Snow Reminder

NOTE: I have posted this before but I have been getting a spate of emails about the subject so I decided to repost it.

I have gotten a ton of emails and comments on neighbors not cleaning the sidewalks off after a snow storm. So I decided to go to the village code and find exactly what it says. However the Valley Lake HOA already had an excellent flier and I asked John Gutknecht to send it to me.

Frequently Asked Questions and Reminders

Question: Who’s supposed to clear the sidewalks?
Answer: It is the responsibility of each property owner to remove the snow from ALL PUBLIC SIDEWALKS adjacent to their property.

Question: But can’t I be held liable if someone falls on a sidewalk that I cleared?
Answer: Individuals who shovel snow or ice from sidewalks are NOT liable for personal injuries allegedly caused by the snowy or icy condition of the sidewalk resulting from their shoveling unless their conduct is willful or wanton. (Willful or wanton conduct means with an actual intent to cause an injury or with a conscious disregard for the safety of others. Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 745, Section 75/2.

The Village Code even weighs in on the subject as well.

12.04.070 Snow on Sidewalks.
The person occupying the ground floor of any building, the user of any lot without a structure thereon, and the owner of any vacant building or other premises shall remove the snow and ice accumulating on the abutting sidewalks within twenty-four (24) hours after any snowfall has ceased. If snow or ice cannot be removed the surface shall be sanded or otherwise treated to lessen the hazard for pedestrians until the climate permits removal.

If you see an address in which the owner is not removing the snow, please contact the Round Lake Police Dept. at 847-546-8112 and file a complaint. Our first priority however will always be the roads during a snow event.

Monday's Post-- Mystery Man Identified

Its longtime Round Lake resident and WRLR Radio President Bish Krywko!

Shape Lake County’s Future at Community Forum

In a democracy, citizens are owners of their government and with ownership comes influence. Citizens can influence the goals and strategies that drive how and where the County will focus its resources by sharing their thoughts and views at one of five Lake County Community Forums.

Lake County will use the input to identify the most critical challenges facing our region, determine the County’s role in addressing those issues, and develop a long-term plan. The County’s goal is to listen and deliberate issues among residents with diverse interests, backgrounds and perspectives, so we can develop results that matter to citizens.

6 – 7 p.m. Open House
Learn about County services and programs from health and transportation to where to go for help and property information; Get free stuff; Be a guest on LCTV and more!

7 p.m. Community Forum
Let your voice be heard! Your input will help shape the future direction of Lake County and the region.

CENTRAL LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FORUM	Monday, March 10	Division of Transportation	600 W. Winchester Road Libertyville
SOUTHEAST LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FORUM	Tuesday, March 18	Highland Park Country Club	1201 Park Avenue West Highland Park
NORTHWEST LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FORUM	Wednesday, March 19	Lake Villa Public Library	1001 E. Grand Ave. Lindenhurst
SOUTHWEST LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FORUM	Monday, March 31	Ela Area Public Library	275 Mohawk Trail Lake Zurich
NORTHEAST LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FORUM	Tuesday, April 1	Warren Newport Public Library	224 N. O’Plaine Rd. Gurnee

For more information, contact Lake County Communications at 847-377-2550 or visit www.co.lake.il.us.

Who is this Round Lake Mystery Man?

If you can identify this beloved Round Lake icon, I will come up with some suitable gift for you, guesses in the comment section of the blog.

This is a good idea for our centennial, so if anyone has some pictures of things they would like to show or ask questions about send them here and we can put them on the blog on the weekends, since I have been kind of lax recently on the weekend posts!

Mikes

I can't tell you how happy I am that Mike's Restaurant is here in the Village! I love having a place to have excellent steaks on a Friday night. Garnished with mushrooms and onions (I am back on the Atkins diet again). Before I went on the diet the Chicken Picata was marvelous as well as the seafood.

Chef Mike has worked in quite a few top places in the City and in Las Vegas as well, I would write them here but I forgot them in my haste to eat the steak he put in front of me!

All of you know that I don't push places, but this is over on the west side of Valley Lakes in the strip mall on Wilson Road. Mike’s Grill & Catering-- 399 North Wilson, Round Lake, Il. 60073

Save the Date-- Frosty 5K

On the 24th of February (in one month) there will the annual Frosty Footrace which is put on by the Round Lake Park District and starts from the Sports Center which is off of Hook Drive in Round Lake Beach. Check in starts at 10am and the race is at 11am Registration is $20 dollars before the race and $25 the day of the race. You get a t-shirt and a light lunch after the race will be provided! You can register here! That's me in the picture before last fall's race with Trustee Michael Blum, my guess is neither of us will be dressed like this in a month!

Round Lake Cententenial Kick Off with an Ice Festival

February 23, 2008 - Ice House Festival
1pm - 4pm games for children of all ages
1:30 to 3:30 ice sculptor demonstration
2:30 Marcia Gutierrez will be presenting of the history of Round Lake in story format

The first 100 attendees will receive a special Centennial surprise, Hot chocolate and cookies will be offered throughout the event. The event will take place just south of the Village Hall with parking available in the Metra parking lot.

March 15th - Round Lake Area Park District Easter Egg Hunt
The Village will be awarding a $100 savings bond to one person in each age group

September 6th - Founder’s Day Ball
6pm to midnight at Maravela’s in Fox Lake Tickets will be available for purchase prior to the event

November
A food drive will be held throughout the month to benefit local food pantries

Comcast Newsmakers Interview on the Internet

A couple of months ago I appeared on Comcast Newsmakers and wrote about it here and here. I promised to have the video on when I got it converted and online and here it is! Not everyone has cable, such as myself, so I was able to get a digital version for us!



They say the camera adds a few pounds, how many cameras were pointed at me!

Big Hollow Referendum

NOTE: Phil Carter the co-chair of the Big Hollow Referendum committee asked me to publish this on the blog. This in no way constitutes my endorsement one way or another of the referendum. I will say I have been terribly impressed by the energy, commitment and vision Phil brings to the process. For more information you can go to the citizens support group here at www.supportbighollow.org.

The Big Hollow Referendum: A Good Investment

The Big Hollow School District is asking the community to approve a $10-million working cash bond on February 5th. The local residents and businesses are rallying behind this referendum for the following reasons:

• It addresses a real district need. Big Hollow currently ranks last in instructional expenditures per student, next to last in operational expenditures per student, has the highest average class size in Lake County, and has cut art, music, and computer programs. In addition, the District had the 3^rd largest drop in State testing results (ISAT) from ’06 to ’07 in the county. These trends in the learning environment and academic performance represent a stark contrast to the historical strength of Big Hollow’s educational values.
  
• It is affordable. While still a significant financial commitment to be sure, the working cash bond currently offered by the District represents a reasonable investment. Out-of-pocket cost to most homeowners (median home price of $280k taking standard deductions) is around $32 per month. The working cash bond retains all the State aid given to the school and would be immediately available to pay off the District debt (~$3.3M). This maximizes the value of bond revenue to the district.
  
• It will make a huge impact. Restoring basic art, music, and computer programs in the ‘08-’09 school year will have an immediate, positive effect on the daily lives of 1,500 school children. In addition, reducing class sizes (some projected over 40 students) to more acceptable levels will clearly improve teacher-student contact time essential for learning. Finally, the Big Hollow Community regains the benefits and reputation associated with a quality school system.
  

The well-documented explosive growth in enrollment at Big Hollow coupled with the education-funding formula in Illinois clearly puts a disproportionate financial burden on local property owners (greater than 75% of school funding from local property taxes). The combination of tax-cap legislation (PTELL) and underfunded, government-mandated programs highlight deficiencies in educational funding especially in areas of proliferating enrollment. Nonetheless, these are the circumstances and challenges facing the Big Hollow Community that must be overcome to provide a reasonable educational opportunity to the children.

For its part, the District has managed its per-pupil expenses to the lowest in Lake County, slashed services, cut programs, and sold its property on Rt.12 (contract pending) for $5M. The anticipated proceeds from the sale, while helpful, will be insufficient to handle all the operational needs and will miss the near-term timing requirements for the next school year. Big Hollow has a track record for effectively managing voter-approved building bond referenda on-time and within budget. This same fiscal responsibility and commitment will ensure proper utilization of any approved funds for district operations.

While these are challenging economic times, I urge even more residents to look at the tax increase for what it really is: An opportunity to invest in the community and restore a measure of quality to Big Hollow’s longstanding tradition of strong educational values. On February 5^th, let’s get the school and community back on track by voting YES. For more detailed information, please visit http://www.supportbighollow.org.

No Tax Rate Increase Referendum

NOTE: This was sent to me by the referendum committee I am running it untouched. My daughter is at the left, the Grant Womens Track and Field team, has finished 4th, 8th and 7th in State in the last 3 years (small brag now back to your regularly scheduled blog).

Grant Community High School is offering the community a unique opportunity on February 5, 2008. Through effective long range planning, the school district is able to offer the taxpayers $38.5 Million in bonding for needed facility expansion with no tax rate increase. This is the District’s response to managing the growth that will increase the school’s enrollment from its current 1,745 to a forecasted 2,300 by the year 2014. The facility’s current capacity is 1,750 students.

Grant has demonstrated sound fiscal management by balancing its budget every year since 1997. There is no request for an Education Fund increase, since that fund has a strong balance. The District completed their prior major construction projects on time and within budget. They rebated $2.9 Million to taxpayers after one of the projects. They saved taxpayers $3.2 Million by refinancing existing debt. Developer impact fees were used for the 2005 library & classroom addition. The effective use of independent demographic studies for forecasting enrollment growth has allowed the District to time the facility expansion needs with an alignment of bonds in 2008 that will not require a tax rate increase.

A support group called Grant Citizens Helping Students (GCHS) has been at the forefront of supporting this referendum effort. Referendum information may be found at www.gchs2008.org or by asking Paul Jakstas at pjakstas@aol.com or Kim Schnoor at homesale1@mindspring.com.

Hospital News-- Hot off the wires!

Over the last week the hospital news has been flying fast and furrious! I am going to try to bring you up to speed on the developments and then talk about how this affects us.

• First Condell rejected an offer by Lake Forrest to buy Condell. This was big news right up until two days ago when Condell rejected the overture.


• Then yesterday Advocate announced that they and Condell had agreed on a letter of intent for Advocate to merge with Condell.

Senior management of Advocate has been been quite forthcoming with me about developments as they happen for which I am grateful.

They have consistently reiterated there desire to me and the village's senior staff to build the hospital. I beleive them! Advocate's actions are consistent with this premise. They are applying to build a large out patient service center on the site at 120 and Wilson, which will likely be granted and Advocate anticipates breaking ground this summer as a precursor to the likely fall approval of the Hospital (fingers crossed).

Internally at the village Advocate's words match the actions, since we are seeing an urgency for the building process and in fact we have a public hearing for this portion of the hospital process scheduled for early March in front of the Illinois Hospital Facility Board.

While candidly the merger worries me, one central point remains, the need for service in western Lake County and eastern McHenry counties is growing. If Condell has approached us to build a hospital way back when we would have said that makes total sense! So the ownership issue of the Libertyville Condell campus really should not and I hope will not jeopardize the push to build a hospital here in Round Lake.

Get Informed and Provide Input on Transportation

Transportation is a top strategic priority of the Lake County Board and the County recognizes that part of the solution has to be addressed in Springfield. The County is asking state leaders to approve a capital program that adequately funds all forms of state transportation. Citizens can let their voice be heard on this critical issue by sending an email message to their state legislators, Governor Blagojevich, and state legislative leaders encouraging them to dedicate funding for roads, bridges, and transit across Illinois. Visitors to the County Building in Waukegan can email their state leaders at a computer terminal set up in the lobby which links to www.FixOurRoadsNow.com.

A computer is also accessible in the lobby of the Lake County Division of Transportation in Libertyville. The www.FixOurRoadsNow.com website is sponsored by the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association, whose mission is to protect, improve and promote the transportation design and construction industry in Illinois. After the user enters their contact information, the website determines who their representatives are, and allows them to personalize an email message.

Your Ballot for the Upcoming Primary Election

The Lake County Clerk's office has an excellent feature where you can preview the exact ballot you will be presented with when you vote on February 5.

If you live in Round Lake you will be presented with a variety of choices, where Round Lake residents are on the ballot.

On the Republican side

• You will see former Round Lake Trustee and Valley Lakes resident Jerry Shaw running for precinct committee-man.
  

On the Democratic side

• You will see Valley Lake Resident Cynthia Purim Haran for Lake County Circuit Court.
• Another Valley Lakes Resident named Bill Gentes is running to be State Senator for the 26th District.

Neutral things you will see as well.

• There are two referendums one for Big Hollow Schools and the other for Grant High School.

Early Voting Kicks Off

Early voting will be offered to any eligible voter, without reason (i.e. not required to be absent, physically disabled, etc.) beginning 22 days prior to Election Day through the Thursday before Election Day. Voters are required to present a valid Illinois driver’s license, an Illinois identification card issued by the Secretary of State, or any other government-issued identification document containing their photograph, name and address.

• To find where you can early vote take this link.
• Are you registered to vote? You better be! Take this link to make sure.

Cedar Lake Road Extended

I have been getting quite a few questions about this so I reworked an old post to make sense to today's reality.

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 7 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 4 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 This portion has been completed. 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). To obtain 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.

Auction for Art at Village School

In April 2007 an “Auction for Art” raised over $6000 for art programs at Village Elementary School (880 W. Nippersink Road) in Round Lake. Many businesses and individuals in the community made donations and participated in this successful event to raise funds for our young artists.

These funds have been the means of providing exciting opportunities for our students so far this school year.

We were able to purchase large art prints of 16 famous paintings for our school library. Teachers are able to check these out for classroom use. Our librarian is working on plans to spotlight a different print and artist each month.

In early December our students enjoyed a wonderful assembly by Strokes of Genius in Glenview. Leonardo DaVinci was brought to life for our students in a dramatic, interactive assembly which involved student volunteers, a re-enactment of the painting of the Last Supper, scaffolding, and demonstrations of various inventions by DaVinci.

Our ArtSmarts Program is bringing local artists to the classrooms to teach students about famous artists and various art techniques. Our Guest Artists this year have been Sandie Bacon from Lake Bluff and Andrea Harris from Mundelein. These artists have exposed the students to knowledge they might not otherwise gain and given them hands-on experiences with creating their own artwork. The students learned about the work of Claude Monet and created watercolor postcards which were mailed home to their families. Next, the students learned about Leonardo DaVinci’s Mona Lisa and created their own portraits using Cray-Pas oil pastels. They later enjoyed creating paper cut-out pictures following the techniques of Henri Matisse. Most recently, the students learned to create their own foam stamps to make art prints like Keith Haring. Our final ArtSmarts presentations for the year will take place during the week of January 8-11, 2008. The students will be creating wire sculptures based on the work of Alexander Calder.

The culmination of our ArtSmarts Program will be our ArtSmarts Museum Night to be held at Village School on Friday, January 25, 2008, from 6:30-8:00pm. Each student will have 2 pieces of their ArtSmarts artwork on display, for a school total of over 1000 pieces of artwork. This gala event provides an opportunity for the children to proudly show their families and friends what they have learned in the ArtSmarts Program. Refreshments will be served. A Museum Gift Shop will sell art supplies as well as a special set of notecards created by 12 Village School students for the amazing price of $5. Proceeds from these sales will help fund next year’s art programs. Donations and volunteers are needed for this event.

Later in the spring, our students will enjoy additional art programs as the 6^th graders create a wall mural for our cafeteria, and the 1^st – 5^th graders create additional art in their classrooms. We will also be looking for art fundraising opportunities later in the year.

We are grateful to all of those businesses and individuals who donated to last year’s “Auction for Art” to make all of these art opportunities possible for the students at Village School.

If you have any questions about these art programs, please contact Village School Art Committee Chair, Shelley Trump, at (847) 546-7835 or Village School at (847) 270-9470.

Christmas Tree Disposal

Christmas trees will be picked up every Monday in January by Waste Management. Waste Management will utilize a separate truck and will pick up the trees at a separate time other than the usual garbage pick-up. Please cut the trees in 4' sections and place on the ground near where the garbage container is usually placed.

Talk about Media Coverage

I came across this a awhile ago, and got a big kick out of it. Plus in my never ending quest to interest my readership, plus I have no post for today readily at hand, here it is! See if you can solve the crime.

Above the fold of the newspaper appeared a photograph of Michael Millhouse, painting a sign on the window of a business. But below the fold, he appeared again, in a still taken from a convenience store where a wallet containing $600 was lifted. Due to his size, and the fact that he was wearing the same clothes, he was easily identified and caught."

Here is a link to the frontpage all blown up. Newspaper.pdf

Then there is the follow-up from the newspaper here.

100th Anniversary of Round Lake is NOW!

Did you know the village Board meeting on Monday has a historic significance? Exactly 100 years ago on Jan 7th was the first election for Village officals of the newly formed (records indicate Round Lake was accepted by the state of Illinois on December 8, 1908) Village of Round Lake. Only 29 votes were cast, unanimously electing Amarias White as our first Mayor. Here we are, with numerous (13) Mayors and 100 years later as a thriving vibrant community.

Many people take history for granted. Elections come and go, as do celebrities, fads and fashions. Somewhere along the timeline something significant occurs. Sometimes a major inpact is immediately recognized for it's significance such as the first automobile rolling off the assembly line. Often, the significance takes a while to be recognized, like the establishment of a Village that endures 100 years.

While working with the Committe for the Centennial Celebration, it was important to do research in order to know the history of Round Lake get an understanding of the past and a glimpse into the bright future ahead for the Village.

I would like to encourage all 16,000+ Round Lake residents to check the website for activities and events celebrating the Round Lake Centennial. Our kick-off event will be an Ice House Festival on Saturday, February 23rd from 1 - 4pm. This will be an outdoor event in honor of the Armour Ice House that figures so prominently in the Round Lake history. No reenactments of the Ice House burning to the ground - but lots of fun!

We will have a Story-teller to tell the history of Round Lake, games (for all ages), on site Ice Sculpting, hot chocolate & cookies. Notices will be going out to the newspapers shortly and we are constantly updating the webpage. Anyone wishing to lend a hand and get involved in something greater than sliced bread - please can reach us at 100th@eroundlake.com or link through the Round Lake website under events - Centennial.

Is it just me? Or is this inappropriate?

In my Chicago Tribune there is a magazine insert called Parade magazine which on Today's cover had a picture of Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated on the 27th of December. The article focused on her return to power in the upcoming elections in Pakistan. In fact the article was clearly written over a month ago. What was the thinking process here?

One can only guess that since they print Parade all over the US in 100's of papers well in advance they decided rather then reprint and lose money, they would slip a fast one over on the American public, because of course who will notice, because we pay no attention to other countries?

I am curious how many other people noticed this? I am just shaking my head.

The website link has a disclaimer by the way!

Christmas Prize Winners

Well the winners of my Christmas time giveaway are as follows. I had 38 people/families participate. Which I think is a record.

I ranked all of you in order of when I received your email then I used a random number generator to pick three numbers between 1 and 38.

• Krystie Hill
  Family Pool Pass for the Round Lake Park District (you better have kids) valued at $135 dollars.
  
• Andrea Jourdain
  One Year Membership to the Round Lake Park District Fitness Center (Value $235)
• Scott, Ali, & Brennan Miller
  $50 in Rec Bucks, good for any Park District program.

Congratulations to the winners and better luck next time to the 35 people who tied for fourth place!

Lets Talk Roads

Route 53! Is it the great white whale? Or is it the solution to all Lake Counties Traffic ills? I do know what it is, probably the single most polarizing issue in Lake County for the 20-30 years.

Anyone who drives a car through western Lake County can see that the old country roads are woefully inadequate to today's traffic-that wider, faster roads like the 53 extension are sorely needed. It's simple common sense-so why the big fuss?

The real opposition, the moneyed, vocal opposition, is coming from a different group: the NIMBYs. (NIMBY stands for "not in my back yard.")

In some ways, it's understandable. Given a choice, most everyone would prefer not to have a major thoroughfare running right by their neighborhood. If it were possible, we'd all like to live in the peace and quiet of a quaint nineteenth century village, while having all the modern conveniences at the same time. But, of course, that isn't possible. There are always tradeoffs.

Think about it: any highway that services a highly populated area is going to have to run close to someone. To those who live in proximity to the proposed route I say instead: let's work together, rather than against one another. The need for adequate roads is a fact of modern life, like the need for power lines, water mains, and rail lines. Rather than cooking up transparent "reasons" against 53 to hide NIMBY, why not make sure that anyone genuinely disadvantaged is fairly compensated, and that everything (like soundproofing walls, landscaping, wide roadway shoulders) are provided to minimize the impact of needed roads on those living nearby? That will create a "win-win" for everyone.

Having said all that I am not terribly optimistic that it will get done, while I and probably 95% of the Round Lake area support 53 we need to focus on doable projects like the 120 bypass. I would gladly lead and champion a realistic effort to build 53. However I am going to continue to push a project that I believe will happen-- the 120 bypass. I will of course advocate for 53 no matter where I am as an elected official, but we should also be pragmatic and focus on the doable.

That Route 53 Thinga-ma-jiggy Heats Up!

I got this email about a week ago from a person who could not have summed up the frustration for roads and Route 53 in particular. I am a strong supporter of 53, but have always thought that the window closed many years ago when we as a county could not get on the same page. The emailer asked me to answer and answer I will tomorrow. His email strongly outlines the level of frustration about transportation and the lack of it in Western Lake County and in Eastern McHenry

As a resident of neighboring Volo, I enjoy regularly visiting your blog and strongly agree with many of your viewpoints, in particular the need for the proposed Advocate Hospital, as well as the Route 120 bypass. With that said, I wanted to mention a couple of recent articles I read in the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald. The articles stated that the Illinois Tollway Authority has officially authorized its staff (on Thurs,12/20/07) to prioritize its most critical proposed projects (now that 355 South Extension is complete), with the Route 53 extension specifically mentioned, along with the Prarie Parkway and Illiana Expressway. Here are the links: to the article in the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune.

Now, while I'm well aware of how long this project has been on the table, this seems like a great opportunity for local elected officials in Lake County who support the extension to get together with one uniform voice to finally push this forward. It seems that overwhelmingly the residents and villages of Lake County support the extension and this seems like as good as an opportunity as ever to attempt to move forward and become the next top priority project for the Illinois Tollway. In particular, when I reviewed the other projects on the table listed in the articles, the Route 53 extension actually seems like the most sensible/needed, with the strongest case for, with the longest standing proposal, and ironically, the one with the most support for it. Additionally, with the significant residential growth in Northern/Western Lake County over the past several years and a large percentage of those residents needing to commute south and/or east for work, it seems that a significant effort now has the potential to create quite a public buzz in favor of the extension. Further, doesn't the state already own virtually all/a good portion of the land needed to complete the extension (as marked by the FAP 342 signs)?

I'm also aware that there are one or two key villages (representing a very small percentage of the surrounding population) who have always strongly opposed the extension, but in reality, any project will always have some percentage of resistors to change, no matter how important it is to the overall surrounding communities affected. I believe the same was the case for the 355 south extension for some time. Additionally, I have seen a wide variety of elected officials (both Democrat and Republican) whose jurisdiction's are directly affected, as well as personally spoken to residents I work with who live in the immediate vicinity of the one or two key villages opposing, who strongly support the extension.

At your earliest convenience, if you could let me know your thoughts on these recent articles and any possibilities that you think may exist now that haven't over the past several years, that would be great. As you've probably noticed, I'm very passionate, yet frustrated about the decades of delays for this extension. It's one of the most overwhelmingly obvious proposed extension projects needing completion that I'm aware of and would like to see it fianlly happen. Lastly, I realize funding has been brought up as a big issue (understandably), however, where did the $700-$800 million come from to enable the I-355 extension to be constructed (within a few years time no less)?

Happy New Year!

This was the scene in my living room a few minutes after midnight today. I got the expanded Neumann home as you can all see.

In reality it was more like me lying on the couch plotting!

Actually it was more like me figuring out how to win the 26th, build 120 and 53 all at the same time!

Happy New Year Everyone! By the way none of the above is true! Well some of it.