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.
