Hatred has no part in a campaign

It has been said that politics can lead to some strange bedfellows.

                Toss in social media and you end up with bed sores.

                Make it local politics and it defies logic.

                As is the case during a recent campaign swing by a supporter for village board candidate Dave Weidenfeld who allegedly told a resident that “…we need to unseat the Jewish people in favor of having some Christian blood on the board..”

                Seriously.

                It’s heinous enough that a mindset like that exists at all, let alone with someone campaigning on behalf of a candidate.

                It gets more bizarre.

                Weidenfeld is Jewish.  Seriously.

                Of course it made the rounds on social media as election materials have been known to do.

                And while at first glance it’s tempting to make it a political attack on one group of candidates by another, it’s clearly an act of stupidity.

                “What the person said was awful, offensive,” Weidenfeld said. “I can’t explain it –  it makes no sense.”

                This is the understatement of the day.   Weidenfeld said he immediately “fired” the person from working on his campaign.  Weidenfeld also said that he contacted the person who had this less than ideal conversation with the volunteer to apologize and set the record straight that this was not how he was  running his campaign.

                A neophyte to the world of political campaigns, this being his first one, Weidenfeld said the interaction may have drawn some attention on social media because “it is a highly contested election – emotions are pretty high.”  Welcome to the world of local elections.

                We’re not talking Rahm Emanuel and Jesus ”Chuy” Garcia here. We’re talking Buffalo Grove.

Racism, hatred, lack of respect has no place in a campaign. We should be beyond this – way beyond it.

                But we’re not.  As one poster on Facebook noted, “How many other people got the same hate message? Where are their apologies? Where are the apologies for the other Jews in the village? Or the Blacks? Or Hispanics? Or any other minorities? Bigotry by any other name is still bigotry. It doesn't belong in BG politics. It doesn't belong anywhere.”

                People often get caught up in their own cultural cocoon and think the village is made of folks just like them.  It’s not.  For a village of fewer than 50,000 people, Buffalo Grove is extremely diverse.  Its residents come from all over the world – India, Korea, Pakistan, and Burma – and that’s just on my street.  Residents come from Eastern Europe, central and south America, the Middle East and all other Asian countries.

                It’s who we are.

                So when some neanderthal wants to usurp the efforts of residents who want to work on behalf of their community by spewing forth venomous verbal poison, it’s going to make the rounds.

                Weidenfeld said he was surprised by the timing of the posting on social media.  I’m not.

                Nothing should surprise anyone about social media.  Stuff makes the rounds and it can happen quickly, or like the Cubs’ playoff run, can take a while.

                What is surprising to some people is that aside from Weidenfeld’s apology to the resident who had the unpleasant interaction, no one else has said a word.

                You can argue either side.  On one side it’s an isolated case while on the other side cases like this should receive some attention to let residents know that this kind of stuff happens and it does not belong in a campaign.

                No matter for whom you are voting for.

What's at the root of the campaign -- issues or Italian food?

My first beats more than 40 years ago were the villages of Lincolnshire, Bannockburn. Riverwoods – and the city of Highwood.

                Not the stuff “Front Page” was written about.

                But they provided their moments.

                And while Lincolnshire, Bannockburn and Riverwoods dealt with issues related to growth and the onslaught of city dwellers to their once secluded parts of suburbia, Highwood dealt with just being Highwood.

                It was unique place back then as it was the only city along the North Shore north of Howard Street where you could saunter up to a bar and have a drink.  The city’s history was so unique that author Marvyn Wittell wrote a book (28 Miles North) about Highwood in 1953.

                A lot changed in Highwood from 1953 until the time I started covering it.

                Perhaps the most interesting thing about Highwood at that time (1973) was its mayor, Fidel Ghini.

                Ghini had all the style, grace and diction of Richard Daley.  To be exact, Richard J. Daley. It was not unusual to interview him as he worked on a sewer line with a jug of Pisano at his side -- at 10:30 in the morning. Seriously.

                For 24 years Fidel was the boss – not quite like Daley – but Highwood was his kingdom, his empire, his domain.

                And two Friday nights a month when the city council met (yes, Friday nights), in meetings that rarely eclipsed the one hour mark, boss Ghini had the floor.

                When there was a lite agenda, Ghini found a way to take the stage to re-enforce his position as boss.

                And then there were elections.  To no surprise, Ghini would milk them for all he could.  One of my favorite ‘Fidelisms’ came during a tirade about opponents who tried making an issue for the sake of campaigning.

                “They’re making a polenta,” he told me once.  “You know how to make a polenta?  You need hot water.  What they’re trying to do is make polenta with cold water – or even no water.”

                If you follow Fidel’s recipe, Buffalo Grove could boost a lot Italian restaurants that specialize in polenta.

                Especially during the current campaign.

                In an election year that is seemingly devoid of any major issues – and let’s emphasize major – folks have been grappling at the corn meal to try and drum up some interest in the seemingly placid politics that has become synonymous with Buffalo Grove.

                That’s not to say things are perfect, because they are not, but compared to some municipalities, when it comes to campaign ‘issues’, the land of big bison is white bread in the bakery of political campaigns.

                Perhaps the one issue that continues to resonate is economic development.  It does so because folks are still living in fear of the ‘evil’ Chuck Malk who proposed an instant downtown on the site of the Buffalo Grove golf course.

                This just in – Malk withdrew his proposal three months ago.  The plan is gone. Get over it.

                The issue, however, is not.  Some candidates now focus on the golf course as the lifeblood of the community and those who think, consider, or day dream about altering the course are practicing blasphemy.

                This just in – it’s still there.

                Fear is a motivator, not always a positive one, but a motivator nonetheless.  Voters who are going to exercise their civic responsibility by voting need to do so in an informed manner.

                To do this, it’s imperative to look beyond the campaign signs, brochures and opinions of people who spew forth verbiage just to hear themselves talk.

                Daniel Patrick Moynihan said it best – Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.

                Or as Fidel would remind us – Don’t make a polenta. 

The need for retail development didn't just happen...

The recent discussions about economic development in the village have, to say the least, been enlightening.

                They could serve as transitions from the now vaporized “downtown proposal” to the upcoming village election.

                But they shouldn’t.

                While it’s likely some candidates may focus on the proposal-formerly-known-as-downtown, which would have ruined the golf course and kept the village from getting the PGA tour, the reality is that it is no longer the issue.

                Good-bye, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, good bye, hasta la vista baby.

                That’s why presentations by Chris Stilling, the recent acquisition to the village manager’s office have been, in many ways, a breath of fresh air.

                One of Stilling’s main functions, if not the main, has been to give Buffalo Grove’s seemingly sagging retail environment a boost.

                And he hasn’t mentioned ‘golf course’ once.

                More than a few weeks ago, I began a series of blogs addressing economic development in the village.  I posed four questions to the village fathers and mother. The first question addressed the developer formerly-known-as-Malk because he was trendy at the time.

                Now however, he’s old news.  As they might say at the bike shop -- Gone with Schwinn.

                So what now?

                The result of Malk taking his plan off the course should not have an impact on future development efforts in the village.

                “It may cause owners/developers to re-evaluate their assets in BG and push forward any of their rehabilitation and/or expansion plans to accommodate the realized needs or desires of Buffalo Grove residents,” Trustee Steve Trilling told me in an email response.  Trilling’s point makes sense, because it appeared, at least in its preliminary and even secondary renderings, that the “instant downtown” had not done that.

                The focus of bringing the mountain to town may lie in re-evaluating and redeveloping existing areas, best known as corridors.  The village’s targets are likely to be the existing Dundee corridor and development of the Milwaukee corridor, especially at Deerfield Parkway and Milwaukee Avenue.

                Whatever does happen, however, developers with ideas may find themselves under scrutiny.

                Trustee Beverly Sussman said she thinks Malk’s picking up and going home “should not have a tremendous impact on other plans for economic development.”  She noted that there are “many corridors to work on for economic development”. 

                Sussman noted too that “somehow, somewhere, something has to be done with the Town Center. I know we don't own it, but something has to be done to that eyesore.”  The keywords are “we don’t own it.”  So what can be done with the retail albatross?  When you consider that its most successful tenants Binny’s, Burger King, Boston Market and Brunswick’s it may make sense to have more tenants that begin with the letter B.

                People call attention to Town Center because it stands out like a sore thumb. But, as Sussman notes, the village does not own it and unless there’s a magical power of eminent domain that would let the village do something with Town Center, any discussion about the village involvement with it is basically a moot point.

                While some folks seem to have put all the development eggs in the CRM proposal, Trustee Jeff Berman points out that “The need for economic development did not begin and does not end with the demise of the CRM downtown proposal. The village definitely needs to continue to work to diversify and improve its revenue profile. A key component is economic development. On that point, there is neither doubt nor real controversy.”

                This, from my standpoint, is why Stilling’s presentations have been a jolt of lightening in the discussion of economic development.

                Economic development is something that falls into the village regular mode of operation.  Waiting for elections where it becomes “an issue” is not in the best interest of the village or is residents who may be led to believe that the results of an election will result in an instant panacea for economic development.

                It’s more involved than just building a retail outlet.  It takes more than a “Field of Dreams” mentality – just because you build it does not mean they will come.

                In fact, notes Village Manager Dane Bragg, redevelopment can be more complicated than starting a project from scratch.  The reason, he says, is that there are existing traffic patterns and infrastructure constrains that come into play.

                During a recent committee of the whole meeting (also known as a workshop meeting), Board members were told that a key to economic development, or in Buffalo Grove’s case, redevelopment, is looking at available square footage, not numbers of vacancies.

                The key here is the flexibility.  Bragg notes, for example that 300,000 square feet of retail space can be split into “more productive space” for a retailer.  The village’s vacancy rate is approximately in the neighborhood of 15 percent.  For comparison sake, Chicago’s is 8.2 percent.  Statistics, however, can be squirrely things.  Fueling Buffalo Grove’s rate is the 63,000 square foot edifice at Lake-Cook and Arlington Heights roads that used to be known as Dominick’s.  Take that out of the equation and the village’s vacancy rate drops to around 10 percent, which may still seem high, but it’s important to factor in the vacant car showrooms along Dundee Road.

                There’s no quick solution.  Economic development – and redevelopment – is a pain-staking strategic process.  It can be costly too if economic incentives come into place, and with cuts to municipalities being eyeballed by the Rauner administration, it’s possible that incentives will be harder to offer prospective retailers.

                “We always take a careful look at public financing,” Village President Jeff Braiman says.  “We have always been conservative which is one reason we have a AAA bond rating.”

                This enhances the challenge for attracting retail development.

                Whatever approach the village takes, it needs to be forward thinking.   Chuck Malk and his instant downtown are gone.  Nothing is planned for the golf course.

                The key is to look out the windshield and not the rear-view mirror.