Down the Drain in Highland Park

Remove the blight - Revise the HP Code on political election signs...

2012-02-29T14:06:00.001-06:00

In anticipation of the election season, the City of HP posted information today regarding placement of political election signs. This issue arises with each political season. When will City Council take action to prevent this blight to our community?

Unfortunately, many HP candidates consider signs to be a critical factor in their own personal success, which is why we've seen such an uptick in the number of signs during the last few elections for mayor and council. So, it may be rather unlikely that City Council will revise the standards without your input. Our visual enjoyment of the streets of HP, even in an election season, is really not in their self-interest, but it becomes relevant if you make it clear to your City Council what you need from them. They know the signs are unsightly. All you need to do is to remind them that they need to do what is good for our community and that you want them to overhaul the City Code on political signs now. This reflects our community's desire to limit waste and the number of unsightly signs to the greatest possible extent while, of course, preserving everyone's right to support political candidates.

Do you like driving through HP during an election season? Did you know there is no limit whatsoever on the number of campaign signs, as long as they are spaced more than 12" apart? They can be as large as 6 square feet and as high as 6 feet. Nor is there a time limit on how long those signs can be up before or after an election. Yes, political signs are an expression of free speech but the community can balance that with appropriate standards. We have a right to enjoy our beautiful community. If your neighbor is a candidate or just politically passionate, you could be coming home every night for years to a yard that looks similar or worse than the image included in this posting!

Indeed, for several months during the last major city election, my neighbors and I had to gaze upon more than 30 election signs across the street for the Mayor and Michael Cohn (running for the NSSD 112 school board and who owns the fence to which all these posters were affixed). After complaints to City Hall and several weeks, Mayor Rotering, kindly came out to the right of way on a cold day and in the deep snow to remove most of her signs (which, she informed me, had not been placed there by her but by a supporter). Candidate Cohn was completely indifferent to the complaints of his own neighbors and the signs remained up for many more weeks.

We have a Design Review Commission in the City of Highland Park. We care about how our city looks, having an extensive sign code for businesses that reflects our expectations of a beautiful community. Please contact the Mayor and City Council and tell them it is time to revise the standards for political signs. You can find their e-mail addresses here.

Summary of the HP standards concerning political signs is here.

Long term residents recognize that we didn't suffer for as many months and with as many signs as we do today. Perhaps this level of eyesore in years gone by reflected the good judgment of the candidates and how much they treasured our community. Today, we can't rely on good judgment, we need to rely on good standards. Please contact City Hall and tell them they need to work on this.

The list of the residents forced by the City of HP to pay more than $237,000...

2011-08-24T23:25:00.000-05:00

In response to yesterday's blog, we were contacted by several people who asked questions such as "how do I know whether my parents had to pay and need reimbursement?" and "how do I know whether, or how soon, the City of Highland Park will send me 'the letter' demanding payment?" Additionally, another reader wanted to know who the people are that already paid, and how much. In essence, the question is, who are the people who have already suffered this financial injury and are they friends of mine?

We can't say when the City of Highland Park will take the Sewer Program off of "hiatus" and put it on your street again. We can only say it remains a viable program, one that Councilman Mandel recently referred to as "huge success." We haven't heard anything from Mayor Rotering or any other councilman to confirm they will propose to terminate the program "as is" and take another look to develop a program in which the financial burden for improving City infrastructure is placed on the City. So, it appears more likely than not, at this time, that the Sewer Program will raise its ugly face sooner rather than later, and, individual residents will continue to bear the burden of improving the community's infrastructure.

EVERYONE who has ever had their sanitary line rodded for tree roots, or who should have this done, is at risk of getting "the letter" that will most likely cost you a minimum of $4,500 for a line on a small lot to $20,000+ for larger properties with deeper lots. The definition of a broken sanitary lateral line in need of repair, according to City Hall, is any line that has ever been rodded for tree roots or that has tree roots. Given the fact that Highland Park is a Tree City and our parkways are usually beautifully planted with trees, chances are that you will eventually receive "the letter." When? Probably when it is least convenient for you, such as when you're selling the house, or you're ready to pay your children's tuition, or you're just about to retire.

Of course, you can prevent this scenario by contacting Mayor Rotering and all the Councilmen and telling them in no uncertain terms that this must stop -- that the City must pay for improvements to storm and sanitary sewer infrastructure.

The group first targeted in the Sewer Program is revealed in today's blog in the Invoice List the City of Highland Park provided to us in response to the FOIA request. (Finally figured out a way to post some documents on this blog. It will be too small to read initially, but if you click on the page, it will expand, with a further opportunity to zoom in on it.)

You'll see friends, neighbors, former neighbors, maybe family, and see how residents were chosen from various neighborhoods. It's hard to know why an entire neighborhood wasn't addressed at any time -- perhaps it is easier to shove "the Code" down residents' throats if you don't concentrate them into a viable group.

In talking with some of the people on this list, we've found people who have said "why did they choose my home, but not the home down the street where they have to use special toilet paper because their sanitary line is really broken?" They think the other home has been entirely skipped. To which we reply, the neighbor just wasn't targeted in this wave. The City will be back for them.

Did the City choose a handful of residences in one neighbor and then a handful of residents in another neighborhood, rather than just improving a single neighborhood at a time, in an effort to "divide and conquer" the residents? We really don't know, as we haven't seen any documentation, nor has anyone interviewed City Hall about this. Unfortunately, we suppose it is possible...perhaps time will tell.

The huge financial burden unfairly placed on Highland Park's older residents...

2011-08-23T17:28:00.002-05:00

This blog isn't just about the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers. We're talking about real people here -- the residents of Highland Park, adversely impacted by it. It's about our neighbors, friends, parents, our greater family. It is about about doing the right thing, and making changes in Highland Park that are good for everyone -- fair for everyone. It's about achieving equitable solutions for the community. So, let's look at the 46-50 families targeted by the City as the first victims of the Sewer Program (merely on “hiatus”). If you're new to this blog, this is an inequitable program that put the economic burden on individual residents to pay for improvements to the City of Highland Park's infrastructure -- while other communities, like Downers Grove and Naperville paid for similar programs from their city's coffers (see the AECOM report).

As you may recall, the City of Highland Park (in response to a FOIA request) provided us with an Invoice List of all the residents who were charged and paid HP for “repairs” to their sanitary lateral line in 2008 (the only year that the City actively implemented the Sewer Program). In trying to contact these people and confirm their addresses, we turned to www.whitepages.com. This site delivers more information than most of us would like – it provided an age range for each search. So, some informal demographics were gathered in this process, based on limited available information.

Approximately 50% of the people who have paid to date are or were 60 years of age or older. Indeed, nearly 25% of them were over 70, and, we're sad to report at least two of them, aged 85+ years of age, have died since, leaving widows. 81% of them are older than 50 years of age. So, let's just say that the targeted residents are in, or are rapidly approaching, their retirement years. Everyone really needs the money they were forced to part with...and it remains insensitive for Mayor Belsky to claim that the program was put "on hiatus" because the economy took a bad turn. Talk to any of the people who paid in 2008 and they will tell you the economy was bad when when they paid -- and nobody at City Hall cared.

It further appears that more than 15% of the people moved since paying the City, with two of them formal foreclosures, perhaps precipitated by being forced to pay the City of HP for “repairs” on their private property that they did not need.

Several people called to thank me for my efforts, the stories they told painted a sad portrait of residents dealing with an unresponsive City Hall that refused to listen to the residents and demanded payments, claiming that the City Code required them to pay for this. As reported in this blog previously, one of the residents told me distinctly, “They had my back up against a wall, what could I do, but pay? But I didn’t think it was right.”

A woman called and said she was a "late-in-life" mother, sending two children to college. The $5000+ she paid is much needed.

Of course, there is the one individual (and you have to read through all the comments on the linked page to identify him) who believes the program is good, thinks he should have paid, thinks you should pay in the future, but (oh, by the way) wants his money back if the City agrees to reimbursement. To him, we say, if you like paying for repairs to City infrastructure in the thousands of dollars, as opposed to paying a few dollars a year on your taxes, we should just let you remain happy!

For the everyone else, the face of HP’s City Hall is that of a bully pushing around senior citizen residents, forcing them to pay for something they don’t need, and with money they do need in their retirement years. “The Code requires you pay, or we will file an enforceable lien against your property.” What can the average resident do when City Hall is telling them this?

I've news for Ctiy Hall. “The Code” does not require that residents use proprietary technology. “The Code” does not require residents to use the contractor you select (and we’ll probably never know how Mr. Limardi’s office selected a single source provider, Performance Pipelining, over every other plumbing company in Highland Park, nor why this very same contractor ceased to do the work...). Further, “the Code” does not require residents to sign an indemnification to protect the City's contractor or the City for the work done at your direction, or your neighbor for the work done by the City's contractor, and it doesn’t require you to fix a sanitary lateral line that isn’t broken and is functioning. Of course, if City Hall would care to post on this blog "The Code" that requires this, go right ahead...go on record and try to justify the poor decisions of the past.

These residents were bullied and pushed around by City Hall. City Hall needs to pays them back now, and if they don’t do it soon, with interest. And, for those of you who haven’t faced this treatment yet, don't assume it isn't your problem. It’s in your personal interest to ensure that the program is taken off of “hiatus” immediately and put down. If revived, don’t think they passed you by, just because you weren’t in the first wave. Every house in HP has its sanitary lateral lines rodded from time to time. They will be waiving “the Code” at you soon enough…

Is the new boss, the same as the old boss?

2011-08-18T17:27:00.000-05:00

As readers know, on June 22, 2011, I wrote to Mayor Rotering and every City Councilman concerning repeated requests to reimburse approximately 45 residents for payments made for unnecessary repairs to their private property. These residents paid the City under coercion, for a Sewer Program that is likely to be entirely revamped and/or discarded and which was very inequitably applied to these unlucky residents to their great financial distress.

While I would prefer to see more comments posted on this blog, and the ones posted, even this week, can be a bit difficult to find based on the Google template, you may be interested to know that more than several people have written and/or called the Mayor's office in the last several weeks to request reimbursement and to express their frustration at how they have been treated by the City. I am starting to receive phone calls from these people who leave messages at my home complaining that no one at the City responds to them. Not our new mayor, and none of our new and current councilmen.

So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that nearly two months later I also haven't had a reply yet from anyone (unless an e-mail or letter has gone missing). Nor a phone call. This should be very disappointing to all, not just me. Resident raises serious and complicated issue to City Hall and nearly two full months pass with no response, no inquiry to learn more.

Kinda looks like the old City Council. In the words of Pete Townsend, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”? Hope not. Wasn’t this last HP election about CHANGE?!

In fairness to Mayor Belsky, he always replied, eventually -- probably the amount of time it took Dave Limardi to consider it worthy of his time and to put it on his desk for reply (or to assign it to someone, followed by his and corporation counsel’s review). Then you'd get the "big official letter." There was never any dialogue. To actually pick up the phone and talk with a resident about a challenging and complicated issue -- well, that would be, let's just say, too personal for that administration. And, evidently, it is the same for this one.

Actually, I wasn’t hoping for a big official letter response. With so many new people on City Council, I was hoping for a call – something along the lines of “I'm a new councilman and don’t know much about this issue but would like to get your perspective.” I must have been dreaming…

So, today, I wrote everyone on City Council and requested a meeting with each, excluding Steve Mandel because it appears his mind is absolutely shut on this issue and no one likes to waste her time. If the invitees agree to these meetings, it will be very time consuming for me, but when it comes to trying to right a wrong, sometimes one just has to make the time. LET'S NOT FORGET THAT VERY REAL PEOPLE WERE HARMED BY THE CITY ACTIONS. Perhaps these meetings can be bundled, with more than one City Councilman at a time. (I believe up to three members of City Council can be in the same room at the same time without triggering an official meeting, but they know these responsibilities better than I.)

My first response was extremely prompt and from Councilman JamesKirsch, whom I just now learned goes by “Jimmy.” I really appreciated him responding so quickly to the direct request and we’re already scheduled to have a phone conference later this week. Thank you, Jimmy!

We’ll see about the rest – I look forward to reporting on this endeavor further. In spite of all, I remain hopeful that the current City Council might actually look at this issue anew.

A new city manager for a new mayor...

2011-08-09T15:53:00.001-05:00

So, Dave Limardi has resigned. The Highland Park Patch reports that his resignation is effective January 1 as stated in his letter to Mayor Nancy Rotering and City Council. He has held the position for more than 18 years and everyone will acknowledge that he has been a strong manager. Some might say, too strong, although others might say that certain mayors and city councilmen were just too weak. His leaving will make many glad (no more "Limardi-goo" as some have called his approach to working with the City) and some will miss him. He has helped some, ignored and harmed others. We each have our own perspective, all of which is credible. How we ultimately view his term in HP depends on how much contact we had and what the outcome was.

Praises, genuine and disingenuous, have been and will be heaped on Mr. Limardi. It is likely that both former Mayor Mike Belsky and Councilman Jim Kirsch's praises are sincere. They worked closely with Dave for more than a decade and relied on him -- far too much, which is one of the reasons that the Master Neighborhood Storm and Sanitary Sewer program was accepted and, ultimately, repetitively defended, by City Council. It cost one exceptionally fine councilman -- Mike Brenner -- his re-election, and Terri Olian her election in the recent mayoral race, although even Terri may not recognize this.

Steve Elrod's praises in the Patch? Dave's been authorizing the checks to Steve and his law firm, Holland & Knight, for a long time, so Steve's praise is likely genuine. Most of us like the people who have ensured our success.

What about Mayor Rotering's praise? “Dave Limardi has served our city very well during his 18 years on the job...His professionalism and thoroughness as well as his creativity have given us a tremendous foundation and continuity.”

Shall we chalk this up to Mayor Rotering's good political behavior? Sensitivity to Mr. Limardi's feelings? Legal concerns? There must be hundreds of us who opened our doors to Nancy when she running for councilman and, later, mayor, who heard her voice her opinion that Mr. Limardi was a big problem in working with the City of HP and had to go. Shall we now think that Mayor Rotering has lived up to one of her campaign promises, or did Dave Limardi just decide he didn't want to work with her and resigned, or was it just time for him to pursue new opportunities? Is it important to know the reality?

It only matters if you're interested in seeing Mayor Rotering live up to another one of her earliest promises -- to terminate the Master Neighborhood Storm and Sanitary Sewer Program as we know it. More than two years after becoming a councilman, and several weeks after my letter to her to request reimbursement to residents who paid (it now appears more than) $250,000 (in the aggregate), we've yet to hear Nancy Rotering officially confirm that, as Mayor, she supports the elimination of the program (as designed by Dave Limardi) and will work to effect a reimbursement to the residents who were treated so poorly and inequitably by the City of Highland Park. As you see, David Limardi's exit is meaningful to 47+ families who paid substantial sums for that ill-conceived program, who complained to him throughout the process, and whose complaints fell on completely deaf ears. It should be meaningful to the thousands of other residents who will be subject to the sewer program and who are at risk of having to pay $4,000-$20,000. We still are waiting to learn if Mayor Rotering is listening and responsive. I remain hopeful...

We are judged by many measures. David Limardi will leave the City of HP in sound fiscal shape, at least based on the recent publication of the City's budget. This is no small feat and, while the Mayor and City Council sets the budgets, Mr. Limardi has proposed them and carried them out. In this economy, that's good, if not great. A well done for that net result, and a hearty pat on the back. Thank you, David Limardi, for that.

However, in my family, we will remember Dave Limardi more for times when he and his staff showed complete disregard for our complaints and concerns. Regardless of any organizational charts that he would frequently share with commissioners in which he'd show the City Manager reporting up to the residents, David Limardi managed in a way that the residents had to report to him, and he was up on high...

"They had my back up against a wall..."

2011-07-15T00:02:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy summer in Highland Park. Between work and the week without electricity (spread between three outages in June and July), there has been precious little time to keep up with the blog. Still, the community outreach continues.

Last week we wrote to the first series of residents coerced into paying for the unnecessary "repairs" to their lateral sanitary sewer line. This week we began to hear from them. To a person, each one has said that they paid for these "repairs" because they were forced to do so by the City. Some even used the word “threatened.” No one knew the reason for why the repairs were required - all had asked the City. Some people specifically referred to poor treatment received from David Limardi's office and Mary Anderson, director of Public Works. Some highlights of what some said:

“Your note reminded me that I had explicitly asked for information on what was the nature of the defect, why the video results necessitated the work done, etc., etc. I was pretty much ignored and upon threats of greater charges I selected the payment option.”

“Hopefully the new Mayor will be more responsive.”

“What could I do? They had my back up against the wall. I was selling the house and they were demanding payment. I had to pay.”

“Ravinia wasn’t the only neighborhood that protested. We protested in the Highlands. We had meetings in our homes…we even had a lawyer who joined us. And we met with the City. No matter what we said, they didn’t listen!”

“Over the past three years, I’ve called the City to find out the status of this program. They tell me it is on vacation because the economy is bad. Well, the economy was bad three years ago to, but they made me pay. Why should I pay when no one else has to?”

Really. Quite a sad story. Welcome to Highland Park. The place where City Manager David Limardi ignores your questions and complaints and, worse, yet, threatens you with liens and higher payments for the same service.

And, one more thing. We were quite shocked to learn that there was a group of residents in the Highlands who protested the Sewer Program before Ravinia did. Hadn't heard this before. Also, as readers may recall, we requested documents from the City of Highland Park pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act demand concerning any correspondence from the residents about the Sewer Program. Did the City improperly withhold information? We’ll have to explore that question together.

All to pay for sewer lining when home is sold? Outrageous!!

2011-06-26T10:21:00.001-05:00

Again, trying to keep everyone up to date, following is the response received from Steve Mandel to the previous correspondence. Perhaps the most important thing to note is that Councilman Mandel continues to put your savings at the core of repairing City of Highland Park infrastructure. Highlighted below, you'll see that one of Steve's "solutions" to our complaints is that the residents be forced to pay for sewer lining upon sale of their homes. Pay now, or pay later. You'll be paying, and, most likely when you're most vulnerable, needing to sell. And, imagine the impact on our already depressed real estate market. Friends, neighbors, you've got to speak up, now!

Please remember that for most of us, there is nothing wrong with our sanitary lateral lines -- our plumbers come out and rod them from time to time to remove tree roots. They don't suggest replacing, repairing, lining, because they know that no liner will ever withstand a tree root -- and, believe me, your plumber would love to tell you that you need an expensive repair, if you really needed it for your household or if your sanitary line was invading a neighbor's property. That simply isn't the case and I've discussed this with my plumber.

This is an HP infrastructure problem, a matter of how HP storm sewers function and impact on our property and, yes, interface with the sanitary lateral lines. Councilman Mandel and the rest of City Council need to focus on managing the HP budget to take care of infrastructure issues and not pawn them off on residents who already pay high taxes specifically for such things.

And, to anticipate Steve's response that everyone won't have to pay for sewer lining, just the homes with "broken" sanitary sewer lines, just remember, the City's definition of broken is whether the line as ever been invaded by tree roots. In HP, as a Tree City, almost everyone has had tree roots at one time or another. Open that checkbook!

June 23, 2011

Steve Mandel to Debra Rade

e-mail

Debra,

Again, the work that was done on the sanitary sewer program was with unprecedented subsidies, a low interest loan provided, and the a negotiated price with one contractor offered to everybody through the fine work of our staff.

While many other residents through out the city have repaired or had to install brand new sewers on their private property over the past 20 years, none of them had the costs reduced and subsidized as we did in this program. We went the extra mile to help you comply with the law.

The fact that we could change policies and laws in the future does not mean that old policies were bad or I'll conceived, it just means that we might try a different approach and change the policy.

As you know, I had proposed we change our policy in Ravinia and look for other ways to accomplish our goals... That does not mean that people with broken sewers would not be required to fix them. It could mean they are required to fix them upon sale. It could mean more or less participation from the city.... There could be new technology to change outcomes that could facilitate a change in policy.

The bottom line here Debra is that the city council made the decision they did with the communities best interest in mind and it was not a mistake. Policies and laws have changed quite often over the years but I have never recalled us refunding money for private repairs due to policy change.

Economics have hurt all of us over the past 3 years and the idea to not stress our residents at this point in time was a change in policy that was generated by the change in Economics. I would be very surprised to see any current or future City Council refund public money to you for work on your private property. As a matter of fact it could be illegal and I would think extremely unlikely.

You can share my words with whomever you wish... As a matter of fact I will probably write about this matter in my blog and send it to the 1000 people on my list for their feedback. I don't fault you for your advocacy but I am troubled by the tone of your past rhetoric and claims of some wrong done to you by our city.

We will continue on refining our policies and laws to fit the time, technology, and our priorities. Our consideration of our residents individually and as a whole will always be foremost on our minds......

Steve

Do the right thing. Reimburse the residents. Now.

2011-06-24T19:16:00.001-05:00

For those of you waiting with bated breath for my response to Councilman Mandel's reply to me, posted earlier today, it follows here in whole. Frankly, it was great to get a reply from Councilman Mandel -- it was the first time we heard from him on the issue, even though my brother was writing to all the Councilmen in City Hall on the subject since 2007! At least we now have a better idea of where he stands.

Please do take the time to read Councilman Mandel's reply. Now is also a good time to let him know your opinion. He is our elected representative...

As always, your comments are most welcome.

PS This will be my last posting today. New blog posting will resume on on Sunday, when I'll post Council Mandel's response to the following e-mail. Yes, there's more. Will try to keep you up to date. .

Sent: Thu, Jun 23, 2011 4:22 pm

Subject: Reimbursing Residents for the Failed Sanitary Sewer Program

Dear Councilman Mandel,

First, thank you for taking the time to reply as a Councilman to my letter to Mayor Rotering, copied to all City Councilmen. It’s good to see our elected officials articulate their positions.

Please be assured that the statements in my previous letter concerning your position on the Master Plan for Storm & Sanitary Sewers (“the Sewer Program”) was based directly on your own communications with my family.

In August 2007, my brother, David Rade, wrote his first letter in a series of letters/e-mails to Mayor Belsky, with copies of all to City Councilmen, to complain about the Sewer Program, particularly with regard to the inequitable treatment of residents, the extraordinary cost, the coercion by lien, the demand that residents agree to undefined repairs with undefined expense, the requirement they provide indemnifications to the City and to the contractor and their neighbors for work done solely at the City’s direction, with the City’s contractor, etc. Frankly, there were so many flaws to the Sanitary Program and the manner it was implemented, so many insults to residents, and callous disregard for them, that it would take too long to cover it all here. You and the rest of City Council, particularly the new Councilmen, can easily access the history through the Mayor’s and David Limardi’s office, and some of that correspondence and relative facts are posted on the Down the Drain in HP blog.

Throughout nearly four years of correspondence, only Mayor Belsky and former Councilman Mike Brenner responded in writing. Only Mike Brenner, and much later, Nancy Rotering, called David to ask questions about his letters, to demonstrate an active interest, and approached his correspondence with an open mind, in learning how this single resident viewed the program. (We did not know then how many others had also complained to David Limardi’s office, their complaints also falling on deaf ears - needed a FOIA search for that.)

I believe David’s last e-mail to Mayor Belsky, copied to all, was on October 27, 2010 (see attached PDF). Only after three years of this series of e-mails sent by David to the Mayor and Councilmen, did you finally send David a response -- on October 30, copied to David Limardi and Scott Levenfeld only, as follows:

“David,

Nothing is a no brainer…..No. 1-- just because I oppose this continued program does not mean it is public or Council policy No. 2—just because we change public policy does not mean it is retro active.

If that were the case my parents should get back the money they paid for a public street being paved (Ridge Road). That is also not our policy anymore for us improving arterials……. and that was a public improvement, not on private property.

Now, I say all of this because I am 100% behind the policy change but I am not sure about your second request for reimbursement….. Don’t fry me yet since I have not vetted that issue.. but is far from a no-brainer to me. Hey, I also finally got my taxes reduced from them doubling them but that did not save me from the years I was unfairly taxed… Can I hire you to get that reimbursement?

Call me if you want to talk further.
Steve Mandel
847.456.6933”

If you are unhappy with what I wrote, look to the response you sent to my brother, who has been working diligently for three years to gain reimbursement for all the residents of Highland Park, including himself, while City Council ignored him and other residents who had complained.. Frankly, you responded with a “life isn’t fair” type response to a resident on mission to ensure that all residents are treated appropriately and fairly. We’ve always expected that HP Councilmen are on that mission too in making our voting decisions.

Yesterday’s response will be shared with others interested in this issue. Many of them remember you running for election the last time, promising that you were not supportive of the Sewer Program. Three years later, nothing has been done. Indeed, most residents in Ravinia thought the program was dead and were shocked to learn it was merely “on hiatus.” They will be interested to learn that you believe the program was a “huge success” and that, even if it isn’t, your position is that the 45 unlucky targeted residents for 2008 should pay for an expense that thousands of others will not have to pay, except in increments of less of than $10.

Just yesterday, I received an e-mail from a highly articulate Ravinia resident encouraging me to point out to City Council that:

· There has been no quantitative measurement of success for those neighborhoods where the program has been implemented;

· The City has not sought additional/alternate funding sources to pay for the Sewer Program (if the City decides to move ahead with it), as promised by David Limardi at the public meetings of irate residents at the Public Works building; and,

· It does not appear that the City has changed the way in which it handles improvements to the main and lateral junctions for current infrastructure projects, potentially damaging the very laterals the residents are then asked to improve.

Huge success? Maybe Mr. Limardi, former Mayor Belsky and you think so. If anyone else on City Council thinks so, he should let me know, preferably in writing, so I can share it on the blog and with the interested residents – or, better yet, they can post their positions directly to the blog. We need to hold our Councilmen accountable.

Finally, I suggest you take the time to read the AECOM report, attached. It may help you understand the technical issues as well as options considered by other communities. Frankly, a report like this should have been required by City Council before the Sewer Program was voted on. In any event, the report is actually issued by the same folks who helped Mr. Limardi design the Sewer Program in the first place. After the public meetings with the RNA, the City agreed to get a third opinion. This hardly qualifies as an unbiased opinion, but you will find that, as stated in my previous letter, it is a useful document and notes that no other community in Northern Illinois forced individual residents to pay for this.

I hope that all the new members of City Council will look at these issues with fresh eyes, and not just rely on Mr. Limardi and Mary Anderson to explain it to them – they certainly didn’t do a good job of it when questioned at the Public Works meetings set up for the RNA in 2008. Also, I am available to sit down with you and the others at any time to talk about the Sewer Program.

In any event, the issue of reimbursement is quite separate. The City of Highland Park NEVER should have required individual residents to pay for unnecessary “repairs” to their private property to address a City infrastructure problem. The residents should have their payments refunded immediately.

Your e-mail response notwithstanding, this is not a personal matter with you. Our family is among your constituents. Your constituents need to be heard and represented. This is important City business. I certainly respect your contributions to Highland Park and your long service on the City Council. This is a single issue that continues to deserve your reconsideration and all the good work you’ve done does not detract from the fact that you’re very off base here. Do the right thing, reimburse the residents, now, with the new found money in the reserves.

Respectfully yours,

Debra

PS With regard to your parting and unnecessary comment that I should run for office if I want to change city policy: It is your job, as Councilman and oft times Mayor Pro Tem to listen to your constituents in setting appropriate city policies and laws. My brother has done an extraordinary job of fighting for equitable treatment for all, and I've been proud to support him in doing the right thing. It is a shame that either of us and the Ravinia Neighborhood Association has had to work so hard and so long for such little success with our representatives. Three years after the two meetings with the RNA, three years after promises were made and not kept, nothing has been done to address the underlying issues other than place them "on hiatus." Steve, I'm doing a good job of being an constituent. I'm looking for you and the others to change the policy and to do the right thing. That's your job, you know that...

Councilman Mandel: Sewer Program a "Huge Success"

2011-06-24T09:50:00.000-05:00

Haven't heard back from Mayor Rotering yet, although am confident she will reply in due course with her considered response. I remain hopeful that she will live up to her campaign stances.

Meanwhile, Councilman Mandel responded promptly, on June 22, copied to City Hall and the others on my initial list. His response is provided in full, without comment. Wishing to avoid you having to read too much in any one sitting, my response to this e-mail will be provided later today.

In the meantime, please provide your comments directly to the Mayor and your City Council representatives, hopefully sharing your comments with us on the blog. If necessary, the blog will publish comments anonymously, but only if you provide us with your name and address and we can verify you are a "real resident" here. There may be some who fear commenting on this issue publicly, especially from the many who do, or wish to do, business with the City. Nonetheless, their voices should be heard...

E-MAIL FROM COUNCILMAN STEVE MANDEL TO DEBRA RADE, 6/22/2011

"Thank you Debra for representing my position of why I am opposed to funding…NOT! My parents are not the only folks over the years that have been made to pay for public improvements. There have been thousands of residents that helped build the PUBLIC streets that we all drive on. I do resent your tone on suggesting that my logic is based on a personal matter and find it extremely offensive. You could not be more incorrect. I spent countless hours on this issue working for resolution and you have a lot of nerve writing off my opinion on a personal note….

Now, YOU’RE not even asking for reimbursement of a public improvement that is owned by the City of Highland Park. You are asking for reimbursement of a PRIVATE line that was leaking and causing back up in other people’s homes because of massive water infiltration that was overloading the lines from broken pipes like yours. And many folks in Sherwood forest (many more that 45) spent money on their laterals and private lines due to flooding issues without the city subsidy that you received.

Even though I personally requested we put the program on hold and asked that we look at changing our policy, the policy which caused you to fix your broken sewer line was the opinion of the entire council without one no vote. This decision was based on factual data presented by the staff and was enacted to protect the citizens that had basements that were flooding. The City has also spent millions of dollars of all of our taxpayer money in your and other effected neighborhoods. We instituted a master plan to address these matters across the city and continue to have a robust spending policy to deal with flooding.

Finally the program was not a failure, and quite the contrary a huge success since many that were having water issues are now without flooded basements. Sorry you’re so upset but please do not represent my thoughts for me. If you want to change city policy, run for office and see how well your rant is accepted by the voters.

Steve"

Time to reimburse the residents, without delay....

2011-06-23T17:33:00.001-05:00

Following is a letter sent to Mayor Nancy Rotering, with copies to the entire City Council, requesting that she take action now to reimburse the 45+ residents who paid $237,046 (in the aggregate) for unnecessary "repairs" on their private property based on the City's threat of lien and other financial penalties. This blog will keep readers updated with responses.

June 22, 2011

Dear Mayor Rotering:

It was reported last week that the City of Highland Park has discovered it has $1.73 million more in its reserves than had been reported at year end 2010. This provides the City with a final audited reserve of $13,153,861 - a more than ample reserve of 45.6% of its projected expenditures for the current fiscal year. Now is the time to reimburse the 45 residents who paid, in the aggregate, more than $237,000 - and there can be no excuse for delay.

More than three years ago the Rade family vigorously objected to the City of Highland Park about the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers (a program that has also been known as the Neighborhood Sewer Program and is referred to in this letter as the "Sewer Program.") This formal complaint to Mayor Belsky, the entire City Council, and City Manager fell, and continues to fall, on largely deaf ears. My brother David's family wrote a check, under coercion and threat of lien, to the City for $4,591.53. It was so marked. However, starting in November 2008, when the Ravinia Neighborhood Association (RNA) stood up to David Limardi, Mayor Belsky and the whole of City Council in public forums, their voices were heard and more effective. We thank our neighbors in Ravinia for taking an active stand against this patently inequitable, ill-conceived, and financially destructive program.

No one in City Council should understand better than you how poorly conceived this program is. It was this issue that began to propel your own political career in Highland Park. You became a vocal opponent of the program early on, attending the public forums and speaking out. Your opposition to this program was an essential part of your platform in your successful races for your seat as a Councilman and later as Mayor. Yet, after you were elected to City Council in 2009, and now as mayor in 2011 , it seems this issue remains under the sewer covers, without an advocate. It is time for you to take action and resolve, once and for all, the Sewer Program that, according to former Mayor Belsky, has merely been on "hiatus" waiting for a better economy (and, can there ever be an economy in which individual residents can afford to pay $5,000-$20,000+ for unnecessary "repairs"?).

More importantly, it is time to reimburse the 45 residents, including some former residents who were scalped before they sold their homes, who were coerced into paying, in the aggregate, more than $237,000 for unnecessary, questionable "repairs" to lateral sanitary lines on their private property.

As you are familiar with the issue, I will not detail all the facts and issues here, other than to remind you that the Down the Drain in HP blog covers the whole saga. In addition to the serious fmancial harm done to those who have paid up to $12,000+ for sewer lining really intended to benefit City infrastructure problems, there is the continuing issue that homeowners in Highland Park should be disclosing this very real potential financial liability whenever they attempt to sell their property which should seriously further depress the City's real estate market. Any homeowner who has ever had their sewer rodded will need to inform a potential buyer of the City's current Sewer Program and that the real estate may soon incur a substantial expense.

Please let me know as soon as possible what action you will take to ensure that the 45 residents are immediately reimbursed for their payments to the City of Highland Park in 2008. I assume that most of the residents would accept repayment in full now, without seeking appropriate interest, even though the City as part of its initial coercive plan had threatened to charge homeowners interest for failure to pay. Additionally, what is your schedule for removing the Sewer Program from its "hiatus" and terminating it, as well as designing an appropriate program to address flooding issues?

We're looking to you, as Highland Park's new mayor, to finally do the right thing. While you told everyone at the RNA meeting at the Ravinia Train station during your race for the office that you will only be one voice among many councilmen, we look to you for some true leadership.

Respectfully yours,

Debra S. Rade

Copies to: City Councilmen, David Limardi (City Manager), Donald Miller (President, Ravinia Neighborhood Association)

(It should be noted that the sum of$12,000 is referenced based on the HP list for 2008 that HP provided to me in response to a FOIA request. I have heard from others, not on the list, that they have been required to pay sums of up to $20,000.)

City finds $1.73 million but still hasn't reimbursed residents $237,046

2011-06-17T15:32:00.012-05:00

The Highland Park Patch reported “good news” this week. Seems Highland Park has found some real money. At the last City Council meeting, it was disclosed that the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report – Highland Park’s audited financial statement for 2010- revealed that HP had a larger fund balance than projected. Instead of the $11,423,899 projected (or was it reported), the final audited amount was $13,153,861 according to Finance Director Elizabeth Holleb. So, what does this mean?

That’s a “finding” of $1,729,962 that HP unintentionally didn’t spend last year. According to the report, the unreserved, undesignated fund balance in the general fund at December 31, 2010, “represents 45.6% of the 2011 general fund operating expenditures, exceeding the City’s policy guidelines set by the Council for budgetary and planning purposes.”

Yes, in general, it is mighty good to find an additional $1.73 million in your purse. Pretty soon, you’re talking real money… Yet, this also begs additional questions and raises a fine opportunity for the City of Highland Park to correct a terrible inequity it foisted on certain residents.

Let us not forget that 47 HIGHLAND PARK RESIDENTS PAID $237,046 TO THE CITY OF HP UNDER COERCION for unnecessary "repairs" to lateral sanitary sewer lines performed on their private property to address City infrastructure problems. Let us also not forget that these residents allowed this work to be done only because of coercion and threat by the City, and that the Master Neighborhood Sewer Program still exists and could be assessed against other residents at any time. The residents who paid need to be reimbursed (unless you talk to Councilman Steven Mandel who is clearly on record as being unwilling to do so) and the good news is that the City of Highland Park just found the money pay them back and still retain $1.5 million in its coffers from the new found money!

During the recent mayoral elections and 2011 budget discussions, former Councilman Terri Olian raised the possibility of repayment to these residents but questioned how and when the payments could be made without adversely affecting the budget. Candidate Nancy Rotering, now Mayor Rotering, when asked about reimbursing these residents, told the group at the Ravinia Train Station that while she was supportive of reimbursing these residents, as mayor she would only be just one voice among all the councilmen, that she could not promise reimbursement if she were elected.

Well, Mayor Rotering, you’re elected, and in large part due to the support of the Ravinia Neighborhood Association, primarily because of your criticism and willingness to stand up during the fiasco in 2008 and 2009 with regard to the Master Sanitary Sewer Program. Now it's time for you to show real leadership and address this program head on. City Council needs to immediately reimburse these 47 HP residents who have suffered significant financial damage at the hands of City Council, led by City Manager, David Limardi, who ignored everyone’s complaints about the program and pleas throughout.

The good news is that City Council now has “found money” to reimburse these residents and to put this shameful period in this fine city behind us. The City has the funds to cut a check today. Do it!

And, to Mayor Nancy, you were elected to right these wrongs, so we’d like to hold you accountable for getting this done. You need to talk with the councilmen and secure their agreement, at least by a majority, to do this -- that's what leadership is all about. You're not just another councilman now, you're the Mayor!

And, we’ll leave for another day the questions about what budgeted expenses, approved by the City Council, weren't fulfilled to result in a “surprise” net $1.73 million; whether there were any accounting irregularities that caused this budget surprise; how the City’s auditors are selected (as in, do we bid this work out and do we want any City service vendors to have less than 15% women partners?), and other fine questions that arise whenever we’re treated to budget surprises, favorable or unfavorable. Of course, we like the good news surprises better.

Be sure to vote for...

2011-04-04T15:01:00.004-05:00

If you haven’t voted already, you need to get out and vote.

More than five months ago, I had asked everyone to refrain from supporting a candidate until she would “officially support and deliver to the [47] HP residents who have been treated so inequitably by the City and the Program and who have already been coerced to pay sums of approximately $5000-$20,000 [in the aggregate $247,000] during the worst economic environment most can recall.” After all, both candidates currently sit on City Council and have been a position throughout these past 5 months to demonstrate that actions are more important than words.

Friends have been asking me for a recommendation on voting and I steadfastly refused to take a stance. Last week, after voting, I began to share my opinion with friends. Terri Olian and Nancy Rotering both have many virtues and have run fine campaigns. Each is extremely bright, professional, articulate and well informed. Highland Park will continue to fare well with either of them as the next Mayor. I am not in one “camp.” I’d like to see both of them continue to serve the City of Highland Park for as long as they have passion and dedication to work on behalf of all residents. My vote last week reflected a desire for that outcome.

Single issue voting is not my style. Yet, I do believe we learned a lot about how the City is managed, how City Council operates, and about the candidates just from examining the history and status of the Sanitary Sewer Program currently "on hiatus."

Does one vote for the candidate who:

· voted in the Neighborhood Sanitary Sewer Program (which was a terrible mistake) yet who listened to community complaints and actively changed her position?

Or…

· who was elected to City Council after the Program was in place and who has consistently been outspoken against it, yet who appears to have taken no official action since 2009 to rectify the problem?

Style is a matter of preference and we may each view this differently.

Yes, I remain concerned that Terri, along with Mayor Belsky and the rest of City Council, voted for the Sanitary Sewer Program. Their actions were detrimental to all HP residents. The Mayor and City Council rely too heavily on David Limardi, our City Manager, responsible for this poorly conceived and inequitable program that was designed with complete disregard for the financial burden on individual residents. Yes, one of Nancy’s strengths as a candidate is that she has said she would address this problem.

Yet, at a recent budget meeting, Terri raised the question of planning for the reimbursement of the 47 HP residents. It takes a lot of personal strength to change one’s position on a program. Too many politicians won’t budge from their original positions. Not only did Terri change her position, she took action. When she suggested that the 2011 budget address reimbursement for the 47 residents, not a single other Councilman supported her. Steve Mandel was reported to have been vociferously against reimbursement (and we should definitely remember this when his term is up in 2013!) and no one else spoke up. That “no one” inexplicably includes Nancy Rotering. (And, I verified the facts by checking with another attendee.)

I asked Nancy about this and she explained she hadn’t said anything because it was late in the budget committee meeting, and that Terri had raised it in an inappropriate forum (in the budget committee rather than on the agenda for City Council). Yet, it wouldn’t take much time for Nancy to have said, “While this isn’t the appropriate forum, and we shouldn't discuss it here, I agree with this in principle and City Council needs to address and fix this problem!” Any brief supportive utterance would have given the issue momentum. In the absence of one other voice, the issue fell into the abyss again.

Nancy’s term on City Council began in 2009 (and ends in 2013) and since arriving, to the best of my knowledge, she has done nothing official to address the Neighborhood Sanitary Sewer Program.

At the Ravinia Train Station candidate evening last week, I asked the candidates whether they would commit to getting the 47 HP residents reimbursed. Nancy replied that she couldn’t commit to this because she has only one vote, just like everyone else on City Council.

From my perspective a candidate who may make a mistake but who is open to criticism and change is preferable to one who agrees with me but takes no action. This may not reflect your own thoughts.

We need a mayor who will lead City Council. Critical thinkers are vital to the success of City Council, however, criticism without action isn't leadership.

It would be a terrible shame to lose Terri Olian’s contributions to City Council – her term is up in 2011. She is in touch with pulse of the City, knows all the facts, figures, relevant history, and is responsive to residents. As a former chairman of HP’s Design Review Commission, I had the opportunity to work with Terri. She has unbounded energy and dedication to Highland Park’s success and future. Her term is over in 2011 and we simply cannot afford to lose her. She also epitomizes HP’s “Six Pillars of Character”. She walks the talk.

I hope you’ll consider this information when you cast your vote the next mayor of HP, the City Councilmen candidates and all the other important races and referendums. I look forward to meeting with whomever HP residents choose to ensure that the 47 are reimbursed, and to preventing the rest of us from receiving the letter demanding we pay $5,000-$10,000+ for unnecessary repairs. And, yes, I had sincerely hoped that both of these candidates would have taken care of Neighborhood Sanitary Sewer Program a long, long time ago.

Photo from Highland Park Patch link used in blog entry.

47 HP residents paid $237,046 to the City of Highland Park under coercion…

2011-01-17T14:52:00.006-06:00

The City of Highland Park finally provided documents in response to a request based on the Freedom of Information Act. While I thank the City for turning around these documents fairly quickly with only a delay of a week, and for sending them by e-mail in a PDF (making this very convenient) and for waiving the costs (actually very much appreciated), frankly, I know it is missing some documents. So I'll take that up separately with the City.

Meanwhile, based on the 43 pages they delivered, we learned the following:

In 2008, 47 HP residents were billed and/or paid in the aggregate $237,046 for City of Highland Park infrastructure improvements.
$5043 was the average invoice for unnecessary repairs to sanitary lateral sewer lines on these residents' private property for the alleged benefit of enhancing the City's sewer infrastructure.
The highest amount on the list was $7044.77 for repairs to a sanitary lateral sewer line on private property for a Ridgewood Drive address.
The least amount paid by an involved HP resident was $2079.12 for property on Sherwood Avenue.
Here were the streets involved in the initial onslaught against HP residents:

Audubon Place	1
Brook Road	2
Clifton Avenue	6
Harvard Court	3
Hill Street	5
Hyacinth Place	1
Ridgewood Drive	15
Sherwood Avenue	1
Sumac Road	1
Summit Avenue	2
Sunset Road	2
University Avenue	5
Western Avenue	1

In addition to the above table of current HP residents, it appears that bills were issued to and paid by two former HP residents, one that moved to Riverwoods and the other to Winthrop Harbor, who paid $4989.60 and $5,498.84, respectively. As we have advised previously in this blog, the City's demand letter arrives at your door with no warning. So, while we haven't spoken with these former HP residents yet, the ill-conceived Sanitary Sewer Program doesn't allow you to budget for these (unnecessary) repairs. And, if you have already entered into a sales contract with a buyer and you then receive the demand letter, your purchaser is going to make you pay for those repairs (unless you agree otherwise and, frankly, what purchaser would agree to absorb the costs of an unnecessary expense?). However, there is documentation that includes frantic e-mailing that goes back and forth between the HP resident who is trying to close on his house sale and the City's John Welch. The correspondence goes on and on and on…and, clearly, the closing was complicated by this inane Sanitary Sewer Program. In any event, the seller likely walked away with $4989.60 less than he anticipated, not including the additional legal expenses he likely incurred with his real estate lawyer.

We were also provided some documentation of residents who were opposed to the Sanitary Sewer Program and/or who ended up with a sanitary lateral sewer line problem after the "repairs" – problems that did not exist before them. We'll cover some of that correspondence in this blog in the days ahead.

It's not just a question anymore of whether the Sanitary Sewer Program should be abandoned. We can see that our City Council adopted this program proposed by David Limardi with the least amount of personal investigation and debate. That's bad enough. However, we need to address the fact that there are real Highland Park residents who have suffered substantial economic harm as a result of this program and who have been treated, not just disrespectfully, but inequitably by the City. They deserve their money back and they deserve it now.

Please help your fellow HP residents while you are helping protect your own hard earned cash. Insist that the City of Highland Park reimburse each one of these individuals now. Don't support any mayoral candidate until she steps up today to do the right thing. If she won't do the right thing before the election, what makes you think she will do the right thing afterward? And, if neither of them will step up to do so today, then we need to look for other leadership to be on the ballot.

Are you on the City's lists...?

2010-12-30T16:25:00.005-06:00

Thought you'd like to know that we wrote to the City Clerk of Highland Park yesterday to formally request public records concerning the "Master Plan for Storm & Sanitary Sewers" (also known as the Sanitary Sewer Program). We're looking for lists of all the HP residents who were charged by the City under the Program to date (2007 & 2008) and who were next on the target list (2009 through current). With this information we can start focusing on getting reimbursement for everyone and alerting people about what is about to hit them as soon as the Program goes "off hiatus."

We have also requested copies of correspondence from HP residents who complained to the City, including the Mayor, City Councilmen, the City Manager and anyone at Public Works about the Program. It will be interesting to learn how many of you have been ignored. Can it only be our family?

PS If you ever have other records you're interested in, here's the hyperlink to the City's Request for Public Records, Official Request Form (under the Freedom of Information Act/FOIA).

Hey Big Spender! Spend It All on Your Sanitary Lateral Lines!

2010-12-27T16:28:00.001-06:00

This blog identified on November 11, 2010 that, in July 2009, AECOM reported to the City of HP that many other municipalities in Northern Illinois were addressing city infrastructure flooding problems by implementing programs to repair sanitary laterals along with sanitary sewer mains. We pointed out that the community of Downer's Grove pays for any lateral repairs, unlike HP that puts the large cost directly on you.

Moving through the AECOM report, let's now look at Naperville, IL. According to AECOM, Naperville inspects sanitary laterals and identifies those that they "recommend" need repair. ("Recommend" – what a nice word! In HP it is demanded upon penalty of having a lien placed against your home.)

Naperville then enters into an agreement with the property owner to repair the lateral all the way to the residence. ALL WORK IS PAID FOR BY NAPERVILLE. Accordingly to AECOM, "the City points to a reduction in wastewater flows to their treatment plant, and ultimately a reduction in treatment costs as an indication of program success."

So how is that our City Manager, David Limardi, had recommended to City Hall, that individual residents pay for all sanitary sewer lateral repairs? How is it possible that Mayor Belsky and ALL the Councilmen then voted in favor of having targeted individual residents pay for sanitary sewer lateral repairs? Why is it that your elected officials in Highland Park decide YOU have to pay for repairs to enhance the City infrastructure while other communities know that the municipality needs to budget for this?

Could it be that your City Councilmen just don't care about you? Or do they hold you in such high esteem that they think you are all wealthy enough to write out a $5,000-20,000 check whenever they send you a mailing?

One thing we DO know. City Council was aware of this report in July 2009, 6 months after vigorous neighborhood complaints on the subject. It's now nearly January 2011. And not a single Councilman has acted to address this inequitable program that targets you as big spenders. Worse yet, when mayoral candidate Terri Olian finally did bring up the issue at the recent budget meetings, she was a lone voice. There wasn't one single Councilman who was supportive of her proposal. They were all silent or voiced their objection to reimbursing the people who were already coerced into paying upon threat of an enforceable lien.

Please talk to the mayoral candidates and tell them you need to see action NOW!! And, tell the City Council candidates that they need to take a stand now. Don't support anyone unless their actions confirm their opposition to targeting individual residents for the Sanitary Sewer Program. Do this before it is too late, before you get your letter from the City demanding payment. The program may be "on hiatus" but it is very much alive.

If you'd like your own copy of the AECOM report, write me at downthedraininhp@gmail.com and provide your e-mail address. Thank you!

Your comments...

2010-12-23T07:47:00.004-06:00

This blog does get comments from time to time, even from Mayor Belsky, and I'm not sure if everyone can find them. They trail the various posts (some under "archive") and in teeny-tiny Googleblog letters, if a comment was left, there is a place to click to read them. You can also subscribe to the blog and the comments individually directly in the right hand column.

Dan offered a helpful comment last night. "Couple questions: 1) what's the best way to express our concerns to the candidates; and 2) I don't know Steve Mandel so why is it not surprising he wouldn't want to reimburse those who have already paid in?" Dan is clearly a strategic thinker and person of action!

1) Lots of ways to express our opinion thanks to social media and the fact that we're a rather small city.

If you don't want to go through all the technical and other details, you merely need to tell the candidates that you support Debra's position on the Sanitary Sewer Program and that you will not support a mayoral candidate who does not actively work now to fix this situation before the election. They will understand. They will be sympathetic. Tell them that this isn't enough, that you want to see action now.

You can:

Send a message: Both candidates have Facebook pages: Nancy's and Terri's. If you'd rather deliver your thoughts more directly, Terri's email address: terri@olianformayor.com and Nancy's: Nancy@FriendsofNancy.com. They also have websites.
Call them (I just don't want to publish their home numbers but they are in the book...)
Talk to them when they visit your home. Nancy showed up at my home a few weeks ago in the cold!
Let them know when you run into them at Sunset Foods and other stores.

Let the blog know if you contact them and what their response is. If you do not wish to be published, that will be respected. If you need my personal e-mail address, that will be provided if you leave a comment on the blog and request it.

2) Why wasn't it wasn't a surprise that Steve Mandel was a vocal opponent of Terri Olian's brave position at the budget meeting that the Councilmen address the issue of reimbursement in planning for 2011?

My brother has been writing City Councilmen for more than two years now. Until recently, Steve never even responded to those letters. (And neither did any other Councilman, except for Michael Brenner.) In November, Steve finally sent an e-mail in response David's umpty-ninth correspondence that demanded reimbursement.

Steve responded that he is opposed to the continuation of the Sanitary Sewer Program, although for the past two years he has done nothing to place it on the agenda and get rid of it. (Actions speak louder than words.)

However, Steve further told my brother that he was opposed to reimbursing the residents who already paid for this unsupportable Program. Seems that years ago Steve's parents had to pay for Ridge Road being paved, and that they weren't going to get their money back just because it is not the City's policy anymore with regard to improving arterial roads. He ended his e-mail with a something that purported to be an analogy stating that if he (Steve) was able to get his taxes reduced from them being doubled, that would not save him from the years he was unfairly taxed.

I guess Councilman Mandel thinks the City should operate under the principle that "oh, well, life is tough, it isn't fair, get over it." He did nothing to respond to the complaints before my brother and other HP residents were targeted as individual residents, and has done nothing since. And, now, that these targeted residents have been relieved of their hard earned cash (remember, we're talking $5000-20,000) upon threat of a lien for a program he no longer supports (at least in theory), it is no surprise that he opposed Terri Olian when she raised the question of reimbursement. (The fact that he also supports Nancy Rotering as the candidate may also weigh into his vocal opposition at that meeting, but, who knows?)

BTW, we do give Steve Mandel credit for finally replying to my brother's e-mail. Shortly afterward, Nancy Rotering called my brother. Terri Olian and I had a long chat about the issue. There remain three other Councilmen who in nearly three years have never responded once to any of the letters sent to City Hall with copies to them.

You can reach Steve Mandel at stevemandel@comcast.net. He is most welcome to articulate his position in a comment to this blog.

Actions speak louder than words...

2010-12-22T23:18:00.006-06:00

Make no mistake. We should not support any mayoral candidate who does not act NOW, BEFORE the election, to repeal the Master Sanitary Sewer Program with regard to requiring individual residents to bear the financial burden for improving the infrastructure of the City of Highland Park. We should not support any mayoral candidate does not act NOW, BEFORE the election, to reimburse the residents who were coerced by the City into paying thousands of dollars for this ill conceived and inequitable City program. Withhold your support until you see real concrete action.

I have had the opportunity to discuss this stance with candidates Terri Olian and Nancy Rodkin Rotering. While Highland Park is lucky to have two such fine, dedicated and competent mayoral candidates, it appears that neither of them will take the requisite action to squarely place this issue on the agenda for a City Council meeting before the election, and to fight to protect individual HP residents from the risk of receiving the City letter requiring them to pay $5,000-20,000 within weeks thereafter. This makes it highly doubtful that either will do anything about it afterward. So, perhaps we need another candidate to step in…

However, as the greatest journey begins with a single step, we should take note that candidate Terri Olian did step up recently at a budget committee meeting and publicly raised the significance of the issue for discussion, suggesting that the budget should include reimbursement of payments to the residents who have already thousands of dollars for repairs to their lateral sanitary lines as required by Sanitary Sewer Program. Terri was formerly in favor of the Sanitary Sewer Plan yet, I believe, she now sees that it had a negative effect on many individual residents - that it is inequitable and the program is unsupportable. It takes a big person to change one’s stance and she showed real leadership to bring up the issue. Thank you, very much, Terri! It was a fine first step and truly much appreciated. Yet, the issue really needs to get on the City Council agenda and you need to fight it there. You should find a lot of people who will support you in that endeavor.

I was not at the budget meeting. Yet, I’ve been told that after Terri proposed the residents be repaid all the other Councilmen were either opposed to reimbursement or remained silent. It was reported that Steve Mandel was vocal in his opposition and that came as no surprise. With no positive support from any other Councilman, Terri is unlikely to fight alone. Yet, if the residents make it clear that this issue is important to them, Terri will listen and act.

I asked Nancy Rotering why she was silent at this meeting. She replied that the budget meeting was the wrong place to bring up issue and, especially, because Terri raised the issue late in the day after hours of work. I understand tired and also that there is a right time and place for all important ideas. But frankly, I don’t think it takes much effort to say, “I agree with you, Terri, and think that reimbursing the residents for the Sanitary Sewer Program should be placed on the City Council agenda, where it belongs, as soon as possible.” I just don’t understand your silence, Nancy, on this important issue.

Silence from all, except for Steve Mandel who is clearly opposed to reimbursing any resident who was forced to pay for this inequitable program. Silence from very same City Councilmen who in the last election assured Ravinia neighbors that they were opposed to the Sanitary Sewer Program. Shocking, unacceptable, and I sincerely hope they will be held accountable and definitely when their terms are up and they look for votes the next time. (Interestingly, Steve Mandel endorses Nancy Rotering for Mayor .)

We should note that Nancy voted against the 2011 HP Budget. In News from Nancy, Nancy articulates the reasons why she voted against the budget, using reserves and increasing taxes. It’s actually a useful report of her analysis of the major budgeting issues and her commitment to fiscal responsibility. However, nowhere in her report does she address the need to ensure that no resident is ever again coerced into paying thousands of dollars for City infrastructure repairs and that those who have been targeted should be reimbursed. Instead, she expresses her concerns about raising taxes by 2.5%. Some residents in Sunset Park and the Highlands paid thousands of dollars for infrastructure repairs. Wouldn’t most of us be happy to pay another $100 in taxes (far, far, far more than a 2.5% increase) to ensure that the City fixes flooding problems without ever showing up at our door and demanding $5,000-20,000 from any of us? A small price to pay...

We need a mayoral candidate that gets the big picture. Wouldn’t it be great if both of our candidates would do the right thing now?

Mayoral candidates, Councilmen, and residents are welcome to provide their positions on these issues and comment on the blog.

2010-11-11T18:02:00.003-06:00

As reported last week, we have to explore the intricacies of sanitary sewer programs once again. Not because most of us are particularly interested in such sewer repair, nor do we have time for it, but because the Mayor, City Councilmen and the City Manager have not been doing their job of looking out for us on the Sewer Program.

So, as we get into the muck once again, let’s see what's new since we met at the Public Works building in 2008...

It shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Highland Park isn't the only city to have an aging infrastructure. We asked for information about this at the meeting at the Public Works but no one could provide an answer then about comparisons with other communities. According to a report submitted to City Management in JULY 2009 by AECOM:

"many municipalities in Northern Illinois and the rest of the county are reducing inflow and infiltration (I/I) by implementing programs to repair sanitary laterals along with sanitary sewer mains. These programs vary from I/I identification only to full repair programs on private property. Determining factors for implementing a program includes lateral ownership and funding sources."

So let's look at Downer's Grove, today's example of how another community handles the sanitary lateral line infrastructure needs per the AECOM report:

"property owner owns sanitary lateral up to the mainline sewer. The Village targets selective neighborhoods for lateral inspections and repair if necessary. The Village then pays for any lateral repairs…”

Hmmm. Downers Grove Village management knows where to place the financial burden for infrastructure. The City of Highland Park doesn’t. Amazing!

AECOM provided other examples of communities who pay for repairs to laterals or who develop other funding mechanisms for it. Yes, they also point out other communities that require individual residents to pay for sanitary lateral line repairs, but let's just say for now that if you want to move to a community that forces individual residents to pay for repairs, you can move to Austin, Texas.

A couple of other thoughts today…

The AECOM report was issued to the City in July 2009. Why is the Sewer Program "on hiatus" until an undetermined time in 2011 for budget discussions? There is enough in this report to know that many other communities do NOT require individual residents to pay. How much time does it take for the City Council to say "we'll fix the sewers but without targeting individual residents to pay"? That’s a 15 minute agenda item, especially when so many HP Councilman sought our votes based on their opposition to the Sewer Program. It is is nearly two years later and they have done nothing but put the program on a hiatus!!!

o City Council can leave the budget discussions to 2011 to determine how the CITY is going to budget for these improvements, but the Councilmen should go on record now and vote to eliminate the provision requiring individual residents to pay and to reimburse the residents who were previously coerced into paying.

If the City had the AECOM report in July 2009, why didn't they provide it directly to residents who had complained? Even if they didn't know everyone who attended the SRO only meetings at the Public Works building, they certainly should have provided this info, in a timely way, to the people whom they knew and who were easily accessible and we could shared with others.

Finally, this blog allows for comments. The Mayor (who had previously posted a comment prior to this second round on the Sanitary Sewer Program - thank you, Mayor Mike!), Councilmen, and City management are especially encouraged to provide comments and go on record with where you stand. All readers, whether you agree or disagree are encouraged to join in the dialogue.

Withhold Your Support for a New Mayor Until...

2010-11-04T14:05:00.007-05:00

Did you know that we’re still down the drain in HP? News to you?

Many of us, especially those in the Ravinia neighborhood, believed that the “Neighborhood Sanitary Sewer Repair Program (‘the Sewer Program’)”was D-E-A-D. Seems we were misinformed, misled. It is very much alive and Mayor Belsky has reinforced that the program has “merit and benefit” to the City. He has indicated that the Sewer program is merely on “hiatus during the economic downturn” and that is will be “discussed in the 2011 budget workshops.” Not dead at all. Alive, kicking and waiting to impolitely knock on your door to demand $5,000-$20,000 of your own savings. If you don’t have any savings, you can either get a loan for it (assuming you are credit worthy in this fine economy) or the City will place an enforceable lien on your property. If you just bought your house in HP, or are just about to sell it, that doesn’t matter (except you better disclose this liability as a seller). That’s the way it is going to be, for sure, if you don’t take action now to stop it.

We now have a unique and strategic opportunity to make things right and conclusively. Mayor Michael Belsky has decided not to run for mayor of HP again. I’m sure we’d all like to thank Mike for his dedication throughout his years of service to this community and some of the extraordinary achievements of the City during his leadership – but this would not include his continued support of the Sewer Program.

With Mayor Belsky’s decision not to run for re-election, we have an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and to tell our mayoral and City Council candidates that we will simply not support or vote for any candidate unless he or she takes a firm and vocal stand against the Sewer Program in its present form that requires individual residents to pay (in any proportion, in whole or in part) for work on their own private property sanitary lines to correct and/or compensate for HP infrastructure problems.

This City must find another way to pay for the infrastructure improvements. The burden simply should not have been placed directly on certain individual residents. From the outset, this was an awful recommendation by the City Manager in complete and total disregard of the impact on the individual residents. It was inexplicably adopted by City Council compounding the error in judgment.

Additionally, you should require your candidate to officially support and deliver reimbursement to the HP residents who have been treated so inequitably by the City and the Program and who have already been coerced to pay sums of approximately $5000-$20,000 during the worst economic environment most can recall.

By the way, if you have ever had your sanitary sewer line rodded, that is considered by the City to be prima facie evidence that you will be liable to pay for “repair” of the line under this Sewer Program (and don’t you think you need to disclose this to any home buyers?). They will knock on your door.

If you haven’t been already, you’ll be contacted soon by candidates to seek support. Don’t give it until you receive a firm commitment to correct this problem and terminate the Sewer Program with regard to individual resident payments. So far, according to the Pioneer Press, the only declared candidates are already in City Council, so require them to take action now. No need to ask for commitments and wait for the election. Seeing is believing. Tell them to put the matter to a vote now. See who votes, how they vote, and what their leadership talents are. Let’s not forget that in the last City Council election certain candidates represented to us that they were opposed the Sewer Program – and you know who they are. What action have they taken? None. Zip. Zero. Remember this for future elections.

Indeed, only former City Councilman Michael Brenner responded diligently, respectfully and with interest to my brother’s complaints to City Hall from the outset. Virtually all of the other City Councilmen ignored my brother’s complaints to City Council about the Sewer Program in 2007 and to date. We don’t even know how many other resident complaints they ignored as well. It was unfortunate that Councilman Brenner lost the last election, especially in light of the fact of the unfounded claims made by other candidates. Still, it is not too late for everyone on City Council to step up and do the right thing now, before the election, to prove their good faith. And we need to encourage them and to keep them focused on getting it done.

Please join me in drawing a line in the sand, No support, no vote for any candidate that does not fix the Sewer Program by terminating the requirement that it be paid for by individual residents. No support, no vote for any candidate that does not immediately call for the reimbursement to HP residents for the considerable sums they paid for work on their own private property to address a City of HP infrastructure problem.

Questions? Comments?

PS Please subscribe to this blog. I don’t have time to write much or often but I will be providing additional information on this issue from time to time. Please stay in touch!

Tearing down the concrete wall...

2009-09-02T23:08:00.007-05:00

It's always great to share good news! While I wasn't able to attend today's meeting at the City of Highland Park, Adair Fell provided me with an initial brief report on the meeting. The signal tower will not be built at the original location on the east side of the tracks. Instead, according to Adair,

"the tower structure location is to be moved from the head of Cherokee and replaced with a much smaller foot print on the east side of the tracks. The metal shed can be placed about two feet off the ground next to the underpass. Best materials available will be used to hide the shed and make it blend in with surroundings. There will be signal poles at the track level. There are poles there now that will be removed, and a pole on each side of the tracks will take their place.

The present concrete structure will be removed and everything that has been cleared will be replaced, planting, sodding , etc."

Adair also shared with various residents that at the meeting today, Tom Zaplar, Director of Public Affairs & Metra Relations said they had made a "grievous mistake."

It's good to know that a group of residents can get together and make a difference!

While I'm happy to know that the signal tower won't be in the Fell's and Fishhaut's side yard, I am concerned about it being flopped over to the other side of the underpass. There are residents across the street and, yes, there are still children and families using the underpass. According to Adair, Nancy Rotering, Councilman, sees things the same way and told the group that she did not feel that having the shed anywhere near the underpass would be safe for children.

The report is that the Union Pacific said they would take another look at the plans for the project to see how much leeway there was for moving to another site. One of the Union Pacific engineers said that if the Braeside Station Parking Lot could accommodate their requirements, they would move the site there. I still don't have a clue why they can't move the tower in to Cook County. I'd encourage everyone to write Mr. Zaplar and confirm that this signal tower needs to be moved south, as in Cook County.

In any event, even if the outcome is not completely known yet, there was an important victory today with regard to maintaining the lovely Braeside neighborhood just west of the underpass. While the Metra wasn't respectful of HP residential property at the outset, it has demonstrated good faith by stating it will take down the existing concrete that was just erected and that they will clean up the site with appropriate landscaping. I'm looking forward to seeing these improvements soon, especially since that area has looked so bad for so long. Thank you to the Metra for responding to the neighborhood complaints.

Congratulations to Adair for her extraordinary and successful efforts to eliminate the signal tower at the west side of the overpass. Well done!

A City of HP eyesore...why does it need federal assistance?

2009-08-30T13:24:00.014-05:00

"When one has to go to a U.S. Congressman to seek relief from something going on in one's own backyard, it tells you something is really wrong with our fair town, HP."

This response to my blog and the extraordinary efforts of Adair and Happy Fell says it all.

Our City manager didn't take up the issue in the first place, and now our Mayor assures the neighbors that he'll place a call to Congressman Kirk, or that David Limardi will. I know that Congressman Kirk is always responsive to our local needs, but he has an important job to do at another level. Shouldn't HP be able to handle this on its own? Where is the strength of the City?

Yes, the railroad has certain federal rights but cooperating with the neighbors is nothing new for them. The City worked with the railroad to move the train station south. The City worked with the railroad to improve the station at Braeside. Why now is the City so perplexed about how to take care of this inappropriate,unsightly and potentially dangerous signal tower at the underpass on Cherokee road? The answer rests at the door of the City Manager upon whom the Mayor and the City Council rely so heavily.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so the first of a series of photos of the construction site is included today. (How would you like that mess facing you for the last several months? How disrespectful of the Metra to the neighborhood!) Just imagine, atop this very poorly constructed and unsightly concrete base, a metal signal tower, chain link fence, etc., towering over residential property and beckoning to the children who pass by to conquer it. And our City Manager thinks this can be resolved with a little landscaping...?

BTW, Adair informs me that former councilman Mike Brenner stopped by and will see what he can do to help. Still responsive to and working on behalf of residents -- that's Mike.

For those of you writing letters of support that Adair can send to "the powers that be"...please be sure to note that just south of Lake Cook Road is non-residential property much better suited for a signal tower (assuming a signal tower is really needed).

In case you haven't noticed, there is a voting poll opportunity on this blog. Please take the time to place your vote on this poll, if you're a HP resident. Also, comments are welcome. You can find the link for comments just below the end of this entry.

How would you like a new signal tower in your front yard?

2009-08-27T23:18:00.009-05:00

Down the Drain in HP was started as blog to address the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers and the serious lack of professionalism, consideration and responsiveness from the City Manager and his office, as well as City Council, to residents and their complaints. In a future blog, I will return to the status of the Master Sanitary Sewer Plan, specifically that the City has not taken one step to correct its mistake and to reimburse individual residents for the thousands of dollars they were coerced to pay for that ill-conceived, unnecessary and inequitable plan.

Today, there is another issue of relevance to HP residents, including the Ravinia and Braeside neighborhoods. Here, again, is another instance of residents complaining to the City Manager’s office and being treated with disregard leaving the concerned residents with no choice but to appeal to City Council.

For the last several months, at least since spring, there has been a construction mess at underpass at Cherokee Road, where so many families go to access the Ravinia Festival or Braeside School, or the Green Bay Road Trail. (Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo right now.) Throughout the spring and summer, there has been standing water to the north and south of the sidewalk as a result of some blockage of water flow. (It looks so bad, even my thirsty dog won't try to drink that water.) There is gravel and other construction material strewn about the area. It has been an eyesore and, most likely, a public health issue for months.

Adair and Harold “Happy” Fell and Tina and Rick Fishhaut live closest to this construction and have also complained to the City Manager about the Northwestern/Metra constructing a large tower at this prominent location. It appears their initial complaints fell on deaf ears, as they needed to escalate this to the City Council. Thanks to the Fells and Fishhauts, nine neighbors went to the last City Hall meeting to share their concerns and appeal for the City to oppose this construction. Turns out there will be a concrete base (in place now) with a metal shed, fencing and a signal pole to be placed on the top in the coming weeks. The concrete base is sitting at the sidewalk level adjacent to the underpass. A wire fence will enclose the upper portion. The shed on top of the base will make the overall structure 15’ high (not including the light pole) and 17’ wide. It will not be missed and, most likely, cannot be hidden by landscaping.

As Adair points out, this will be an eyesore and a potential safety hazard for curious children. It will likely have a negative impact on the neighborhood and property values. Shouldn’t the City Manager’s office have been concerned about this construction even without residents complaining? Isn't this what we expect from the City and its professional management?

Yet, it is apparent from the information distributed by these neighbors that their initial complaints to Mr. Limardi were ignored. Why does it take the mobilization of 9 neighbors to stand before City Council before the City Manager’s office does the right thing for our neighborhoods? Adair advises that Mayor Belsky asked for the Corporation Counsel to research ways to deal with the railroad on the issue. Surely this is not the first time the City of HP has had discussions and negotiations with the railroad. Why don't they just make a call first? The Council asked Mr. Limardi to contact a high level railroad official, and make it clear that this issue is relevant to the Council. Couldn’t Mr. Limardi have done this when the Fells first contacted him? Did he have an opportunity to complain about this construction from the outset? It's my understanding that no construction takes place in this city without first notifying Public Works, even for the railroad easments. Clearly this construction spilled over onto HP property.

According to Adair, Mr. Limardi’s response at the City Hall meeting was that he suggested that since the base for the structure was already in place, the best they might hope for is landscaping. Aren't you underwhelmed at Mr. Limardi’s lack of zealous representation of HP? Does he think a few trees might adequately hide a 15' by 17' structure? Is he not concerned about the children passing through this underpass every day? Perhaps Mr. Limardi could do a better job if he were the one living in this construction mess for months, and if it were his property being devalued by a large signal tower in his front yard. It’s really time for the HP residents to step up and say that it is unacceptable to have a City Manager who doesn’t care about your front yard and your property values. When will City Council act to change this situation and ensure that we have a City Manager who cares about and is responsive to residents?

Let’s thank Adair and Happy, and Tina and Rick, for being vigilant about their neighborhood. If you’d like to learn more about this issue and how you can help, you can contact Adair at fell.adair@gmail.com. Let’s look forward to an appropriate resolution of this matter – preferably a signal tower that is placed in an area that will not be an attractive nuisance to children or an eyesore, and perhaps not in HP at all.

The House on Clifton Responds to City Hall, August 27, 2007

2008-12-29T22:31:00.008-06:00

The plan was to give the readers exact copies of letters with the simple double click of a hyperlink. After finding that the Google Docs technology did not work as anticipated with regard to sharing PDFs, the next adventure will be through Adobe. Meanwhile, readers have not been able to access the documents referred to yesterday. Very frustrating!

So, while still trying to fix this technical glitch, following is a "cut and paste" version of the first letter my brother sent to the City of Highland Park, after receiving the City's demand that he sign a "Temporary License." The letter was addressed to Mary Anderson, with copies to Mayor Belsky, all City Councilmen and the Corporation Counsel. If this is your first visit to the blog, please be sure to go back and read previous entries. Thanks for taking the time to be informed. Please share your comments.

From the home on Clifton Avenue to:

Ms. Mary Anderson August 27, 2007
Director of Public Works
City of Highland Park
1150 Half Day Road
Highland Park, IL 60035

Dear Ms. Anderson,

The City of Highland Park and the Department of Public Works have notified me in various mailings that repair work related to storm sewers and “sanitary service lines” is being planned for the Sunset Woods neighborhood and a few other select neighborhoods. I have serious concerns and objections about the work that is planned, apparently now contracted, and the way it has been “proposed” to various homeowners by the City of Highland Park and Department of Public Works. As it appears that the City Council voted on many of the related issues, Mayor Michael Belsky and the City Council members are copied on this letter, as well as the Corporation Counsel.

I, and other homeowners as a class, have been told that our service lines need to be repaired based on tests that were conducted; and that we as the homeowners must bear at least 80% of the financial burden of paying for those repairs. To date, we have never been told specifically the results and findings of the “testing,” house by house, the nature of the specific problem with our particular line, where it was in the line, and precisely what work would be done to correct the problem if a city contractor performed the work.

With the original notification, not only were we not told the specifics of the problem, the City had not yet selected a contractor (one must assume this is done by competitive bidding but information about the bidders has not been shared with homeowners) who would outline the nature the of the work to be done for each line, for each homeowner, and provide a specific and detailed bill for the anticipated work. Detailed information about those bids is relevant to the homeowners, as each repair may differ, and especially if resident homeowners wish to contract with any other service provider at less cost.

The City of Highland Park has provided only very limited information, without any detail to which we are entitled. Individual homeowners were originally informed only that they would be held financially responsible for some undefined “sanitary service line work” contracted by the City to be done on our respective private properties. Furthermore, we were originally informed that we would be required to sign a “Temporary License for Sanitary Sewer Testing and Repair Work” (“Temporary License”). This license agreement was little more than an unreasonable blanket waiver of all rights and claims against, and a complete indemnification of, the City and the contractors. The demand was made with the threat against the homeowners that, should they not sign this agreement on the City’s schedule, they would suffer from a “violation notice with [a] time frame to correct and no City cost share” as well as “fines and penalties which may include water shutoff.” Serious demands, serious threats – all without the City providing a stitch of relevant information to the homeowners about cost, results of testing, or specifics concerning individual properties.

One doubts whether the Mayor or any member of the City Council has received such a notice for their own homes. If any have, one could only question their judgment and knowledge of the way a city government should work for the benefit of its residents. Further, the initial message sent to the taxpaying voters and homeowners of the Highlands, Ridgeway and Sunset Woods focused on “financing options” including “1) payment in full at the time of improvements; 2) property owner-secured home equity financing; 3) the City-subsidized low interest loan program available through the First Bank of Highland Park.” (How was the First Bank of Highland Park chosen over other area banks? Who decided on the percentage of the loan? The City again has not been forthcoming and we have a right to expect answers.) The amount of these costs remained a mystery through several letters to these homeowners, until, finally, in an August 15, 2007 letter – within 15 days of the date in which the City demands a return of the “Temporary License” -- the City reveals to the homeowner a glimpse of financial burden: “We understand an exact amount may not be known, however the City feels no individual service repair will exceed $10,000.”

In case the City has not been paying attention to the news, there is a serious credit problem in the housing market now. Homes are losing their value. Credit is crunched. How many residents will be pushed over the edge based on this unreasonable demand for unbudgeted and unanticipated expenses demanded by the City?

Whom should the homeowner trust to ensure that the (as yet unspecified) work is done properly and for fair value? The City which has apparently bungled this matter from the outset? The audacity of requesting that residents sign a waiver and indemnify the City was just a small part of the mismanagement of this issue. Fortunately, it seems that other residents spoke up and the City has now backed off from that thoughtless, capricious and unfair demand – which until a few days ago had the imprimatur of City Hall and the threat of penalties and water shut off for refusal to sign.

I hope that my fellow residents of Highland Park will reject this action taken by the City, based on the inherent unfairness of the proposal, as well as its lack of specific information and the considerable financial burden that will be placed on homeowners for making these repairs.

The City needs to have a historic perspective on the issues at hand. When my parents built the home at xxxx Clifton Avenue during 1954/55, the home, including its sanitary system, was built according to City code. From the time the house was built, there were serious issues and problems pertaining to storm and sanitary sewers in Sunset Woods and several other neighborhoods in the City. Year after year, my parents paid their taxes, asked for relief and infrastructure appropriate for our neighborhood yet these issues were neglected by the City. This is a situation which many of my fellow neighbors throughout the City are very familiar with in their neighborhoods, with their homes, particularly those who’ve been a part of this community for many years. I have been the tax paying owner of the house for many years and I and my neighbors deserve to be treated fairly, and not by fiat. The City should have budgeted to address the storm and sanitary sewers rather than foist, what the City calls, this “unexpected expenditure” on individual homeowners.

Indeed, instead of the City resolving the issues with taxes, it continues to allow the builders to increase the density of Highland Park beyond the ability of the infrastructure to absorb the increased population. And, it has allowed for more impervious surfaces, more houses, condominiums, commercial development, parking lots, placing greater demands on streets, sanitary lines, storm sewers, flood plains. It requires new and remodeled homes to hook up to the storm sewers. It is hardly equitable that the City is going to homeowners of older properties and demanding that we bear the financial responsibility for this management of storm sewers. The work to be done is intended to benefit the whole and the whole should pay for it.

It is inappropriate to demand that residents sign agreements and proceed with significant financial decisions based on a lack of information. Please provide the results of the testing done at my property, describe the work to be done, provide an accurate estimate for it which any reputable contractor would have provided by now and disclose the contractor(s), so I can call others to seek other bids.

I also request that you provide the names and contact information for all homeowners who have been contacted by the City with regard to these repairs. If the City Council does not take care of these issues, it will be appropriate to reach out to everyone who is affected by the City’s demands.

The residents of Highland Park deserve a plan for infrastructure that’s equitable, not an ad hoc “plan,” hastily construed, that’s imposed without regard to what’s fair and reasonable. When the City of Highland Park provides the requested and specific information for our home (and would expect no less for our fellow homeowners) and can answer some of the troubling questions raised, I will then decide the best alternatives to pursue concerning repairs.

Sincerely,
XXXXXX

Cc: Mayor Michael Belsky; Council Members: Michael Brenner, Terri Olian, Scott Levenfeld, Steven Mandel, Lawrence Silberman, James Kirsch; Corporation Counsel, Steven Elrod.

Open your checkbook, the City “feels” it won’t cost you more than $10,000…

2008-12-29T18:12:00.007-06:00

So, let's get started with correspondence between the City of HP and "Clifton Avenue" in Sunset Park.

[After publishing the blog entry today, the blogger finds that google.com/docs does not allow for unrestricted viewing of PDF documents. Accordingly, some of the hyperlinks below will not work. So, if you would like access to them, you'll need to send me an e-mail at downthedraininhp@gmail.com to request access that will be gladly given. The blogger will respect your privacy, will not develop a mailing list from requests, and will not share the e-mail addresses with anyone absent a court order. If anyone has a better idea of how to post the correspondence, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll start to copy the language for you soon.]

On August 15, 2007, the house on Clifton received a letter from City Hall to notify the resident that the City of HP had "awarded a contract to Performance Pipelining Incorporated…expected to begin repair work in September and finish late October or early November." The letter stated that, "at the homeowners request," City staff had explored creating a Special Service Area (SSA) as alternative funding. It is reasonable to infer from this August 15 letter that residents had already complained to the City about charging residents directly for infrastructure repairs and for placing upon the homeowners such a large, unanticipated and unbudgeted expense.

Staff determined that a SSA was not feasible, which makes sense if the plan affects the entire municipality. Yet, it appears in the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers that certain neighborhoods had been "targeted." (Is it just a coincidence that no neighborhoods east of the railway tracks had been targeted, even though they contain some of the oldest homes and infrastructure in HP?)

We have not been able to access information concerning complaints made to the City about the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers, being told that this can be acquired only through a FOIA request. Another fine example of City Hall's practice of divide and conquer – if you can't access other residents' complaints, you may think you're the only one who wants to challenge City Hall, determine it is futile and just sign whatever they want.

Clifton Avenue was told that there were three financing options: payment in full at the time of improvements, 2) property owner secured home equity financing and 3) a City subsidized low interest loan program available through the First Bank of Highland Park. A fourth alternative was mentioned as possibly being "available in the near future" with regard to the City's Low Income Program. Ultimately, this may have been the enforceable lien for the full amount of the project [N.B., the lien was always "offered" as an alternative for paying 100% of the work to be done, and not as an option for use with the 80-20% (resident-City) split].

In the August 15 letter, there was another request for the Temporary License to be signed within about two weeks, returned by August 31. Notably there wasn't any specific description of anything wrong with the sanitary lateral line at the Clifton Avenue address, nor the work to be done there. The amount to be paid was not provided. Signing and returning the Temporary License to the City of Highland Park would be like signing a check without filling in the amount and allowing the recipient to plug in any figure he'd like – ultimately, the City could charge any amount it wanted. Of course, the City stated in the August 15 letter that it "feels no individual repair service repair will exceed $10,000." Is this how the City Manager, David Limardi, and the City Council manages City funds – on how it FEELS?—or does it just work that way with your money? Who authorizes substantial and costly work on the basis of a guesstimate? And, in speaking with someone at Sunset Foods, I heard of a family that moved into a house and suddenly was required to pay close to $25,000 or be faced with a City lien. I can't say for sure this was a result of the Master Plan, but my friend thought so and, in any event, what a painful welcome to Highland Park upon buying your new home. After all, it's not as if the home inspection people routinely examine your sanitary lateral lines.

The City demanded that the resident sign the (initial, later revised) "Temporary License for Sanitary Sewer Testing and Repair Work" without specifying the type of repair to be done. The license referred to this as "by either open excavation and/or trenchless technology." The resident was required to waive and release any claims ("known and unknown") against the City and Performance Pipelining for any harm caused to the homeowner's property. So, if they did work that caused a bigger problem or flooded your home, well, that's your problem, not the City's. Further, if that wasn't unreasonable enough, the resident had to "indemnify, hold harmless and defend the City," the Mayor, the City Councilmen and all the other people involved in perpetrating the Master Plan. It's a good time to ask the Corporation Counsel, Mr. Elrod… whom do you think you are representing? We'll leave that issue for another day. In any event, numerous HP residents signed the Temporary License in its original form, no doubt feeling that they couldn't "fight City Hall" and upon threat of having a lien placed on their property.

In response to receiving the City's demand, my brother issued a letter to Mary Anderson, with a copy to the Mayor and City Council. Take a look at his August 31, 2007 letter. You'll find in it virtually all of the questions and objections raised by the Ravinia neighbors more than a year later in December 2008.

Please take the time to read my brother's detailed August 31, 2007 letter, which was written on behalf of all HP residents. This is a brief quote it:

"The residents of Highland Park deserve a plan for infrastructure that's equitable, not an ad hoc "plan," hastily construed, that's imposed without regard to what's fair and reasonable. When the City of Highland Park provides the requested and specific information for our home (and would expect no less for our fellow homeowners) and can answer some of the troubling questions raised, I will then decide the best alternatives to pursue concerning repairs."

If you sent a letter to the City of Highland Park in response to the Master Plan, please let me know, and it can be posted on this site.

In the next blog entry, we'll take a look into the City Hall's lame response. Thanks for staying tuned.

Oh, by the way, it was 2007 when the City "felt" it wouldn't cost more than $10,000. It seems the top line will be much higher in 2009...wonder what they "feel" it is now?

Reading the Highland Park “News”

2008-12-28T10:30:00.005-06:00

If you think the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers is dead, not so. It's alive and kicking, still in the hands of all the same people who didn't care about how it would affect you or your finances in the first place.

On December 18, 2008, the Highland Park News finally did a little reporting on the "Sewer Project." Where was the Highland Park News at the December 3 meeting when City Hall was so anxious about the complaints from irate residents that it called the Highland Park Police for crowd control? Where was the Highland Park News the next night when David Limardi and Mayor Belsky couldn't answer simple questions asked by the Ravinia neighbors about the Master Plan? It seems that unless City Hall provides the HP News with a written report, it just isn't news to them. Don't you think the HP News should take an interest in this community and get out once in a while and actually attend a meeting and talk with people other than the City Manager and the Mayor?

The HP News report stated that "the project would have required residents to chip in as much as $4000 to replace leaking sanitary laterals…" We've got news for the HP News: $4,000 was the minimum, and $10,000 is rapidly becoming the new minimum (a price increase most likely courtesy of the City Manager having a "single source provider" who just to happened to be the only contractor who could meet the bidding requirements), and most of the sanitary laterals aren't the problem. The sanitary laterals aren't the cause of a problem, the City's storm sewers are invading the resident's sanitary sewers and they have not yet been upgraded. Does HP News seems to print only the pap spoon fed to them by City Hall?

The HP News did get one thing right. City Hall has only deferred its plan to spend your savings. They may well circle back to the remaining residents who haven't paid up yet. The plan is on the shelf but City Hall is only waiting to go back and create a report to justify their sewer folly. The City remains interested in coercing you to follow their plan, even if that results in placing a lien on your home, a "financing alternative" proudly offered by Mayor Belsky at the December 4 meeting. The HP News reported that the City "plans to collect more information on the effectiveness of the project and look for another bidder." They should just focus on collecting the essential information that should have been there prior to foisting the Master Plan on all of us.

The Mayor is quoted as saying ""We decided to take a step back from the project because of economic times and explore alternatives that might reduce costs." Mr. Mayor and City Council, and Mr. Limardi, those hard economic times were there when you started to implement the Master Plan – and even if the economy were on the right keel, all of this should have been done before three neighborhoods were forced to pay up for unnecessary repairs. Is rudimentary investigation done only when residents complain in volume?

It was surprising to read that the Mayor told that the HP News that the "program has been already implemented in three other neighborhoods in the city and has proven successful." One may ask the Mayor to tell us exactly, what is your definition of a successful program? Residents being coerced into paying thousands of dollars for repairs they did not want or need? What technical data is there that supports the assertion that this has been successful in any material way? Certainly none has been offered to any of those neighborhoods who have already shouldered an unnecessary and inappropriate economic burden, nor to the more recent Ravinia neighborhood complaints. And, even if it were technically successful, the issue remains that this is an economic burden to be paid by the community as a whole.

Those of us at the December 4 meeting know that neither City Manager Limardi or Mayor Belsky was able to sufficiently answer even basic questions raised by the Ravinia neighbors. This is exactly why the City told us they would go back to Earth-Tech. They needed to seek the answers that were missing from Earth-Tech's initial report. And, as reported previously in the blog, .it is just plain silly for City Hall to have proposed to go back to Earth-Tech which now has a vested interest in bolstering its previous work. If the City needs another opinion, it shouldn't be one where the consultant is told to support the previous consultant. An independent consultant, one chosen on the basis of expertise and from among several bidders, is required.

The HP News quotes Mayor Belsky: "We're not going to approach any individual household until we have exact cost. We're looking for any funding sources to help this neighborhood and help other neighborhoods as well." Good to hear, Mr. Mayor. Yet, for all the residents who have already been coerced to pay for the sanitary lateral lining, none of them were given an exact cost before they were required to sign the legal documents giving the City the authority to proceed – and they were threatened with a lien to gain compliance with the City's demand to sign a "Temporary License" that required them to waive basic legal rights for any harm caused to their property. And, as for alternative funding sources, why didn't Mr. Limardi seek them earlier? Why did City Council rubber stamp Mr. Limardi's plan? And, why didn't they all know that City infrastructure improvements are their responsibility and upgrades need to be planned and budgeting for payment from our taxes?

So, it's time we start looking at the real history of the Master Plan. For many HP residents, the Master Plan already tapped their financial resources. They have written the big check from savings or with a second or third mortgage. For the next few weeks, this blog will share with the readers the saga of the Master Plan and a representative home in Sunset Park. It's a modest home on a modest lot (approx. 55' x 160'). It just so happens to be my brother's home and I've deleted his name and contact info from the documents for his privacy, but the documents are accurate and complete otherwise.

While Mayor Belsky and the City Manager asserted on December 4 that they were surprised by the Ravinia neighborhood response, the fact is that these questions and complaints are not new. My brother began to complain about 1 ½ years ago and, on the basis of some of the correspondence, it seems he was not the only person to raise important issues, concerns and constructive criticism that landed on largely deaf ears.

Tomorrow, we will start to share the correspondence between the City of HP and the representative house in Sunset Park, the home where my brother and I were raised.

The Dialogue Begins with Your Comments....

2008-12-13T17:25:00.011-06:00

The Down the Drain in HP blog has started to receive some reader comments. Thank you!

For various reasons, not everyone who has sent comments wants to be published. Comments do not automatically get placed on the blog. The Blogger program requires an additional action to publish comments. So, if you intend to share information with this blogger but don't want to be published, you can either submit anonymously (which will be published without your name) or with a request that it not be published. If you're thinking about adding a comment, please do.

Also, if you subscribe to this blog, you'll be sure to get new editions as they are posted. You can do this on the right hand column under "subscribe" and "posts."

A neighbor informs us that a petition was circulated among the 2008-2009 residents affected by the sewer program. About 5 pages of signatures were acquired. The petition was then submitted to Council prior to the December 3 & 4 meetings. It is very impressive that this important initiative to gain signatures took place. Of course, it is also unacceptable that it was necessary to get those signatures because City Hall wouldn't listen to the many individual voices.

This petition was circulated by three people going door to door collecting signatures. (If you'd like a copy of the petition, please send the blog a request.) According to them, they didn't find one person in favor of the Master Plan. Not a surprise. They also found only a small number of people who had experienced flooded basements. From our perspective, there is more flooding going on in Highland Park than people want to acknowledge, most likely because they fear it will depreciate their home upon sale if flooding is admitted. We know and have been told by the City about the various sewers that are undersized.

In circulating the petition, they report finding that some neighbors were, in general, a little perplexed about the difference between storm sewers and sanitary sewers, especially with regard to flooding. We can explore these questions further but, in essence, if your basement floods with sanitary sewer water it smells a lot different than when it floods with storm water. Neither is appealing, both need disinfectant post flooding, but the sanitary sewers are really nasty because they are designed for human waste and to send water for treatment. The confusion between these two systems is exacerbated by our City Manager and the Mayor telling you that your sanitary sewers are flooding your next door neighbor's home, especially when you know that just isn't so.

It is reported that one neighbor who had experienced sewer flooding purchased a $10 valve from the hardware store which solved his basement sewer flooding issue. "Imagine that - no consultants needed!"

Great minds thinking alike, we just installed a check valve and a standpipe in our basement for a lot more than $10 yet for a very small fraction of the cost associated with the City Hall's Master Plan. Please note, this was not to repair a sanitary sewer problem, because it doesn't exist. We paid for this installation in an effort to protect our home from the City's undersized storm sewers. It is assumed that the proud owner of a $10 check valve was doing the same. (We're not recommending the check valve or the standpipe from either of the hyperlinked sites. They hyperlinks are provided as a convenience only and we've no experience with these products. Also, in our house, there hasn't been enough experience to know if it will work when needed.)

The anonymous commenter concluded: "I agree that despite the City's approach to take a year off to 'convince us' that this is the right thing to do, we need to continue to be a unified voice in the community." Well said!

Again, thanks for reading the blog and all of your comments!

Ravinia Neighbors, Bravo!

2008-12-11T07:39:00.006-06:00

On Tuesday, I received an important call from Councilman Mike Brenner who provided me with a brief update on the status of the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers.

By way of background, Councilman Brenner is the only member of City Council who responded directly and immediately last year to my brother in response to his letters, on behalf of all HP residents, to the Mayor and the full City Council protesting the fairness and soundness of the Master Plan. For those of us who attended the December 4 meeting at the Public Works building, you may recall that the Mayor indicated a level of surprise about the issues raised by the Ravinia residents. Yet most of those complaints and questions were clearly articulated in my brother's letters to the Mayor and City Council more than a year ago. (Those letters will be posted as soon.)

So, no other City Councilman called my brother to discuss the issues with him, or wrote him a response. The Mayor sent a letter to support the Master Plan in every respect. He did not call to further inquire about the facts or to engage in a discussion. He did remind my brother that the City would place a lien on his home for failure to comply. Except for Councilman Brenner, they all remained staunchly confident that the Master Plan should move forward "as is."

So, we send our thanks to Councilman Brenner who got involved in this subject and was responsive when no others were, and who didn’t need to wait until there were 100 angry residents to see some of the flaws in the Master Plan as illuminated by my brother’s letters. This is what we expect from our Councilmen, regardless of agreement or outcome. Responsiveness and accountability.

This week Councilman Brenner informed me that, at last Monday’s City Council Meeting, the Council decided to place the Master Plan on hold and reassess the issues. He indicated that everyone is now on board (at least they seem to be). We’ll look forward to reviewing the minutes of the meeting. Perhaps those of you who watched and/or attended the meeting would like to share what you heard by adding a comment. Councilmen are welcome, as this blog is for everyone interested in good City governance.

Councilman Brenner also indicated that the City will look into whether to reimburse the citizens who already paid with their personal checks under the Master Plan and what the mechanisms for paying them back might be. Let’s hope that the citizens in the Highlands and Sunset Park - the people who were coerced to pay for City Council's ill conceived scheme - will become active and let their voices be heard.

The City Council’s decision is all because of you – our neighbors in Ravinia. You vociferously objected to a wrong and made yourselves heard about your rights. Bravo, Ravinia neighbors, bravo! You have made a huge difference in the future of our community.

Just don’t stop now…and stay involved, active and vigilant because the Master Plan isn’t exactly dead. You heard at the Public Works meeting last week that the City was returning to Earth Tech to seek answers to the simple questions you asked. Tell the City it is unacceptable to pay this same company to review their own work, especially when it seems that their first report was so lacking in the answers to the questions any homeowner would ask - at least we can base this perspective on inability of the City Manager to answer the questions based on the existing Earth Tech report. The City should hire an independent consultant and not one chosen by our City Manager, David Limardi, who was the major proponent and implementer of this poorly designed and mismanaged Master Plan. The new consultant should be chosen among several viable bidders to review the work done to date and help assess the future with your review and input. (We can note here that we've been told that Performance Pipeline was the only bidder to meet the City Manager's specifications for doing the sewer repairs. Certainly one would expect at least 3 bids for any City project, unless the bid has been designed for a single provider.)

Now that we're not in the crisis mode of homeowners having to shell out $3,500-25,000+ from their personal savings or obtain a new loan, the challenge for us is to not sit back and forget about the Master Plan. Our City Manager and City Hall ignored the voices of many individual homeowners and ignored their valid objections. It seems they listen only when there is an organized group of citizens with enough people to vote as a block against them. Tell the City Manager, the Mayor and our Councilmen that you expect nothing less of them than fundamental respect for HP residents and responsiveness when they have a complaint. Respect and Accountability in the City where character counts!

We also should recognize that stepping back from the Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers is a big, if not historic, step for the Mayor and City Council. While it is difficult to understand how they decided to adopt this plan that was so unsupportable in the first place, and how they managed to ignore the various individual citizens who complained about its inherent unfairness and baseless technical justification, we should acknowledge that they were good enough to stop and think now, and we can thank them for being willing to set another, and hopefully, better course. Thank you to our Mayor and City Council - we look forward to working with you in a constructive manner.

It is a learning experience for all of us.

The Mayor and City Council should confine itself to developing budgets that spend tax dollars, and not your savings.

We, the citizens and residents, need to speak up when something is inherently wrong. We can, and do, make a difference.

And one more thing we should all know by now. The City needs new management. The Mayor and the Councilmen need to be supported by an administration that cares about and respects the residents. Time to speak up. Time for change!

The Big, Dirty, Open Secret

2008-12-07T22:35:00.016-06:00

It's the big, dirty, and open secret in Highland Park that our City Hall has flown under the radar. Yes, the topic has been on agendas. Yes, the City's plan has been published. Yet, you just didn't know to pay attention because it was never presented to you with the most salient information. And, you can’t afford not to know about it, unless, of course, you have a spare $10,000 or more and you're eager to contribute it to the City’s infrastructure.

It's the "Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers" and if you didn't know about it until now, you'd surely find out much later -- and, unfortunately, when it may be too late to right the wrong, when you'll need to write a check, get a loan or have a lien placed against your home by the City of Highland Park. Sadly for some, they may need to sell their homes as a result of being forced out of Highland Park by the Master Plan.

Still, the issue remains under the radar, even though there was a big meeting about it on December 3, 2008, and, again, on December 4, at the Public Works Building, with about 100+ upset residents there. You haven't heard about it in the Highland Park News, dedicated to publishing all news that City Hall provides. Yet, on one day in mid-November, it made a brief appearance in the Chicago Tribune. We send our thanks to Janice McLeran for "raising a stink" about this.

Among those of us who are now in the know, we were introduced to the Master Plan scheme by opening a shocking letter from the City demanding we write a check and make undefined and unnecessary repairs to our lateral sanitary sewers. We're the people in the Highlands, Sunset Park, and Ravinia neighorhoods. Each neighborhood was hit separately at different times. Divide and conquer. You're next...

Yes, the big surprise of the “Master Plan for Storm and Sanitary Sewers” is that you get the bill – a direct invoice to your home. That’s right -- we’re not talking about your taxes paying for improvements to the City of Highland Park’s sewer system. We’re talking about you, personally. You get to open your checkbook twice -- your tax dollars will pay for 20% of the expense of repairing the lateral sanitary lines on your home. You then open the checkbook again to pay the remaining 80% from your savings, the proceeds of a loan, or the City places a lien on your home which could cause the sale of your home, along with your future. City Hall doesn't care where the payment comes from, as long as you're responsible for it.

If you’re thinking there isn't anything wrong with your lateral sanitary line, you're probably wrong. If you ever have your line rodded, the mere existence of those tree roots confirms that your sanitary lateral needs to be lined by a City of HP designated contractor. At least that is what our Public Works Department told us. Like most HP residents living in the Tree City, our home's sanitary line is rodded routinely. The result: we were coerced into paying nearly $5000 after being threatened with the placement of a lien on our home, possibly for 100% of the cost (far more than $5000) unless we agreed to sign various City documents which, at the time, included a requirement to indemnify the contractor and the City for any harm to our property arising from the construction (and we were unable at that time to get requested information about interest or possible foreclosure terms on that lien).

It seems that our City Manager, David Limardi, our Mayor and a majority of City Council came to the conclusion that the City isn’t responsible for its own infrastructure. The fact that the City has grown in density while the storm sewers haven’t been appropriately sized and improved seems to be your personal problem as a homeowner. Clearly, these expenses have not been paid by the developers who have reaped a mighty profit by replacing single family homes with extensive multiple family housing in our fair City.

These expenses fall on you even though your lateral sanitary line may be working fine. City Hall would tell you that your lateral is flooding the City's storm sewers and harming your neighbor. Yet, you know that your lateral isn't flooding anyone. It works fine and services your home. In reality, the perpetrator is the City's storm sewers and the City hasn't even made a dent on its own work in upgrading the storm sewers first.

We know there is a problem with storm sewer management. And, it may be possible that if all of our lateral sanitary lines were repaired there would be less flooding or, at least, less flooding impacted by the sanitary lines (although this assertion remains unclear and unproven by the City). The primary assertion of this blog is that the City should be paying for any infrastructure improvements through the taxes we pay, and from grants, bonds and/or other public funds -- not your checkbook. After all, this is a community-wide issue and the community as a whole needs to be responsible for it. That's why we pay taxes.

It seems that our City leadership is so removed from the realities of living on the North Shore that, not only do they mistakenly think you are supposed to pay for these infrastructure improvements, they think you have this money stashed in your checkbook and are ready to deliver it on demand. The Mayor is proud that, if you can't pay for this from your savings, he has arranged for you take another loan on your property. Consider the effect of taking out another loan on your credit ratings in this rocky or any other economy. Consider what you will not be able to buy for your family. And, for those who can't take on another loan, the Mayor offers another untenable solution -- the City can place a lien on your property. He seems to assume that your mortgage holder won’t mind, that the City won’t charge you interest, and that no foreclosure will ever take place, that you can keep that lien on your property for 50 years. Let's ask Corporation Counsel to share a copy of the City's lien and its terms.

We're working on gathering examples of letters shared between HP residents and the City with regard to the Master Plan.

This first blog entry is to provide some notice of the issues. The Master Plan deserves critical examination in a constructive manner. We hope you will share it with your neighbors. We hope the City will take advantage of the blog to present their point of you. The blog can be a place to start the dialogue. Free and open discourse is an important part of our City's values and our sense of community.

We need to remember that City's Organization Chart places the Citizens of Highland Park at the top of the chart, with Mayor and City Council reporting to us, and the City Manager reporting to the Mayor. As we know with all businesses, it is important to set the proper tone at the top.

To be continued...