Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Ah, spring....

...When hope springs eternal

That seems to be especially if you are a Cubs fans.

It's also a time when neighbors lumber outside and begin doing yard work, getting bikes in gear and even catching up with neighbors.

I chatted with a neighbor this past weekend and to no surprise our conversation focused on schools, the fact that my lawn was turning green, the NCAA tournament and other idle bits of conversation.

Big deal.

However, out of no where he said "Can you believe what's going on in the village?"

I assured him I was aware of some of the issues.

"No really, you look at the newspapers and you would think Buffalo Grove is a terrible place to live. She has to go."

Unsolicited comments.

That's what the village has come too.

Some people have asked me why I haven't had many blogs in the past 10 days. It's not for lack of material. It's that I only blog on what I have witnessed by attending a Village or School Board meeting, or by reviewing the video.

It took me more than a few hours to review the March 8 meeting.

To say I was dumbfounded would be an understatement. (For the record, this will be the first in several blogs about the March 8 meeting, which could go down as one of Buffalo Grove's darkest hours.)

Don't blame Elliott Hartstein -- disagree if you want, but don't blame him.

Don't blame Steve Trilling -- watch the video and then be ready to applaud his remarks.

Don't blame Beverly Sussman -- watch the video and the be ready applaud her remarks.

And be sure not to blame Village Manager Bill Brimm and his staff. Their expertise and professionalism is second to none. Perfect? Probably not. But what and who are?

No one. Especially Lisa Stone.

In fact, if you want to blame someone, take a look at the left side of the dais and you may, or you will probably find someone to blame.

It's on the side where you'll hear someone say that she will break the rules again and that she's representing the people of Buffalo Grove.

No she's not. She's representing her own self interest, her own campaign, her own ego.

The odor that she refers to may not be limited to a compost facility on Milwaukee Avenue, it may be from a mulching facility, as Beverly Sussman pointed out, or perhaps the Pekara Avenue Sewage Treatment facility.

Stone claims people are getting sick and cannot work. She's talked with Wildfire. Interestingly, other merchants, and yes, I have communicated with them, say yes, the odor is there once in a while, but not to the extreme Stone claims.

Why? Because someone claims they did not get an email response from village hall quick enough. So Stone wants to bully her way into the headlines by humiliating a public official widely respected. That's OK. But if someone ruffles her feathers, they're liars, they're unethical, they're part of an "old boys" network.

Sure, the resolution approved by the board reprimanding her was harsh -- but long overdue. Censuring is an acceptable practice, not a pleasant one for either side. But there's a message there, whether it was heard or not remains to be seen.

She said she will continue to break the rules. I haven't heard a public official put himself / herself above the law since Richard Nixon.

And look what happened to him. Maybe the great philosopher Yogi Berra was right -- it could be deja vue all over again.

(c) 2010

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