Farewell Open Thread

Got a memory you want to share? A farewell comment to the outgoing mayor? This is your chance.

Flossmoor Getting the Change Braun Promised

Not even sworn in yet, mayor-elect Paul Braun has already taken steps to alleviate Flossmoor's tax burden while still improving services. On Tuesday, May 19th, Braun led a delegation of Trustees (Philip Minga and Diane Williams), our village Clerk (Pam Nixon) and our village Manager (Bridget Wachtel) down to Springfield to lobby our state legislators for funds. This is a radical departure from the past, where our soon-to-be former mayor sought "Home Rule" status so that he could raise our taxes at will.

Flossmoor's delegation met with Senators Toi Hutchison and Maggie Crotty and Representatives Anthony DeLuca and Al Riley. Braun tells us:

We were very well received and we were able to press three Flossmoor projects for possible funding. The projects that we requested funding are for replacement of street lighting in the central downtown business area (Sterling & Flossmoor Rd) $500K; reconstruction of the Brookwood Bridge $115K; and storm sewer replacement/rehab for the Flossmoor Hills area $200K for engineering and $1M cost.

All of the legislators told us that Flossmoor's timing for funding requests is excellent as all of the legislators are submitting funding requests this week. All four legislators also told us how pleased they were to see Flossmoor being more active and involved in State affairs.

When we met with Senator Crotty, we were also able to speak with IDOT Director Gary Hannig about problems we have been having with the last resurfacing of Flossmoor Road. Director Hannig promised us he would look into the matter and get back to us.

It's exciting to realize that the village of Flossmoor has stepped into the modern age, recognized that we are connected to the rest of the south suburbs and become more aggressive in getting funding for the projects we need. Change has come to Flossmoor. Oh, Happy Days!

Paul Braun will be sworn in on June 1st at 7:30pm. There will be a short village board meeting and a reception afterwards (cake and coffee). Everyone is invited to inaugurate this transition to the 21st century!

Stimulus Dollars Assigned to the South Suburbs

In a prior post, I noted the project requests from the South Suburbs in Cook County. I wrote:

Mayors in Illinois made a request totalling $3 billion, representing all the requests in the state listed in the report. But the villages of County Club Hills, Dolton, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest, Markham, Robbins or Steger were absent from these requests.

Now we get our first indications of where recovery money is actually going in the South Suburbs. Recovery.org is using federal contracts to track recovery dollars, and found these IDOT projects funded for the South Suburbs:

Recovery Funded Projects in COOK

Reconstruction, Intersection Improvement, Lighting, Utility Adjustment
PHOENIX (IL), HARVEY (IL), MARKHAM (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: US 6, 159TH ST. Location: I-294 (TRI-STATE TOLLWAY) TO ILL 1 (HALSTED ST) Miles =2.33. Impr...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $21,110,000
Estimated Jobs: 274

Resurfacing
DOLTON (IL), CALUMET CITY (IL), CHICAGO (IL), SOUTH HOLLAND (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 94, BISHOP FORD EXP. Location: 130TH ST TO US 6 (159TH ST) Miles =4.29. Improvements: RES...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $8,900,000
Estimated Jobs: 116

Bridge Deck Overlay, Bridge Joint Repair
CALUMET CITY (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: BURNHAM AVE, FAU 2943. Location: OVER STATE ST, RRS & GRAND CALUMET RIVER. Improvements...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $4,960,000
Estimated Jobs: 64

Construction Engineering
CHICAGO (IL), CALUMET CITY (IL), DOLTON (IL), SOUTH HOLLAND (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 94, BISHOP FORD EXP. Location: W OF M L KING DR TO US 6 (159TH ST). Improvements: CONSTRUCT...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $2,000,000
Estimated Jobs: 26

Bridge Deck Overlay
OAK FOREST (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 57. Location: AT 167TH ST. Improvements: BRIDGE DECK OVERLAY. Est. Cost: $1,000,000. Ci...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $1,000,000
Estimated Jobs: 13

Resurfacing
HOMEWOOD (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: DIXIE HWY, FAU 2843. Location: GOVERNOR'S HWY TO 183RD ST Miles =1.08. Improvements: RESURF...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $900,000
Estimated Jobs: 12

Resurfacing
HOMEWOOD (IL), EAST HAZEL CREST (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: 175TH ST, FAU 1618. Location: GOVERNORS HWY TO DIXIE HWY Miles =0.75. Improvements: RESURFACI...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $420,000
Estimated Jobs: 5

Construction Engineering
CALUMET CITY (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: BURNHAM AVE, FAU 2943. Location: OVER STATE ST, RRS & LITTLE CALUMET RIVER. Improvement...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $400,000
Estimated Jobs: 5

Signing (New)
DOLTON (IL), CALUMET CITY (IL), CHICAGO (IL), SOUTH HOLLAND (IL)
Illinois Department of Transportation
FEDERAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY SPENDING. IDOT Proposed Projects for American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. District 1. State Highways. COOK COUNTY. Route/Street: I 94, BISHOP FORD EXP. Location: 130TH ST TO US 6 (159TH ST). Improvements: SIGNING (NEW). ...
Project Type: AdvanceNotice
Estimated Value: $175,000
Estimated Jobs: 2

data generated at 6:30am on May 21, 2009

According to the site, there have been 81 projects funded in Cook County valued at $318,260,019.00 of recovery dollars. Of these, there are 9 projects (or 11%) valued at $39,865,000 (or 12.5%), generating 517 jobs in South Suburbs (and Chicago in related projects).

Again, we find that the villages of County Club Hills, Flossmoor and Hazel Crest are absent from these projects. As we learned during the campaign, this was deliberate on the part of the outgoing mayor of Flossmoor. Even if the need exists (which it does), the defeated mayor choose not to focus on stimulus money, believing instead that Flossmoor would benefit more by his long-time interest in the blighted TIF district he declared on Volmer Rd. Of course, those lots have been vacant for years (much of it more than 10 years) and no one believes that large tracts of land will be developed in the midst of the worst recession since World War 2.

Which may be why Flossmoor voters soundly rejected his candidacy.

Otoh, the H-F school district not only chased -- but has received -- stimulus money to help fund building on the H-F High School campus:

Non-Recovery Funded Projects in COOK

High School Addition and Remodeling of Science Classrooms
Location: Flossmoor, Illinois
Industry: Demolition, Salvage, and Excavation, Contractor - Electrical, Construction - Educational Buildings, Contractor - Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration, Construction - Hospitals and Medical Facilities, Research and Development Facilities, Construction - Industrial, Warehouse and Animal Care Facilities, Contractor - Plumbing and Piping, Construction - Renovation, Rehabilitation and Historic Preservation

There's a lot of irony to these desperate results given the fact that the mayor rudely lectured the superintendent after the community rose up against the outgoing mayor's request to sell alcohol at retail across the street from H-F High. For context, it is appropriate to note that no retail outlet in Flossmoor currently sells packaged liquor. The outgoing mayor sought to make the location across from the high school the first in the village -- something that residents didn't take too kindly to...

Deborah Sims Sticks with Stroger, Sticks It To Taxpayers

At a time when people in the South Suburbs are absolutely furious over the level of taxation we endure -- especially when compared to the level of services we receive -- 5th District Commissioner Deborah Sims cast the deciding vote to uphold Todd Stroger's veto of the Cook County Board's repeal of his controversial sales tax increase.

the county board voted 12-to-3 to roll back the 1-percentage-point tax increase that was approved last year. The higher tax pushed the county's share of the sales tax to 1.75 percent and made Chicago's overall sales tax 10.25 percent - the highest of any major U.S. city.

Deborah Sims had been absent from that first vote, but the Stroger loyalist found her way to vote on Tuesday. She couldn't let Todd down this time -- the rest of us be damned!

Sims, who resides in Chicago, said of her constituents:

We don't have any businesses in my community to leave.

But Sims seems to forget that she is supposed to represent the South Suburbs, too, where there are numerous businesses. And there have been businesses that skipped over the county (or state) lines in the suburbs. Between the massive increases in our property tax bills simultaneous to the ten percent increase in our sales taxes, taxation is one of the most frequent complaints from residents in the South Suburbs.

But Deborah Sims doesn't care about us. In fact, she seems to forget that she even represents us. You could be forgiven if you thought that the last time Sims came down to the South Suburbs was in 2006 -- when she was campaigning for our vote.

The fact is that the South Suburbs is a disproportionate part of the 5th Cook Co. Commission district. Even in 2006, when the Chicago numbers were a bit larger, there were 61,926 Chicago registered voters in her district, while 130,786 registered voters lived in the South Suburbs. More than two-thirds of her voters live in the suburbs -- where businesses have left because of her support for Stroger's sales tax increase.

Both New York City and Los Angeles county have sales taxes that are two cents less than what we find here. It is extremely difficult not to think that the extra two cents is our corruption tax, the daily tax that we pay to fund corruption and patronage that seems to benefit only the machine hacks like Deborah Sims. Sims was right when she said, "You're mistaken if you think this is not political, because it is." Sims' loyalty lies with Todd Stroger and the relatives he employs, not with the good people of Cook County. It is political, and we know where Sims' political loyalties lay: with Todd Stroger.

Voters in the South Suburbs need to think about that -- and remember it on election day...

Toni Preckwinkle in the South Suburbs

On May 12, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle came down to the South Suburbs to talk to "Team Obama" at the Flossmoor Station as part of her outreach to the suburbs as she gathers momentum in her race for the Cook County Board President. She mentions near the end that the previous evening she had been in Glenview (in the north suburbs).

She started off talking about what the Cook County Board does and her approach to County government. But she quickly turned to answering the questions of the 50-odd people who showed up for our May meeting.

What was obvious from the beginning was that Ald. Preckwinkle was prepared to be the Cook County Board President. She was knowledgeable about Cook County government, the office of President as well as the politics involved. She didn't pretend to know the local quirks of the South Suburbs but expressed an interest to learn and the presence of mind to assign someone who's responsibility would be to represent our concerns and interests in her office.

The video is 43 minutes and 32 seconds long, but I forgot to push the "record" button at the start of her speech. There is approximately 5 minutes missing at the beginning.

CVS Withdraws Request to Sell Alcohol in Flossmoor

When the 5 representatives of CVS were presented to the meeting, they were all smiles. Roger Molski, outgoing mayor, gave them bad advice. "Address your remarks to the Trustees," he told them, "because they are the ones who have a vote."

This was only the most recent indicator of Molski's detachment from Flossmoor. Because it wasn't the Trustees that CVS needed to win over, it was the community. The meeting started with 3 Trustees publicly committed to voting against allowing the drug chain to selling packaged liquor across the street from H-F High School. But given the smiles that the CVS people walked in with, it was hard not to think that the deal was in. The other 3 Trustees (Mitros, Minga and Hoag) seemed inclined to vote for the granting of the liquor license, and Molski would break the tie (obviously, in favor of CVS).

What was obvious from the start was that CVS didn't really appreciate Flossmoor. Nor did they exhibit any understanding of the unique character and charm of our community. And they certainly had absolutely no appreciation for the importance of Homewood-Flossmoor High School to the community or our property values. Given that their primary contact had been with the mayor (for 6 and a half years, he told us last night), this cannot be much of a surprise.

The district manager for CVS tried to make two main arguments in support of granting them a liquor license. His first argument was that packaged liquor was already available from Jewel, which was less than a mile away from H-F. And that is true, although no one seems to think that kids are walking up to the Jewel from H-F. They won't even walk to the McDonald's that is across the street from Jewel, so it's really hard to imagine that Jewel is an alternative to what CVS was asking to do.

His second point centered around the specious claim that, well, CVS had a store across the street from Crystal Lake South High, and they didn't have any of these problems. Of course, as you can see, CVS is not located "across the street" from Crystal Lake South High School. It appears that a water treatment plant is located across the street from the High School.

Rather, CVS appears to be down the street from the high school and you'd have to walk past at least one neighborhood to get there. IOW, they lied to us. This can't be that much of a surprise, given the fact that Roger Molski -- the person they've apparently been dealing with -- has always been a little loose with the truth, as well. We have to accept the fact that CVS probably took their measure of our community through him and decided that they didn't have to really tell us the truth if they wanted to get what they wanted. We've been poorly served, and last night's meeting was the direct result of that.

We can only hope -- and expect -- change with the new administration.

In the end, the CVS representatives saw that this proposal had severely alienated them from our community, and perhaps has caused them irreparable harm. Many, many residents of Flossmoor reacted to their interest in selling packaged liquor in a retail store with horror. We don't allow that in Flossmoor, and we certainly didn't want our first store to sell hard liquor at retail to be across the street from the high school. More than one resident said to me, "I don't want the CVS store across the street from the high school, but I certainly don't want them selling alcohol."

It is clear that CVS has a lot to learn about Flossmoor. It doesn't appear that they are really interested in dealing with the village any differently than how they treat Harvey or Chicago Heights. They keep talking about their Neighborhood Drug Store model, but we already have four drug stores within a mile of where they want to locate. There isn't a real community interest in adding a fifth drug store to serve the village. So acting like they are doing us a great service is, well, stupid.

CVS isn't likely to be integrated into our community fabric with that attitude, and it certainly didn't help that they were willing to lie to us to squeeze an extra one percent of profits out of the store. They were willing to risk our children, our property values, and our community values for an extra one percent of profits. That's not a good neighbor. They've got a lot of bad will to overcome with these kinds of tactics.

The CVS representatives left the meeting looking pretty sullen. It certainly didn't help that they had to walk past a gauntlet of village residents who had more to say, and not all of it pleasant. But the fact is CVS withdrew their proposal to sell hard liquor in Flossmoor -- for now. Village residents will have to remain eternally vigilant as long as CVS is here to keep them from trying this again. Village politics has probably been changed forever, as we can expect the chain to try to dominate them in the future, in order to build support for allowing them to sell packaged liquor. I suppose Flossmoor got a little less charming last night. What a legacy to begin a business with...

Flossmoor Candidates on the Record about Liquor Sales across from HF

The League of Women Voter's debate at the Library last month included this exchange about the controversial proposal to sell alcohol across the street from Homewood-Flossmoor High School:

Q: How does a convenience store with a liquor license across the street from 3,000 students fit in with the character of Flossmoor.

BRAUN: It doesn't, in my opinion. State law normally requires that there be no liquor within I believe it's about 100 feet of a school itself and this is just outside of that. Now, I'm going to go out on a limb. I was not in favor of liquor for this going forward. I inquired at the time that the developer came before the village board in terms of what percentage of the retail sales are going to be liquor-related and its less than 8%. And my follow-up question to the developer was, if Flossmoor does not grant a liquor license, will this project go forward, and the answer was yes. This is not a deal killer based on what I've heard so far. So again, I expect to be contacting lots of residents and get community input in terms of what the village thinks about liquor across from the high school but going forward, I don't think it's a proper location.

You'll hear others say that well, they can go down to the Jewel or they can elsewhere, well let them go elsewhere! I don't think we need that across the street from the high school, at this point, I don't think it sets a proper example. Not that I'm against alcohol, for heaven's sake, but again, the high school district doesn't want it. 233, I've talked to the school board, they do not want liquor at that location, so that tells you something right off the bat. If they don't want it, I don't see why the village needs to press this if in fact we can confirm that this is not a deal killer, so to speak, for this establishment.

WILLIAMS: I'm not supportive at this point of hard liquor being sold, of packaged liquor, being sold in our community at all...

As we speak about this today, though, we don't sell packaged liquor, hard liquor in Flossmoor. They sell it in communities around us that are relatively close, it's available to people who would like to buy it. My biggest concern, even beyond the high school, is that it may attract people to our community to buy that liquor that we don't necessarily need to have attracted to our community...

But as I see it today, not only because of where it's located, across the street from the school, but because of the people it might attract, I can't support hard liquor being sold in town.

MINGA: At this point, I still have an open mind on this.

CRUM: As far as the liquor license is concerned, I'm a wine con, but I don't think that a wine store, a beer store, or a liquor store across the street from the high school is a proper place for it. And if it's proposed I would vote no.

What this means is that three trustees (Braun, Williams and Crum) have public committed to vote against Molski's proposal to sell liquor across the street from HF High School. There are six trustees on the village board.

Roger Molski's Final -- Vindictive -- Act

If you aren't a parent of a teen at HF High School, you probably don't know about Roger Molski's plan for selling liquor across the street from the high school. Having damaged Flossmoor by bringing in his friend to "develop" the property half a block from the train station in Flossmoor (the huge empty lot on Flossmoor Road), Molski seems intent on further hurting the village by degrading the reputation of HF, our community's greatest asset and the main pillar to sustaining our property values.

Roger Molski seems intent on making HF High School like the southside high schools in Chicago where fights often break out at athletic events. Imagine the consequences of alcohol being available right across the street from the high school when people come to visit for athletic events. Fights are much more likely to break out, kids are much more likely to drive drunk, and the school's reputation is much more likely to be negatively effected.

It is Molski's final, and most vindictive, act on the village. I guess he's showing us.

The school board for District 233 is so horrified by Molski's plan that they sent this letter to parents of high school students:

April 29, 2009
Dear H-F Parents/Guardians,

As you may know, a new CVS Pharmacy will be constructed on the comer of Flossmoor Road and Kedzie Avenue. Without your help and support, alcohol will be sold at this location which is directly across the street from the high school. Our concern for student safety is paramount.

Over the past six months we have worked hard to articulate our student safety concerns by attending several meetings of the Flossmoor Village Board and the Flossmoor Planning Commission. We have also met with the Mayor, Village Manager and the Village Trustees to voice our concerns that arise from having the pharmacy directly across the street from the high school. Our discussions have been productive to ensure the safety of students; however, it has come to our attention that the Village Board is now planning to grant a liquor license to the new CVS pharmacy to sell carry-out alcohol.

High school, middle school and elementary school children will be walking past this location on a daily basis. The potential issues that would put these children and our schools in jeopardy quickly become real when alcohol is factored into the mix. We are adamantly opposed to the CVS Pharmacy proposal to sell alcohol now or at any point in the future.

We request that you show your support by attending the next Flossmoor Village Board meeting on Monday, May 4th at 7:30 p.m. at the Flossmoor Village Hall to convey to the Mayor and Board of Trustees that granting a liquor license is not an acceptable option at this location. Additional parking is available at Parker Junior High across the street from the Flossmoor Village Hall. If you are unable to attend, please call the Village Hall at (708) 798-2300 to to express your disapproval of having liquor sold across the street from the students in our community. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting and having your support.

While we may never know why, Molski is pushing hard to have this license granted to CVS before he leaves office. As I've mentioned before, a CVS selling alcohol across the street from the high school will create tremendous downward pressure on our property values. It's not simply a safety issue, it is an assault on our greatest asset in Flossmoor.

Looks like Molski wants his revenge before he leaves the village.

You can sign an epetition to have this question placed on the ballot in the next village election: "Shall the sale at retail of alcoholic liquor be prohibited on any property within 1000 feet of a public school in the village of Flossmoor?" This will give Flossmoor voters a chance to vote on whether they agree that our property values should be degraded by Roger Molski's last act as mayor...