Civic engagement outweighs civic enragement

 

            In 2015, then governor Bruce Rauner signed into law Public Act 99-0434 which requires public high school students to complete a semester-long civics course covering government institutions, current and controversial issues, service learning, and democratic simulations.

             Four years later, Public Act 101-0254 expanded the requirement, mandating at least one semester of civics education in public schools for grades 6, 7, or 8.

             The folks in Springfield got it. Civics education is important.

             But wait, there’s more, HB5289 is pending down in the statehouse, which if it becomes law will – brace yourself – “require public high school students to attend a live or virtual local government meeting, such as a city council or county board meeting as part of an updated civic engagement unit starting in the 2027–2028 school year.” Imagine that.

             Bravo to sponsor Justin Cochran (D-55) of Des Plaines and cosponsor Rep. Joyce Mason (D-61) of Gurnee for realizing not only the importance of civics education, but civics engagement,

             Civics engagement is nothing new for Buffalo Grove. On Monday, Sept. 28, the village will host its annual Civics Forum which features students from Buffalo Grove and Stevenson High School as village officials and village board members. Talk about extra credit.

             The forum was started back in the 1990s by Village Clerk Jan Sirabian, an exhaustive advocate for Civic Engagement. Despite her reminders about election registration, filing dates and, of course voting, which are a staple at Village Board meetings, the reality is some folks seem to confuse civic engagement with civic enragement.

             And this goes beyond the wags who wail on social media sites.

             Case in point – the consideration by the village to purchase 8.3 acres and the 96,731-square-foot building at 1100 Lake-Cook Rd. as the site of a new Village Hall and Police Station. While the purchase price is $6.25 million, renovation costs are estimated at a cool $52 million.

             So how does this impact citizen engagement?

             Some residents have insinuated that the village has purposely kept the project under wraps presumably to railroad it through without the public knowing.

             This could be due to a less than ideal progression by which the village disseminated initial information about the project. It had a circuitous beginning starting on Dec. 5 when village officials met with “local media” to announce the project.

             What local media? Village officials wriggled to explain what local media was invited to this press briefing and why just two reporters were invited. Said one, “Friday’s meeting intentionally had a limited audience," while another said “I believe the rationale for only including The Daily Herald and Journal and Topics reporters is that they are the 2 print media outlets that cover Buffalo Grove on a regular basis. “

             Yet a third tried to justify the meeting because “…"We selected the two print news publications with the broadest reach in our community. We knew that, because of the timing commitments for the agreement and the Village Board’s availability, the information would have to go public on a less-than-ideal Friday afternoon schedule.”

             Focusing on print media in 2025 is somewhat akin to going into an auto dealership and asking for a vehicle with manual transmission. It’s archaic and lacks insight into contemporary trends, in this case, in the media.

             This was followed up by the first public meeting about the project scheduled for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9. An unusual time to be sure, but at least the village made an effort to hold an open meeting. That meeting and ensuing ones have rattled some people including Trustee Dave Weidenfeld has made it clear on several occasions that he thinks the public needs to know more about the project and have the opportunity to ask questions and let village officials and staff their feelings about the project. Weidenfeld, who is not running for re-election in 2027, has also questioned the timing of the project because of its cost amid a litany of other expenditures the village is embarking on. Weidenfeld does, however, support the project, just not the timing of the expense.

             The sparsely attended Dec. 9 meeting provided information about the due diligence period that was originally supposed to have been 30 days. It went a lot longer.

             The Village Board held a special committee of the whole meeting Aug. 31 that addressed one issue – the 1100 Lake-Cook Rd. building.

             You would think that after almost nine months, the Council Chambers would be packed.

             They weren’t.

             Only three residents had comments for the Board two of whom chided the Board for a seemingly a lack of transparency by the village regarding the project.

             One resident, Craig Horwitz, told the Board that the building is “just wrong and unneeded.” He claimed that the only way he knew about the project was an article in the village newsletter.

             Horwitz is vehemently against the project, and claims that there have been three executive sessions about the project in order to avoid public input. While it may be true that the project was discussed in executive sessions, it was done so within the framework of the Illinois Open Meetings Act which allows public bodies (village board, city councils, school board, etc.) to meet in closed session for several topics, including land acquisition, litigation and personnel matters.

             As for hiding information, the village has made efforts to make details about the project public. Most village records are available to the public, but navigating the website can be a challenge, but a little effort can yield results. Information about the 1100 Lake-Cook Rd. project is available at this link.

             Despite this link and information posted on social media and in the mainstream media, some residents think more should be done to inform residents about the project.

             Nothing is perfect. Could the village have done a better job when it unveiled the project? Absolutely. The media announcement and Dec. 9 meeting lacked polish. Since then, information about the project has been on the village’s website, social media and printed materials sent to residents, something Horwitz acknowledges.

             But there is so much the village can do to get residents civically engaged. Slogans, banners and graphics may lead a horse to water, but they can’t make it drink.

             The onus of civic engagement lies with citizens.

             The Illinois legislature knows this, and seems to realize that education is the key to civic engagement and that citizens have to take the lead when it comes to holding government officials at all levels accountable. They just cannot sit back and complain.

             Because in the end, civic engagement can be more productive than civic enragement.

Lights, cameras and common sense may help curtail burglaries

 

Well, it’s been a while. Time to dust off the keyboard.

            A couple of weeks ago a resident called me asking for more information about a burglary in his neighborhood after reading it in my news blog, B.G.N.I. Items from police reports are a regular part of the blog.

            That week seemed to be particularly difficult for homeowners as there were reports of three residential burglaries.

            In weeks since then, there have been several other residential burglaries. Investigators are often at a loss as to what leads to a rash of burglaries, but the crime prevention folks say that homeowners can take some steps in an effort to help decrease the possibility of a home break-in.

            The PD has a list of 16 tips to help prevent residential burglaries.

            Some are obvious. For example, make sure your doors and windows are locked. While it seems amazingly basic, it’s not unusual to see reports for home burglaries where the homeowner was only gone for a couple of hours. While reports don’t go into intricate detail as burglaries are generally tagged as being under investigation, there’s a good chance a homeowner may have thought that since they were making a “quick trip,” there was no need to lock all of the doors.

            It’s also a good idea to keep your garage door closed and locked. And while we’re talking about the garage, make sure, if you have an attached garage, that the door leading into the house from the garage is also locked.

            Yes, you want to lock your windows and close the curtain, shades, blinds or whatever you have in your windows. It’s sort of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach.

            You may also want to take a cue from Genesis: Let there be lights. A lot of them. The installation of lamp timers in various rooms help give your home a “lived-in” look. I have a friend who scoffs at this and never leaves lights on when he and his family travel. Think burglars don’t case out neighborhoods? Think again. Don’t forget to install outside lights that can be activated by timers or motion detectors. It’s a simple step that may help deter a crime.

            You may want to consider installing security cameras inside and outside your house. Crime prevention officers say video cameras can play a key role in not only investigating home burglaries, but preventing them.

            In addition to offering “at-home” prevention tips, the BGPD also has tips to protect your home while you are traveling.

            Some are obvious – for example, stop delivery of your newspapers (if you still get them), stop the mail and make sure the grass is cut while you’re gone, or if you are traveling during the winter, make sure you have a snow removal service.

            There are some others that may make you laugh.

            For example, don’t (and as columnist Dave Barry would write -- “and I am not making this up”) leave a note that you are out of town and that deliveries can be left with a neighbor. Seriously. Do people really think the only people who will notice the note are wonderful, law-abiding souls?

            But the best tip is one that makes a lot of sense, or at least it should. Don’t post photos on social media while you’re on vacation. Nothing screams “hey look, we’re not home” as a photo of you having a great time drinking foo-foo drinks in Fiji.

            Breaking news – burglars scour social media.

            Not all burglars break in – some are let into a home.  In last week’s police reports a home was burgled when a man posing as a ComEd employee convinced the homeowner to check things outside. You know what happened, right?  When the resident went outside, at least one other person went in and ransacked the house. Employees for reputable companies like ComEd, NICOR, Comcast, have official and verifiable identification cards. A good rule of thumb may be “When in doubt, keep them out.”

            Want more prevention tips? Contact the Crime Prevention Unit at the Police Department by calling (847) 459-2560.

            In the meantime, as Sgt. Esterhaus would say, “Let’s be careful out there.”

Elections should focus on experience, qualifications -- not polenta

Back in the early – very early – days of my career as a journalist, I covered the city of Highwood.

Highwood at the time had two bits of notoriety.

One was that due to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and archaic liquor laws, the first place north of Chicago along the North Shore where you could get a drink was Highwood. The result was a plethora of bars and restaurants that served drinks.

If nothing else, it led to Highwood being listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for most liquor licenses per square acre.

The other was its mayor, Fidel Ghini, whose diction and command of English put him in the same company as Richard J. and Richard M Daley.

For reasons unbeknown to me, the Highwood City Council met at 7 p.m. on Friday nights.  Yes, Friday nights. Meetings under Fidel’s guidance lasted an hour.

The meetings were a series of aye votes and ended with Fidel’s pronouncement of what a great job he was doing and what a great city Highwood was.

And then it was off to the bars.

There is a book, “Quotations from Chairman Daley” that features some of ‘hiz honor’s’ classic statements. Ghini could have one too.

Fidel never scripted his meetings and you never knew what was coming next. However, one thing was certain – if someone disagreed with him, Fidel brought out the polenta. Not literally, but figuratively.

There were multiple levels of polenta making, depending on the level of anger.

** Mildly upset – “You’re trying to make a polenta” – Polenta is a cornmeal mixture that some people consider a mush.  It is made with hot water.

** Upset – “You’re trying to make polenta with cold water”

** Very upset – “You’re trying to make polenta with no water.”

With the April 6 consolidated elections looming, there is one sure thing. There’s a lot of polenta in Buffalo Grove.

This became evident during the Candidates Forum/Debate sponsored by the Journal & Topics Publications on Thursday. Candidates for District 125 School Board as well as candidates for the Buffalo Grove Village Board had the opportunity to present their positions on various topics based on questions developed by the editorial staff of the Journal & Topics.

It has been said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Thursday’s forum proved that.

With capacity capped at 50 due to COVID-19 restrictions, the opportunity for residents to attend was limited. There was plenty of space, however, as only 24 people attended. This, by the way, included the moderator and candidates. Thanks to village trustee  Joanne Johnson, the village candidates’ forum was available on Facebook live.  It wasn’t must-see TV. Neither was the school board forum.

The school board forum focused more on accusations by Nicole Grimes and Barb Tolbert that the D125 Board is unresponsive and shrouded in secrecy. Lalit Japtap did not participate. To no surprise, incumbents Steven Frost and Fei Shang reputed the charges. Fellow incumbent Gary Corson was not in attendance.

Two things came into my mind during the School Board forum. The first was that Grimes and Tolbert lack familiarity with both the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Much of the information they claimed was “hidden” is available either by the FOIA or cannot be discussed in public or made available to the public under OMA guidelines. Can things be improved?  Absolutely. However, what was missing from the debate, partly due to the nature of the questions and incessant focus of access to documents, was an exchange of ideas about, brace yourself, education. A novel idea. Stevenson High School did not achieve its nationally known reputation without, whether you agree with them or not, School Board guidance.

Accusations that Frost has been on the Board too long were of no bearing to the debate or the operation of the School Board. Like him or not, at least he has served for 20 years.

Length of service is not, nor should it be, a precursor to running for an elected position. However, it’s important to realize that a School Board and Village Board are not student councils. They are multi-million-dollar operations.

Persons with no experience or background who think they can wake up one morning and decide to run for an elected position just because someone told them there is an opening are doing a disservice not only to the Board they seek a spot on, but also to the community as well. Transparency is essential.

There are five candidates for the Buffalo Grove Village Board: incumbents Joanne Johnson, Les Ottenheimer and Andrew Stein. They are being challenged by former trustee Mike Terson and Gowri Magati.

Thursday’s debate did little to shed new light on the positions of the candidates.  The incumbents did what incumbents do – tout the work they’ve done and pledge to keep the village going in a strong direction.

Terson was in a tricky situation, having served as a trustee and having run against Village President Beverly Sussman two years ago. His positions, especially those related to economic development, are well known. Interestingly enough, Terson said several times that he agrees with some of the positions of the incumbents, especially Ottenheimer.  He also appears to remain wedded to the concept of the failed “Malk” downtown development proposal, something he raised several times during the discussion.

The odd person out was Magati. If the forum did anything, it revealed that she lacks any form of experience in civic matters or comprehensive knowledge related to Buffalo Grove. This, however, is reflected in her campaign.

Magati entered the race two weeks before the filing deadline saying someone informed her that there were positions available on the Village Board. Her original reasons for running focused on representing “her community.” While the goal of reflecting the diversity of Buffalo Grove on elected bodies is admirable, no candidate should run solely to represent a single community.

Magati’s candidacy has been shrouded in controversy as well. Magati’s filing petitions were challenged by former trustee Jeffrey Berman for alleged irregularities. The Electoral Board found that Magati had engaged in “false swearing” and that other irregularities existed in her petition. The Electoral Board tossed out several pages of the petition on that basis. However, the Electoral Board also found the evidence did not support a finding of a sufficient “pattern of fraud” to warrant “striking the entirety of the petition.” As such, despite proven false swearing by Magati, and other irregularities in her petition, the Electoral Board overruled the objection and allowed Magati to stay on the ballot.  By the way, one member voted to remove Magati from the ballot.

Magati, who denies any party affiliation, was represented by Matthew Flamm, an attorney who happens to be active in the Cook County Democratic party. That is interesting, given that Magati apparently had no interest in running, let alone involvement in party politics until, as mentioned, someone told her there was an opening on the Village Board.

Nothing screams civic engagement more than not knowing what positions are open on the Board you are running for.

While I can’t fault her for running, the reality is this – given her lack of experience and knowledge about the Village Board and village issues, her a lack of transparency about her background and backing, and her single “community” interest, a successful Magati campaign would do a disservice not only to “her community” but the community at large.

Again, her lack of substance was reflected in her comments during the forum.

Magati claims the “same roads” are being repaired every year. They’re not. Work done by the village on village streets is prioritized and scheduled every year. There is no repetition. Her responses also made clear that she has no knowledge or appreciation for the scope of the Village’s responsibilities. What she apparently does not realize is that Lake County, Cook County and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) have jurisdiction over many roadways in the village.

Her stand on retail growth was at best convoluted and reflected a lack of understanding as to what the village has done and is trying to do. One of her “fresh ideas” is to “Build an entertainment center downtown to bring in more revenue” and to “Assure the downtown will attract professionals and young families.” There was No mention of who would do these things, how they would come to pass, or who would pay for them. Oh, and psst, Gowri, Buffalo Grove doesn’t have a downtown.

The debate also revealed that she lacks comprehension of basic facts, including critical statistics she claimed to reference regarding vacancy rates in the village. Vacancy rates, as detailed by village staff and the Economic Development Strategic Plan, reflect that the village has a 3.4 percent vacancy rate for industrial and flex uses, 16.6 percent vacancy for office space and a 13.2 percent retail vacancy rate. The composite vacancy rate in the village is 7.7 percent.

By comparison, the industrial/flex vacancy rate for the North Central Region is 8.6 percent and 7.8 percent for the Chicago metropolitan area.  The office vacancy rate is 18.5 percent for the North Central Region and 13.9 percent for the Chicago metropolitan area.

When it comes to retail, the North Central region rate is 9.7 percent with the Chicago metropolitan rate at 8.5 percent.

Room for improvement in Buffalo Grove?  Absolutely. Does Magati understand how or why? Apparently not.

Magati needs to get her facts straight. When Johnson cited the vacancy numbers during Thursday’s forum, Magati was quick to accuse Johnson of being wrong and asserted the composite rate is 19 percent. She claimed to have gotten her numbers from “the website.”

It was Magati who was wrong. The rate she touted was for the Lake Cook Corridor Tax Increment Financing District. The rate of retail vacancies in the TIF district exceeds 19 percent, with much of it due to the albatrosses known as Town Center and Chase Plaza, site of the vacant Dominick’s. Understanding the problem is the first step to curing it. A misunderstanding of the facts, however, can only lead to flawed conclusions. As the saying goes, “garbage in and garbage out.”

So what’s my take? Magati’s fresh ideas lack two things. Freshness. And ideas. Had she taken an interest in the Village Board before haphazardly seeking signatures and developing a campaign that lacks substance and vacillates more than the Bears’ quarterback situation, she could be a viable candidate.

Right now, however, what she needs to do is learn how to make polenta.

 

Keeping the thanks in Thanksgiving

 Golan Mor knew this year would need to be different.

Golan Mor, executive manager of Garden Fresh Market
loads one of five pallets of food that he donated to the
Rotary Club food drive.

And the executive manager of Garden Fresh Market decided to make a difference. For the past two years, Mor has donated items to be included in boxes of food and other items that are donated by the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club to area needy families.

            He started helping the Rotary Club out with the annual event “a couple of years ago,” after he was approached by Pete Panayiotou, whose Continental Restaurant is a few doors down from Garden Fresh Market on Buffalo Grove. “At first he asked for wholesale prices, but I decided to donate $1,000,” Mor says. Last year, the donation was $2,000.

Buffalo Grove Fire Department Battalion Chief
Shawn Collins packs boxes of food.

            But then the pandemic hit. “This year, given the circumstances I decided to cover the whole thing,” he says. That ‘whole thing’ is nearly $10,000 of food fundamentals to help the needy. The items are all shelf-stable and include, but are not limited to things like sugar, flour, mayonnaise and canned soups.

            “The country has to mobilize like we did two generations ago. Everyone needs to do their part at every level,” Mor says.

 

Shannon O'Connor of Rickin' Jump in
Buffalo Grove loads items for the needy.

           The five pallets of food will help the Rotary Club put together 150 boxes of supplies that will be given to families who are referred to the Rotary Club by officials in school districts 21, 95, 214 as well as the Buffalo Grove Police Department.

            In addition to the food donations, 75 participants will receive a hand-made winter hat, all made by Tammy Dreyer, records clerk for the Kildeer Police Department. Stuffed animals, donated by PetSmart in Kildeer, will be given to children.

Started in 1978 by Wheeling High School and the Wheeling Rotary Club, the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club joined the effort four years later. The initiative is coordinated by former Buffalo Grove chief and current Kildeer Police Chief Steve Balinski, Shawn Collins, Buffalo Grove Fire Department Battalion Fire Chief and Panayiotou.