INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES URGE “THE WRITE CHOICE”

 

Two independent write-in candidates for Glenview Village Board are asking voters to support them for two reasons. Greg Kirby and Andy Sarkany say the trustees should be much more careful about government spending, and Glenview’s dominant political party is behaving like a dictatorship. 

 

The latter complaint surfaced after Unite Glenview challenged the signatures on Sarkany’s election petition.  Noting some people had printed their names rather than writing in cursive, while others had written their business address rather than residence, Unite Glenview claimed Sarkany didn’t have enough signatures to qualify for a spot on the ballot.

 

Glenview’s electoral commission, which consists of two UG party members and the village manager, agreed despite the fact that Sarkany presented signed statements from the voters who had autographed his petition. One of them, Greg Kirby, was so outraged by that decision that he agreed to run with Sarkany as a write-in.

 

A sales and marketing manager, Kirby has lived in the Swainwood neighborhood for 13 years with his wife and three children. His philosophy: “You cannot spend what you don’t have, and your government should set that example.”

 

 During a League of Women Voters’ forum, he made some important points about village finance.  Noting that Glenview paid $17 million in debt service this year, he called for new controls on “wasteful spending,” and greater spending on road repairs.

 

The UG candidates – Jim Patterson, Phil White and Scott Britton – noted Glenview has a Aaa bond rating from Moody’s Investors Service and concluded the village does not have too much debt.

 

“The Aaa bond rating is not easy to get,” said Britton, a lawyer and five-year veteran of the School District 34 board.  “Of 25,000 communities nationwide, only 171 have it.”  He added that the federal government devotes 20 percent of its revenue to debt service.

 

“Moody’s is not going to pay our debt,” Kirby replied, “and the federal government is hardly a shining example.”

 

Editor’s note:  Keep in mind that Moody’s assessment is based in part on the fact that many Glenview residents are wealthy, and the village has the right to raise taxes at will.  The fact that the rating service awards us a grade of Aaa does not, in and of itself, mean we have nothing to worry about.

 

 

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

 

Kirby also chastised the trustees for refusing to ban smoking in Glenview’s restaurants and bars. Clearly, he concluded, the board had not listened to the overwhelming number of residents who did not want to be exposed to passive cigarette smoke. 

 

Both incumbent candidates Jim Patterson and Phil White dismissed arguments about the hazards of second-hand smoke, preferring to protect the business interests of those bars and restaurants that fear a loss of customers to Wheeling or Morton Grove.

 

“Tobacco is a legal product,” said Patterson. “The free market is taking care of this, and it’s not government’s place to intercede.”

 

Britton, who has pledged loyalty to the UG ticket, did not hesitate to dissent on this issue. 

“My father died of lung cancer,” he explained.  “I respectfully disagree with Jim and Phil, and I will try to convince them to change their minds.”

 

 

OUTSOURCING GOVERNMENT SERVICES

 

Patterson and White have also supported village management on decisions to outsource information technology, janitorial services and street sweeping, but write-in candidate Andy Sarkany argued “outsourcing is not always what it’s cracked up to be.”  A former village building inspector, he questioned the wisdom of turning computers at Village Hall over to an outside company.

 

Kirby agreed, saying outside contractors have no real loyalty to Glenview.  He said firing the IT chief had seriously damaged municipal morale, causing many village employees to wonder, “Am I next?”

 

After Dale Chellis was dismissed, another high-level IT staffer defected to Morton Grove where Glenview’s assistant finance chief had also found employment.  “Good people are desserting us,” Sarkany concluded.

 

Britton took the middle road, saying it was important for government to be good stewards of the public’s money, but noting that it’s sometimes possible to provide cost effective service by hiring staff.

 

 

WHY DOES THE OLD POLICE STATION SIT EMPTY

 

One member of the audience wondered what each candidate would do with the old village police station that now sits empty on Glenview Road. 

 

Sarkany wanted to “get off the dime and do something about it,” and suggested municipal employees be moved to vacant space at the new police station rather than working in trailers at Village Hall.

 

Patterson defended the decision to mothball the old police station, saying the cost of keeping it vacant was “nominal.”  He argued the village should wait to see how downtown develops and whether the entire site might be sold if plans for a new Village Hall are finalized.

 

Kirby said he was surprised that Glenview built a new police station with no plans for the old one. “Why is it sitting vacant?” he wondered, adding that sale of the property might provide money to construct a new village hall.

 

White said the old police station was “not really useable and should probably be torn down, but the property will be more marketable if the whole site can be sold.  We have to just sit until we have a viable alternative.”

 

 

THEIR PRIORITIES

 

White said his top priorities for the next four years are understanding Glenview’s financial picture, establishing a five-year plan and anticipating slower growth. 

 

As revenue flattens out, Patterson agreed that the village could face financial troubles and said his top priority was “getting the most for our money.”

 

Britton wanted to focus on planning for development downtown, on additional Navy land at The Glen and at the former Culligan site.  He expressed a hope that the tax base of Glenview could expand further but warned that new residential development would bring unwanted traffic and new pressures on our schools.

 

Sarkany said he would not support any more loans or incentives for developers downtown or along Milwaukee Avenue and predicted money lent to OliverMcMillan, part owner of The Glen Town Center, and Von Maur would never be repaid.

 

Kirby called for careful planning downtown to avoid the need for additional tax hikes and said he would work to mend the rift between Glenview and its newest neighborhood, The Glen. “We are one community, and we should feel that way.”

 

 

ONE FOR THE MONEY, TWO FOR THE SHOW – AN EDITOR’S NOTE

 

As has so often been the case, Unite Glenview enjoys a big financial and organizational advantage in this race.  Couple that with the fact that incumbents rarely lose and write-ins rarely win, and you have to conclude that Britton, Patterson and White will prevail. 

 

That said, we encourage residents to vote their conscience. 

 

Do you think one-party government is good for Glenview?  Clearly the Unite Glenview party does.

 

Do you think smoking should be allowed in Glenview’s bars and restaurants?  Patterson and White are for it. 

 

Do you think guns should be sold at The Glen. Jim Patterson did, and he also argued that every child in America should be taught to shoot, just as every kid should learn to swim.

 

Do you think local government has been too quick to help developers at The Glen?

Both Patterson and White have committed public dollars for music in the parking garages of The Glen Town Center, and White has hinted he’d like to offer incentives for development downtown.

 

If you conclude, as we do, that choice is good and at least two of the UG candidates are not so hot, live dangerously.  Ask those good-hearted election judges at your local polling place to show you how a write-in vote is cast. 

 

With the touch screen, it was a simple matter of pressing a line labeled “Write-In.”  Up comes a little keyboard that allows you to type the name of a candidate.  When you’ve done that, the name appears on your electronic ballot, and if you make a mistake, going back and fixing it is no problem.

 

We think Scott Britton is a decent candidate.

 

 

A RACE TO THE LIBRARY

 

Four people are running for three seats on the Glenview Library Board.  Two are incumbents: President Arlene Anthony and Commissioner Dave Johnson.  Bob Abraham is a newcomer to local politics.  The father of two and a 20-year resident of Glenview, he has served as an attorney for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.  He claims extensive experience in construction matters, having prepared contracts for the Deep Tunnel project, and says his knowledge of government finance and employment would serve the library well.

 

Peter McNulty is also a lawyer and accountant with degrees from Georgetown University.  He has lived here since 1978, although he was raised in Northfield.  His four children are grown, so McNulty says he has time for the community. 

 

All four candidates defended plans for a 93,000-square-foot building, dismissing concerns that so much space may not be needed in the age of the Internet.

 

“It’s hard to find what you want online,” said Johnson,” and there’s absolute junk on the Internet.  Publishers, on the other hand, have a responsibility to be accurate.”

 

“You have to see a library as more than a repository for books and computers,” said Abraham. “It’s a place for people to come together for programs and intergenerational sharing.”

 

Anthony recalled that several consultants had suggested even larger buildings and warned, “We do not know what libraries will be in ten years.”

 

McNulty said he was willing to accept the recommendations of the consultants and library staffers.

 

All of the candidates agreed that the library board should consider hiring a fundraiser to scare up more money for a bigger building.  Each backed the use of  Internet filters to protect children under the age of 16, and all four felt collaboration with the village was a good thing in getting the new library built.

 

 

THE EDITOR’S THINK IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE

 

Arlene Anthony has been on the library board for 14 years, and she thinks that’s a good reason for voters to re-elect her.  When you consider the tortured process of getting a library built and the role President Anthony played as consultant after consultant was hired, you might feel otherwise.

 

She aggressively backed building at The Glen, even after the village said it would insist on a downtown location.  Dave Johnson, on the other hand, listened to dissent in the community and was prepared to consider a smaller building downtown.

 

We’re not crazy about Johnson.  He’s appallingly conservative and out of touch.  When he first ran for library board, he supported Homeland Security's right to view library records, and he voted not to let 16-year-olds use adult computers at the library.  But he sees himself as an elected representative of Glenview residents and is willing to hear them out.   

 

The other issue voters may want to consider is the hiring of Vickie Novak as executive librarian.  Novak is not well-liked by her staff and has done nothing to distinguish herself in the community, but Arlene Anthony thinks she’s terrific.

 

We, on the other hand, thought Bob Abraham was the most articulate and thoughtful of the candidates and recommend a vote for him.  If you like McNulty and Johnson, give them your support.  If you’re not impressed with either, it’s fine to cast just one ballot, even if three are open, and doing so gives your candidate an even better chance of victory.

 

 

DISTRICT OFFERS DOG LOVERS A MEATY BONE

 

If the park board approves and grant money comes from Springfield, Glenview could have one of the North Shore’s most elaborate dog parks – a six-acre stretch of Community Park West with shaded benches, a fountain where dogs can play and get clean, trees in protective planters, a walking path, bioswales and rain gardens to help keep the area dry, and colourful plastic tubes that invite canine play. 

 

A drawing will be unveiled at the next park board meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 26  in Park Center.  In the mean time, a citizens group called Dog Owners of Glenview or D.O.G. has formed to help plan and support the new park.  All canine owners in Glenview are encouraged to check-in at http://www.glenviewdogpark.org/ and to share their e-mail address.

 

Park district officials have warned that there are many sports groups competing for land at Community Park West, and unless dog lovers build an organization comparable to AYSO or Glenview Youth Baseball (GYB), the dog park may have to wait for construction dollars. 

 

 

S.R.O. AT THE A.S.P.

 

About 200 people jammed into the new Evelyn Pease Tyner Center Saturday to celebrate the official opening of the Air Station Prairie.  The eponymous Ev Tyner (we’ve always wanted to use that word!) was nearly overcome with emotion as she recalled her years as an advocate for the Woodworth Prairie on Milwaukee Avenue, The Grove, and the prairie that grew along runways at the former Glenview Naval Air Station.

 

The Grove’s director, Steve Swanson, will oversee the site. Clad in his signature shorts – worn year round – the jovial naturalist recalled how Tyner had admired the Kenicott family – pioneers in Glenview and in the fields of biology and botany.  “It’s nice to know some heroes come from here and not somewhere else,” she once told him.  Swanson noted that Tyner is one of those heroes too. 

 

A 50-year resident of Glenview, Tyner was quick to credit others. Gloria Buzard and Liz Dinsmore were among those who called themselves the “Frog and Fern Ladies” when they campaigned to save The Grove.  Bernice Popelka, Dr. Robert Betz and Dr. Albert Rouffa played key roles in getting the University of Illinois to buy and preserve the Woodworth Prairie, and dozens of citizens fought to save the Air Station Prairie. Their names appear at the end of a short video about Tyner that will be shown at the center.

 

“It was an impossible dream, but here it’s happened,” said Tyner as she surveyed the 3,000-square-foot interpretive center surrounded by more than 30 acres of prairie.  The building is solar-powered and has a 4,000-square-foot “green roof,” on which a garden will grow.  What’s more it has no parking lot.  Planners had promised a permeable lot, paved with porous stones that allow rainwater to seep back into the ground, but as they looked around the site at the corner of Compass and Lehigh roads, they realized Metra and area streets provided plenty of space for cars.  They did, however, create a space for school buses to drop off and pick-up children, so visitors can see how attractive and effective permeable parking can be.

 

The trails will be open year round.  Exhibits are posted outside the building, so even when the nature center is closed, visitors can learn a thing or two. Volunteers will be needed to help maintain the prairie itself.  To find out about work days for kids and parents, go to www.northbranchresotration.org .  Look for the park district, which will manage the site, to post nature center hours at www.glenviewparks.org .

 

 

PLANNERS HIT THE ROAD – ON BIKES!

 

Thirty cyclists took to Glenview streets Saturday for a chilly 12-mile tour and lunch provided by D'Agostino's, located west of The Glen Metra station. Afterward, they joined village staff to pore over maps and mark areas that deserve special attention if the village is to be more bicycle friendly.

 

Among them: the intersection of Harms and Glenview roads and the adjoining North Branch trail, Shermer from Central to Glenview Road to Greenwood, the transition from Chestnut to Pleasant Lane across Waukegan, and Glenview Road from Harms to Waukegan. 

 

The cyclists also focused on east-west routes to connect with Wilmette, Des Plaines and the Des Plaines River Trail west of Milwaukee Avenue, and north-south routes to connect with Northbrook, Skokie and Morton Grove.

 

The Chicago consulting firm T.Y. Lin will take that information and propose a bike plan for Glenview.  John LaPlante said his firm will look for the "low-hanging fruit," easy, low-cost projects that can be adopted, such as lane markings, signage and good spots for bike racks.

 

Lin also has a contract with the Northwest Municipal Conference to develop a regional bicycle map that will show existing and proposed routes.  Local governments can then plan new segments to connect major routes for a more comprehensive system.

 

Editor's note:  Given traffic on Glenview streets, the cost of gasoline and rising obesity rates, a village bicycling plan can't come any too soon.  As more bicyclists take to the streets, it will encourage more people to do so and give motorists more reason to share the road.  Bicycling is already on the rise if the retail scene is any indication. Glenview now has three bike shops, up from one a couple years ago. 

 

 

ANOTHER PLACE TO PEDAL?

 

If you’d like to see the abandoned Union Pacific Railroad / ComEd corridor east of Harms Road converted into a bike and hiking trail, sign up for a planning workshop from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19 at Northbrook Village Hall, 1225 Cedar Lane.  For more information, call Jill Ziegler at Glenview Village Hall: 847-904-4305.

 

 

STILL NO PAYBACK AT TOWN CENTER

Operating profits at The Glen Town Center exceeded $5.5 million last year, up 20 percent from 2005, but that was not enough to trigger repayment of a $12 million, no-interest loan the village made to developer OliverMcMillan.  

With 96 percent of space at the retail center leased, gross receipts for 2006 exceeded $14 million, but the developer claimed operating expenses of about $8.7 million.

 

ASH BORERS HEADING FOR GLENVIEW

Glenview’s trustees have agreed to allow a dozen northern suburbs to dump their infected ash trees at the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County's transfer station at River Road and Central in Glenview, so the wood – along with the bug and its eggs -- can be ground up.

Village President Kerry Cummings said Glenview was participating in a “regional approach” to the infestation. Ash borers have been found in Evanston, Wilmette and Winnetka, prompting the state to establish a quarantine zone from Lake-Cook Road south to Touhy Avenue and Howard Street, and from the Tri-State Tollway east to Lake Michigan. No ash wood can be removed from the 64-square-mile area.

 

State officials liked the SWANCC site, because it is not close to residences where people could be disturbed by the noise of wood being pulverized. 

 

Glenview’s waste hauler, Groot, said it would stop transporting wood at the end of April, because it doesn’t have the people or the expertise to deal with ash borers. Local officials worried that residents might start dumping their wood waste illegally, putting Glenview at increased risk for ash borer infestation.  Now, Groot and other local haulers can take wood to SWANCC.

It will be transported in tarp-covered trucks or enclosed in trailers, but experts say it is only a matter of time before ash borers are found in Glenview trees.  Village Manager Todd Hileman told the Pioneer Press, “We're already starting to see ash borers on the far western side of Wilmette and Skokie, so it's heading our way.”

 

DISTRICT 225 TO PRIVATIZE BOOK SALES

Glenbrook High Schools did the math and decided to hand operation of their bookstores over to a private company, saving more than $700,000 over a five-year period.  Follett Corporation of River Grove will get $160,000 per year to operate stores at North and South. The bookstores had been operating in the red – losing $250,000-$300,000 per year.  District 225 will also get $100,000-$150,000 when it sells its current inventory to Follett. Officials say students and parents should notice no difference, but they will be able to buy books through Follett's website, which may be cheaper and more convenient.

 

WILLOW ON SCHEDULE BUT A SLOW GO

Despite heavy spring rains and snow, construction along Willow Road is on schedule, but state officials warn it will last another 13 months.  As they plan to widen I-294 from south of Dempter in Skokie to Grand in Gurnee, crews must tear out and replace  overpasses. 

Delays on Willow Road have prompted some drivers to take alternate routes.  Glenview police say there have been more back-ups and minor accidents on Lake Avenue and Glenview Road.

 

 

NEWS FROM THE NEIGHBORS

 

-- Northbrook’s plan commission has approved the proposed “Center of the Northshore,” a high rise collection of condos, shops, restaurants and a seven-level garage on an 18.4 acre site at Skokie Blvd. and Dundee Rd.  The building could be 110-feet tall.  Northbrook trustees are expected to begin reviewing plans Tuesday, and the developer is expected to ask for a $5 million tax increment financing deal.

-- Five days after the Morton Grove Village Board refused a request for $5 million in TIF assistance, the developer of a mixed use project called The Preserves of Morton Grove applied to start construction. Jeff Dietrich had told the trustees his project on Dempster east of Narragansett and south along both sides of Lincoln Avenue could not be built without financial help.  Dietrich plans two condo buildings, townhouses and 11,000 square feet of commercial space.

 

READERS WRITE

 

Paul Mitchell is trying to puzzle out the political lay of the land in Glenview:  “I have lived here for 30 years and from time-to-time have heard of an organization calling themselves Citizens United for Glenview.  What is Citizens United for Glenview?  Is it an underground organization, because no one seems to know?  How is this organization (clique) able control local elections?”

 

The Watch replies:  This long-standing group of political insiders changes its name before every election to avoid a state requirement that it hold a primary.  By law, new parties don’t have to let candidates compete for a chance to be slated.  Instead, the group we call Unite Glenview or UG gets together at Hackneys and decides who will be on its ticket.

 

Leaders of the group tend to be conservative, pro-business, pro-development, and not the least bit progressive.  That tradition probably dates back more than a century.  The German Catholics who founded Glenview were no rabble rousers, and 50 years later Glenview was the Midwest headquarters for the ultra-conservative John Birch Society.  Lots of military men retired from service at the Naval Air Station and decided to stay here, adding to the conservative base. 

 

Stalwarts of the group include former Village President Jim Smirles, who once shook down a group of developers at Village Hall in the middle of a board meeting while the GVTV cameras rolled. Park board candidate Steve Bucklin is a player. So is Village President Kerry Cummings, Trustee Jim Patterson, former Trustee John Patton Jr.,  former zoning board chief Ty Laurie, Plan Commissioner Allan Ruter and former Village President Nancy Firfer. 

 

After years of criticism from Glenview Watch, the UGs do appear to be softening -- putting moderate Democrats Debby Karton and Pat Cuisinier on the ticket two years ago and adding Scott Britton this time.

 

Since 1957, groups have periodically formed to challenge the UGs.  In 2005, one attempted to slate candidates but was unable to agree on a selection process let alone the people who should run.  It was a messy business, and those same folks decided to sit the current election out.

 

We can only hope that by 2009 they will have recovered in time to give Glenview a real choice at the polls.  Or maybe a new group will emerge.  The current field of candidates for park district suggests plenty of people are interested in community service.  In the mean time, hats off to Andy Sarkany and Greg Kirby for keeping the spirit of democracy alive.

 

In out last edition, we reported that residents of the area near Shermer and Golf were protesting a lack of progress on the Ismaili House of Worship.  Since no building permit had been issued for nearly a year, they argued the Ismailis would have to go back before the board for another vote on special zoning.  Village Attorney Jeff Randall disagreed.  Now, however, community leader Tom Morrison reports that the Ismailis are asking for an extension:  “I just received a letter from the village attorney, advising me that the developer of 100 Shermer Road is requesting an extension. Boy, that was fast. I also asked to appear before the board, but I’ve gotten no reply. It is very interesting that as a result of the Park Manor Civic Council (PMCC) asking the village for verification of compliance with village codes that all of a sudden the developer is asking for an extension. I think we have confirmed how the channels of communication work in the village. I also find it interesting that the developer can get immediate action from the village, yet we as residents cannot request and receive services, such as enforcement of building and zoning codes, without appearing before the board.”

 

And Rick Nasello responds to our news of a loon on Lake Glenview: “Being an outside kind of guy I thought I would comment on the loon sighting at Lake Glenview. The loons have been stopping there since the lake was built. I also find myself out fishing the ‘Chain’ as soon as the ice is gone and there are numerous loons frolicking and yodeling. I think they have been around here a lot longer than most fair weather people realize. Also I'm happy to report that the breeding pair of Cooper's Hawks have returned to our cul de sac. They lived in our neighbor’s tree for over a year. They took over a squirrel’s nest and produced numerous chicks. It was fun to watch them swoop around the ‘Sac’ collecting baby rabbits and other small mammals to feed the youngins.”