Congestion (and I don't mean the flu!) 2005 with a dollop of Housing!

A few weeks ago I attended the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. There were numerous presentations that gave some big picture looks at the six county Chicagoland Area. One of the talks was on a Regional Housing Needs Assessment for the region. I got the presenter to send me the slide show, so I could present it to the Village Board because I thought it was important for them to have this overview in the back of their minds. I gave the presentation a few meetings ago to them and the public as well.

However there were some very telling slides that explain exactly what we are facing in the terms of "where we live" and "where we work" and to me this illustrates the need for transportation improvements which in turn will/should lure employers closer which will then reduce congestion even more.

The first slide below shows the housing increase from 1990-2000 taken from Census records. Round Lake is not as colorful since a vast majority of our growth has taken place since the 2000 census. However the Round Lake Area did grow thanks to Round Lake Beach. You can clearly see the area on the graph below.

The next image (below) is where the jobs are in 2000. You can see that they are either along the 294, Lake Cook corridors or downtown. As an observation the Baxter facility on Wilson and 120 does not even register and they have 2,300 plus jobs there.

If you then take the two pictures and graph them over each other, you get a look at the Housing vs. Jobs mismatch for the decade of the 90's

What does this mean to us? It's something that any resident intuitively understands while commuting or trying to drive anywhere during rush hours. However I think it illustrates the need for the 120 bypass and traffic improvements in the area. The construction of the 120 bypass will attract more business/jobs to the area which will reduce our commutes and ease congestion. However large employers are not coming to our area if they don't have road improvements, so its a catch 22 type of situation. Which is why the next 2-3 years are so important as we try to get the Route 120 bypass off the drawing board and on to the ground.

Halloween Scares!

Moments ago from the Madrona Halloween Pre-Game "trick or treating" party!

Trick or Treat from 1-4pm

Lets all be careful tomorrow when we trick or treat! Here is a great picture of two local area kids who showed up at my house two years ago. The young man is a Round Lake Officer in Training (notice the patch) the other little butterfly is a warm young lady. I always love seeing the outfits and the costumes the kids wear. Plus I get to munch on candy for the afternoon with limited guilt! I am partial to Smarties!

At the risk of being a kill-joy I would like to direct parents to the following page about Halloween Safety which is an excellent link with plenty of resources for a safe Halloween!

Quick Reminder on ID Theft Forum today

Our local Congresswoman Melissa Bean will be joined by a group of experts on the issue of identity theft at a forum she is hosting Saturday, October 29 at the Round Lake Village Hall (see map) at 2:00pm.

Bean organized the forum, which will include a panel of experts with experience in different aspects of the issue, to offer constituents an opportunity to learn about how identity theft occurs and what measures they can take to protect themselves.

Here is a list of the panelists.

Detective Kurt Danielson - Lake Zurich Police Department Investigations Division. He began working for the Lake Zurich Police Department in 1986 and has been assigned to the Investigations Division for the past 4 years.Danielson will discuss identity theft from the perspective of law enforcement. He will discuss different precautions that people can take to protect themselves, and different cases that he has dealt with. Then he will touch upon how the Department does follow-up in cases of identity theft.

Terri Worman - AARP, Associate State Director/Community Organizer for Illinois: Worman has been with AARP for nearly ten years and currently works on a broad range of education and advocacy projects in the Chicago suburbs. She has been a featured speaker at law enforcement conferences, including presentations on identity theft, senior fraud and other consumer issues, and spearheaded the Midwest Region of AARP's national project to fight telemarketing fraud. Terri will address how identity theft specifically affects seniors.

Roch Tranel - President of Tranel Financial Group: A certified financial planner, Tranel's interest and expertise in the subject of identity theft stems from his responsibility to protect and grow the $180 million in client funds that he manages. To help his clients avoid the lost funds, costly legal fees, and hundreds of wasted hours that victims suffer, he began presenting Identity Theft Prevention seminars. While initially only for clients, his workshops have now been presented to various community organizations, Chambers of Commerce, senior groups and several Lake County businesses. Roch will discuss how he became involved with the issue of identity theft and how it pertains to, and directly effects, financial planning. He will explain how people can protect themselves and their money.

Congresswoman Melissa Bean: ill discuss the legislation you have introduced and how it would help curb the problems associated with identity theft.

Report from the International Shopping Center Show

I just got back from the International Convention of Shopping Centers "Deal Making Conference" held in Downtown Chicago for a day and half. This is the seventh year in a row the village has attended. It's a marvelous opportunity to market the village, and the existing commercial land opportunities in the village. If you want to see the properties and the available commercial opportunities in the village take this link for complete lists and PDF's of most of the property available.

There was a steady flow of commercial realtors talking and asking questions about the village and what is going on. It's an excellent opportunity to share the story of the dramatic demographic and population changes we have undergone. Since commercial developers tend to be type A personalities and somewhat blunt, its an excellent opportunity to hear candid feedback about the issues we face in business attraction.

Four years ago we made an initial contact with CVS , and from that meeting and lots of hard work later we were able to get them to locate on the corner of 134 and Fairfield 2 years later. Overall an excellent show!

Mobile from International Shopping Center Show

For the seventh year we are at the ISC show. It's hard to blog via the keypad from phone so I will write more when I get back.

Congresswomen Bean to Host Forum on I.D Theft on Saturday

Our local Congresswoman Melissa Bean will be joined by a group of experts on the issue of identity theft at a forum she is hosting Saturday, October 29 at the Round Lake Village Hall (see map) at 2:00pm.

Bean organized the forum, which will include a panel of experts with experience in different aspects of the issue, to offer constituents an opportunity to learn about how identity theft occurs and what measures they can take to protect themselves.

"Many people who are financially responsible, live within their means and pay their bills on time may not be aware of the threat that identity theft poses to their financial well-being," Bean said, "While I am working in Washington on legislation to prevent this crime, there are some steps that people can take on their own to protect themselves. I am grateful that these experts will offer my constituents their diverse, valuable perspectives on the threat of identity theft and how to protect against it."

Bean, a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, has tackled ID theft head-on during her first term. She has proposed legislation to protect consumers' personal financial information and let them know if it's been compromised.

One of Bean's bills, the Consumer Data Security and Notification Act, would strengthen federal protections against the collection and sale of personal financial information, and require that companies notify consumers when that information is at risk.

Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in America, costing victims about $5 billion each year. Illinois ranks tenth in the nation in ID theft. The number of cases in the state continues to grow, reaching an alarming 11,000 victims last year alone. The ID Theft Forums are designed to provide the information individuals need to arm themselves against identity thieves.

Mayors Driving the Neighborhoods and the Resulting Emails

On the weekends I like to drive around the village, in fact I have blogged about it before. What usually results is an email that is taken from my yellow note pad that also always travels with me. I also take pictures of what I see. The email I send goes to all my department heads and they pick what's there department and take care of it or at least answer my question.

The text of the email is below, although I have deleted locations and addresses since that's between the village and the homeowner. I am sure all of can get the gist of what goes on here.

Hello Everyone

I drove around the village yesterday and saw a few things I would like to be fixed and looked at.

XXX XXXXX is vacant, but the owner needs to straighten things up, especially in the backyard.

Phone pole at the corner of Catalpa and Midland, has a very odd structural support (see picture) what is the story here?

We need to get new signs or clean the existing ones at Midland and Hillandale. In addition I would like up to drive around the village and take a look at the street signs and make sure they are clean and angled correctly. Good project for slow days.

XXXXXXXXX had quite a bit of enforcement needs, parking on the grass, boats all over the place, garbage issues. Also I would like to step up the overnight parking checks on this street.

XXXXXXX has cars parking on the grass and looks like some overnight parking there as well.

XXXXX XXXXX XXX We have all sorts of stuff here, way to many cars, and illegal structure (I am guessing in the back) we also have had numerous problems with this place last year as well.

XXXXXXXX needs to be reminded that its signs can't block the entire window.

XXXXXXX Parking on the grass.

XXXXXXX The yard is a mess, it needs to be mowed!

XXXXXXX has a hose running from home to street. This does not seem right (see picture)

Haloscan

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

A Post that is not a Post

I am taking the weekend off from blogging. This afternoon I am on a panel on growth management for an association's annual conference followed by a talk at dinner. Then I am going to take it easy the rest of the weekend. Which means hopefully no mayoring! Like that is possible! We shall see. Have a great weekend. Instead of reading my blog go to the Round Lake Area Park Districts Halloween or Pumpkin Fest this weekend!

Round Lake Area Helping D'Iberville Mississippi

The four communities of the Round Lake Area have adopted the City of D'Iberville, Mississippi as their sister city. Over 70% of this area, approximately 1100 of the 1500 homes, was completely destroyed by hurricane Katrina and they need our help! The Round Lake Village Hall and the Round Lake Park Village Hall are gladly accepting any "gently used" items that are no longer needed by local families.
The picture above is of the D'Iberville from the air and at the very top of the picture is the Gulf of Mexico. This community was within 25 miles of where Katrina went ashore. So you can just imagine the devastation. The City Manager told us he lives 8 miles inland and the water was up to his roof. As a point of reference the Round Lake Area is approximately 8 miles from 294. I can't even imagine that much water that far inland, and as we can see D'Iberville is on the water!

Prairie Pointe Rumors

Recently a rumor has been cruising around the old Brooks Farm Subdivision now called Prairie Pointe that they are going to be annexed into Round Lake. The answer is no! Its not even possible to actually do it without two things 100% interest from every single owner of Prairie Pointe and the desire of the village to actually annex the development. Both are not there. I suspect the rumor was started by a tiny subsection of unicorporated homeowners (4) who are upset that they can't ruin Wooster Lake for 100's of their neighbors. So I can safely reassure you that we will remain neighbors.

Millennium Trail and Connections to our Neighborhoods

With the newest addition to the Forest Preserve in Round Lake the Nippersink Marsh. Eventually there will be connections from here to the millennium Trail. This trail system connects the entire 6 county area and and parts of Wisconsin as well. Not sure I would do this but you can pedal from the Indiana border to Milwaukee on the trails.

One of the things that I want the village board to study and possibly fund is a way to connect all the various housing developments to the Nippersink Marsh forest preserve and consequently to the trail system. I am not sure how we do this right now, but I suspect our planners can help us. It would also be desirable to have a biking connection to our Downtown Development District. Which I aim to make bike friendly!

Here is some information on the Millennium Trail from the Lake County Forest Preserve

Metra Parking

My highly skilled graphic should illustrate the new PERMIT ONLY parking areas the village has created to handle the sudden and dramatic increase in parking demand thanks to the increase in gas prices. Metra has been telling people that they have increased their ridership by almost 4% in the last few months.

The site in blue has 12 spots and the site in the white box has approximately 25 spots for permit parking. In addition there will be new traffic flow controls in the main parking lot creating a one way flow of traffic westwards on 134. This should ease the chaos that ensues in the evenings.

My administration has aggressively pursued an increase in parking spaces. We purchased the land on Goodnow for parking and created an additional 40 spots for parking 2 years ago. We had plans for more but sadly the political climate before the last election got the new Police and Public Works delayed for over one year. A slender majority of the trustees (Trustees Kohlmeyer, Newby and Blauvelt, with Shaw abstaining. Trustees Perkowitz and Multerer along with me strongly dissented, sadly I can't vote unless there is a tie) rejected guaranteed maximum bids of $6.4 million for the complete facility with a November 2004 move in date. Why does this matter for parking? Well the old village Public Works department is located on Metra land adjacent to the tracks. The land would have been about 150 new parking spaces for the village adding to our 360 existing spots.

So the facility is closing in on being over the $6.4 million budget, the facility is a year behind schedule and you are walking further for your Metra parking. Ain't life grand!

Sailing Trophy Arrives Unexpectedly

Last night Bill Schmidt and I were presented with the William Schmidt Sr. Trophy which goes to the winner of the Friday night racing series at the Long Lake Yacht Club. We were awarded this trophy at the annual dinner held last night in Antioch at the Antioch Country Club.

What made the trophy special was that the trophy is in memory of Bill Schmidt's dad and Bill Jr. was the first winner of the trophy way back when. However this is now the second time Bill's name is on the plaque. We keep the trophy for a year, and I snuck out of the celebrations first and commandeered the trophy for myself for the winter. I owe it all to the boat and the skipper!

I had no idea I was winning anything until a few days ago, so this came as a surprise, because clearly I would have blogged about this momentous event much sooner!

Blog goes Big Time!

This blog and the blog of Mayor Jim Willey of Elburn were both featured by Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government in their Government Innovators Network program. The program was entitled "Mayors find new way to reach constituents- leaders find internet blogging effective, fun way to communicate." and spotlighted our two blogs. There were quite a few quotes from the various newspaper articles written about the two blogs. The articles were excerpts from this article on the blog. So while the university that I went to was sometimes humorously called "Harvard on the River" (University of Texas-Pan American) something of me has made the real Harvard.
I have been wondering why we have had such a huge surge of visitors from the Massachusetts area and the east coast in general. I suspect this is the reason. Nearly 15% of my visitors in the last month have been from there.

Friday Night Lights!

Went to the Round Lake Football game against Antioch last night. Saw District 116 CEO Dennis Stonewall, Trustee Brian Brubaker and Jim and Carol Shook among many others. Jim and Carol's grandson Eric Watts played he typical big game for Round Lake, but sadly the panthers lost in a high scoring game.

There was a good crowd with it being Spartan Football night and the crowd was a sea of yellow Spartan jerseys. It was good to see the future of the Panthers is in good hands.

Not much to say today! There was lots to say last night!

Mayor Rich Hill was my guest on my radio show last night and of course we fielded calls from people showing concern about the Walmart. Rich did a good job articulating the village stance.

Tonight's Guest on Village Voices at 7pm

Tonight on Village Voices at 7pm on WRLR 98.3 FM I will have Mayor Rich Hill from Round Lake Beach as my guest. Rich is serving his second term as Mayor and is Mayor of the largest of the Area communities with the Beach being about 28,000 people. We will be taking your calls at 847-546-9757 or email me questions at bgentes@wiresaway.com.
I am sure we will have a lively discussion since Rich has done quite a few really positive things for his community and the Round Lake Area.

This is a Very Bad Machine!

This machine has taken up residence in the Round Lake Area Park district fitness center. Its a Precor EFX 5.23 Elliptical Fitness Crosstrainer and its very nasty. I discovered this little machine one day 2 weeks ago and its siren song has led me to crave its endorphin creating workout. So today I spent 60 minutes on it and made my legs ache since it forces my thighs up, which hopefully will increase my speed in the sprints, because leg drive is a sprint/speed trigger. My goal this winter on the Winter Masters Indoor track circuit is to reduce my time in the 55, 200 and 400 meters from 8.08, 32.04 and 1:15 to 7.5, sub 28.0 and sub 1:05. I also want to get 5 meters in the long jump, my best is 4.28, and put the shot over 10 meters, my best in that area is 9.28. So anyway that's why this Precor is a very bad machine it makes me suffer the pain that hopefully will allow me to get the pay off in raw speed (ha). I will report to you on my quest for speed in the next few months because if I put it here I am committing to it!

Last Night was a Downtown Development District Meeting

Last night the Downtown Development District Board met and brainstormed out some issues about property and how we wanted to move forward. We decided to go to the next step with two of the plans that were presented. The next step is to have each one of the companies talk us through these concepts. I have a graphic from one of the companies here of their concept here. The fact that it appears here should be in no way construe an endorsement. Overall I think both plans have merit and it will be up to the board to decide on our direction

Comments on the Blog

Just an FYI, for some reason comments are turned off on the service I use, while I investigate this we won't be commenting for awhile. If you have a strong urge to let me know what you are thinking bgentes@eroundlake.com is always available.

UPDATE: As you can see I got it fixed! Wish I knew how, but I am not complaining about it however.

The Nippersink Forest Preserve

A couple of years ago I got frustrated with a series of developers who kept insisting that they need to build homes on Nippersink Road across from Village School.

In a partnership with County Board Member Larry Leafblad we were able to chase off Neumann Homes and secure the 219 acre marsh to be added to the Lake County Forest Preserve.

Now granted I did not do much other then frown and express dismay with the project and the Forest Preserve did the buying of the land.

I do have issues with the Forest Preserve buying land and then not letting any one use the land that they buy, if you doubt me drive around and see all the land in the Forest Preserve, but this purchase made long term sense for the village and the area.

Then about 2 years ago Toll Brothers wanted to bring 300 senior oreinted houses to the Country Lakes Resort on 120 across from Bacon Road. I had some conversations with the owners and the desire of the familly who owned the resort to sell the property. I then thought about it and referred to our comprehensive plan which led me to invite Bonnie Thompson Carter who is the President of the Lake County Forest Preserve and one of Round Lake's county board members. I drove her around the property which she knew well since her family owned portions of it way back when!
I told her that I could prevent the development from happening if the Forest Preserve put up their money and bought the land for active recreation purposes. Kudos to her and the rest of the Forrest Preserve for carrying through. Last week I attended the sneak preview of whats coming and the graphic above is a representation of what is coming. The result of all of this is the Nippersink Forrest Preserve area in Round Lake. The Millenium Trail will also be coming through the area as well which is a wonderful addtion to the area.

A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

As you may be able to tell from the last two posts I am browsing the web for dopey things in the last few days. I have a moderately busy weekend planned. I am going for one of my rides this weekend with a gentlemen from the Madrona HOA. I also have to browse through all the material we got for the Downtown Development District Board meeting that will take place on Monday night at 6. We received three proposals for a variety of things which will be presented to us formally Monday night.

Okay Something Just Plain Funny

Village takes step to adress Metra Parking Issues

The higher price of gas has pushed Metra ridership upwards in the last months by almost 5%. What does this mean to the village? Well for one thing our 360 parking spaces are full almost every other day. We usually are at 90% capacity everyday with small spikes upwards each Monday and Tuesday.

I directed the village engineers and public works department to plan a quick fix to some of the issues we are facing with this overload of Metra riders.

In the next few days the area (marked with the yellow line) in the picture will become 12-14 temporary parking spots for Permit Parkers only!

The village is also taking steps to better manage the traffic flow of the stations southwest lot by restriping and making traffic flow one way only. We feel this will get cars out on the road and off to home slightly faster then currently.

Lastly once we move into the Police and Public Works facility this winter, the old public works area will become available for almost 100-120 more spots, at some point in early 2006.

20,000 and climbing

Yesterday at 7:40 in the evening I got my 20,000th unique user visiting this blog. One of the interesting things I do every morning is look at the map of where the last 100 vistors have come from (ISP maps determine it). I get about 2% of my visitors from over seas, got some from england when I was featured in an english soccer blog, I get a few from Singapore from the son of someone who runs a business here in Round Lake I believe.
Since I have used movie posters before to elaborate points I thought the 20,000 leagues under the sea in Italian was interesting and had a big 20,000 on it. Oh and by the way I don't know exactly who was visitor 20,000, but it was from Kenosha.

120 Bypass Corridor in Madrona

This is looking slightly East at Madrona, the swath of green down the center of the picture is the placement of the 120 bypass corridor.

Intermittent Pavement Repairs Continue on I-294/94

Overnight Lane Closures Continue Next Week for Center Lane Pavement Repairs
Intermittent pavement repairs continue next week on the North Tri-State Tollway (I-294/94), between Wolf Road and Russell Road. Work next week includes pavement patching northbound from Bradley Road to the Waukegan Toll Plaza. Pavement repairs will provide a smoother, safer ride for Tollway customers.

Center Lane Closes Week of October 3-7
The center northbound lane from Bradley Road to the Waukegan Toll Plaza will be closed for concrete pavement repairs. The lane will be closed from 5 a.m. on Monday, October 3, until noon on Friday, October 7, to allow the new concrete to set. The left shoulder will be opened and striped as a lane to provide three lanes of traffic during daytime hours while the center lane is closed. Traffic will travel in the left shoulder, left lane and right lane with the work zone in between, providing three lanes of traffic during daytime hours. Traffic in the left shoulder and left lane will not have access to exits. Traffic planning to exit at IL Route 176, IL Route 137, IL Route 21 or at IL Route 132 (Grand Avenue) must get in the right lane before the traffic split at Bradley Road in order to access these exits. Additional closures will be scheduled during overnight hours to complete the concrete repairs while traffic is lighter.

Additional Overnight Closures
Additional lanes will be closed overnight in the work zone to complete pavement repairs. The left lane will be closed overnight from Bradley Road to the Waukegan Toll Plaza, leaving the left shoulder and the right lane available between the hours of 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday, October 3. After 10 p.m., the left shoulder will also be closed, leaving only the right lane open overnight. Three lanes will be open by 5 a.m. on Tuesday, October 4, to minimize the impact to rush hour traffic.

The same closures are planned nightly through Thursday, October 6, following the same schedule.

Getting Tollway Construction Info
The Tollway offers a variety of ways for drivers to get the latest information on construction and traffic on our roads.

www.illinoistollway.com – Construction Section – for details by road & daily lane closures
1-800-TOLL-FYI – daily lane closure info
Roadway and overhead signs and www.gcmtravel.com – travel times & incident info
E-mail traffic alerts by road – sign up at www.nbc5.com .

Stormwater Management Commission

I recently was elected to the Stormwater Management Commission as the District 4 board member. SMC's job is to coordinate over 90 jurisdictions throughout the county and how they manage stormwater.
In Lake County, the combination of growth and topography (nearly 20% of the surface area is composed of streams, lakes, wetlands and floodplains) has long underscored the need for careful stormwater management. As far back as 1982, then known as the Lake County Department of Planning, Zoning and Environmental Quality, the county was conducting surveys to assess the degree of municipal, township and special district involvement in county flood, drainage and stormwater control. In 1987, following two presidential declared disasters in the county, state legislation enabled Lake County to create the Stormwater Management Commission (SMC) based on a municipal and county partnership. The SMC Board of Commissioners is made up of six municipal representatives and six county board members. SMC operations are headed up by a staff of 18.

Forest Preserve and Valley Lakes activities Today

Lake County Forest Preserve President Bonnie Thompson Carter talking about the Nippersink Forest preserve addition. The other picture is the best one my camera cell phone could do of the Valley Lakes Fall Festival, where according to Valley Lakes Homeowners Association President John Flader had over 1,100 residents attend.

Lots of Fall Events Today!

Busy day today, home coming parade at Grant HS, Nippersink Forest Preserve Sneak Peak, and the Valley Lakes festival. I will be at all of them!

While Nippersink is not yet open to the public, you can catch a sneak peek of this Preserve at this special Preview Event.

Come learn about this exciting Preserve. Get a grand view of planned trails and other amenities on guided tours. Review land use plans and talk to Forest Preserve staff. Fun, free activities including wagon rides, birds of prey demos, music, info stations, refreshments, and more.

Enter the Preserve from Route 120 (Belvidere Rd) west of Cedar Lake Road in Round Lake.