Metra Set To Buy Crystal Lake Commuter Station Land without Public Input

So I'm trying to track down what is going to happen about the proposed purchase of the Ridgefield commuter station site that the Northwest Herald says is half owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler.

I'd like to know what's at the end of the tunnel before my tax dollars get there.

I went to the search engine and typed in the location of the proposed site: "Ridgefield." Below you see what I found.

"Your search for ridgefield did not match any documents,"

was the message on the screen.

The Metra agenda is not published online, as is the agenda of McHenry County College.

McHenry County College does not have a stellar record of publishing its agenda and board packet before its meeting, but it usually does so.

Media relations woman Meg Reile emailed me the agenda for tomorrow's board meeting says,

Ordinance authorizing a Purchase and Sale Agreement between Metra and Amcore Bank as Trustee of Trust No. 3582.

That's it.

I called the Metra Board Secretary Lisa Murphy and was told the board packet would be online starting in September. That would be good.

But I'm interested in tomorrow's board packet, so, asking for whatever would be in the board packet concerning the Ridgefield station, I gave her my phone and fax numbers.

Comments may be sent to Metra Board members here metraboard@metrarr.com

Published first on McHenry County Blog where links to articles on the subject that might be of interest appear below:Articles that might be of interest:

Alexander Lumber's Move to Ridgefield, Proposed Metra Station Implications

Musings on the Proposed Ridgefield Metra Station

Ridgefield Businessman Takes on McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler over Proposed Metra Station

$1.5 Million Being Paid for Ridgefield Metra Site Half-Owned by McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler

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Turnout for Municipal & Township Primaries Could Be Immense

When I heard that U.S. Senator Dick Durbin's suggestion that the Illinois General Assembly hold a special election to replace President-Elect Barack Obama, I thought it was an interesting idea.

Certainly, very few think Governor Rod

"Let's Make a Deal"

Blagojevich should be allowed to be the only one with a say.

Then, watching a couple of hours of news programs last night, I figured out that the idea was gaining steam.

But, there are other possibilities and immense implications for local February primary elections.

House Speaker Mike Madigan seems to have signed on to a spring primary and general election, as have Senate Democratic Party leaders.

And Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna expressed his support as well.

Sounds almost like a done deal, except for Governor Rod Blagojevich, and his opinion pretty much doesn't count anymore.

Any veto would be overridden, if there is a consensus among legislators.

There are other possibilities, of course.

Before the William Lorimer (R-Summer Home in Crystal Lake) scandal, members of the Illinois General Assembly made the appointment. They appointed Stephan A. Douglas over Abraham Lincoln after the legislative elections in 1858, for instance.

But after the Lorimer scandal in the early 1910's, Congress passed and state legislators ratified a constitutional amendment requiring direct election of U.S. Senators.

The General Assembly might be able to take back that power for interim appointments or allow the governor to nominate, but require State Senate confirmation or enact some other scheme.

If they took back the power themselves, then a present day Lorimer could bribe Democratic Party House members the way Republican Lorimer did in 1909. Or vice versa.

The logical dates for a primary election would be the same date as the township and municipal primary elections on February 24, 2009. Likewise, with a United States Senator's seat at stake, the April 7th local elections, including the five McHenry County Republican Party primaries, would have a much higher turnout.

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The luminary seen above in Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna. Disgraced Republican U.S. Senator William Lorimer is seen in the black and white photo. His Crystal Lake summer home across from Crystal Lake's Main Beach is near the bottom of the article.

Published first on McHenry County Blog.

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How Crystal Lake Got More Sales Tax Receipts This Year

I decided to see the damage that Mayor Aaron Shepley and his compliant city council caused local taxpayers with their 75% Crystal Lake city sales tax increase that went into effect July 1st.

The city fathers and mothers forced local shoppers to pull $408,353 more out of their wallets than they they would have had the tax hikers not gotten their way.

But, interesting to me is the fact that collections for the one percentage point upon which Crystal Lake officials piled on their extra 0.75 percentage point for their Home Rule sales tax went down.

Look at Crystal Lake collections for the two years:

7-2007 – $936,674
7-2008 – $896,405

So, regular city sales tax collections took a hit of $40,269 of 4.3%.

The question that came to my mind was, “Is that better or worse that the neighboring town of McHenry?”
Here are City of McHenry figures:

7-2007 – $551,520
7-2008 – $499,352

McHenry was also down. The $52,168 was a larger percentage loss than was seen by Crystal Lake—9.4%.

For a broader gauge, I looked at McHenry County. The figures you see below represent one-quarter of one percent of all McHenry County retail sales:

7-2007 – $642,399
7-2008 – $601,941

McHenry County saw collections decrease by $40,458 or 6.2% since last year.

So, what should we make of that?

If Crystal Lake can see less of a drop in sales tax receipts after it raises its sales tax rate by 75% than a city which kept sales tax rates constant, the law of supply and demand seems to have been repealed.

Higher costs should lead to lower sales.

And, discriminating shoppers like me and a local school janitor were shopping at the Super Walmart in Woodstock, rather than in Crystal Lake.

But I'll bet a lot of folks heading up Route 31 to McHenry and places north stopped at the new Super Walmart in Crystal Lake.

Besides the new Super Walmart, shoppers may have continued to shop in Crystal Lake because there was so little knowledge of the 75% hike in city sales tax as of July 1st.

The Northwest Herald ran no story. The Daily Herald rarely covers things dealing with Crystal Lake.

The city did not even bother to notify the local tax collectors, that is, local stores. Barnes and Noble had to eat the first few days of sales tax, as did at least one store in Downtown Crystal Lake.

Or, it may be that those shopping in Crystal Lake had less of an income drop than those in McHenry.

Or, maybe the

“I Shop Crystal Lake”

campaign worked.

Of a combination of the factors I have mentioned, plus others I missed.

Since Algonquin has the same .075% Home Rule sales tax as Crystal Lake, I took a look there, too.

The figures for Algonquin's Home Rule portion went down $2,514 or under 9/10 of one percent.

7-2007 – $291,831
7-2008 – $289,317

For its regular 1% tax on retail sales, the figures were up $21,980 or up 3.5%:

7-2007 – $536,740
7-2008 – $558,720

Why would the regular sales tax increase, while the Home Rule tax take decreased?


Probably because the Home Rule tax does not apply to food or drugs, while the regular city sales tax does. People stop buying food long after they stop buying non-necessities.

And, new stores are still opening in Algonquin, as you can see at the southwest corner of Randall and County Line Roads.

It also seems to me that as Crystal Lake's shopping opportunity's have deteriorated that shoppers may have driven south.

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Notice was apparently not given to all merchants about the tearing up of the Downtown Crystal Lake sidewalks on November 13 that you see at the top of the article. I have also found merchants who were not notified by city officials of the 75% city sales tax hike was effective July 1st.

Published first on McHenry County Blog.

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Former Crystal Lake Mayor Inches Toward Big Blue Island Refinery Judgment

One of my earliest stories in 2005 was how former Crystal Lake Mayor Bob Wagner had won a class action law suit against the owners of the refinery in Blue Island. It is now owned by Valero Energy Corporation.

The suit was filed in 1995. Wagner joined it in 2000.

In 2005, in the article,

"Crystal Lake Attorney Bob Wagner Wins
Huge Blue Island Refinery Case,"

Wagner told me that the case was based on 15 boxes of information from the federal and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies.

Wagner said there was “a pretty compelling case that there was a lot of pollution coming from that refinery that could have been avoided using reasonably available technology.

“The evidence showed refinery management was indifferent to the pollution released into the neighborhood and did little or nothing to prevent it because it was too expensive,” he continued.

“They put their profits ahead of public safety,” Wagner observed. “They were indifferent to the damage they inflected.”

A Cook County judge threw out the $120 million judgment and Wagner appealed. See

Bob Wagner May Still End Up a Multi-Millionaire

Now, the news is that the Illinois Appellate Court in Cook County has reversed the finding of the lower court on a 2-1 decision.

The plaintiffs, 6,000 area residents, are again in line for a $120 million judgment,

Wagner explained to the Chicago Tribune that there was also $25 million in interest since 2005 decision.

Naturally, the oil company will do everything in its power to avoid paying the money.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog, which doesn't go to sleep on the weekend. You can find out what McHenry County Democrats are doing this weekend.

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Unfunded Mandates Suddenly OK with Chicago Tribune

I must admit that I had not figured out that Crystal Lake High School District 155 was one of the districts that got an exemption from the new law requiring six hours of behind the wheel driver education.

Tuesday's lead editorial in the Chicago Tribune informed me of that fact.

Every year school districts get the chance to ask for exemptions from state mandates imposed upon them by the legislature or the state board of education.

This past year a couple of school districts targeted the behind the wheel mandate.

The Tribune said the schools' officials “went whining to Springfield.”

The General Assembly never got around to voting on whether that was wise or not.

Add it to the list of things the General Assembly hasn't gotten around to.

The Tribune does not mention that Operation Click (first called “Operation Cool”) started in District 155.

Its editorial is an attempt to make it sound like the listed school districts have no interest in traffic safety.

A bit over the top on the Tribune's part, I would say.

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You can see 2007 winner Kate McNamee getting out of her new car, donated by Crystal Lake Pontiac dealer Sam Oginni. High school students are encouraged to buckle their seat belts through positive re-enforcement. I wrote this article in February, 2007, after the horrendous Oswego crash. You can see how Operation Click has changed teenage driving habits since its initiation in 1998.

Published first on McHenry County Blog.

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Dyeing Dogs

It's a good thing that this poodle is not in Boulder, Colorado.

That's the community that has a law against dyeing animals.

This dog was in the Crystal Lake 4th of July Parade last year.

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Crystal Lake To Lose Low Sales Tax Reputation

Last Sunday, the Chicago Tribune featured Crystal Lake's sales tax rate on its front page.

While it is currently 6.5%, on April 1st it jumps to 7%, compliments of Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly and Republican state senators in DuPage County.

If that were not high enough, now comes the Crystal Lake city council hell bent on killing Crystal Lake's sales tax shopping advantage by increasing its present 1 percentage point sales tax by a whopping 75%.

Let me repeat that.

Mayor Aaron Shepley with, apparently all but Councilman Jeff Thorsen on board, is set to raise Crystal Lake's sales tax to

7.75%.

Next Tuesday night.

They have given Crystal Lake voters only one week to provide them with feedback.

You can email them (see link below) or you call them or you can show up at the meeting in person.

If you do nothing, don't be surprised when your taxes go up in July.

Those of us who do not live in Crystal Lake, can provide feedback with our feet.

The Woodstock Super Walmart is closer to my Lakewood home than is the one on Route 14.

The traffic is a lot better if I take the back roads than it is on Route 14.

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Images may be enlarged by clicking on them.

If you want to make your views known, emails may be sent to

• Ralph Dawson,
• Cathy Ferguson,
• Dave Goss,
• Brett Hopkins,
• Ellen Brady Mueller,
• Aaron Shepley, and
• Jeff Thorsen

at
comments@crystallake.org

If you don't want the city council to raise your city sales tax 75%, you might want to email each of them. Put their names in the subject line.

Published first on McHenry County Blog. And, yes, I know of no Democrats on the Crystal Lake City Council. Appropriate comments welcomed.

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Peace Group Banned from Crystal Lake 4th of July Parade

It’s not the coverage given opposition to the Gay Games rowing regatta in Crystal Lake last spring, but one wire service has picked up on the Gala Committee’s rejection of the peace marchers in Sunday’s parade.

United Press International, a shell of its former self, ran a short story of the banning of the McHenry County Peace Group’s from the annual 4th of July Parade.

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Picture of peace marchers from Crystal Lake resident Patrick Murfin's blog.On Thursday, Murfin reported that the group will show off its float, featuring the Statue of Liberty, in a yard at the southwest corner of Dole and Pierson (on the lake side of Route 14). The picture of Lady Liberty's head also comes from Murfin's story.

I can't tell if there are tears coming down her cheeks, but there might be.

More every weekend on McHenry County Blog.

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New Rule - Write Down Nothing

When I saw the following in Tim Kane’s Chicago Tribune article about McHenry County College’s approval without allowing informed public debate—let alone competition--on a new minor league baseball stadium, I said, “Ah, ha.”

Read this and tell me what would pop into your head:

"(Baseball stadium promoter) Heitman said bringing the unnamed team to the school was the idea of Crystal Lake City Manager Gary Mayerhofer, who alerted Heitman's business partner Mark Houser."

I don’t know about you, but I immediately asked myself,

"What did he say and when did he say it?"

I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a straight answer as to why the contact was made, but I thought there just might be some record sitting around the Crystal Lake City Hall about the interaction between Heitman and the city manager.

So, you can guess what I did next, right?

I filed a Freedom of Information request.

I asked for

"All communications, including e-mail, and records of communications between the officials of the City of Crystal Lake and Mark Houser and/or Equity One and/or Pete Hietman. This request is stimulated by Tim Kane’s Chicago Tribune article which reports City Manager Gary Mayerhofer alerted Mark Houser to this (Mayerhofer’s) idea to bring a minor leaguer baseball team to Crystal Lake."

And, by $4.64 mail Thursday I got this answer:

"This letter serves as a formal response to your request for the aforementioned information. The City of Crystal Lake is unable to locate any documents that meet the criteria of your request at this time."

Any suggestions of what I should have requested?

More on the weekend at McHenry County Blog, including girls rowing in white caps on Crystal Lake.

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The smiling guy in front of the vending machine is Pete Heitman, the baseball promoter. The smiling guy in the head shot is Mark Houser, President of Equity One of Libertyville, who got a no-bid contract with McHenry County College.

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Udstuen Prison Release Today

Former Crystal Lake resident and heavy weight Republican political advisor to politicians ranging from former Governor George Ryan to former McHenry County and State GOP Party Chairman Al Jourdan is scheduled to get out of prison in Oxford, Wisconsin on May 3rd.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons web site said he was on his way to prison on September 5, 2006.

Ryan has been convicted of racketeering and other corruption charges with Udstuen’s help. Ryan is appealing his convictions.

Jourdan has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

For all the stories in McHenry County Blog on Udstuen, type his last name in the search engine at the top of the page of McHenry County Blog.

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Photo from ABC Channel 7.

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Columbine, Virgina Tech Threat at Crystal Lake High School

The email header at 4:21 PM read,

Massacre Threat at Central HS - slated for tomorrow.

I don’t know a lot of teens who go to Crystal Lake Central High School, but when this local mother wrote me she had heard that a threat of violence had been made today, I decided to follow up.

The email also said, "I understand that if the student does not attend, the day will be excused."

She also wrote that people calling the school were read a prepared statement.

I called the high school at 4:30 or maybe a minute afterward, but no one answered the phone.

A second mother, who has a child in my alma mater, told me:

My daughter just got home from track and in a boys’ bathroom there were sayings on the wall saying (something like)"If you think the Virginia Tech incident was bad, just think of the 4-20 thing, it will twice as bad (or maybe) much worse."

I asked, "What are you going to do?"

“I don’t know,” she replied.

A second mother of a child who attends the school had heard nothing. She asked if I’d like to talk to her son and handed him the phone.

I asked him what he had heard.

He turned the question around.

"What did you hear?"

I used the word "Massacre."

“It was probably taken out of context,” he told me

“Somebody wrote some s--ty thing on the wall saying something about combining Columbine and Virginia Tech.”

“Then you didn’t take it seriously?” I asked.

“No, I didn’t.”

It may not be being taken seriously by some students, but the Crystal Lake Police Department is taking the threat seriously.

Here is what Police Chief Dave Lindner said in a press release today:

The CLCHS has alerted the Police Department of the disturbing message found inside the school building. The unidentified author referred to both recent and past acts of school violence in the message. The police department has met with the school administration and the school district has determined that classes will be held tomorrow.

The pd takes threats of any kind seriously and as a result of the particular incident the police department will have an increased presence at all of the schools.

Any further inquires should be directed to the district 155 school office.

The press release was issued about 7 this evening.

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This photograph of Crystal Lake Central High School teens was taken on that first 70 degree day--March 13, 2007. Click to enlarge the picture. More stories on less serious subjects on McHenry County Blog.

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Arrested for Stealing Signs

It took me long enough to find this photograph I took last October 6th, a month before the fall election.

All politicians have complaints about their opponents stealing signs.

Sometimes you see people stealing them, as I did on Route 14 between Barrington and Inverness one very rainy weekend night right before the election. A young man was taking down a 4X8 foot Mike Salvi for State Representative sign.

Salvi’s opponent Verna Clayton, who sat near me on the House floor, was getting significant help from the House Republican Campaign Committee at the time, so you can imagine my thoughts. (No, I don’t think she had anything to do with the vandalism.)

In another race, I'm told a truck full of signs was followed back to a union headquarters.

This time, it was an individual who apparently just thought political signs were ugly.

As you can see from this picture, there was certainly overkill at the property which used to be and, maybe, still is part of Flowerwood.

When I drove to Wisconsin on October 6, using the back road past the Woodstock Hospital to get to Route 14, I saw only one sign on the way to Williams Bay. It was for Congressman Don Manzullo and was legally posted behind a person’s sidewalk on Route 14 on the north side of Harvard.

On the way home, when I saw the plethora of signs where Ridgefield Road intersects Route 14 near that wonderful Chinese restaurant, The Breakers, I stopped to take some pictures.

According to Chuck Keeshan, reporter for the Daily Herald, James C. Conley (according to the Circuit Clerk’s office, the man’s middle initial is “C,” rather than the “A” reported in the Daily Herald), a guy my age who likes to ride his bicycle, was arrested after complaints during a stakeout the day before I took my pictures. He was charged with taking down signs for Judy Baar Topinka, judicial candidate Charles Weech and Dan Rutherford, the GOP candidate for Secretary of State.

I can certainly empathize with Crystal Lake's Conley about the proliferation of political signs posted on highway rights-of-way.

Before 1992 this did not happen much.

Local politicians got permission from property owners and did not illegally post political signs.

It was the insurgent and successful congressional campaign of Don Manzullo which was the first I noticed putting up yard signs where they did not belong.

His primary victory against State Senator Jack Schaffer undoubtedly emboldened other candidates to follow suit. My guess is that Manzullo did not have the depth of organization to recruit enough homeowners and businesses to get rid of all his signs, so up they went along the roads.

Unfortunately, what works in politics, whether it be negative campaigning or illegal sign posting, is copied by future politicians.

And, no one in county or state government seems to want to enforce the law against illegal posting of signs—whether they be put there by developers or political workers--in road rights-of-way.

Without local enforcement—which only the Kane County Transportation Department is pursuing—expect to see the obnoxious and illegally place signs from developers and politicians for a long time to come.

But, if you are tempted to take down some of those signs, remember the people who bought the signs may have enough influence to get you arrested.

And, the rule of thumb is that only ones on the road side of the utility poles are posted illegally.

As usual, if you click on the photos, you can get a bigger version. You can even identify most of the candidates advertised on the signs.

Always more on the weekends at McHenry County Blog.

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