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

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!

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...

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.