1st Annual Community Garage Sale

Join the Village of Round Lake in the fight for a cure!

When: Saturday June 7th Time: 8:00AM – 3:00PM
Where: The Village of Round Lake’s Police & Public Works Building at 751 W. Townline Rd
$2.00 Bag Sale 1 pm to 3 pm
Everyone in the community is invited to come out and hunt for bargains.

All proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society by our very own team “The Round Lake Village People” at the Relay for Life overnight walk Anything you wish to donate can be dropped off at the Public Works building starting June 1st.

If you are not able to bring it in, your donation can be picked up at your home by contacting Sherry Perkowitz at (847) 452-3681

We need more volunteers for Friday, June 6th from 4 pm to 8 pm to help us get everything set-up and ready.

For the day of the sale, we need people to help ring up purchases. We are setting up shifts from 7am through 4pm. We will appreciate any time you have to offer! So call me and let me know if you can help!

Mow your Lawns! Your Neighbors Will Love You For It!

Mow your lawn regularly! If its gets over 8 inches in length the village can ticket you and send our public works employees to mow for you, and you will get a substantial bill for the service.

No lawn in the village looks like this, by the way, but some our close. My lawn grows so fast sometimes, especially with all the wet this year and last year!

No post for you today!

I am suffering from a spring cold, due to way to much walking in the sun this weekend and then of course the arctic chill we had last night! Go read this blog for your political fix instead.

Memorial Day Report

Busy day! I had two speeches at the two memorials in Round Lake. I walked the entire route with my drivers, and volunteers. (My golf cart driver is Daniel Rude whose parents bought the right to drive my golf cart in the parade for the third straight year as a fund raiser for village school).

After the ceremonies I went to the American Legion to talk to the members for awhile, and then it was off to three area picnics to talk and smooze! Plus eat some excellent burgers!

Memorial Day Ceremonies

I will speak at two places today as the Round Lake Area remembers our nations veterans. The first place I will speak at the village's memorial at the corner of 134 and Cedar Lake Road. The text of my remarks there are as follows.

Thank you all for coming to honor those who have served our country across the years.

Today we deservedly honor many, but I want to focus on one who fought in World War 2 and came home to have a family and live a long and productive life, my father in law Christopher Rozakis. Today we are flying his flag above us.

Many however were not as lucky as my father in law to return from their service and live a full life. Here in Lake County, we have lost 13 brave soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Marine Sgt. Edward G. Davis III, of Antioch
• Army Specialist. William D. Dusenbery, of Lake Zurich
• Army Staff Sgt. Donald B. Farmer, of Zion
• Army 1st Lt. David L. Giaimo, of Waukegan
• Army Sgt. Terry M. Lisk, of Fox Lake
• Army Capt. Shane Reichert Mahaffee, of Gurnee
• Marine Lance Cpl. Sean P. Maher, of Grayslake
• Army Specialist Jaime Moreno, of Round Lake Beach
• Marine Pfc. Geoffery S. Morris, of Gurnee
• Army Sgt. 1st Class James S. Ochsner of Waukegan
• Army Specialist Uday Singh of Lake Forest
• Army Maj. Paul R. Syverson III of Lake Zurich
• Army Specialist Wesley R. Wells of Libertyville

The parade then moved to the Round Lake Beach Memorial which is where there was a longer ceremony where I made the following remarks.

When I was a boy the military heroes of history were my idols. Lord Nelson, John Paul Jones, Generals Patton, Pershing, Mac Arthur, Eisenhower, their courage and valor still are remembered today. Such was my fascination with their exploits that when I had the opportunity to choose a major in college, I chose military history.

What I’ve learned from the past is that it’s not just the well-known heroes who deserve recognition, but the ordinary, every-day people who served their country. These veterans deserve the respect and gratitude of all citizens. Without their dedication we would not enjoy the freedoms we have today.

Memorial Day is the time to remember all veterans for the sacrifices they made for all us. Many fought and died, still others were injured or disabled. All of them loved their country as we do here today.

Surely it is not too much to suggest that we take a few moments away from the chain of lakes, and our barbecues, to recognize the supreme sacrifice made by more then one million of our fellow countryman and women.

Surely we can take the time to visit a cemetery and look for the grave of a fallen solider and leave a flag or a flower. We can’t be that busy can we?

Earlier today at the veteran’s memorial in Round Lake we had a small ceremony where my father in law’s, a world war two veteran’s, flag was lowered to half mast, and I read the names of the 13 soldiers from Lake County who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Memorial Day is not the only day we should remember these veterans. We must keep the memory of their sacrifices in our hearts every day of the year. Thank you

Speaking in Class

I spent yesterday talking to 2nd, 4th and 5th graders. I had a great time as always. The kids asked great questions, about the Rain Forest, recycling and gave me great answers as well. When I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up one kid (who will go far, since he was very clever) told me he wanted to be a placemat!

Huge Cover Up in Round Lake!

I found this on the internet which is a series of tubes (according to a United States Senator) and could not help but deciding in a nano-second to post this link.

Here is how I think it all went down, there was an accident on 120 and since the aliens could not get to a hospital in time they called in a UFO Flight to Life to transport them to the Planet Gentes which is a planet in the Star Wars series in the Anorat system and it took them, owing to faster then light travel and no traffic congestion in space, less then 19 minutes to get there!

Hopefully they take Blue Cross Blue Shield there as well! For some reason pictures won't load today so no pictures.

Bitter Disapointment

Yesterday the Illinois Hospital Facilities Board approved the merger between Advocate and Condell. Advocate is going to take the following steps:

• Use Condell's unbuilt 200 (approved) hospital beds and build a hospital at Condell in Libertyville.
• Make that facility a Level One Trauma Center.
• Hopefully make Blue Cross Blue Shield available to people again at this new facility.

Lastly, since the Illinois Hospital Facilities Board denied the ability for Advocate to build a hospital and a free standing emergency center, the region and Round Lake will get nothing.

Through all of this Advocate has been upfront with us about the process, we may have not liked the answers, but at least we were kept in the loop. I don't blame them for this, they listened to us and believed in us and our needs. Ultimately this is probably the best decision for them because they can build a hospital, something the state would clearly not let them do in Round Lake

I do blame the failure of leadership at the state level that is squarely centered on Governor Blagojevich. His inability to appoint honest members (see Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko) to the above mentioned hospital board has led to a paralysis of action at that board. So last year when the opportunity was at "100% ready to build from all parties" for a hospital in Round Lake, the board was unable to act. His lack of an ethical moral compass leads directly to us not getting this opportunity.

There is a bright side the new hospital will only be 19 minutes away from us! Down congested roads, and over train tracks.

Report on the 120 Bypass (Part 2 of 5)

Today we are going to look at Scenario Two which is to widen existing IL-120 to four lanes and not build a bypass.

NOTE: Please read part one for an explanation of the terms I am using in this post.

Now we get to the interesting stuff Scenario 2: Widen existing IL 120 to 4 lanes and don't build the bypass.

One caveat on these scenarios, is that they have been adjusted to take in the planned road improvements over the next 22 years, so for example Peterson's eventual widening to 4 lanes is taken into account. So using the same bullet points and spots we looked at in the earlier posts we see the following I am going to bold my observations on the changes.

• Look at the number for 120 at 83, 17,700 in 2008 but in 2030 the number is 33,900 indicating that the stretch of road is as full as it can be right now. So in 22 years the entire 4 lane 120 is as congested as a 4 lane road can be!
  
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT in 2008. The new number is 163,200 in 2030. Very little change between the scenario 1 and 2! Huge numbers however from 2008.
  
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany in 2008. With the widening the road is heavily congested at 21,800 ADT in 2030. Scenario 2 reduces the traffic here by 4,000 ADT so thats a positive, but the road is still at or about the congested numbers.
  
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center in 2008. Now the traffic flows onto Peterson and not down 60 so the ADT is reduced to 8,900. I am not sure I beleive this by the by.
  
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer in 2008. The number here is 15,000 (serious congestion) in 2030. The number drops in scenario 2 to 13,200.
  
• Washington has 15,800 at 83 in 2008. The number in scenario 1 is 19,100 in 2030. In scenario 2 its now 17,100, still very serious congestion.
  

We start to see some improvements in traffic flow, but the 4 lane 120 quickly fills up to congested levels and if you look at Rollins, Washington, Peterson and Grand the numbers and the congestion grow noticably. I would guess straining the roads to the limit. This scenario barely works in my opinion in 2030, intuitively I would guess it is a mess in 2032.

Report on the 120 Bypass (Part 1 of 5)

Last week we held one of our regular 120 Bypass Corridor Planning Council (CPC) meetings of which I am the Chairman. Our consultants TranSystems are getting into the meat of the matter with traffic projections involving all the major scenarios.

NOTE: This is an elaborate post involving many 11 x 17 pdfs so I am going to space the posts out all this week, my recommendation is to download the pdf and print it out while you look at them because its much easier to compare the scenarios and make observations.

The first item of business is to examine todays (2005 numbers are the most recent) of what is called ADT (Average Daily Traffic) counts, these numbers are gathered by IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation). The numbers you see are only the cars on the actual roadway so to when a road crosses the route you need to add both ADT's to determine the flow for that intersection.

Some more information, when a two lane road reaches 15,000 ADT it is considered seriously congested, numbers past 20,000 indicate saturation and you literally can't put that many more cars on the road, for example 120 between Alleghany and Hainesville Road is 22,900 ADT right now. That number will not go much higher because the road just can't handle any more. Same thing for a 4 lane road 30,000 is serious congestion and 35-40,000 is as high as you can go, existing roads like this in Lake County today are Grand Avenue in Gurnee which is at 51,700 in some places.

Here is the first map which is existing conditions in Lake County right now. You can see that starting from US Route 12 and running East the entire route 120 is over the seriously congested aspect, hence the need for the 120 bypass or improvements to existing 120! Some locations I want to look at repeatedly on these maps are as follows:

• Look at the number for 120 at 83, 17,700! With train tracks no less! We can all visualize the long backups almost to Hainesville road in the mornings and the reverse backup in the evenings.
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT right now.
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center.
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer.
• Washington has 15,800 at 83.

I have driven all these roads at various times and can visualize these numbers in terms of how long I waited to get through intersections as I am sure all of you can as well.

Now we get to the interesting stuff Scenario 1: No improvements to IL 120. CMAP (Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning) has done extensive studies of the traffic patterns in Chicagoland and the numbers are the ones that IDOT requires us to use to determine future need. They are based on what projected traffic would look like in 2030. 22 years from now. So Scenario 1 is if nothing changes, no improvements nothing!

One caveat on these scenarios, is that they have been adjusted to take in the planned road improvements over the next 22 years, so for example Peterson's eventual widening to 4 lanes is taken into account.

• Look at the number for 120 at 83 now, 17,700 in 2008 but in 2030 the number is 17,400 indicating that the stretch of road is as full as it can be right now. But look along 120 east and west of this intersection, congestion has built everywhere. Essentially the feel of traffic along the entire 120 roadway will be the same as the 120 and 83 intersection in 22 years.
  
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT in 2008. The new number is 161,400 in 2030.
  
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany in 2008. With the widening the road is heavily congested at 25,500 ADT in 2030.
  
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center in 2008. Now the traffic flows onto Peterson and not down 60 because there is some nonsense off the map there as well towards Mundelien.
  
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer in 2008. The number here is 15,000 (serious congestion) in 2030.
  
• Washington has 15,800 at 83 in 2008. The number here is 19,100 in 2030.

What is happening is that 120 has reached saturation, and commuters are seeking other routes, loading up on Peterson, Washington and Rollins (24,300 to 35,400) to go East. Traffic is quite frankly a disaster everywhere in the county.

WRLR Fundraiser next Friday!

The local Round Lake Area Radio Station WRLR 93.8-FM is hosting a fund raiser. WRLR is a local nonprofit radio station which I am quite proud of, will take place Friday, May 23, at Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, 500 E. Rollins Road, in Round Lake Beach.

Send a Kid to Camp Golf Outing Today!

Today is the Friends of the Round Lake Area Parks Foundation Golf Outing at Renwood Golf Course The Foundation raises funds for many programs. Among them are:

• Send a Kid to Camp scholarships
• Special Olympics
• Cultural arts programs
• Outreach programs
• Community beautification

I have a great time every year! Sometimes its fun to be the Mayor! The picture is of Brian Brubaker pointing at his tee shot on a par 3 a few years ago at an outing. He is playing today as well! Hope he is this accurate tommorrow, becuase my game is non existent!

Future Leaders in Planning program

CMAP is looking for high school freshmen and sophomores who want to make the region a better place to live, go to school, work and play. Future Leaders in Planning (FLIP) is our new leadership development program for students from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry or Will counties. Selected participants will collaborate with and learn from elected officials and planners who are developing the new GO TO 2040 comprehensive regional plan. The program is free, and applications are due June 2. FLIP runs from September 2008 to March 2009. See http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/flip.aspx or call 312-454-0400.

Lake County Motorist-- GREAT Blog!

I have been reading a great blog for some time now and I need to share it with you becuase of its topical nature and of course it's coverage of Lake County Traffic. Lake County Motorist is a blog about driving in Lake County, Illinois. The author is a relatively new Lake County resident, having lived here for two years. Here is what he says about his blog.

I’m now turning my sights to my new home county, because this place has a lot of traffic. Metra has become my best friend, but I still drive quite a bit more than I did while living in the city. Around here, I can use a little help finding the best routes, and roads are always under construction (which can sometimes be a good thing because we need the infrastructure). And if I “discover” a good route, I’ll share it - that is, if I can remember which roads I was on. I often find new routes while getting unbelievably lost, but that’s part of the adventure. Let’s talk about Lake County transportation.

I would add this to your favorites!

Leadership Day on Friday

On Friday about 30 village officials and staff participated in Leadership Day, at Indian Hill Middle School. As always I had more fun then the kids did, and they had fun! I got three young ladies who were, fun, sweet and oh so talkative! OMG, For Sure, LOL!!!! (The picture is of left to right me, Shelby, Emily and Andrea)

The day started with me picking them up at the school and then immediately running into a reporter who interviewed the girls and rode around with us for about 2 hours taking pictures, so the girls were excited about being celebrities (me too for that matter)!

First stop was the 7-11 for refreshments. Diet Coke, Candy and other caffeine products were loaded into the car for the tour of the village. We visited the village hall, my campaign HQ where they scammed on some free t-shirts, then it was off for a tour of the police station where we then met the other kids for pizza.


After lunch we joined the Public Works kids for a trip to a water tower where we looked around inside and then Davis Clark our Director of Public Works did a pressure check on a hydrant at the base of the tower to demonstrate the water pressure. Quite impressive!

We had lots of fun and laughed pretty hard at Andrea's inability to open car doors, Emily's constant giggling, and of course Shelby the motor mouth! Plus I got them back by 7th period, much to their disgust!

Foreclosure Seminar

Earlier this week I attended a program sponsored by the The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago titled, “Taking Action: Local Government Strategies to Mitigate the Impact of Foreclosures on Communities.” The program was held on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, at the Federal Reserve Bank.

Along with much of the nation, metropolitan Chicago has recently seen a dramatic increase in the number of foreclosures. According to the latest figures in March 2008 from the Woodstock Institute: Between 2005 and 2007, the number of properties with foreclosure filings in the region increased by nearly 80 percent. The number of properties with foreclosure filings grew to 38,215 in 2007 which was an increase of nearly 32 percent from a previous high of 28,997 in 2006. This is on the heels of a 36 percent increase between 2005 and 2006.

Suburban communities have seen the largest recent growth in foreclosure filings. Between 2005 and 2007, the areas with the greatest increases included DuPage County, Northwest Suburban Cook County, and Kane County which all had the number of properties with foreclosure filings roughly double. It is likely that foreclosures will continue to rise in 2008 as regional property values stagnate or decline; refinance options remain limited for homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages; and the monthly mortgage payments on many loans reset to higher levels. However, as foreclosures mount, many suburban communities may also be unable to manage the foreclosure glut.

The objective of this meeting was to provide local government leaders a forum in which to discuss the tools and strategies necessary for mitigating the impact of foreclosures on community. The topics included:

• An overview of the regional foreclosure state of affairs and examine the implications of foreclosures on local government (revenue and assessments, property values, safety, etc.)
  
• Focus attention on the legal aspects of foreclosures in terms of the local authority to enact responsive ordinances and policies aimed at preventing the issues related to building vacancy
  
• Identify best practices, both locally and nationally, where governments have implemented innovative programs to address foreclosures within their communities (for example: maintenance ordinances, vacant building registries, and land banking)

Overall it was quite interesting and put the issue into perspective, some of the ideas are fits for us and I will push them forward here in Round Lake

Community Rummage Sale--- for the Relay for Life

Join the Village of Round Lake in the fight for a cure with our 1st annual community garage sale.

When: Saturday June 7th Time: 8:00AM – 3:00PM
Where: The Village of Round Lake’s Police & Public Works Building at 751 W. Townline Rd

Everyone in the community is invited to come out and hunt for bargains. All proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society by our very own team “The Round Lake Village People” at the Relay for Life overnight walk Anything you wish to donate can be dropped off at the Public Works building starting June 1st.

If you are not able to bring it in, your donation can be picked up at your home by contacting Sherry Perkowitz at (847) 452-3681 or Jennifer Blum at (847) 309-7018. Anyone interested in either making monetary donations or joining our Relay for Life Team can do so at www.relayforlife.org

We hope to have you come out, enjoy the day, buy some great items and help in the fight against cancer with your community!

Passenger moons speed camera

I got this from one of my favorite sites Boing Boing, and since we all seem to be tense with my last couple posts this could be funny. I warn you its mildly graphic so you have been warned adult concepts! Road rage! You could visualize this happening in some Lake County commutes!

Building Safety Where You Live, Work and Play

When you enter a house or building, most likely you’re not thinking about whether it is properly
constructed and safe. Fortunately, your local safety experts think about building safety and fire prevention every day. To help raise awareness of building safety, the Village of Round Lake and the Building Department is celebrating Building Safety Week from May 5 through 11.

Across the nation, communities will promote the use and understanding of building safety and fire prevention codes to protect lives and property. The theme is “Building Safety: Where You Live, Work and Play.” “The important work we do is often overlooked until a catastrophic tragedy occurs,” said Round Lake Building Commissioner Dale Engebretson. “When building safety and fire prevention experts inspect buildings during and after construction, we help to ensure that the places where you live, learn, work and play are safe.”

Building safety and fire prevention codes address all aspects of construction, such as structural soundness of buildings, reliability of fire prevention and suppression systems, plumbing and mechanical systems, and energy efficiency and sustainability. To ensure buildings are safe requires the active participation of building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, builders, engineers, and others in the construction industry, as well as property owners. “Public safety is our number one concern,” said Engebretson. “During Building Safety Week and all year long, building safety and fire prevention officials are here to help protect you and your Round Lake.”

Building Safety Week, first observed in 1980, is sponsored by the International Code Council, a membership organization dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, of which Round Lake is an active member. The International Code Council develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states choose the International Codes—building safety codes developed by the International Code Council.

The picture is of me presents Building Commissioner Dale Engebretson with a proclamation for Building Safety Week.

Section 8 Questions

I have been getting some questions on Section 8 housing recently. So I thought I would address some of the questions here.

Section 8 housing is run by the Federal government by HUD (Housing and Urban Development Department). Locally the program is administered by the Lake County Housing Authority in Grayslake. The poor local housing environment has led to a growing number of homes being rented out and of course some of them are rented with the Section 8 rental program.

If you own a home and have to rent it, the program makes sense becuase the government is paying the rent on time and regularly. Where it becomes tricky is when the new tenants have less invested in the community then the home owners who live around them.

What I would encourage homeowners who are having legitimate issues with "any of their neighbors" is to contact the village. While we are unable to go into a house without being invited (not likely) we can bring pressure to bear with parking enforcement, property maintenance issues that are not being addressed. Contact the Building Department using this link. (An email will pop up). Code enforcement of parking, mowing, and general cleanliness can be very powerful towards fixing these types of issues.

If there is a loud party or something going on that is not appropriate call the Police, this is how you do it... Dial 911. I can't tell you how many times in the last 7 years someone has told me that such and such a house is doing such and such a thing, and I say did you call 911 and the answer is always as follows:

1. I did and they never come.
   
2. I don't want to be identified
3. I don't want to bother them.

When I hear excuse number 1, I think BS and then write the address down and find out if it's true, and of course it never is. With item 2 you do not have to be identified, and of course number 3 is why would you not want the police to do their job? Trust me the village spends a lot of money on training and equipment so we want them out using it!

What am I telling you? Please let the village know when we have a problem developing, I pride the village staff on being proactive and I prod them to be more proactive constantly, but we can't do and see everything, nor can we recognize every issue, so please let us know, if we can help we will.

Illinois Works Coalition

Illinois' infrastructure is a vital asset that significantly contributes to our overall success. A strong state infrastructure fosters business growth, world-class schools and thriving communities.

Investment in infrastructure creates jobs and sets the stage for Illinois' continued economic leadership. However, it has been nine years since the Illinois General Assembly passed a capital bill.

Illinois Works is a $25 billion capital improvement program designed to make crucial investments in our schools, roads, bridges, airports and transit systems. Crucial investments that will improve our quality of life and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

In the coming weeks and months, this site will be home to a statewide movement calling for the passage of Illinois Works during the spring legislative session.

We ask you to join with us and advocate for passage of Illinois Works. It's time to rebuild our infrastructure and put Illinois to work.

Arbor Day Recap

The third annual Arbor Day event was Saturday, April 19 at the Village Hall and celebrated our 2nd year as a Tree City USA. The rain held off long enough for the crowd to play some tree trivia, do some kid activities, have a snack and select from over 100 trees the village provided.

Our thanks again to our sponsors Home Depot, Highland Green Nursery, The Acres Group, Turks Nursery and Lurvey's. Residents had their choice of evergreens, hybrid elms, oaks and beautiful flowering dogwoods. Officer "G" made a special appearance and took pictures with the kids.