June 13, 2006 - Council (and COW) Meeting

[scoon]

Long agenda, 73 items, I put a link below.  Bring your seat cushions.  No lie, if I can find mine, I will be.  I threw out my back yesterday and I'm not looking forward to the pews....  COW says they will be discussing the time clock issue and "Garbage Specs"...  that sounds juicy.

Here's the link:  http://www.Berwyn-il.gov/mtgagendas/20060613-CouAgenda.pdf

[OakParkSpartan]

HR and Finance directors are supposed to explain how this mysterious Kronos system will work.

Cheers,
Brian

[Bear]

Ah yes live from Berwyn...Every second Tuesday...The never ending
adventures of "6700 West"...

Scoon...bring your pup tent as well it will be a long one, some items
of interest:

That big ol' swimmin hole at 1325 Home
Mayoral appointments resurface
Vangaurd moving forward on re-zoning for Euclid...

Yes...The true saga of council meetings...

http://engramstudio.com/crap/catdrums.swf

[Dancing Queen]

  Seems like a whole lot of people are getting congratulated. maybe the council should have just one day a month (not a city council meeting day) where they just congratulate people and have their pictures taken with them. that way, valuable city council time wouldn't be wasted.

[scoon]

Seems like a whole lot of people are getting congratulated. maybe the council should have just one day a month (not a city council meeting day) where they just congratulate people and have their pictures taken with them. that way, valuable city council time wouldn't be wasted.

I say don't take away someone's fifteen seconds, some of them have earned it...  take away the grandstanding and picture taking.

[scoon]

Sorry this took too long...  muchas computer problems today...


The meeting started 26 minutes, late and lasted almost two hours. Two long hours for those of us sitting in the pews with bad backs.

After the pledge we had a moment of silence for our troops overseas and abroad.  Someone please tell The Mayor that these two words mean basically the same thing.

Open forum started with an announcement from The Mayor that the city has received a check for 2 million dollars from Chicago for the sewer charges.  To share the loot with residents, they are going to drop $20 bills from a hot air balloon at Morton West.

John Fey wanted to invite everyone to Cartopia on the 24th at Cermak Plaza, parade at 1pm.  Svengoolie is the grand marshal just to make the event officially Berwyn.  There's also an auction at the Carberet on Friday nite to help Youth In Crisis.  More info here. http://www.berwyncartopia.com/

Chief Kushner then rolled into the chambers on the first Segway delivered to the city.  I have a feeling that won't be the last time we'll see him on one.  He was like a kid with a new toy.

Senator Sandoval announced the 16th street resurfacing project between Lombard and Harlem.  The street will remain the same width, but the surface, curbs, etc will be replaced for the tune of 1.2 million dollars.

The grandstanding wasn't over quite yet as he announced Berwyn will be receiving $2 million for a DD parking garage.

Sean Gallagher spoke about the problem of speeding cars on the long blocks of 26th to 28th between Ridgeland and East.  In the last week two cars have been totaled and one kid hit.  He and numerous neighbors are asking for speed humps or some sort of speed reduction measures. 

Sean raised an issue of not having a traffic engineer.  He has a point.  Random stop signs...  ever try to get down Oak Park Ave. without getting stopped at every light?  Fast or slow, it's impossible.  What it does is frustrates me and encourages me to speed.

Multiple residents from those blocks asked for the speed bumps. One suggested a ticket blitz...  which I think is a good idea for a number of issues.  Speeding, noise, parking...

Another said that they will pay for the speed bumps with donations from residents.  Way to step up people.  And way to go thru proper channels unlike the woman who put in a speed bump illegally after her dog was hit.  (It was removed the following day, probably at taxpayer expense.)

One woman mentioned that there are filth mags in front of the counter at the 7-11 on Oak Park and 26th.  Either I'm blind or too tall, but I missed them completely.  I'm usually attuned to all things seedy...

Officers Ehle and Schumacher were recognized for completing the Northwestern school of police management and the Chicago Detective school respectively.

We have a new firefighter, but he was working at his current job and could not make it.  Lucky guy.  Hell...  Lucky for us, he might have changed his mind had he been there.

After the dog and pony show part of the evening, things went down hill in a hurry.  A man who campaigned for Ald. Erickson and the IVB started digging without a permit.  There was confusion around the permit as it was issued based upon recommendation from city council, then rescinded, also based upon recommendation from city council.  It's a longer story, but I'm not going to get into it.

Alderman Erickson did not miss the opportunity to make an ass out of himself and accused The Mayor of wrongdoing.  The Mayor denied the accusations.  Not sure what the angle would be there not having access to the communication...  Erickson also asked that the council agree with the legal decision to deny the permit, and provide the Admin committee with all records, documents, notes, transcriptions of conversation, incriminating photos, bake sale recipes, and scribbles on bar napkins regarding this permit.

He wanted this information to restore the public's confidence in the city government.  Yes.  I can't make this up.  The very reason we have no confidence in our city government wants to champion the cause.

Alderman Lovero was not comfortable with this information being made public with a second from Alderman Weiner.  So it was agreed that the council would simply concur with the legal opinion to deny the permit, which they did.

The BDC items were all approved, including closing Ogden Ave. for the Route 66 Car Show and $19,500 in TIF funds to Mike and Sons on Ogden. 

Yesterday was Igor Davila and Gus Cornado Day.  I forgot, but your cards are in the mail.

Rebates for other taxing bodies was discussed.  As always there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding going on up there.  Alderman Skryd wanted to defer and refer to finance and law.  Alderman Chapman wanted to make the point that it's not the city's tax to keep.  The Mayor said that it can be if they want to. 

Chief Kushner's recommendation to hire lateral officers was approved to get officers on the street faster.  Alderman Brocato didn't like it because it threatens to get rid of the list of candidates waiting to get on the force.  I see both sides, but for right now, I'd rather see more blue on the streets.

The intergovernmental agreement with the North Berwyn Park District was approved.  That's been going on for so long I don't even remember what it was all about.

The job descriptions of mayoral appointments were sent to admin as discussed previously on this board.

There are two new members of the Mayor's Citizen Advisory Committee from the Jaycees.  One of the guys has a ponytail. 

All told the city has gotten $1,357,000 in grants for improvements from West Suburban Mass Transit.  We got $26,000 in the previous 5 years.  Much of that has to do with funds not being available, but we still got 25% of what was available this time around.

BerWYN!

This includes an wrought iron fence from Harlem to Oak Park Ave.  Saluki listen up...  Improvements to the La Vergne station...  better late than never right?  And the previously mentioned DD parking garage.

The prevailing wage was approved for city workers.  This seems to be a minimum wage for city employees.  I'll sleep better knowing that the guy driving the street sweeper that wakes me up every morning at 4am has a fatter paycheck...  Those things just sound plain freaky in the early morning.

At this point I think the third cell phone went off.  This happened at least four more times throughout the evening.  Since some of you show as much common sense as my cats, I'm going to teach you the same way I teach them.  I'm going to bring a squirt gun and douse those of you who can't get it thru your head that you need to turn them off or on vibrate when in a public setting.

The MacNeal parking garage was next up.  At the end of COW there was a hub bub that ended up with The Mayor basically walking out. Those of us in the audience, and Alderman Lovero were of the understanding that they were going to accept the 7-0 ruling of the Zoning Board to deny the MacNeal proposal.  Now they're going to defer and refer since MacNeal has a new proposal on display tonite...  this way they won't have to go thru the application process which in my opinion is the right thing to do.  Any other resident would have to.  Especially when asking for a whole new set of variance changes.

The 1200 block of Wesley want only resident parking 24/7 with a fine of $100 despite the affect it might have on businesses on Roosevelt.  When asked if the Chief approved of this, Alderman Erickson implied that the Chief knew about this and was ok with it.  After a little digging, the Chief is only aware that citizens can request parking rules for their individual block. 

It was pointed out that it's difficult for the police can enforce different parking rules block by block.  Winning the dickface statement of the night award, Alderman Erickson said that he's pretty sure that our officers can read the signs posted. 

Eventually it did pass because the ordinance does state that residents can request the parking restrictions on their block.  That's fine, but don't the Alderman have a responsibility to do what's right for the city as a whole, not just 30 some residents?  The more I've thought about this today the more it bothers me.

I missed the next item about review appointments and powers of appointments while emailing my Alderman about enacting a no parking at any time policy on my block.

A sickly looking tree at 26th and Ridgeland is going to be investigated to see if it needs to be removed.  Guess who voted against that...  that and the payroll.  I guess the investigation into the mysterious discrepancy is still ongoing.

The Kronos timecard system will stay in COW.  In the COW discussion the HR Director spoke about the system.  It will reduce paper work, and by bringing the check cutting in house the city will save $1.50 per paycheck, but the HR Director could not quantify the cost savings.  She said there was no way to do this beyond the $1.50 per check times the number of employees. 

I've stated many time that I'm not a math wizz, but here's an easy way:

Task time in hours.  X  Pay rate per hour.  =  Cost per task

That isn't difficult...  my point is, the HR Director could have hit a home run by simply doing a return on investment analysis. 

I questioned the need for the time clocks, but it was brought to my attention that the city's IT infrastructure is in no shape to handle the online portals most of us take for granted to share information. 

Anyway, this stays in COW.

Settlement of litigation was approved...  Alderman Brocato was excused from the vote...  hmmmmmm

Building on a 25 foot lot was approved.  Let the insanity begin.

There was a second item for the Kronos system that Alderman Skryd wanted to send to another committee...  Left hand, meet the right hand.

Some woman I don't know pinched me cause she thought it was my fault that Alderman Erickson was elected.  I wonder what she would have done if she liked the guy.

A raise for the public works secretary was deferred cause she wasn't talked to (?).  Whatever.  I missed some of this due to being pinched.  I do know that Alderman Phelan wanted to change his vote after hearing some information...

A computer use policy was referred to COW.  Apparently there are too many email forwards with blonde jokes going around the office.

Incentives for residential deconversions, condo conversions, and a new compliance position went to COW. 

The finance director wants to clean out old stuff.  I smell a city vehicle auction.  I've always wanted a car with a cop engine and cop tires...  He also wants to bring in a financial advisory firm, and included his own hand picked recommendations.

The finance admin assistant almost lost her job last nite.  Sorry, I shouldn't be sexist, his or her job. Alderman Lovero pointed out that there wasn't enough information communicated and it was deferred.

Public Works wants the paver stones on Ogden replaced and wants us to know that for the 19th straight year we are a Tree City USA.

A bunch of handicap signs were handed out.  The library is going to request bids to install automatic door openers.  And the park district will continue to patrol district 100 schools, but now on a formal basis.

The Chief's recommendation to deny a block party permit for the 2100 block of Elmwood was approved with only one dissention.  I guess Alderman Erickson thought he's making too big of a deal about the bomb squad going there last year.

That's the shameful truth.

[delbowz]

Is there ANY other community in the chicago area that allows for block-by-block parking regulations?  I hope the chief tells his officers (and the revnue officers too)- not to ticket anyone on these "specialized" blocks - can they read signs? sure, but they shouldn't have to.  There should not be different rules for what is acceptable and what isn't based on the block you live on - in the same city!!

Yey to Sean G. re: the speeding on these long blocks.  It's particularly fun on the weekends and evenings that there are softball games at Janura.  When I first bought my home I called the police to ask them to monitor this and they said it wasn't worth thier time to park a squad on the street b/c peopel would notice it and slow down so they wouldn't be able to ticket them....  Although that was under a previous Public Saftey Director.. so hopefully time have changed.  I THOUGHT traffic studies were being conducted on these streets???  About a year ago that was the plan anyway - anyone know what happned to that?

Scoon - you are too funny - I love the water gun idea. 

I think they should have approved the permit for the block party - and made Erickson attend it and hold him personally responsible for any criminal or civil damage that occured as a result.... maybe that would make him pull his head out of his a$$ just once.  Can the citizens issue a gag order on this guy so that he can't talk or write crazy rambling letters anymore???

Are there 8th ward residents on this board?  Are you all happy with the way your alderman represents you??  I am so happy that I took no part in electing that clown - but I would love to help anyone in the 8th ward on their election campaign to oust him.

Denise

[scoon]

Denise, I love your block party idea. 

Addendum:  The organizers and volunteers of the Bungalow Tour were also honored on Tuesday nite.  Lori Thelen, Kristine Dillon, and Jon Fey in particular were recognized.  They did a great job and I'm sure next year will be even better.  I thought us docents were overlooked a little bit, but I didn't do it to pin a medal on myself.

[OakParkSpartan]

Delbowz,

You and other folks MUST get yourselves to the Aldermatic Administration Committee meetings where this parking plan is being created.  I was the only one there the other night.  The way it is headed, it is going to be one giant clusterfuck.  Frankly, it doesn't seem to be practical at all.  Every block can be different.  I can't wait till people start getting tickets because someone mis-read a sign. 

Folks around here need to venture outside the borders of Berwyn and realize that other community's have the exact same problems.  I have heard Berwyn is "Special" with it's parking problems.  Oak Park has 2 hospitals and a shit load of condo/apartment buildings, yet they seem to have a consistent policy.  Why are we so dead set on creating an unworkable plan?

Cheers,
Brian

[renovatorbear]

Another thorough and completely entertaining summary, scoon!  That line about the soldiers oversees AND abroad brought on the infamous hot coffee nasal douche...

Not to go off on too much of a tangent, but I love the speed bump/speed trap idea.  We live on Clarence, between Cermak and 21st, and people drive down the street so fast that they go by in a blur. And there's a stop sign at 21st.  So why the hell floor it between 22nd and 21st?

In the past four years that we've lived in this location, 3 cars parked on the street have been totaled, and numerous others have been smashed and pushed up onto our lawns by people that use Clarence as their own personal Berwyn 500 track, but then lose control (usually when they hit the sewer sink hole in front of my house, which has been repaired 3 times but continues to re-sink). 

When we had this problem with the alleys in the city, we got speed bumps by endlessly pestering our alderman (in Bart & Lisa Simpson style). Speed bumps made plowing the snow out of the alleys more difficult, but it definitely cut down on the speeding problem and the destruction that resulted from it.  Plus it gave us all a warm, fuzzy feeling, knowing how those speed bumps frosted the asses of those idiot drivers.

I mentioned the speed bump idea to our alderman when he was running for office and was canvassing our neighborhood.  Blank stare in return.   Perhaps it's time to rattle his cage... 

[djames]

I don't live in this area but it doesn't sound like speed bumps will solve the problem.  People will still speed from speed bump to speed bump.  Crossing the street, especially for children, will still be risky because you come out from behind parked cars.  I think the best solution would be to have one or two raised crosswalks with stop signs on each of the long blocks.

[OakParkSpartan]

I still think my idea of an aircraft carrier restraining mechanism would be appropriate...have a radar gun.  If you are 10 mph over the speed limit, a large net pops up and snares your car.  You and your car will be released when the local residents feel the message has sunk in...

Let's be a little creative folks.  If we can come up with a stellar parking solution, surely we can also come up with a completely impractical and ineffective way to reduce speeding.

What about adding slaloms to all the streets.  Instead of Tree City, USA, we could be Curvy Streets, USA
Or just quit doing maintenance on the roads.  In a couple of years, only folks in big assed SUV's would be able to traverse them at slow speeds.  No speeding AND our tax dollars would be saved.  "Berwyn, a rugged town"
Flood all the streets, and use boats to get around.  "The Venice of the Midwest".
Chop down all the trees, and use them for wooden plank roads.  "New Plank Road City, USA"

Cheers,
Brian

[markberwyn]

Or just quit doing maintenance on the roads.  In a couple of years, only folks in big assed SUV's would be able to traverse them at slow speeds.  No speeding AND our tax dollars would be saved.  "Berwyn, a rugged town"

Sounds like another snob who wishes Berwyn was more like Riverside. 

[OakParkSpartan]

Or just quit doing maintenance on the roads.  In a couple of years, only folks in big assed SUV's would be able to traverse them at slow speeds.  No speeding AND our tax dollars would be saved.  "Berwyn, a rugged town"

Sounds like another snob who wishes Berwyn was more like Riverside. 

Quit being so closed minded Mark.

Think about it.  Along with our Parking Plan, we could install toll gates on each street.  Then we could charge all those dreaded yuppies driving SUV's to come go 4 wheeling on our streets.  Hell, we could even sell tickets to the locals to make catty remarks about them.  Increased revenue for the city, a morale boost for the residents.  What more could we ask for???  Use the revenue to construct some giant section 8 housing projects up in the north end of town to further enhance the offroading experience.

Cheers,
Brian

[scoon]

Think about it.  Along with our Parking Plan, we could install toll gates on each street.  Then we could charge all those dreaded yuppies driving SUV's to come go 4 wheeling on our streets.  Hell, we could even sell tickets to the locals to make catty remarks about them.  Increased revenue for the city, a morale boost for the residents.  What more could we ask for???  Use the revenue to construct some giant section 8 housing projects up in the north end of town to further enhance the offroading experience.

Somebody woke up on the sarcastic side of the bed...

I say we put cardboard cut out of children on a pulley system and have them pop out from in between parked cars as the speeder goes by.  We could put some junkers on the other side of the street for them to crash into.  Or put your car there and have one hell of an insurance scam.

[OakParkSpartan]

See, I got the creative juices flowing for you scoon!

[Boris]

Thoughts in random order...

Erickson: I have never met him, but I do get all kinds of bizarre emails from him with links to high-school illustrations of planets ( http://www.berwynfirst.com/planets.htm ) and aireal photos...at first I thought "OK, the guy's found something that he thinks is cool, and this whole web-publishing thing is new to him...give him a break". But now, after a year and a half of his crazy emails, and scoon's reports (hat's off to ya, by the way...), I don't want this guy representing me in city governmement.

The 8th has some serious issues...mostly dealing with traffic, and some serious potential. Not once...ONCE!, have I heard this goofball even attempt to address our concerns, or offer up ideas that will make the 8th what it should be. Simply by location- being the boder between Oak Park and Berwyn, the 8th has fantastic potential, but Erickson seems more concerned with policing his fellow aldermen and the mayor.

I should...actually, I will make a point of going to his office at some point soon to meet him and speak with him about the present and future of my neighborhood.

Speed-bumps: there should be speed bumps in all the alleys. Period. I've almost been whacked several times just taking out the garbage...the alleys behind Buona Beef are flat out dangerous. Speaking of Buona Beef, they must figure out a better parking scheme. Cars have to literally drive down the sidewalk to get into and out of a parking space. They also need to make it so that you can't go around the light at OP and Roosevelt by slinking through their lot.

###
Really, the only negative thing I can say about Berwyn after living here for 2 years is that Berwynites drive like assholes. Speeding, ignoring traffic signs, pedestrians and bicycles, cutting through alleys and parking lots, pulling into left-turn lanes 3 block before they exist etc. are all taken to the level of an art-form by the car culture that exists in our fair city.
###

...OK, I have to get back to work...

[TyRy]

We're also in the 8th ward and have tried to go up against "Captain Chaos" a couple of times.  At one of the 8th ward Town Hall meetings a few months ago, but husband went toe-to-toe with him and informed him to stop all the petty crap and try to move the city forward.  This was with the Mayor and a few others there as well.  We see how he listens to people in his ward!  I was also at his "parking" meeting in May - completely worthless! It's his way (block by block) or no way.  The only exceptions to block by block should be ones with schools on them.  That's it.  I think my puppy might make more progress with the North side if she was in office.

Ty

[OakParkSpartan]

He says that he has lots of interaction with his ward residents, and they all support him.  Except for the IVB kool-aid drinkers of course.  He doesn't get that what he does has ramifications outside of his personal feud with the mayor.

Cheers,
Brian

[Terri]

Erickson was supported by his own pup. #8 Alderman is cooking his own goose.

Brian, I do like the gated-community idea, good for property values.  

Kudos to the resident complaining about the mags. in the 7-eleven store!  The 16th street store does not cover the mags. either.  When I am forced to go into 7-Eleven, I tell them they need to be covered, and then place a Woman's Day on top. They are at children's eye level, see I am not the only prude.  

Great reporting, Scoon!

Terri