Vote Today at NS Health Center (behind Sunset Foods)

Today, Monday March 16th will be the first day you can vote in the City Elections!!!!!!

Please Vote Early and ask others to do the same since it is convenient and allows us the greatest chances to get out more than the 20% of voters that usually vote in this election. More Highland Park Citizens should have a say in who represents them at City Hall, the schools, and Township government.

Early Voting Location and Hours: From March 16 to April 2.
Early voting is available to all eligible, registered voters who need not give a reason to vote prior to Election Day. A valid government-issued ID containing the voter’s photograph, name, and address is required.

WHERE: North Shore Health Center, 1840 Green Bay Road

WHEN: Monday - Friday, 9:00-4:30, Saturday, 9:00-2:00 through April 2.

Election Day at your neighborhood polling place April 7th. For more information Call the Lake County Clerk at 847-377-2410

Green Alliance getting traction!

Mayor Belsky's Green Alliance Initiative is moving right along with a recommendation coming to the Green Alliance to pick a firm to help us achieve sustainability. Terri Olian, Rebecca Grill, and myself just finished 6 interviews for the writing of a sustainability plan and will be reporting to our Alliance Tuesday on our chosen firm recommendation! Let's Go!!!

Protecting Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes

Those of us along the Great Lakes have the responsibility to protect this most valued asset. We can't take for granted the water that gives us and our environment life.

While most people do not believe we can ever lose Lake Michigan, think again...........! Look at what happened to the Aral Sea, the 4th largest fresh water body in the world. Check out this website at http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/15/worlds-4th-largest-lake-almost-gone/ and this website at http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uzbekistan_1297.html .

We must be strong stewards of our lake and stand back with a macro view of this situation. Lake County Water Resource Planning is in full swing designed to take additional water out of Lake Michigan and pipe it to western communities, way out of the natural watershed. Where does it stop? Is this a watershed possession, a County possession, a State possession, a National possession, or a World possession. A sustainable water method that has been discussed is to bring back all the water taken out of the watershed........ but this is very very expensive.

All of the Great Lake States have just signed a regional compact that has virtually limited the use of Great Lakes water to within the natural watershed. The natural watershed for Lake Michigan in Illinois is approximately the 294 tollway if you count in the Chicago River area as the historic watershed (this has been changed since river flow was reversed toward the Mississippi). Illinois was exempt from this provision and limited to a court decision that was restricted by a court ordered quantity rather than a watershed boundary in the recently signed compact.

We must all take a hard look at this situation and follow the spirit of the compact in limiting the use of the Great Lakes water. We must have a methodology that is fair and accepted as a sustainable practice for us to be secure about the future of our water and lives.

Fort Sheridan Cemetery Help Requested

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4741 (Highwood) is asking for financial help to raise funds for the much needed repair of a monument to Chaplain J. Vattman at the Ft. Sheridan Military Cemetery. The private monument is at the entrance to the Ft. Sheridan Cemetery. A combination of age and weather has caused deterioration, and the Highwood VFW Post has undertaken the challenge to raise funds to repair the monument to honor a Chaplain who served his country and fellow citizens.
Please remit contributions to:
Vattman Memorial Fund
c/o Highwood VFW Post 4741
Post Office Box 474
Highwood, Illinois 60040

Community Reaches out to Writers Theater

Many of our fine community organizations reached out to writers theater to join the great cultural arts environment that is within Highland Park. I too agree, we can attain the best for the Writers community as well as the Highland Park community if we join forces and promote our successes together.

A letter was sent to Writers Theater by Port Clinton Art Festival, HP Strings, Yea HP, Arts Center of HP, NS School of Dance, Midwest Young Artists, Music Inst.of Chicago/HP, HPHS, Pilgrim Chamber Players, and East on Central.

All these organizations along with our Mayor and City Council are available to help writers in anyway to facilitate and promote their transition into Highland Park's downtown and community. We have the finest supporting people and organizations to support a great leading organization like Writers and create even a finer cultural environment for all of us in Highland Park.

Spring Cleanup right around the corner

Veolia will be collecting our spring clean up stuff on four consecutive Saturdays in late April and May, assigning a particular Saturday to each of the four residential routes.

The first pick up date is Saturday April 25th for the folks that have normal Monday(SE) garbage dates. 2nd pick up date will be Saturday May 2nd for those folks that have Tuesday(SW) garbage pick up. Next will be Saturday May 9th for those that have Thursday(NE) and the final pick up date is Saturday May 16th for those that have Friday(NW) pick up dates.

So, get ready and have a plan in place so you are ready to get that junk out up to a week before your pick up date. We have changed this ordinance from the night before to allow folks more time to get ready for this free pick up.

NO SIGNS-YES TREES - Looking for Last Big Push From YOU -

First, don't be surprised not to see my signs on the streets since I have made a pledge to plant trees instead. I made this pledge because it is time for political campaigns to join the sustainability movement and take some steps to reduce waste. While this is a small environmental step, it does demonstrate an alternative approach to politics. Also, by planting trees we are affirmatively reducing carbons and increasing oxygen in our environment. Signs also create an ugly landscape and keep our police and staff busy with hundreds of complaints... In our small town we simply don't need signs if our voters are willing to learn who the best candidates are for the job. Everything you need to know about the candidates can be done by reading our material, watching us on TV or the Internet, and learning about us at our websites and other media venues. I believe an educated voter can make a better choice than just counting signs.

Well, what this means is that I am counting on our citizens being educated voters. You can help me get the message out by sending out friend to friend cards and by displaying a bumper sticker or wearing a button. Not only show your support but please speak about our campaign and share your expirience with me as your City Councilman. You can also send a letter to the editor at Pioneer Press (HP News) expressing your support for my re-election. Please also sign up to simply endorse my candidacy .

$380,000 Wetland Restoration Grant Awarded to HP

The Stormwater Management Commission (SMC) awarded a $380,000 grant from the Wetland Restoration Fund to the Park District of Highland Park for its project at the Skokie River Woods site on the southeast corner of Routs 22 and 41. This will fund wetland restoration and wetland/stream enhancement, with significant wetland buffer/upland restoration to improve the overall ecological value of the site, which is on the historic floodplain. This is an exciting project that will provide multiple benefits of flood damage reduction, water quality improvement, and natural resource protection.

I provided the leadership to save the Skokie River Woods (38acres) several years ago when I put together a partnership that was made up of the City of Highland Park, the Park District of Highland Park, The Lake County Forest Preserve District, and the Illinois Dept of Natural Resources that came up with the 4 million dollars for purchase of this property. Joyce O'keefe was instrumental along with open lands for helping us forge the deal.

After years of planning and waiting, it is wonderful to see our Lake County Commissioner Anne F. Bassi get funding to initiate this restoration. I am grateful to her for the hard work on this project and other stormwater issues that will greatly benefit residents of our community for years to come. Good 9 minute video put out by the US EPA is worth watching demonstrating alternative stormwater solutions.

Restoring the wetlands at the Skokie River Woods site will provide a great example of how nature does a better job at dealing with stormwater issues. If we can provide natural "green" solutions to these flooding issues instead of the "Deep Pit Solutions of the past", future generations will be much better served and educated. I am hoping that these restorations will continue along the Skokie River within the Highland Park County Club site over the next several years.

Commitments Should not be Broken

I spent the better part of a day at a Lake County Forest Preserve District (LCFPD) meeting listening to testimony concerning rebuilding the golf course at Fort Sheridan. While most of the discussion centered around the economics concerning a marketing study on the viability of another golf course in Lake County, several of the Commissioners did grasp the real issue at hand.

While the President of the LCFPD stated that her preference would be to see 100,000 visitors a year at the Fort Sheridan property instead of the 20,000 a year that would be generated by redevelopment of the golf course, a majority (about 75%) of the Commissioners that spoke realized that the core issue in the discussion was," is the LCFPD going to HONOR the commitment made to Highland Park, Highwood, Lake Forest, and the Army to build and maintain a golf course as the master plan described and is required in the deed". This obligation was in consideration for the purchase/transfer of the 250+ acres of this lakefront land to the LCFPD. While a prior offer of 10 million was rejected by the Army, the revised offer presented by the LCFPD and promoted by the partnership of adjoining communities was accepted because it was part of a package of Historic Preservation, Environmental Remediation, and additional clustered density on the remaining portions of the disposition property. Our own Highland Park/Deerfield representative Michelle Feldman hit the nail on the head when she stated that the forest preserve should honor the agreement or give the land back.

Historic Preservation and Environmental Remediation was costly and also a big part of the consideration of the transfer of open space at no cost. Environmental analysis identified landfills, pesticide storage areas, asbestos-containing material, PCB-containing transformers, unexploded ordnance, and a variety of petroleum products and metals in the soil and groundwater. Entire ravines that were filled with contaminants were fully remediated into the natural gems that currently exist. Environmental cleanup began in 1993. Ninety-four buildings, including 64 designed by Holabird & Roche, are situated on the 110-acre Historic District, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984. If I am not mistaken the project costs to produce this cutting edge project was about 300 million in 1990 dollars.

Monies for the consideration of this purchase from the Army should come from acquisition and development funds since that was also promised to our residents as we supported several referendums in the 90's. When the first and second LCFPD referendums were promoted several county representatives specifically stated that those monies would cover the complete development of the Fort Sheridan obligation to the Army and our citizens.

Why are some folks trying to revise history? If you ask anyone that was around and involved in the deal, the facts are clear. If anyone out there doubts me (and I was very involved in this process) please call others like Ray Geraci, Pete Koukos, Dan Pierce, Joyce O'keefe, Lisa Cervac, Paul Diambri, or many others you can find.

We now need to move forward and reconvene the Joint Planning Committee of our three communities and the LCFPD to develop a plan that meets commitments acceptable to the partners including resident representatives. Concerning golf demand, we should look at all our surrounding properties in HP and Lake Forest to determine if we can transition some of these into other use to best serve our regional needs. I have always been a proponent of re-using the Highland Park Country Club for passive and natural stormwater management along with much needed play fields for our children and active adults.

It is the time for constructive dialog and putting the issues and commitments of Fort Sheridan into action so we can put this issue to rest. The LCFPD with the leadership of Anne F. Bassi has done a wonderful job with the development of public access and remediation of the beaches, bluffs, and ravines at the Fort. We need to come back together and move forward on projects like Open Lands is developing. They are implementing a wonderful plan of trails and remediation all along the Southern portion of Fort Sheridan. Highland Park and Highwood will continue to negotiate with the Navy and Forest City on a redevelopment plan South of Bartlett Ravine that is a real "Green Development" and is a partner in the community approach to the bluffs and shoreline.

Dialog and partnerships make us stronger and will continue to provide great solutions to our community and county if we all just continue work together and honor our past commitments.

Big Welcome to Gov. Quinn

I am very excited to see Gov. Quinn take office after years of our environmental state infrastructure being dismantled by Blago.

Whether it is supporting our efforts for the Great Lakes, dealing with progressive solid waste and recycling issues, or the many other clean air and sustainability initiatives, Pat Quinn has shown great leadership.

All that being said we need a strong dialog with our new Governor to make it through these very difficult economic times. State government must deal with several issues that has and will effect our lives.

This is a man that cares deeply about open government, transparency, and our environment. Someone that has always been a political outsider and reformer now gets a chance to be the agenda setter for the State... I am hopeful that Governor Quinn will do a fine job and reach out to all of us to find good solutions to the many problems that face us.

New Stevemandel.Com designed for Re-Election

A new STEVEMANDEL.COM is online for my re-election. Election is April 7th, 2009. Early Voting starts March 16th and goes through April 2nd at the Health Center 1840 Green Bay Road.

I have raised a little over half the money needed to fund this campaign. I am asking my supporters to contribute what they can so I have included a paypal "DONATE BUTTON" for online contributions. If you would rather send donations directly to my home address at 2157 St. Johns, make checks out to the Steve Mandel Committee.

Also, available on Stevemandel.com are places to sign up for my newsletters, writing friend to friend cards, letters to the editor, getting bumper stickers and buttons, and/or doing anything else to promote my election.

Remember friends, I was the lowest vote survivor of the last election so do not take for granted that I am a sure thing to win the race...... I need your help to win this one!!!!

Please forward our newsletter and election website to your Highland Park friends and family.... Winning this election is all about networking and passing the word to get out the vote. If you would like me to send you a bumper sticker, a Re-Elect Steve Mandel button, or are willing to do Friend to Friend cards please call, email me, or go to Volunteer and Contribute at my Stevemandel.com website to sign up.

As always, I am available at home at 847-831-0373 and on my cell at 847-456-6933.

HP agrees with Ravinia on new fee

The City Council has negotiated an agreement with Ravinia Festival that should provide over 600k of much needed revenue to our community. Some of the funding will replace Ravinia's past contribution to the YEA event but will still host the event where donors and patrons can celebrate that special day.

These efforts were originally initiated by the entire City Council when we proposed a fee for bus rides from our downtown to and from the festival events. Ravinia, concerned about ridership revolt asked us to sit down to negotiate another type of revenue source. We voted Monday on this agreement that has been discussed over the past year.

Bottom line here is that we will be importing tax dollars from mostly out of town patrons to again reduce our dependence on our property taxes. As a not for profit Ravinia Festival does not pay property taxes but produces additional revenue to the city through sales and the food and beverage tax.

We are real lucky to have great partners like Ravinia Festival who are helping our community provide services to our citizens, schools, and other not for profits through this additional revenue. Being one of finest arts organizations in our nation, I thank them for their true commitment to the citizens of Highland Park.

Meeting with May and Garrett shows team work

Myself and members of the City Council met with Senator Susan Garrett and Representative Karen May to discuss ways of dealing with the huge increasing costs of pension plans. Projections have shown that mandated benefits and contributions to pensions from governments could skyrocket taxes up 10% for residents of our community in 2010. Local governments have absolutely NO CONTROL of these costs paid for our employees.

Staff will be working with our municipal associations to promote legislation downstate that would extend the date to be fully funded on these pensions. This extension would at least smooth the large increase currently needed in contributions and spread it over a longer period. Also, we need to review the benefit packages and start to become REAL.... Government employees must live within realistic budgets during these rough economic times just like the rest of private business. Governments can't ignore the economic situation of our times without crushing our residents.

Our legislators are committed to work with us on reducing these liabilities to our community and residents. As they are aware, it is up to the State lawmakers to change the laws concerning these pension mandates so we are able to manage the costs passed onto residents. We have promised to work out and present legislation to them to get the job done. Stay Tuned!!!!



Projections

Grange Ave Development Proposal now has less homes

The "Green Springs" development on Grange and Park has lost 2 units of the 8 homes it had proposed. This brings the density of housing down to a reasonable level that can meld into the existing neighborhood. The City Council was asked to expedite the process and not send it back to the Plan commission. The Council voted 5-2 to have a public hearing in front of the Council. Myself and Councilwoman Olian were in the minority stating the petition should return to the Plan Commission.

I have no problem with the 6 unit density which includes a historic incentive. I had asked that the past proposal of 8 units be shrunken down to 6 units and that was done.

The concern I have is what happened to the "GREEN" in "Green Springs" The open space has shrunk from 58% to 21% and pad sizes have grown from 4000 Sq.Ft. to 8162 Sq. Ft. I had also asked where all the pervious pavers and other green elements went? Gone?

The sixth (historic) unit is a bonus unit and by discretion of the City Council. Our PUD development ordinance also give us the right to ask for a more community friendly elements within the development. This property boarders the Hybernia Preserve and it was represented that stormwater could travel that way without harm. I suggested that these properties should unify in the spirit of the environmental approach used at Hybernia and add to the green buffer instead of justifying over building because of the adjacent proximity of Hybernia.

I am hopeful that the developer got the word and will bring us back a great plan with a green design and elements.

Karger Center to be used to help our children and residents

We will be leasing the THE KARGER RECREATIONAL CENTER at 1850 Green Bay Road to the Community Family Center Folks. Partners of the CFC are the Family Network, Family Service, HP Community Nursery School & Day Care, HP/HWD Home Child Care, and Tri Con Child Care.

They will be kicking off their fundraising efforts soon. Early Childhood support is essential in promoting a productive future for our children. Also, with the stress of today's social and work environment many families can use support. This facility and partnership can provide a real foundation to allow these organizations to help our citizens for foreseeable future.

With our support we can make this dream a reality.... Check out their website at http://www.communityfamilycenter.org/cfc/default.htm . Keep watch for new information on the Karger project.

Stop Blocking Sunlight to our homes

We need to start changing our laws to allow sustainable solutions to work. One idea that we had enacted many years ago was the daylight plane ordinance. This ordinance which was first enacted by Glencoe, prevented home builders from blocking the sunlight to adjacent homes. I believe all citizens that currently have direct sunlight shedding on their properties have the right to maintain this natural benefit. We can currently design homes that only use sunlight to provide all energy needs as they have done in Europe. By using the sun for direct heat and for producing electricity we can achieve sustainability and cut off our dependence on foreign oil and much pollution in our environment.

This law was taken out of our ordinance because some members on our City Council and Plan Commission several years ago thought it restricted homeowners rights to build out their property. Many thought since we had tweaked our ordinances to reduce bulk, daylight plane was not needed. Might this law promote smaller homes that might not dominate the environment and rise 30 some feet up from the property line? YES......What is wrong with that? If we continue to allow one property owner to stop the sunlight to another, we rob the citizens of really being able to live in Highland Park with a sustainable home.

I will be asking the Council to look into putting the Daylight Plane Ordinance back into our zoning laws ASAP. We need to tailor our laws so they support a sustainable program for our community. I we want our children to survive in this world we need to think GREEN.

Legislative Committee should pick our Senator

Update2... Congratulations Senator Burris!!!! May he serve us well.
Update... Can you believe Burris said " I DO"??. No more suggestions from me. I am just dismayed at the actions of our Governor and Roland Burris.
Just a suggestion...... I think we should have a legislative committee interview and pick our replacement for Obama as our Senator. We desperately need 2 Senators in Washington DC ASAP. Our current beleaguered Governor should sign off on a plan that allows this legislative committee to make a recommendation to him for appointment. Rod B. should be concerned about the fate of Illinois in the coming months without one Senator and should play ball. This would remove the appearance of hanky panky and provide an open and transparent process for selection. All the Governor(recently affirmed by the Supreme Court of Illinois) needs to do is Sign the Line.
The appointment process should not be side stepped and can give the residents of Illinois plenty of assurance that the best choice will be put forward through a transparent and open process.

Citizens should choose E- Newsletters

Many citizens have joined the electronic age and governments should offer a choice to residents of getting newsletters in the electronic form instead of being mailed. Many other businesses and organizations offer E-Newsletters instead of mailers. The City currently has its newsletters online in an electronic format.

Residents should be able to go online and put in their email address, receive the email electronic newsletter, and select an option to STOP the mailer. We currently have the Highlander and the Shorelines online and costs from printing and mailing could be reduced and eventually eliminated. We could help our city budget and save money to be used on more important things like our streets and sewers. The environmental impact from the reduction of paper would also serve our sustainable goals......... This option provides a transition to the citizens where they have a choice of delivery.

We should do this immediately ..............

Ravinia Sewer Program Goes Down The Drain

The City Council has worked tirelessly in trying to deal with flooding in basements from the public sanitary sewers lines. I believe we had successfully worked in a partnership with the residents in the Highlands in alleviating most of the problem areas. We continue to work on a regional basis with the County, State, and Federal officials in trying to place a storage facility to slow the flood waters down before they reach Highland Park.

Trying to work the Sewer Program in the Ravinia neighborhoods has not worked. Prices have skyrocketed(doubled) while our pocket books have been mugged by this crippling economy. We will not proceed at this time on this Sewer lining Program because the costs to residents is way too high and great questions by residents need to be answered before we proceed on anymore private funding on this project.

The idea behind this program was for the city to rebuild or line our public sewer systems in the right of way and seal the system from infiltration of water. This infiltration has caused capacity problems and back up of sewage in peoples homes. Along with the millions the City is spending on our infrastructure in the streets, we had asked residents to line their privately owned lateral sewer lines that connect their homes to the public sewer lines. The City also offered a 20% cost share, a low interest loan, and an option not to pay anything until the home was sold.

While this program was well intentioned and I believed did work in the highlands, times have changed and we need to rebuild this program to where the burden of this project does not cripple our residents......... To be continued..

Mayor Belsky's Endorsement Letter

Dear Fellow Highland Parker,

I have served with Steve Mandel as a Councilmember and as Mayor for many years. From this perspective I can tell you that Steve is an effective and passionate advocate for important issues including: fiscal responsibility; the preservation of open space; controlled and managed growth; historic preservation; and open and transparent government, to name a few. Along these lines Steve was instrumental in the city’s joint effort with the State and Lake County to preserve 38 acres of new open space. Steve also led the charge on making Council meetings available live on the web. Now residents can view both "live" meetings, as well as previous ones, no matter where they live.

Steve’s years of experience in government, along with his hard work and creative thinking makes these excellent programs happen for our residents. Having said all this, my biggest reason for supporting Steve in his re election to the City Council is his commitment to the environment and local sustainability efforts. Steve has been instrumental in sustainability efforts such as our residential volume based garbage collection with free recycling and the leasing of the city’s Prius hybrid vehicle fleet. Most recently, in his capacity as the City’s representative to the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, Steve has brought single hauler commercial refuse collection to Highland Park, which will result in less pollution and allow for businesses to recycle for free. Demonstrating sustainable storm water practices Steve also played the lead role in the new demonstration rain garden at City Hall. All of this reduces cost for the community

As a fiscal conservative, Steve is the first one to speak up on reducing government costs. He always reminds us of many citizens that are struggling to make ends meet in our community.

Councilman Steve Mandel’s re election to the City Council is a must. I hope you will join me through a contribution and your time so we can assure a successful campaign.

Purchase of Highland Park Theater

We voted to purchase the Highland Park Theater because it provides our downtown and community with a great opportunity for economic, cultural, and historical enhancement.

Economically, we bought this theater at a good price. It is a valuable asset that will hold its value to our community on several levels. First, as part of our plan, we have done the professional studies that shows it is structurally viable and can be marketed as a performance art facility and produce a profit for a theater company. Likewise it will also become a stronger economic engine for our downtown, producing additional sales tax, food and beverage tax, and causing less reliance on our property taxes which are mostly supported by our residents. This theater will import these tax revenues as a majority of patrons will come from outside Highland Park. Our studies have shown us that our downtown can be most successful if we focus on entertainment and restaurants. The Country Kitchen might have to open for dinner!

Culturally, we know this project makes our community a better place to live and raise our children. The Arts are core ingredient to our success. The Arts are important to us as we teach our children what is important to the growth of our lives. The quality of life in Highland Park only improves with the success of productions at the Highland Park Theater. Writers Theater, a successful theater company and first choice for negotiating a partnership with the city, provides us with a great possibility of success in our mission.

Historically, the Highland Park Theater is an anchor at the East end of town and should be retained for future generations. If this community did not step forward in this preservation it would certainly be lost.

Again, this is not an asset that will devalue and is worth most to our community not only as a theater but also because it is contiguous to current city owned lands.

The dollars for this purchase will be paid back from new imported tax dollars and an existing balance in our downtown development funds(specifics to be released soon). I had represented from the start of this project that we needed to find a new imported revenue source for this purchase and that will be the case.

During these economic times we should not retreat, but rather invest in success and future growth that will return imported tax revenues to help support services to our citizens.

No new taxes until cutbacks are fully examined

At the December 8th meeting I voted against a gas tax and sewer fee increase because it has not been demonstrated to me that we could not obtain the desired budget by reducing government first. Gas tax was increased to 2 cents a gallon and the sewer rate has been raised to 40 cents. The sewer rate is on your water bill and the cost is associated to water use.

In these times where residents are losing their jobs, a high percentage of their equity in funds and real estate, I do not think it is proper to put governments shortfalls on the backs of working Americans. We must explore all other solutions in dealing with falling municipal revenues that must focus around decreasing expenditures first.

Should municipal government cut costs even if we reduce services? I think so! My problem is that we have not yet been presented a service reduction solution by staff to evaluate instead of raising taxes. I had asked for this demonstration over 12 months ago and am hopeful the city council will drill into this matter in the first and second quarter of 2009.

While this economic crisis is still unfolding and future adjustments most certainly will be needed, we need to aggressively find innovative solutions to manage our governments. Cost reductions, adjoining government cooperation on services, and a basic reinvention of government should be fully explored.

STAY TUNED!!!!

Election Results...and Promise ahead

I am very excited about the upside of our new President-elect Obama and the hope he brings this nation in these uncertain economic times. Working with both parties and promoting a policy that represents the majority central political view on issues will carry the day and promote good will. My expectations are great but the hurdles and needs are also large, so things will take time to change. What is important is that we will be going down a new path that can provide positive results for our nation.

Representative Karen May and Senator Susan Garrett can meet the huge challenges that face our State. They also must work with our municipalities to solve the state pension mandates that could increase our local taxes dramatically and steal money from funds that provide basic services and infrastructure repairs. The problems that face our state elected officials demand motivated and competent officials like Karen and Susan and I am comforted by their representation.

Mark Kirk has effectively worked with both sides of the isle in providing results for our citizens. His values and effectiveness have been demonstrated during his past service. Along with an Illinoisan in the White House we should see more federal support for Highland Park.

I have great hope for our future because of these highly motivated and competent officials providing leadership in government.

Please provide feedback on my Blog!!

I am hoping that more of you comment on the positions I express in my blog so I can use your opinions to govern better when I represent you in the debate of how we proceed as your city government within this community.

While I always take praise a little better than disagreement, both are needed for me to have a representation of the public point of view.

Along with your vote, interaction and networking within our community is a healthy and constructive methodology of consensus building and best practice decision making.

Please email me at stevemandel@comcast.net or call me at home at 847.831.0373 or on my cell at 847.456.6933. Thank you for reading my "On The Table" Blog.

Large home looms over Valley Road and splashes neighbors

Many of our established neighborhoods demonstrate the unique character of our town. As redevelopment occurs and homes are torn down our natural environment is diminished. Some new owners and their architect do a good job in integrating into the existing character of our neighborhoods. Sometimes new owners look at their property with total disregard for their neighbors and push to the absolute limits of the property rights doing great harm to the properties on the block. These out of place new homes can create visual domination over the natural environment, shed off tons of storm water, and remove natural buffers and virtual neutral zones between structures. Large and tall structures can also cut off needed sunlight in the winter time and cool breezes in the summer months to adjoining properties. The adjoining property owners property rights in these situations are compromised. The City should re-examine our laws to protect existing residents from this intrusion and destruction of our neighborhoods.

On Valley Road a new very large home was built in a very wet part of the street. This new construction demands to be drained so water won't flood the home and push waters onto adjoining properties. The cost of this new storm that runs from the far end of Valley out to County Line Road is expensive. There is currently an 50+ year old storm sewer that serves the street but is insufficient as per what is currently required by City code. While this new resident is required to drain his property to build his new home, he has the option of asking the rest of the residents to pay him back in the future. This recapture agreement is presented to the City Council and can be accepted as presented, accepted and changed, or simply rejected.


How much burden should be placed on existing residents for new development infrastructure on their block. I say that no costs should be applied to any adjoining residents because of the building of a new home. If someone wants to squeeze a large home in, let them squeeze the money out of their pocket and not reach into ours.

The other question we have to address as we look into new sustainable storm water practices is at what thresholds we should require properties to hook up into public storm water systems. The current law says building an additional 250 sq. ft. requires hookup to public storm water system. I am suggesting we increase this threshold substantially and look for ways to deal with storm water on site instead of channelizing it down our sewers and into flood ways.

We also immediately need to create legal channels for installation of rain barrels and rain gardens to protect our properties. We should also not make folks hook up to storm sewers if it is not needed. French drains, storage containers like rain barrels, and rain gardens need to be incorporated into our ordinances immediately.

The City has promoted and demonstrated new storm water approaches and now needs to make it work for homeowners. Nature always has better answers than engineers and bankers. We should listen to reason and always look for ways to reduce the pressure on our environment and costs to our existing residents.

Tough choices during budget talks

The Mayor and City Council have had several special meetings to talk about the 2009 budget. Because of the crisis in the economy we have experienced reductions in revenues from building permits, the real estate transfer tax, and a smaller reduction in our sales tax. These budget shortfalls have resulted in lower fund balances. To deal with a portion of these shortfalls in 2008 our city manager has cut some expenditures but has not reduced any service levels. Because of a large planned reserve in our fund balance, we will not be making any drastic changes to begin this next fiscal year. We must change however from our "business as usual" government practice if things do not get back to the good old days of growth in 2009. While I have been promoting change this past year, the Council consensus has been to wait and see how deep this down turn will be before making any changes in our current practice.

I have been pretty aggressive asking for a plan on cost cutting during 2009. Staff has cut costs up to this point that don't include personnel. I and a few other Council members have agreed not to go back to all our homeowners and increase their fees or taxes anymore over the next 6 months while we see which direction the economy is heading. Staff however has suggested we immediately increase fees and taxes so we don't have to cut personnel and services to our citizens. We need to take a good look at all of our alternatives to deal with this situation. I am a believer that a smaller local government is a must in this economic climate because of all the pressures that have been put on our citizens with skyrocketing costs and losses in savings. We are benefited by great past fiscal planning that affords us this time to evaluate how we respond to this new economic environment. But we must act soon to be a constructive force in the big picture.

The other cost issue that is haunting us is state mandated pensions that will rise substantially over the next year if equities continue to sustain large losses. While we are mandated by the state government to live by standards that the legislature have set for our pension funds, we have no control on the costs that we must levy our citizens through property taxes. I have called Representative Karen May and Senator Susan Garrett to asked them to work with us on discussing alternatives that would reduce the burden on our property owners. Senator Garrett reminded me that a pension reform package was just signed into law that deals with some pension issues state wide. I do commend her on this oversight legislation and applaud this first step, but much more needs to be done. I welcome a dialog and partnership with our State Legislators to prevent a double digit increase in our city government (pension) levy in 2010.

If you look on your real estate tax bills you will see the pensions as a separate item. The 2008 pension levy will be $2,284,446.00 and it is proposed to be $2,416,644.00 in 2009 (5.8 % or a 132,178.00 increase). This pension cost is about 20% of the entire city portion of your property tax bill. Projections for 2010 will have an additional $630,000 increase (based on a 10% reduction in investment return) and I believe will have a huge impact on our ability to properly fund our core city missions unless we substantial increase in property taxes. Folks, this will be beyond our ability to control because of present state legislation.


This is important! We need to ask Representative Karen May and Senator Garrett for assistance and to work with our municipalities to reduce these mandated pension fund requirements. Especially in these economic times, it is just not fair for our citizens to take this huge increase on their property tax bills. We all must share in the pain of our tightening economic situation which includes all municipal employees.

City Hall Rain Garden Installed

At my urging, the City Council had staff install a demonstration Rain Garden on the Northwest corner of City Hall to show the benefits and beauty of sustainable storm water management. I know the City Council would like to see this practice institutionalized within our community.

During heavy rains when water can cause erosion and ponding, rain gardens provide natural water storage that reduce negative effects from a down pour or long periods of rain fall.

Another Rain Garden will be installed at the Northeast corner of City Hall to take storm water off the rear parking lot. Not only does this store water within the rain garden system but also provides filtering of these waters before they flow down our ravines and finally into Lake Michigan.

Funding for these projects are from state grants and our increasing funding from our sustainable initiatives fund. These fund revenues will be coming from our increased payments from recyclables and our new single hauler commercial waste contract. I have been following the direction of our City Manager that says we need to identify funding resources first, then spend the money second..... I AGREE...Done

GO GREEN

Commercial Waste and Multi-Family Refuse and Recycling Franchise Agreement

Here is a link to our City Highlander Oct 15, 2008 Newsletter and the lead article on our New Commercial Waste Contract. Read it please.

Overdevelopment knocks on the door at Grange

The City Council was presented with an eight unit development on Park Ave. and Grange which at one time was the old Sparking Spring property. The underlining zoning on this property allows 5 single family housing units. This area is zoned R-3, one home per acre and borders the Southeast corner of Hybernia. The developer Brad Zenner had originally proposed a change of zoning for a 14 unit development last year that was rebuffed by the Plan Commission. This 8 unit plan passed the commission with a split 4-3 vote and did not have the support of the Grange neighborhood who said they would support an additional one unit for a total of a 6 unit development. I strongly agreed with the neighborhood because of several objectives that we recently reaffirmed in our master plan.

Under our ordinances we ask for a Planned Unit Development (PUD) when parcels are over 3 acres. The response to this law varies depending on whether the property is in a high density area or on a relatively large and/or isolated parcel in a residential lower density neighborhood. When these proposals are within an existing neighborhood and don't have the parcel size to create a buffer or proper transition from the neighborhood, they don't work. In this case on Grange any PUD development should resemble the character of the street while still incorporating the controls on bulk, environmental preservation, and best management practices of sustainable planning.

What also made this development interesting was the provisions for bonuses of affordable housing and historic preservation. While these are both priorities for our community, and all of us have agreed on a 6 unit (of which one is affordable) development, further bonuses should never negatively encroach on the overall character of our existing neighborhoods.

This proposal was tabled at the City Council meeting to allow Brad Zenner to think of less dense alternatives to his current proposal that might be acceptable to the Council and community.

Park District Withdraws Support for Lakefront Referendum

I am 100% behind our Park District Commissioners for expressing that now is not the time to increase the Park District levy about $67 per $100,000 market value. They have decided not to proceed with support of the Nov. 4th referendum. All of us in government, this community, and nation need to focus on retaining the economic viability we all have been comforted with over the last decade. To put anymore economic stress on our citizens or our economy would be wrong at this time.

The Park District of Highland Park sent out a press release last week. They are not supporting moving forward with the Lakefront Plan at this time. The commissioners said they would have preferred to remove the referendum question from the November general election ballot altogether, but since ballots have already been printed, that was not possible.

I had participated in the Lakefront Plan process with the public over the past several years. The JJR January 2007 plan was a much better representation of the consensus of the community meetings than finally became the Districts action plan that unfolded this last year. Many of us were surprised at the big push for a 124 slip marina at central avenue. Wow, as our community is working to become more sustainable and provide an example of renewable energy use, enhancement of our natural assets, and promote a lifestyle of reduction of our carbon footprint, is a power boat marina fit in? I don't think so...... We want people to enjoy the recreational use of Lake Michigan and should pursue teaching sustainable uses like sailing, swimming, and use of paddle crafts. These uses are quiet and add to the big picture strategy that our Mayor and community have pursued.

That being said, this lakefront planning process has come a long way and I applaud our Park District Commissioners for the great work that they have done in trying to provide resources and awareness on our lakefront. We need to continue this discussion over the next several months and rebuild our priorities on protecting our lakefront and creating opportunities for environmental enhancement and recreation.

Future plans should provide a longer timeline of implementation so we do not get a large increase in property taxes. Our first priority should be clean beaches, new restroom facilities, and enhanced opportunities for our citizens to enjoy a quality experience on the lakefront. MORE TO COME!!!!!