A Sad Husky

I am an alumni of Northern Illinois University.
Three of my many classes were held in Cole Hall.

My sympathies and prayers go out to those families and friends who had loved ones there that sad day.

Heritage Tree Ordinance Part 2

“Go away. We’re busy.”

The Village Manager and staff have decided the “Heritage Tree Ordinance” (HTO) is not going to happen right now. Unless someone on council takes exception to it, it will be left on the back burner. That is too bad. We need a responsible, moderate, heritage tree ordinance now, so we can measure and adjust it if needed in the future.

Heritage Tree Ordinance Part 1

6CO2+5H2O = C6H10O5 + 6O2

Trees take in carbon dioxide and water, both things we have too much of here in DG, fix the carbon to the water to make…more tree (cellulose), and exhale the remaining oxygen. Most trees have root structures that are wide and shallow to gather nutrients and water, and maybe some soil based carbon. A fully grown tree can absorb up to 600 gallons of water in a 24 hour period. Once the soil surrounding a root structure has been flooded or saturated, that ability is greatly diminished; that is why many trees die if their surroundings get too wet.

Some trees, like swamp oaks, red maples, river birches, keep soaking up water whether or not the ground is saturated. They adapted to the marshy lowland prairies where we now live. Willows are the midwest champs for soaking up water, but they grow fast and are weak, and tend to fall over in high winds.

Shade trees have expansive canopies for several reasons; to collect gaseous carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas), to collect sunlight as the trees’ power source for the chemical reactions, and to transpire out the oxygen and excess water vapor.

Interview With Mayor Sandack

 

Note: This started as an offshoot of discussions and postings here and at DGreport.com. I specifically would like to thank everyone who participated with questions, whether I used them or not.

 

We all can have different opinions, but in the end we all have something akin to affection for the village we live in: that is why we care, and that is why we share common ground.

Mayor Sandack, thank you for participating in this on-line interview, and let’s jump right in.

Are Blogs The Knife That Cuts Too Deep?

Everyone has read or been involved in lack of government transparency at some time in their life. Why didn’t someone tell me? When were they going to tell us? What reasoning went into this? Why? WHY?

In 2007, I was point in a skirmish with our local government over a lack of transparency, of deliberate opaqueness. This was the C&D issue; you would have to be deaf dumb and blind not to know about it. I gave up on the demand for transparency when the outcome was favorable.

The Ice Festival

Here’s a couple pictures from this year’s Ice Festival. There was a pretty good turnout. Lots of kids out with their parents, shaking off a little cabin fever.

This is an art form that guys like. Why? Two words: power tools…

To be more specific, instead of brushes, these artists use chain saws. Can there be any higher art form? Did not think so…

The Sea Turtle was looking pretty good.

I have to go back Sunday and see this one finished. The artists starts out with cubes of ice and ends up with perfect spheres to be used as balls for his sculpture.

The dragon guys were shaving down their creation prior to attaching the wings. If you look in the background, Egg Harbor was rolling around carts with complimentary coffee and hot chocolate. I heard plenty of comments that people will eat there when it opens.

Pretty jumping on what normally would be just another dismal February weekend.

Tree Update

Interim Director of Public Works Robin Weaver broke the sobering news to council tonight: the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is on the way, it’s closer than anyone thinks, and nothing anyone has done stops the 100% lethality of this pest. Evanston is getting hammered right now; hundreds of trees need removal, and their Public Works crews are swamped.

It’s all very sad. Ash trees had their foibles, but some, especially purple Ash, really are beautiful shade trees. Hardy, tolerant, robust, and completely vulnerable to a small bug from China. Probably the best way to know the EAB has arrived will be the tiny sideways ‘D’ holes in the tree, and the woodpeckers pecking away eating everyone they can find. Sorry, the woodpeckers don’t stop them either.

Public Works will be taking out 400-450 trees this year, trying to get ahead of the problem like everyone else did not. Replacing all those trees is going to cost money, and it is my intention to see what we residents might do to help lower the cost to the village. I’ll report in on this if/as things happen.

Is DGreport “a vehicle of “mistruth”?

I read EJ’s comment made to her by an unidentified elected official that DGreport, her blogbaby, spread mistruths. One of my friends who frequents DGreport took me to task along a similar line. Anonymous posters can say any lie they want and not be held accountable. He was curious: why I would bother naming myself on DGreport when so many others do not?

Foggy Monday, 2pm

Where’d the end of the block go?

Home Foreclosures in DG

As of yesterday, here’s how DG is doing with property in foreclosure. We’re about in the middle. Naperville, Westmont, Lisle are doing a little better, Woodridge is a little worse. Bolingbrook is getting hammered.

In some cases, these families are living beyond their means and now it all is crashing down; not on them really, but on us. That’s too bad, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you can’t keep drawing more money out of a house forever. Fred Flipper and his family refi’d once and bought new cars. They refi’d again for the time share condo, marina space, and boat up in the Dells. They refi’d again when Fred Jr. went to that prestige college. As long as the house prices kept going up it sorta worked. Now they toss the keys and walk away, leaving the mess for someone else.

For us.