Scenes from a Succesful Arbor Day

During my reading of the proclamation declaring yesterday Arbor Day I told everyone exactly how tall I expected the trees donated by Lurvey's to be. The picture below shows you exactly how big they really were, between 7-8 feet! Huge huge thanks to Lurveys! In addition thanks to Trustee Sherry Perkowitz (above) who organized the whole thing, with an eye on making Round Lake a Tree City!
Here are the sizes of the trees donated by Lurvey's. What a wonderful surprise when we saw them. Special thanks to Davis Clark our Director of Public Works who helped organize the delivery along with Kevin Hedlund from Public Works who helped out as well.
I would guess there were well over a 100 people there. I saw way to many people to name. I will observe that the crowds seem to be growing at all our events and that's a good thing.

Due to the size trees went home in odd ways, including through sun roofs as well!

Friday Evening with the Mayor

I had two events last night. The first was the Round Lake Lake Management meeting, where the Mayors of Round Lake Beach, Round Lake Park and Round Lake were the guests. The major topic of discussion was policing the lake. We spent about an hour talking about the various issues that we need to address or investigate.

Then it was on to Village School where there was a fashion show (the picture) and a silent auction which served as a fundraiser for the Village School PTO. One of the two big auction items were a day as the mayor which went for $37.50, and a day with Police Chief Metaxa which went for a dollar value that for some reason I can't recall right now. I saw lots of people there, to many to list here, but I had a good time, and if I am any judge, they made lots of money for the PTO. Special thanks to PTO President Shelley Trump, Teacher Pam Fainman and Principal Sullivan for inviting me.

Round Lake Celebrates Arbor Day

In another step towards achieving the coveted Tree City USA designation, the Village of Round Lake will be hosting its first annual Arbor Day celebration. The event will be held at the village hall at 442 North Cedar Lake Road on Saturday, April 29th at 11:00am.
Come join me and the trustees as we read the Village’s new Arbor Day Proclamation. There will be activities for the kids, refreshments and a free tree to the first 50 families donated by our sponsor Lurvey’s Garden Center in Des Plaines, IL. There will also be licensed arborists on-hand with information and tree planting advice.
Residents will be getting a Autumn Purple Ash tree.

Village Elementary School PTO Fashion Show, Art Show & Auction

Village School PTO President and Round Lake Resident Shelley Trump and Round Lake Resident and Village School teacher Pam Fainman wrote me to remind me to attend and participate in the Village Elementary School PTO Fashion Show, Art Show & Auction this Friday, April 28, 6:30-8:30pm 880 W. Nippersink Road in Round Lake.

There is a Fashion Show (7:00 to 7:30pm) sponsored by Kmart, Wal-Mart, VF Factory Outlet & Fashion Bug. Proceeds from the auction will help support our school art programs.

Among the things up for auction is the ability to be "Mayor for a Day" although why any would want to be do that is beyond me! Make a bunch of phone calls, eat candy, and then sit in some meetings......hummmm that sounds like me! Maybe I can schedule an irate resident to drop in, then we can brow beat a residential developer like a pinata, then make them buy us lunch. Now that sounds like a plan.

Well One Whole Year has Gone By!

I had to do some trips into the way back machine to figure out the exact date for the "bloggerversary". It was April 26th at 9.20 am that the first post appeared online. I love lists and bullet points so here are some interesting things about the blog.

• One year later I average more visitors in an hour then I expected in a whole day when I started.
• The most read post was this one and still gets about 10 reads a day.
• The most commented article was this one.
• The best comment in my opinion was this one to the photo. Since comments generally vanish after a month or so I will paraphrase "gee he looks taller in person".
• The blog generates about 35 emails a day because of the blog as best I can tell. Of course that number is on top of what I used to receive.
• I get asked if I read the comments, I do, however I rarely comment however. The few times I have usually end badly!
• I do however email the person making the comment directly if they leave an email if I feel the urge to respond.
• I posted all but 2 days in the last 365 days.
• This is the 389th post to the blog.

So lets see what year two brings! So far I have only been at a lost for material once or twice and I just re ran old articles, which worked quite well.

Public Forums for Transportation Improvement Projects Scheduled

A series of public forums have been scheduled to gather information as to which transportation improvement projects residents and business leaders would like to see receive high priority funding status.

Information from the hearings will be used to prepare a ballot for the second annual Lake County Transportation Summit, scheduled for September, when local elected officials will vote on prioritizing state highway widening and public transportation projects.

Public forums have been scheduled for the following dates and locations:

• Tuesday, May 23, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Antioch Township Hall, 1625 Deep Lake Rd., Lake Villa Wednesday,
• May 24, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Warren Township Hall, 500 N. O'Plaine Road, Gurnee Thursday,
• May 25, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Deerfield High School, 1959 N. Waukegan Rd., Deerfield Saturday,
• June 3, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Wauconda Township Hall on West Bonner Rd., Wauconda. Wednesday,
• June 7, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. College of Lake County, C-003, 19351 Washington St., Grayslake. Tuesday,
• June 13, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the W.W. Grainger Auditorium, 100 Grainger Parkway, Lake Forest.
  

The 2006 Transportation summit, scheduled for Sept. 20 and sponsored by the Lake County Transportation Alliance, Lake County, the Transportation Management Association of Lake Cook and the College of Lake County, will use input from the public forums to help develop Lake County's 2007 transportation consensus agenda. For more information, visit the Lake County Division of Transportation Web site.

The Mayors Email Basket

One of the things that I get a lot in my inbox is some irate resident with about 100 complaints about usually 99 things that either I have no control over, or had nothing to do with. But you need to blame someone and the Mayor (or any elected official, HOA President etc) is an excellent venue to vent on. As many of you know if you ask me calmly and rationally about something I generally respond via email or the phone. You may not like the answer, but you get one. I think its important to be responsive to the people who elected me.

So a few days ago I got this email that literally has all the "more irate" residents triggers in it. So to save the emailer some embarrassment I have removed any reference to where they live and who they are. I am leaving the email exactly the way it was sent to me, however I have placed XXX where it would identify the location of this resident.

Mr. Gentes -

It is not a common practice of mine to write emails such as this. I must express my current stress level in regards to what the XXX Park at XXX has turned into. If I wanted living like this, I would have remained a resident of the city of Chicago.

My husband and I moved to Lake County in 1998 with the hopes of living in a peaceful environment. Since we have moved here, it has continued to become a burden. I am at the ends of my rope with the park here at XXX. It wasn't bad enough that the XXX Builder lied to us when they told us the park would remain with the residents of XXX. So all of us that were told this lie swallowed the news and put up with what it has turned into.

The soccer groups that are here during the week have taken things over. This includes safe access through our streets. They conjest the whole area. God forbid if an ambulance needed to get through. At what life's cost is a soccer game. They have kicked out children who are playing in the park just so they can have their soccer practice. They leave their garbage on the ground. I have been to your meetings, you instructed me to call the police number anonymously. I'm tired of being questioned by the police for my address even after I have mentioned your name and what you instructed me to do. And I know one of the officers has told one of the soccer coaches who it is that called the police to report the parking issues. Who are they serving and protecting?

It's not bad enough that I spend 3 hours everyday fighting traffic going to and from work - which is only 16 miles one way. Most of my compute time is spent in Round Lake, Hainsville and Grayslake. Then I work 8 hours. That totals 11 hours so far and now I must come home to all this traffic and numerous soccer groups right out in front of my house. By the time they leave, I have to go inside because now all the mosquito's have come out. I am a prisoner of my own home.

I HATE IT HERE NOW. I wished I had never moved here. Clearly I feel you only care for the residents you want to care for. Where did all these soccer groups play before XXX was built? I have seen schools with playing fields that are empty why can't they use these areas?

The Director of the Park District tells me the XXX Park at XXX is not in a residential area. I don't know what he is looking at but there are homes that go around this park on all 4 sides. Not to mention it is situated right in the middle of our subdivision. Whats not residential about that.

There are kids that hangout in this park at night to do who knows what. I thought the park closed at dusk- at least that's what the sign say's that's at the entrance of the park. Maybe the rules only apply when we feel like enforcing them. Where are the Park Ranges why don't they patrol. Isn't that what our taxes help pay for.

The gazebo has been torn apart by these punks. They damaged numerous mail boxes.

How much do we have to take?

I have a heart condition and the amount of stress this is causing is getting to be more than I can deal with. If something doesn't happen soon to make this a peaceful park again, you leave me no choice but to consult legal advise to see how much stress and harassment one must take before they themselves can take action.

I know if it was my responsibily to hold a position such as yours, the residents which I represent would be my number one priority. How much do you know about us? When are things goings to start changing for the good for the residents of Round Lake.

We keep paying higher taxes but it's you that reeps the benefits. I haven't seen anything other than more houses being built, my compute time getting longer and a park that's attracting gang bangers.

Would the village like to pitch in for the gas our vehicles are burning because WE CAN'T MOVE. STOP BUILDING ALL THESE HOUSES UNTIL YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE ROADWAYS. Or maybe you want to send your child into a park to play with used needles, used rubbers or maybe you can let them swing on a swing next to a drug dealer.

I would love to see the police more round here. Believe me, it's safer for us with them here.

Maybe, we need a new Mayor! Clearly you have heard what I have to say in your monthly Village meetings. My mother had a phrase for people who didn't respond "IN ONE EAR AND OUT THE OTHER" I hope that's not your plan on dealing with the issues I'm bringing to the table.

I AM WAITING FOR YOUR RESPONSE - so please don't low this off.

Well this hits the whole range of things I hear about. More then likely given the fact that we have worked with this resident numerous times and taken quite a few proactive steps to allay there concerns I would just acknowledge the email and move on. In my service as Mayor I have learned there are a segment of people who you can't make happy, and no matter what you do, they will never be satisified.

This is the response that I'd like to give but I know I won't because I'm sure the writer is a good person but just highly frustrated at daily issues that have no immediate solution.

Dear Un-happy Person
I received your email last week, you raise many points. Let me attempt to address them one by one.
First. The developer lied to you, okay join the club! Its not an exclusive club, I would guess there are a couple million people in it in Chicago alone. I am a member as well.
Second. You bought a home directly across from a park. What did you think was going to happen in a park? Kids would not play? Kids would not make noise? If you had such an issue why not choose a home site well away from the park? There were and are lots of those around.
Third. The soccer groups that play in "your park" are in Round Lake Area Park District operated parks and are 100% legitimately able to be there. Oh by the way I drove over to the park to see the soccer hooligans damaging mail boxes, shooting up, and then leaving used condoms all over the place. You know what I found? I found your neighbors coaching teams of kids who live right in XXX development. They range from maybe 6 years old to 14 years old. That's the danger age right there. I would suggest that these dangerous thugs are better off playing in organized leagues rather then out pillaging and looting.
I also met Jose, who holds a masters degree in engineering, who takes time from his job to coach his kids and his neighbors kids in AYSO soccer, he lives exactly 4 blocks from you. He tells me you harass him and only him, I wonder why? He does not know you.
Fourth. I told you to call 911 if you saw something offensive, the dispatchers do not ask your name if you do not want to use your name. You might actually know this if you actually called 911 about something.
Fifth. You sit in traffic! Wow really imagine my surprise! You must realize that traffic is a county, state and federal issue, but however it's easier to blame me. Maybe you should see that I am very actively pursuing traffic improvements throughout the county, including one that is crucial to Round Lake, the 120 bypass.
Sixth. Mosquito's make your life unbearable. The village agressively sprays 6-8 times a year, as best I can tell there is no problem right now. If mosquitos drive you inside I am sure they drive the thugs inside as well, so this might be a good thing.
Seventh. You are going to sue? For what? Buying a house? Kids playing soccer? Giant bugs? Traffic Jams?
Eighth. There is a lot more here in the email that kinda starts to ramble so I am going to stop responding because the rest is just ranting.
Ninth. When you list your house, make sure your realtor uses the words "right across from the park" I hear it's a selling point, and people pay more to live right across from the park.

Sincerely yours
Bill Gentes
Mayor of Round Lake

ITT Technical Institute

I was recently invited to serve on the ITT Technical Institute's advisory board by Jose Velarde a Round Lake resident. Jose is the Associate Dean for ITT's Mount Prospect's campus. I attended the board meeting last Wednesday and was quite suprised and excited to hear about some of the ideas and energy from the ITT staff and the other board members.

ITT offers some very interesting coursework
School of Information Technology
Information Systems Security-- Bachelor of Applied Science Degree
Computer Network Systems - Associate of Applied Science Degree
Software Applications and Programming--Associate of Applied Science Degree

School of Electronics Technology
Electronics and Communications Engineering Technology-- Bachelor of Applied Science Degree Computer And Electronics Engineering Technology--Associate of Applied Science Degree

School of Drafting and Design
Computer Drafting and Design--Associate of Applied Science Degree
Information Technology - Multimedia Associate of Applied Science Degree

School of Business
Technical Project Management-- Bachelor of Applied Science Degree

Flat Stanley

I had a distinguished visitor pay a state visit to Round Lake recently. Flat Stanley! This is a marvelous idea that kids around the world are doing and learning about the destinations that Mr. Stanley ends up in. His host for this trip was Trustee Sherry Perkowitz's daughter who requested I come meet with him.

I found Mr. Stanley to be almost one dimensional in his thinking, he was quite quiet, and also frankly almost transparent! He did however have a big smile. I think he headed to Indiana for his next stop!

Royal Rummage Sale

Donations are being accepted for the Round Lake Area Queens Rummage Sale, until May 15th, 2006. Please contact Tina Williams at 847-546-0646, Tracey Henken at 815-712-8494, or Angela Meeks at 847-366-7321 regarding pick-up/drop off of donations.

All types of items are being accepted. The rummage sale will be held Saturday and Sunday May 20th and 21st from 9-4 p.m. It will be held at the Round Lake Public Works Facility on Townline Road. More details will follow at some point.

Overnight Parking

I get tons of questions about overnight parking in the village. The answer is pretty simple, there is none. However there are a few ways you can park your car on the street overnight if you have guests, or other needs. I go into the reasons later in this post.

One of the reasons we are strict about this ordinance is because it allows snow plows, garbage pick-up, emergency vehicles, easy access for providing service and keeps streets neater and cleaner. In the newer parts of the village we worked very hard on insisting on larger garages, so you can park your cars inside as well as providing driveways for parking as well.

The Local Ordinance that governs overnight parking is as follows:

10.16.090 All night parking. When signs are erected in each block or entrance to a subdivision giving notice thereof, no person shall park a vehicle on any public street or alley, including the right-of-way thereof, between the hours of two a.m. and six a.m. of any day. (Prior code § 41.14)

So how can I park overnight? Here how is works…
Residents must call CenCom E9-1-1 Communications Center at (847) 270-9111 for permission to park a vehicle overnight. Residents must provide the dispatcher with their name, telephone number, address of parking request, vehicle description and the vehicle registration number. Residents are allowed three (3) overnight parking incidents per calendar month.

The dispatcher forwards each request to the on-duty police shift supervisor. The police shift supervisor reviews each request and grants or denies the request. However, exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis for extraordinary circumstances. Thanks to the Police Department's Director of Police Administration Michael Recupito for gathering the information for me. By the way, the sign I used as the photo is a joke, this will not actually happen to you, you will get a ticket.

More Parking to Come

For years we leased the site of the old public works facility from Metra. With the construction of the new facility the old one reverts to Metra and Metra is going to build 155 new parking spaces on the site. The probable tear-down of the facility is in Spring of 2007. With construction of the new lot to follow after that.

I was disappointed to hear that it would take that long, however there was some good news in that 15 spots where employees used to park for the Public Works department will shortly be available for permit parking.

I am happy to say that one of the things that we have been able to do as a board over the last few years is increase our available parking spots from 180 to well over 330 in the last 5 years. With an additional 200 coming soon at the Long Lake station, and 155 arriving in 2007 we are slowly but surely answering the parking issues surrounding our train stations.

Report from the Lake County After School Coalition

I received the following letter today from Chief Raymond Rose of the Mundelein Police Department and State Representative Kathy Ryg who are Co-Presidents Lake County After School Coalition. If you recall I talked about Liz Nelson a Madrona Resident a few posts ago and her involvement with this organization. The village sent Police Administrative Director Mike Recupito to attend the program by the way.

Thank you to those of you who attended or supported the Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking Prevention on April 11. We received significant feedback from members of the community; including children, parents, school officials and community leaders.

The next step is crucial:
We need your help to prioritize these needs and develop an action plan. Our Action Planning on Underage Drinking Prevention meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 25th, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Carmel Catholic High School (One Carmel Pkwy, Mundelein). Refreshments will be served at 6:00 p.m.

Please join us to help decide what the root problems are and the solutions we can implement to prevent underage drinking. It is not enough for one or even a few members of a community to take a stand against underage drinking, we need everyone. We sincerely hope that you will attend this Action Planning meeting and encourage others to as well. Please feel free to forward the attached brochure to other interested parties. For more information visit www.lakecountyafterschoolcoalition.org or contact Theresa Loerch at (847) 680-5909 or e-mail kathy@kathyryg.org.

Please do attend if you can, I have the complete flyer as a PDF available here if you want more details on the program.

So This is What it Was!

It was an MXU unit for reading your water meter. The village has been installing them over the last year. In fact we have 3,074 of these installed in the village right now. It allows us to read the water meters.

I had trouble taking this picture so I disasembled it for my loyal readers and I took this picture outdoors, however it was easier to take it apart then it was to reassemble it I discovered.

NOTE: Davis can you send someone to repair it on Monday. THIS IS A JOKE

Anyway this allows us to park in the general vicinity of your home and read to the vehicle transceiver and laptop computer without stopping or getting out of the vehicle. This will cuts down on time and misreading of meters.

So What Is This?

Thats the question I asked our Director of Public Works recently. Feel free to guess what it is in the comment section.

I will respond with a much more detailed decription of what it is in the next post!

Budget Meeting Last Night

Last night the board met to go over the 2006-2007 budget with the staff. We worked through the budget fund by fund and discussed the important line items in each fund. Overall the budget changed by about $80,000 from it's first pass. This is the first budget to be prepared under the new committee format and Finance committee chair Patty Blauvelt and vice chair Sherry Perkowitz did a very nice job and are to be commended. It's my intention to review the budget formally on the first meeting in May and then pass it on the second meeting in May.
In addition two days ago we got our EAV from Lake County so we were better able to approximate our fund balances. (The village's EAV by the way was $319 million, last year it was $243 million, and 5 years ago it was $73 million). The picture about shows (left to right Trustee Don Newby, Public Works Director Davis Clark, Trustee Bob del Prato, Trustee Brian Brubaker, in the background Village Administrator Bam Peterson and then deputy Chief Francis Foy. The foreground is my Coke and part of my leg)

120 and the Rotary!

Yesterday morning I was up early giving a speech to the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary at Lambs Farm, about the 120 bypass and the 120 Corridor Planning Council. There were about 75 members present and I was quite impressed by the level of commitment and dedication of the members. There was a lively give and take about the pressing need for transportation improvements of all kinds throughout the county. I also saw Mayor Tim Perry of Grayslake and Mayor Jeff Hager of Libertyville as well.

It was interesting to hear the feedback from the mostly Eastern side of the county people to traffic improvement in the western end of the county. The business people certainly understood the need to get people to work more efficiently and the ability to compete with Wisconsin and Cook County for businesses and jobs!

The Village and Water

Water seems to be a given. You turn on the tap and out it comes. Round Lake is very lucky because we were one of the founding members of an organization called the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency or JAWA for short. What does this mean? The short answer is Lake Michigan water some of the best drinking water in the country comes out of taps becuase our membership in this organization.

JAWA represents the community's of Grayslake, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, Libertyville, Mundelein, Round Lake, Round Lake Beach, Round Lake Heights, Round Lake Park, Lake County, Vernon Hills and Wildwood. So if you live in these areas and have city or village water, it came from Lake Michigan.

We have two water towers in the village, one on Wilson Road in the Northwest corner of Valley Lakes, the second is near the corner of 134 and Hart Road. You can't miss them they are big and white! We also have a ground storage tank along Nippersink Road, which we are going to be expanding to contain 2.5 million gallons of storage in this fiscal year. This project will be paid for by bonds from impact fees developers have paid to the village over the years.

The website for JAWA has lots of interesting information on water, Lake Michigan and the agency. Some of the interesting facts are:

• The lake contains so much water that 400,000 gallons of water (rain or snow) fall on it every second of the day!
• 320,000 gallons of water evaporate off the lake every second as well.
• Lake Michigan is the 5th largest lake in the world. (Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, Lake Victoria and Lake Huron are bigger)
  

I have appointed Trustee Jerry Shaw as Round Lake's Director on JAWA and I serve as the alternate for the monthly JAWA board meetings.

Thoughts on the Use of Eminent Domain

I have been doing some research on all the questions I have been getting about eminent domain and the recent Kelo case decided by the Supreme Court. The following seems to be a very balanced and fair look at the issues from all sides of the case with an Illinois focus. I am not advocating one way or the other, but I think this article fairly represents the issues.

What the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kelo does not do.

• The Court did not expand the use or powers of eminent domain in the Kelo decision, but simply reaffirmed numerous existing decisions made by the Court over many years; that economic development qualifies as a "“public use" under the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
• Rather than expanding the use, the Court placed new limits on the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes, emphasizing the importance of a "“carefully considered development plan"” for the area based upon "thorough deliberation," that was not adopted to "“benefit a particular class of identifiable individuals."” Contrary to what some critics have said, the Court noted that it would not necessarily uphold "“a one-to-one transfer of property, executed outside the confines of an integrated development plan."”
• The effect of the Court'’s decision is even more limited in Illinois. The decision will have little effect in Illinois and the seven other states that prohibit the use of eminent domain for economic development except to eliminate blight. This "“blighting"” requirement did not exist in Connecticut state law. The Illinois Supreme Court'’s decision in the SWIDA case placed further restrictions on the use of eminent domain for economic development.
• The use of eminent domain is additionally constrained in Illinois under code provisions related to specific economic development programs. For example, both the Commercial Renewal and Redevelopment Areas Act and the Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act require a redevelopment plan, the declaration of blight, and provision that property owners receive just compensation.
• The law of eminent domain is still particular to each state. The Supreme Court'’s ruling does not supersede state laws and constitutions that govern the local application of eminent domain. It did not overturn the laws of any states, such as Illinois, that currently have restrictions.
• The U.S. Supreme Court also did not foreclose a stricter review of future takings cases that challenge certain applications as truly a "“public use."
• The ruling in Kelo is simply consistent with seven previous rulings in the United States Supreme Court, reaffirming that where the public use by a government is legitimate, the courts will not stand in the way of the use of eminent domain.
• The rumors of the death of property rights are greatly exaggerated; in fact, the Kelo decision may have the opposite effect. Cities are now under an additional spotlight when it comes to eminent domain.

There are clear checks on the misuse of eminent domain by cities.

• Appropriate checks and balances exist through the Illinois statutes and the public hearings municipalities must conduct, providing both transparency and due process.
• The use of eminent domain by cities is further checked by the fact that the legislative bodies of cities must act for eminent domain to be used. This is not necessarily the case at the State or Federal levels.
• Elected officials very carefully balance the needs of the public good with the consequences on individuals. Nothing in local government attracts more scrutiny and criticism than the use of eminent domain, and local officials do not make these decisions lightly or arbitrarily.
• The Federal and State Constitutions'’ Just Compensation requirement ensures the just treatment of property owners, as do State laws that govern the use and limits of eminent domain.
• The media spotlight demands accountability, and public scrutiny is intense concerning these sensitive issues.
• As to compensation, a jury of their peers determines the value of property, after a lengthy proceeding, weighing each party'’s arguments.
• Since the eminent domain process is time consuming and expensive, it is the last resort pursued during a land assembly process. Many local authorities rarely exercise their power of eminent domain, and when it is used it is because efforts to reach a negotiated settlement have failed.

The use of eminent domain for economic development is appropriate for cities.

• Eminent domain is indispensable and is most often used only as a last resort for revitalizing local economies, creating much-needed jobs, and generating revenue that enables cities to provide essential services.
• The authority must be used prudently, in the sunshine of public scrutiny, with public comment and in full recognition that the resulting action will achieve a greater public good that benefits the entire community.
• The options for assembling parcels for broader economic purposes pose a serious challenge for many cities.
• Cities and towns in mature and older communities do not often have sufficient areas of developable tracts. Eminent domain helps cities assemble parcels into developable tracts.
• Often the alternative is to use undeveloped land on the fringes of cities, which is often cheaper and easier to develop, but contributes to sprawl, increased infrastructure costs that must be absorbed by the larger community, and traffic congestion.
• With cities and towns facing ever-shrinking resources, cities need all the help they can get to redevelop neighborhoods and provide jobs for citizens. Eminent domain provides a tool to do so and must be used wisely, with ample citizen input and involvement.

Eminent domain for economic development purposes does constitute a "“public use"”.

• Eminent domain used prudently is a tool to help local governments respond to the needs in their communities. Those needs are varied and include direct public benefits like roads and schools, and other benefits like economic development in blighted sections of cities. This supports a strong urban economy necessary to sustain good jobs and help improve the quality of life.
• Municipal governments are best suited to assess local needs and develop the strategies and plans necessary to meet those needs.

Dull Sunday

This Sunday did not compare to one year ago at this time! I was in China tramping around on the Great Wall of China! It was the second time I have been to the Great Wall, and third time to China. I had a great time, since the first time I was on the wall I was suffering from a nasty head cold but was not going to miss it for the world. Little did I know that 3 years later I would come back to the exact same spot on the 3,000 mile wall...go figure.

However today I walked on the greens of Renwood Golf Course for the 500th time (guess-timate). I shot a 91 with 4 triples and a birdie, and lots of pars, which I was quite happy with. Ran into former Round Lake Trustee Terry Vandenboom on the tee with his two sons so I joined them for a walking foursome. I don't think my phone rang all day for anything that remotely resembles village business either, so it was a really good/dull day!

A Whole Lot of Eggs Today!

Today had a whole lot of eggs in it! First a nice two egg omelet prepared by yours truly, with mushrooms, ham and cheese in it. Then off to Madrona's Annual "Running of the Eggs" where I would guess 100-130 people attended. Many of those same faces then hopped directly over to the Round Lake Park Districts Egg Fest held at Hart's Hill. 20,000 eggs were laid out across all the playing fields. Then within 2 minutes all 20,000 eggs were hoovered up by kids.
I saw numerous people Trustee's Brian Brubaker and Bob Del Prato were the first I spotted! I also saw a the Easter Bunny, Michael Blum, Al Villasenor, Liz Nelson (twice), Nancy Mantell, and John Stowers. Forgive me if I met you and forgot to mention you here however. My mind is an uncluttered place sometimes!

I then went and ran a 5K time trial in 29:20 which I was very pleased with. I have been running more the last few weeks then I have in the last few months and it showed. Of course the ability to walk may return sometime soon, hopefully this afternoon!

Before and After!

Does everyone recall the game you played as a kid where you had two seemingly identical drawings or photos with just 3 differences and you had to spot them? Well here is one of the easier versions of this that I can come up with. The picture on the right is of the new Public Works facility and the ones on the left are the old Public Works facility. See if you can spot the differences.

The New Cedar Lake Road

The Cedar Lake Road Extension and the plans Round Lake has made for the extension and the plans Lake County are making for it. So using the USGS mapping service and a service called Terraserver I was able to find a 2002 aerial picture of the area. Using my limited graphics experience I labeled 7 key areas in the plan.



First however an overview.

When I took office 4 years ago one of the primary commute methods to Route 60 from Round Lake was 120 to Bacon to 60. Anyone who has lived here longer then 3 years recalls that actually the South end of Bacon was actually more dangerous then the North end. When Lakewood homes was in a first draft stage of the their development we were able to insist that Lakewood homes build the extension of Cedar Lake Road to its present point (#3 of the photo above) from Route 60.

Lake County has on its books the extension of Cedar Lake Road north from 60 all the way to 120. (that's the heavy black line on the map) However money is tight, the project is expensive and referendums for more transportation funds keep failing. So the project is going to be done in stages.

Stage 1 which is the 60 to Bacon Road portion right now is done, only some connection work to the Stage 2 and the cul de sac of Bacon (#5 on the photo)

Stage 2 I am pleased to say will extend north to Townline Road (#2 on the photo) and bids went out in October 2005, construction will start in the spring of 2006 and finish in the Fall of 2006. The village is going to improve its portion of Townline Road to Bacon to handle the traffic flow westwards from the T intersection and in front of our new Police and Public Works Facility (#6 on the photo). In attain the village required Neumann Homes and Concord Homes to provide funding to improve and enhance Townline Road East of the intersection all the way to Curran.

Stage 3 is scheduled to be bid out in 2009 and finished in 2010. This is clearly a shame but is a direct consequence of the two failed traffic referendums in the county in the last two years. However when it gets done a traffic light will be built at Townline and Cedar Lake (#2 on the photo), and at 120 and Cedar Lake (#1 on the photo).

So once this all get accomplished Bacon Road will be a cul-de sac on the South End about where it merges with Cedar Lake now (#5 on the photo). There has also been some discussion on making it a dead end on the North End as well.

Conference on Connectivity--Today

I am attending a conference today sponsored by Governing Magazine. In addition it is also sponsored by the metropolitan Mayors Caucus an organization of which I am a member. I have attended a few of these over the years and have never failed to walk away energized with ideas.
Governing is facilitating this series of regional meetings to help state and local officials identify opportunities for enhancing government services, citizen safety and public education while fostering economic growth through improved connections among communities. Attendees will take away an improved understanding of the issues of connectivity for communities, new ideas for implementation in their own government or agency and valuable connections with like-minded participants. Governing contributes a national perspective about trends across the country.

Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking

On April 11th there is going to be a Town Hall meeting sponsored by the Lake County After School Coalition. One of our residents Madrona Resident Elizabeth Nelson will be one of the moderators for the event which will address the very serious issue of underage drinking.

The program is for parents, grandparents, teachers, officials, youth and community members to voice concerns about and move towards solutions for preventing underage drinking. Alcohol is the leading cause of adolescent death; more than all other illegal drugs combined.

The event is to be held on April 11th 6:30 pm 8:30 pm (Refreshments served at 6:00 p.m.)
Carmel High School One Carmel Pkwy, Mundelein (East of intersection of Rt. 176 and Hawley St.)

Ms. Nelson works for the In Touch Prevention Services which is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) prevention program offered through a partnership of the Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center and the College of Lake County. The program is funded in part by the Illinois Department of Human Services.Their mission is to reinforce individuals, families and communities to lead healthy lives. Staff provides training, consultation and resources on topics such as alcohol, tobacco, drug prevention, life skills, parent effectiveness, youth development, community mobilizationn and program development.

Gotcha!

Oh my! This was too funny, I had phones calls most of the day on Sunday, comments, and of course my silence on Sunday (I was out of town) added to the perception. I usually have names bolded in here with whatever resident I encountered while writing a post. However to save all of those who fell for this hook line and sinker, I will dispense with this formality. I promise never to pull a prank like this again!

There was a personal toll to this, to set the joke up better I broke my streak of 342 days in a row with a post! I did want to do a year straight, but all kidding aside I do need to take a day here and there with no post. So it needed to get done!

Oh yeah...April Fool's!

Its Been a Year!

Election day was a year ago today. After winning re-election I vowed that I would open up more ways of communicating with the residents of Round Lake and to an extent I have been able to do so. So this blog is a little short of a year old! I have spoken at a variety of conferences and enjoyed quite a bit of the pro and con of blogging. I think the blog has served to answer questions about Round Lake, the area and Lake County to the residents of Round Lake. I have 100's of visitors a day to the site which constantly amazes me.

However today is the last post from this Mayor. I have stepped up my participation on so many things regionally for this village, that time is becoming scarce. I have decided with deep regret to stop doing the blog. I thought about doing it 2-3 times a week, but I think it becomes less effective with sporadic posts. So confronted with the choice I decided to stop.

Its been a wonderful ride, thanks everyone so much for the comments and the feedback. I am signing off!