Showing posts with label Ravinia Neighborhood Association. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ravinia Neighborhood Association. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Ravinia Festival’s Cash Cow – Crown Castle – Has Escaped to a Greener Pasture


You probably haven’t read in the Chicago Tribune, or any of the other local newspapers, about the outcome of the residents’ battle at City Hall over the Ravinia Festival Association’s (RFA’s) attempt to build a 1500 sq. ft. structure to house a “head-in” cellular hub for Crown Castle International Corp. – smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The structure was to provide connectivity for a proposed Distributed Antenna System (DAS) comprised of node antennae to be placed throughout Ravinia Park during concerts – which is still on the table and likely to be passed at the Plan and Design Commission meeting March 15, 2016.  Yet, the cellular hub would be used all year long to provide distribution services to all the major cellular phone providers, such as Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.  Both the RFA and the City of Highland Park asserted that the cellular hub structure was essential for public safety, while the residents in opposition denied this.

Frankly, some of our local newspapers seem determined to prevent residents from accessing news, unless the news has been issued directly from City Hall.  Consider that the Chicago Tribune published an article articulating the City’s support of Ravinia with their headline article, Fixing Ravinia Cell Logjam A Matter of Public Safety, Highland Park Mayor Says the very same day as the October 20, 2015 hearing at the Plan and Design Commission. Published before the meeting, not after. Not a single resident was interviewed for that article.  Yet when residents directly requested that the Tribune investigate and report on the issues further, the response was that this was too complex for the newspaper.  If our small city politics is too complex for the Chicago Tribune, heaven knows how they handle Chicago! 

To be fair, I waited a few weeks since City Hall notified Ravinia’s neighbors by letter about a crucial decision concerning the Ravinia’s proposed cellular hub to see if would be reported in the local press. Their report is simply not happening – likely because the City of Highland Park didn’t furnish the information as a press release – so here is all the news about the Ravinia Festival/Crown Castle Proposal that is fit to print but our local newspapers won’t deliver to you.

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In a surprise move, Crown Castle decided to take the “head-in” function – its cellular hub – out of Highland Park. It will lease space at an undisclosed location, according to reports, no new structure is planned. The Ravinia neighbors who fought the Ravinia Festival Assocation (RFA) and the City of Highland Park may claim this as a victory, as surely their tireless work at least resulted in several delays before the HP Plan and Design Commission, extending the process to nearly one full year.  

This is very good news for the Ravinia neighborhood (not to be confused with the Ravinia Neighbors Association that refused to assist the 60+ active Ravinia neighbors who opposed the RFA proposal). This is also a positive outcome for any Highland Parkers who care about Ravinia’s cultural and historic importance, as well as the environment and preserving open spaces.  Yet, overall, this is a monetary loss for Highland Park, and it didn’t have to be that way.  It could have been a win-win resolution if Highland Park had been more sophisticated and strategic. Ultimately, Crown Castle made its own decision without Highland Park.  Who can blame them? After all, providing cellular connectivity to Verizon, Spring, and AT&T is a very lucrative business and every day that cellular hub wasn’t up and running was costing them money – no matter how good the deal was that they struck with the RFA.  
 
The cellular hub never belonged on RFA property for several reasons, not the least of which was the moral, ethical, environmental and, perhaps, legal obligation to support the legacy of the RFA’s major benefactor, Mrs. Elsie Eckstein, who donated all the property subject to certain legal covenants. Without Mrs. Eckstein’s brilliant foresight and generosity, the RFA would likely have ceased to exist long ago.

When Elsie Eckstein gifted this prime and valuable land to the RFA, she prohibited the building of commercial property on it, requiring the new owner to maintain its natural open space as a park. She gave the property a distinct not for profit purpose. She didn’t give the land away so other people could make a profit on it. If that were her intent, the she could have sold the property to developers for residential or commercial purposes.  When Crown Castle abandoned Ravinia, the legacy of Elsie Eckstein was upheld, not by the Ravinia Festival Association, not by City Council, and not by the Ravinia Neighbors Association, but by the neighbors who live around the property.  They actively set out to preserve the unique history of our community, and were vigilant and tireless in defense of Ravinia as it should be.

The departure of Crown Castle is also good news for the neighbors, some of whom live as close as 230 feet (that’s less than a football field away) from where the cellular hub would have been built. Serious noise would have emanated from six five-ton HVAC units in the building, at least half of them running 7/24/365. There was another large noisy generator to be put into place on an outside cement block whenever power would go out.  The City never required Crown Castle to disclose the decibel levels for that generator that could run as long as several days based on past power outages in Highland Park.  It could have been deafening, yet no one protected those residents. Records indicated that neither the City nor the Plan and Design Commission was concerned that the nearest residents would have been subject to, at least, a decibel level equivalent to a living room conversation at all times, night and day. With Crown Castle out of Ravinia, these neighbors will now be able to continue enjoy their backyards and bedrooms without an incessant hum, and their property values will remain intact. They also so not have to worry about being bombarded with additional radiofrequency radiation, although the cellular hub would certainly have been installed according to federal standards. Still, who wants to live next to cellular hub?

What about our public safety problem?  Again good news – the absence of this cellular hub has no impact on safety whatsoever, even though Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said the DAS structure had to be built as a matter of public safety (see, News from Nancy and Chicago Tribune). Her public safety argument was that on busy RFA nights, later established to be 8-12 nights per year, the cell phone activity of Ravinia’s patrons overwhelms the nearby cell towers, compromising the ability for ambulances to communicate with the Hospital’s emergency room.  (We should note that city’s Fire and Police chiefs were unable to provide any documentation of this at the October 20 hearing, and, if it is so, the residents should be asking them to keep records to support public safety.)  Mayor Rotering reported that she personally approached Ravinia, along with the City Manager and the HP Fire and Police Chiefs, to address these safety concerns. In her press releases, she stated that the DAS system was simply the best solution and “to install the DAS, Ravinia will need to build a new building on its property.”  Not so.

As stated in my report on October 20, 2015, and as I testified at City Hall later that day, it was always clear the “head-in” cellular hub did not need to be on RFA property.  While the cellular hub needs to communicate with the DAS antennae nodes proposed to be placed throughout the entertainment section of Ravinia Park, the cellular hub could be off-site. It’s all about RF – Radio Frequency.  No cords, no cables, just RF. That’s why they call it wireless.

Exactly how far away can a cellular hub be from DAS nodes?  Frankly, I can’t answer that technical question because the City of Highland, the RFA and Crown Castle would never answer that simple question.  I wrote to the City of Highland Park on October 27, 2015 with several important questions, including:

“Technically speaking, how far away can a “head-in building” be from the nodes intended to be placed on Ravinia Festival rooftops and other places at the Park?...What is the farthest from Ravinia that it can be placed and still effectively serve the nodes?”

Months later, with that question and others unanswered, I met with the City Manager and staff on January 4, 2016.  How far away could the cellular hub be? Staff replied that this was unknown but it was asserted that it could not be too far, because it would be difficult to “lay the fiber optic cables.” My reply, “There are none. It’s all about RF – Radio Frequency.”  As I explained to another city leader on October 20, “there are no cables, take a look at your cell phone, it’s the same principle.” After nearly a year of review at the City, no one could answer a very simple question – how far away could the cellular hub be?  

The answer, if given to me in October 2015, would have enabled me to provide assistance to Highland Park in resolving this contentious matter. We could have located other suitable local sites to propose to Crown Castle.  Sites that would not have been on land owned by not for profits who pay no real estate or revenue taxes, such as the RFA.  Sites that might have been on City of Highland Park, District School or Park District property – open real estate that could have been monetized for the betterment of Highland Park.  Or, sites in Highland Park’s commercial buildings where the income earned by Crown Castle from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint could be taxed. Highland Park’s commercial properties need lessees. Whatever the other location, it would be intended to help reduce our tax burden in Highland Park. Crown Castle doesn’t just provide DAS services, it is a Real Estate Investment Trust that monetizes land, and the City of Highland Park should have recognized this.

It seems Crown Castle was the only one who knew how far away from the Ravinia Festival the cellular hub could be built. According to HP City Staff, they don’t know where Crown Castle will be. It wouldn’t be surprising to find it in Glencoe, just south of Lake Cook Road. There is a fine golf course there with a corner for mechanics there.

Unfortunately, City Hall did its utmost to ensure that the RFA, a not for profit organization that pays no real estate or income taxes to the community, would reap the significant financial benefits of the cellular hub. Crown Castle is a substantial REIT, publicly traded on the NYSE:CCI, yet the City of Highland (including its lawyers), along with the RFA, continued to represent at public hearings that a cellular hub providing services to Verizon, AT&T and Sprint was not a commercial endeavor, and that there were no significant zoning issues for placing the cellular hub on property zoned residential.  Indeed, the Highland Park lawyer in attendance on October 20 specified that the Plan and Design Commission could not consider the legal covenants on the land while several other resident lawyers there would argue with that position. Neighbors have been left to wonder what the underlying motivations were in this scenario.  So, another unfortunate outcome from the Ravinia/Crown Castle Proposal is that there are more Ravinia neighbors who have gained a healthy cynicism about the City and Ravinia Festival Association.

To some it appears the leadership of Highland Park was so focused on assisting the Ravinia Festival Association that they neglected to understand either the relevant technology or the commercial opportunity associated with the Crown Castle/RFA proposal.  Crown Castle, the cash cow, has now escaped the barn or, another metaphor, Highland Park failed to see the forest for the trees.  Another community will enjoy the taxes benefits.

The good news, the bad news, and an opportunity lost.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

REAL, not "purported", SIGNIFICANT OPPOSITION TO THE BEACH HOUSE


The Rosewood Beach Project.  Talk about Down the Drain in HP!  More than 1000 Highland Park voices have been unilaterally determined to be “obsolete ” by the Highland Park Park District (HPPD).  Starts me thinking about just who is really obsolete in HP…could it be the Park District Board of Commissioners?

The HPPD is scheduled to decide tonight (8/23/2012) on the Rosewood Beach Project that most notably includes the alleged Interpretive Center.*  While we won't know for several hours the HPPD Commissioners' decision, clearly they consider about 4% of HP’s population (and a much larger percentage of its voters) to be absolutely irrelevant and obsolete.

In a August 22, 2012 letter, the Executive Director of theHPPD, Liza McElroy, tells Amy Lohmolder (who submitted a letter on behalf of the Ravinia Neighbors Association – the RNA) that “…your email is inaccurate in describing the purported “significant” public opposition to the Rosewood Beach ProjectThe opposition petitions you cite address an obsolete and now-abandoned plan that is significantly different from that which the Park District of Highland Park is now considering…The vast majority of the signatures on the RNA’s petitions were obtained well before the Task Force presented even its preliminary recommendation to the public in May of 2012…”

I’ve news for Ms. McElroy and the HPPD Commissioners:  there isn’t “purported” significant public opposition, it is actual significant opposition, and sticking your head in the Rosewood Beach sand doesn't make it go away.   

Of course, Ms. McElroy is right about the sequencing of the RNA petition.  Can't address whether more or less of them were made previously or recently. Yes, the HPPD held all the cards very close to its vest until recently when the RNA gained enough prominence to ensure that the HPPD would make the process more  purportedly “transparent.”  By the way, the process has hardly been transparent -- the public meetings consist of residents expressing their frustration or their support and the HPPD Commissioners, staff and consultants not answering any questions.  Incredibly, pro forma financials were not presented until the last meeting and at the last minute -- no one in the room could really even ask a question of the financials being presented on the way in the door. Additionally, the RNA had to submit FOIA requests just to get basic information from the HPPD.  So much for transparency.

Ms. McElroy is absolutely wrong about any obsolescence of those signatures on the RNA petition. A unifying point for all the people who signed that petition, whenever they signed it, was and is that they were and are opposed to an "Interpretive Center" -- an unnecessary building on the beach of any size intended for class rooms, parties, rentals, etc., as well as any overbuilding on Rosewood.  The people who signed those petitions continue to be supportive of the admirable job the RNA has been doing of looking out for the best interests of all HP residents when it is clear that the HPPD isn’t.   

The HPPD can’t stick its head in the Rosewood Beach sand and pretend that the 1000+ people who signed the RNA petition and who oppose the beach house don’t really mean it anymore.  We did, we do.

The HPPD has all the signatures, phone numbers and, likely, e-mails for all signatures on the petition.  They certainly haven’t contacted me to determine whether I am still opposed to a Interpretive Center on the beach.  Whether it is 4000 sq. ft. or 1900 sq. ft., whether you call it the Interpretive Center or the beach house, my signature on the petition is still good as are all the rest (and, if there is an exception to that rule, it would be just that, an exception).  If we need a referendum concerning the beach house, bring it on!

We can assume that Ms. McElroy issued her letter with review and authorization by Scott Meyers, the President of the HPPD Board ofCommissioners.  Perhaps even full Board approval for such a sensitive issue was required. Or, if Ms. McElroy sent it on her own, shame on her!  In any event, let's hold the responsible people accountable.

Many in HP may not be familiar with your Park Board. In addition to Mr. Meyers, the Board of Park Commissioners include Cal Bernstein, Lori Flores Weisskopf, Elaine Waxman and Brian Kaplan.  Remember these names because they will likely be presented again for another election to the HPPD or elsewhere in the City or County.  Hold them accountable for their votes on the Rosewood Beach Project.  Remember that one of the best HP City Councilmen (ever!) lost an election in 2009 by only 10 votes.  Remember these names. Your 1000+ votes count.  Hold your Park Board Commissioners accountable for how they treat you, your neighbors, your Park District and your funds.  They are elected by us, and it is our job to ensure that the right people sit in the seats -- people who can be good stewards of our tax dollars.

In a few hours, in a forum designed to give the impression of a transparent process, the residents who still have the patience to show up will be afforded their last opportunity to speak before the HPPD.  As before, each one will be given 2 or 3 minutes to voice his concerns and then HPPD Commissioners will finally answer a the ultimate question.  Beach house or no beach house? Improvements or no improvements for Rosewood Beach?  Yes, President Scott Meyers told us at the last meeting that the beach house simply cannot be carved out of the plan (which may be procedurally correct on an initial vote, but a second vote could be called to adopt the compromise plan without a beach house). 

Regardless of the outcome, whether you are glad or not, please remember there are a few issues that go beyond the decision: 
  • The HPPD has shown 1000+ residents extraordinary and lasting disrespect
  • The process has been lacking in transparency
  • The HPPD has been intransigent about the beach house from the outset, causing extreme divisiveness in the community and, as a result,
  • There has been entirely too much focus on the Beach House, leaving the very real environmental issues concerning the habitat restoration and engineering project for the shoreline left largely unattended by all.
Shameful conduct by the HPPD.  

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*Regarding the alleged Interpretive Center, really, it appears that it was always intended to be more of a beach house for residents to rent for parties than a center to learn about the beach environment, because, after all, if you want to learn about the beach environment, you’re not sitting inside a building on the beach! This, of course, raises all sorts of questions about the good faith of the HPPD in dealing with residents and the government grantors.  At the first HPPD open meeting there were several people passionately supportive about the ability to bring students to the beach's "Interpretive Center", as if that were the primary purpose, and it isn’t.  The primary purpose is rentals.  Likely one of the reasons the HPPD finally flopped the sham name to the "Beach House."

Thursday, June 23, 2011

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

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.)

Friday, June 17, 2011

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



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.