administrative leave, still collecting a pay check, while details of his retirement were negotiated.
Deputy Manager Chris Clark says village officials will meet with Glenview’s firemen and paramedics soon to discuss the future of the department and to decide what qualities are needed in a new chief. Clark told Glenview Watch that village trustees were aware of the circumstances that led to Bonkowski’s departure, but members of the fire department would be told “nothing.”
Deputy Chief Wayne Globerger, who has served as interim chief, will stay in that capacity until a new chief is chosen. Globerger has been on the force for 18 years.
COSTCO TO OPEN GAS STATION AT THE GLEN
The plan commission has approved Costco’s application for a self-serve gas station to be built between its warehouse store off Willow Road and the Home Depot. The company said it would offer two grades of fuel – premium and regular – but would not offer diesel fuel, water, air, phones, snacks, drinks or cigarettes.
Some commissioners quibbled over the traffic plan proposed by Costco, but a company executive said the one-way pattern would make it easier for customers to get from the gas station to the store. “Seventy percent of the people who get gas go to the warehouse,” he explained.
Commissioner Allan Ruter was perplexed. “Unless Costco’s planning an education initiative saying ‘Fuel first, shop second,’ I don’t know how you’re going to pull this off.”
“That’s what they do,” said the Costco suit. “You’re not going to shop and load your vehicle up with frozen foods, ice cream and whatever, and then do one more stop.”
“I would,” said Ruter. “I shop at Costco.”
“Then you’re one of the 30 percent who don’t,” said the company spokesman. “Because we’re a membership organization, we know what you buy and when you buy it, so we know that 70 percent of the customers go that route.”
“You’re just a statistic. You know that,” Silver joked.
The station will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. Chairman Howard Silver urged Costco to provide more landscaping to screen the facility, and the company agreed. “Costco’s not afraid of landscaping,” said the spokesman. The company hopes to break ground this spring.
FIELD’S LAYS PLANS FOR CAR DEALERSHIPS
A major car dealership is also going up in that neighborhood – south of the Home Depot Fields plans to sell Jeeps and Dodges on a piece of property originally earmarked for wetland restoration. Instead, land filling will soon begin, with Fields raising the construction site by four feet and building a special storm water control system with funding from the village.
At the urging of the Army Corps of Engineers, Fields promised a drainage system that would lead to better water quality. “Our concept is to shed all the water out to the perimeter of the site and pick it up in bio-swales which would carry the water down to depressed areas and collect the water there,” said a spokesman for the dealer. The runoff would be allowed to seep through the ground, becoming cleaner as it drained into an underground detention vault.
Fields claimed that set-up and IDOT requirements for a substantial setback from Willow Road would limit its landscaping, but Commission Chairman Howard Silver was not impressed.
He studied the dealer’s architectural drawings and said they were “very neat and pretty,” bearing a resemblance to Palm Springs, California, but in reality, he said, the dealer would have “a row of 40-50 cars lined up there.”
The dealer had offered to install tall grasses and low bushes, but Silver wanted a three-foot berm and more plants to spare the public a view of headlights and grills. “I know you want to sell cars, but this isn’t Western Avenue,” he said.
Fields fought back, saying used cars are 25-30 percent of the company’s business, and those cars needed to be front and center. People driving by simply had to be able to see inventory on the lot. He claimed the dealership had decided against another possible location in Northbrook because it didn’t offer as much visibility as Willow Road.
Silver stood fast, contending people do not shop for cars at 45 miles per hour. “We have a village of 40,000 people, and everyone around us has to go down that street and look at it too. That long row of used car headlights doesn’t turn me on at all.”
Development Director Mary Bak seemed to side with the dealership, urging the commission to give her some clues about what kind of landscaping would be acceptable. She suggested the panel look at other local dealerships and their landscaping.
When one commissioner said he liked the way industrial sites at The Glen and North Shore office parks were screened with berms, Bak dismissed him. “I’d like to stay with car dealers. I think there is a sales function going on there that is not the same as hiding cars that are parking for eight hours. This is a serious part of their business, and we should try to stick with benchmarking apples to apples.”
Both of the commission’s professional architects were absent from the December 13 meeting. Silver proposed the discussion continue at the commission’s January 17 meeting.
WILLOW ROAD TALKS CONTINUE
Glenview officials disagree with state planners who think it could take years to secure the land needed to widen Willow Road to four lanes from Northfield to Waukegan Road. The village is pushing for a change in improvements planned for this spring or summer. The state had reached agreement with Northfield to widen the road to three lanes at key intersections where traffic now backs up. Assistant Village Manager Clark says another meeting with State Senator Jeff Schoenberg will take place before the end of the year.
STILL NO SIGN OF LIFE AT HARLEY
The owner of a new Harley Davidson outlet expected to open more than two years ago is still working on his building. Development Director Bak says a village inspector has been visiting the site every other day, hoping to hurry things along, but the store will not open before Christmas.
VILLAGE LAUNCHES EMERGENCY CALL SYSTEM
Glenview is preparing to launch “Code Red,” an automated system that would allow Village Hall to make 60,000 calls per hour to advise residents of local emergencies: evacuations and shelter locations, flood warnings, extended electrical outages, public health concerns and special police operations. An outside firm has been hired to compile lists of local residents using water bills and other publicly available sources. The village is also inviting residents to call the fire department at 724-2141 to provide their numbers.
POLICE CHIEF INSISTS NEW STATION IS NOT TOO BIG
As he prepares for a grand opening in early April, Police Chief Bill Fitzpatrick is saying the new station on Lake Avenue at Shermer is not too big. He told reporters this week that the community, “is not building for today.” Instead, he says, the new facility will be large enough to serve Glenview for 30-40 years, offering space for training, public meetings, social services and storage for the police and other village departments.
Fitzpatrick said he hoped residents would come to a public open house this spring to tour the facility. “Good planning now will save us money later,” he contends.
When officers move to the new facility in late March or early April, Glenview plans to shutter the existing police station next to Village Hall. Officials say that facility’s heating and air conditioning system is “tired,” and costly repairs would be needed if other departments were to move in.
COLD WEATHER TAKES A TOLL
Glenview’s public service department was called to repair eight water main breaks during last weekend’s cold snap, and officials report lots of early requests from residents in need of help to pay their heating bills. The first few submissions were “drastically higher than in years past,” according to Budget Director Dan Wiersma.
Meanwhile, State Senator Susan Garrett and State Representative Elaine Nekritz will sponsor a weatherization workshop at 1 p.m. Saturday, January 7 at the Maine Township Hall, 1700 Ballard Rd. in Park Ridge. Participants will learn how to insulate their homes and become more energy efficient. Sponsors will provide free window insulator kits, weather seal tape and energy-saving light bulbs. For more information go to www.keepwarm.illinois.gov .
VILLAGE COMES THROUGH WITH THE CASH
Under a tax increment financing plan set up to fund Glen construction, village officials are now sharing the wealth – giving a part of the tax revenue from that neighborhood to local schools. District 34 got a check for about $3.59 million while District 225 collected about $1.25 million. The park district is expected to get about $800,000 and School District 30, which was not expecting any children from The Glen, is actually getting a $10,000 payment for one child who’s waiting, with his family, to move into a home. For the moment, they’re living at Staybridge Suites.
Editor’s note: That sounds swell until you realize that the schools would be rolling in cash if the village had not used tax increment financing at The Glen.
DISTRICT 34 DENIES HIRING BIAS
Noting that all four of the new principals hired to head Glenview elementary and middle schools were men, we couldn’t help wondering if there might be discrimination against women going for top jobs at District 34. After all, we reasoned, the vast majority of teachers in the district are female. So we asked public relations director Brett Clark for a break down on who applied for vacancies at Lyon, Henking, Pleasant Ridge and Attea schools. Here’s what Clark had to say:
“We don't have a breakout of the number of male and female applicants for the principal positions, as it is illegal for us to ask that question on an application. I can tell you that we selected the best candidate regardless of gender. There were 119 applicants for the Attea position, 141 for Henking, 141 for Lyon and 159 for Pleasant Ridge.
“The process began with a
national search, and each candidate completed a rigorous interview process
that started with an on-line application, including a screening component
and writing samples. Candidates who met an identified standard as part of
the on-line application then completed an interview with the human
resources director.
If they met particular criteria during that interview, they met with
building committees that included teachers, support staff, administrators
and parents.
“Those committees had agreed on qualifications needed for each job. Candidates also were interviewed by an independent firm, district-level administrators, and individually by the superintendent. All of that information was considered prior to the superintendent recommending the four candidates to the board of education.
“Finally, last year we also hired the best candidates for six administrator positions (executive director of human resources, principal, two assistant principals and two student services administrators), and five were female. Additionally, the last two principals hired for the district have been women -- Merryl Brownlow at Glen Grove and Lori Hinton at Westbrook.”
TWO DEMOCRATS TO BATTLE FOR ONE CONGRESSIONAL SEAT
Dan Seals of Wilmette and Zane Smith of Winnetka think they could do a better job of representing the 10th Congressional District than the area’s current congressman, Republican Mark Kirk. Seals and Smith will face off in a primary on March 21, with the victor going after Kirk’s seat on November 7, 2006.
Seals is director of marketing for real estate at GE Commercial Finance. He holds a graduate degree in international studies from Johns Hopkins University, an MBA from the University of Chicago and is a former legislative aide to Senator Joe Lieberman.
He has two daughters and is a volunteer for the Youth Organization Umbrella (Y.O.U.) of Evanston and for the North Shore United Way.
On his website, he attacks George Bush and the war in Iraq: “I don’t feel that our country is going in the right direction. This administration has shown poor leadership both at home and abroad, and has put the focus on ideology over facts. I am running for office because I believe we need to get back to a reasonable, responsive, and responsible government. Party-line politicians will not be the ones to lead us there. We need new leadership if we are going to get back on track.”
You can read more at http://www.dansealsforcongress.com/.
Zane Smith is a lawyer from Winnetka and a member of that community’s park board. He has provided free legal services to low-income people in Chicago, and the father of two is active in the Boy Scouts of America.
In explaining his decision to run, Smith writes: "the majority of the citizens in the 10th district have a cifferent vision than their current leader, and they are looking for change. I beliee that we as a nation have been moving in a direction that does not reflect both the diversity and the moderate thinking of most of the citizens in our area."
You can read more about Smith at http://www/zanesmithforcongress.com/
Kirk, an ally of President George Bush and a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, told the Pioneer Press he will focus more on the campaign next year, but right now his attention is on passing important legislation before the Congress, such as the Americans in Uniform Act, which enhances employment opportunities for military reservists. His website is http://www.house.gov/kirk/ .
HANGAR ONE FINDS A NEW HOME
After they were asked to leave free digs at The Glen Town Center, advocates for a museum honoring the men and women who served a the Glenview Naval Air Station may have a new home in the industrial strip on the east border of the former base. The site overlooks Gallery Park and the former hangar – now part of Town Center.
Volunteers are fixing up their space at 2040 Lehigh, west of the Metra tracks. The village board must still approve the site before it can open to the public. A vote is expected on January 10 at Village Hall.
The museum hopes to be open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment on weekdays. It will feature photos, memorabilia and models of airplanes that used to fly over the base.
TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY
Village officials report they’ll have to spend more than $1 million soon to shore up a retaining wall that keeps property owned by Our Lady of Perpetual Help from sliding into the Chicago River. A corrugated metal wall was first erected there in the 1920’s, and a second barrier went up about 25 years ago. Inspectors say the wall is in fair to poor condition, as is another retaining wall near River Drive.
THE DRAG RACE DU JOUR
Glenview police say last week a village resident attempted to pass a red pickup truck, towing a Bobcat on a trailer. Both were southbound on Patriot Boulevard, south of Chestnut. The truck’s driver swerved several times to prevent the man from getting by. The drivers then turned west on E. Lake Ave. At the intersection with Shermer Road, the truck driver, who reportedly weighed about 215 pounds, opened his door with force, striking and denting the passenger rear door of the other man’s Mercedes Benz C280.
Editor’s note: May we take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and to urge patience and courtesy in the new year.
NEWS FROM THE NEIGHBORS
-- Deerfield trustees have voted to ban smoking in stores, places of employment, restaurants, bars and other public facilities. The only exception – on public streets or at a Lake-Cook Plaza tobacco store. Fines for violating the ban will be $25 for a first offense, $50 for a second violation and $100 the third time around.
-- In 2006 Wilmette residents will have to apply for $20 permits to take down most trees of more than 10 inches in diameter on their property. Failure to do so could mean fines of $250 - $1,500 per tree.
SUPER WOMEN IN THE NEWS
-- Cook County is again calling for nominations of unsung heroines – women who’ve done extraordinary things for their communities. Last year’s winner, Glenview’s Norma Morrison, collected the prize on her 89th birthday. If you’d like to suggest a candidate, contact Trina James at 312-645-9400 or write to tjanes@haymarket.net .
-- Glenview’s State Representative Beth Coulson has won an award from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence for her work in Springfield. This is the second time Coulson has been honored by the group.
SAVE THE DATE
-- Cook County President John Stroeger is again proposing a tax hike to cover another budget gap. The public is invited to comment on the budget at 6:30 p.m. Monday, January 9 in the Skokie Courthouse. For details, call Glenview’s Commissioner Gregg Goslin at 847-724-8300.
-- The Glenview Public Library will be closed on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, December 24, 25 and 26. Service resumes Tuesday, December 27 at 9 a.m.
READERS WRITE
BH was dismayed to learn that Glenview must find a new fire chief: “What’s the matter with the hierarchy in this village? We were so fortunate to get Chief Bonkowski in the first place, and now to have our arrogant, self-serving village manager drive him out! Bonkowski has been good for the fire department and good for the village. He’s the best chief this town has had in many years. Everything he’s done has been in the best interests of the department and the citizenry to build morale and a top-notch public service. Since when do we give someone the boot for doing an exemplary job? What’s the matter with the spineless village board that they haven’t stopped him? The way he’s been throwing his weight around, people who work at Village Hall are terrified. When Todd Hileman came to town, I thought it might be a breath of fresh air after the politics we’d had for years. But after a year of his heavy-handedness in many areas, I have concluded he is the worst thing that has happened to Glenview in a long time. Perhaps the best thing that could happen would be to give him his walking papers.”
WMC thinks TIF payments to Glenview public schools are pathetic when compared to other spending from tax dollars generated by The Glen: “I find it very frustrating that our schools get $3.6 million when there was $20 million for the ‘Taj Mahal’ police station. There is something terribly wrong when education is not and cannot be the priority for our hard-earned tax dollars. Most of us chose to live in Glenview for the high quality schools, even if we don't have children utilizing them. We did not buy here because Glenview had a big police station. I also believe education is a priority over sewers and streets. It just amazes me that our village has enough foresight to raise funds for everything but education. It is shameful that Glenview is in ‘emergency mode’ with regard to the quality of its schools. That is, after all, what keeps our property values strong. But if public education in Glenview declines, our property values and reputation as a premier North Shore suburb will also suffer along with our children. And their future is everyone's future.
“I also wonder why we keep bending over for the developers. Glenview should be driving the development bus! We certainly have our choice of the best, and we should get the best and most for our money. The developers should feel lucky to be here. Instead, it looks like we work for them and say ‘Yes, Sir’ to whatever they want with no compromises. We’ve actually handed out huge, interest free-loans at The Glen for marketing, yet many Wilmette, Winnetka and Lake Forest residents have yet to hear about the Town Center. And are five-story buildings downtown really needed so developers can break even? Yeah, right! I guess they can sell us anything, because they are driving our bus, and we're paying for the gas!
“Last question: Since 1990, how much has Glenview spent on consultants and proposed plans for downtown redevelopment? It seems we have money for plans that sit in drawers, but not for our schools and teachers!”
Miss M. was not thrilled to read that the Park Foundation had raised $100,000 for playgrounds at Attea and Springman Middle Schools: “Ah, so nice of these folks. If the park district was doing its job instead of building one major project after another, they would have the funds to install the playground equipment at Attea which is clearly a shared recreational facility. And if the District 34 wasn't so strapped for cash, they could buy their own playground equipment.”
Mark Lewkovich thinks a library addition could be a bad and costly idea: “When writers assume that adding on to an ancient structure like the Glenview LIbrary has a definable cost, they are merely guessing. See what is being done to some smaller homes in Glenview. They are being torn down and rebuilt. Are all these investors and builders insane? Perhaps, those homes could have had additions, but the layout is usually undesirable, the original construction in need of repair and updating, and most importantly the cost is unpredictable. If we build a new library in Glenview, there will be no unexpected costs. We will have a library with a good traffic pattern that accommodates the handicapped and children. We will have a beautiful building that we can be proud of that fully addresses today's technology needs.”
SS asks, “What are the odds of getting Whole Foods into Glenview?”
The Watch replies: Whole Foods doesn’t comment on new store locations, but they may be planning to open at the new Willow Festival shopping center on the northwest corner of Willow and Waukegan roads. You may also be able to get the company’s attention by visiting their website and clicking on the Suggest A New Store Location box on the right side of the page: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/contact/index.html.
YOUR TURN: Write to glenviewwatch@aol.com or 3537 Maple Leaf Drive, Glenview, IL 60026. 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.