Update City

The latest on the main topics

Where’s Cara?

Updated at 10:40 after I had time to think about this.

Elaine Johnson broke it on DGreport Wednesday morning after everyone noticed Tuesday night the absence of Village Manager Cara Pavlicek:

she has been placed on a one-week, paid administrative leave. Communications director Doug Kozlowski confirmed the action, but declined further comment saying, in an e-mail, that “it is our policy to not discuss employee issues.”

Doing Further Harm? Update

Well; here we are, and here it is, so what will happen?

So far, not much.

It does not seem council is making the full connection between development and stormwater.

Belmont Underpass: Collateral Damage?

An all too possible Scenario

This is our governor, Gov. Blago. A lot of people do not like Gov. Blago. He is trying to pass a $25 billion Illinois Works capital bill. He doesn’t quite know how to pay for it, but he would like to sell 80% of our lottery to get part of it.

Our DG officials have worked hard to get $8.5 million for the Belmont Underpass slotted into this bill. Right now, the Belmont Underpass will not happen if Illinois Works does not happen.

DG Buying Used Bus

Sideline Observer sends this along, saying,

“Word is they got a great deal on this. It even has a train motif, whoch is very appropriate. It will be nicknamed the ‘Durkin Deluxe’.”

Background Reading On Stormwater

The city of Portland OR has struggled with stormwater runoff problems for decades and has established expertise on how to best deal with runoff issues. Meeting ASTM standards relating to stormwater has nothing to do with mitigating run off. The idea behind a Low Impact Design (LID) water garden type of storm water storage is to completely prevent the fist 1/4″ of rainfall from leaving the property at all.

Doing No Further Harm?

On Tuesday council will workshop an ordinance to amend the zoning of two manufacturing parcels at 715-719 Rogers Street from M-1 (Light Manufacturing) to DT (Downtown Transition), an ordinance for a Final Planned Development with a variance to construct 16 townhouses, a Plat of Subdivision resolution that will subdivide the two separate parcels into 17 individual parcels, and a Special Use Ordinance for dwellings.

A variance is required to allow steps greater than four feet in height to extend into the required front yard. A Special Use is required to develop townhouses exceeding one unit per 4,000 square feet of land area. Council, in particular Mayor Sandack and Commissioner Tully, have opined often how Special Uses would be scrutinized with the residents welfare and protection in mind, that we could rest easy because Special Uses require specific council approval.

Well; here we are, and here it is, so what will happen?

Our magnolia tree is just about to pop.  I hope stays warmer; it should be nice and showy by Sunday,

SB58 Does Not Play Well Together

“The purpose of the board is to set and monitor the school district budget, review and amend district policies and hire the district superintendent.”

Elaine Johnson has also weighed in over at DGreport with her in-depth analysis of the whole thing.

Tonight the SB58 meeting was packed. I got there late and watched from the hallway, and caught bits and pieces. These folks need to speak up. Didn’t they learn good diction in school?

The Right Hand Seems To Know What It’s Doing

Linda Kunze will present the Downtown Management Corp 2008 Q1 Report report to council Tuesday April 15^th.

Couple things are notable:

• • Retail space occupancy in the CBD is very high. 99% high.
  • Office space occupancy in the CBD is very high. 99% high.
  • For both, rents are at all time highs.

All good news. Nothing broken here.

Sideline Observer Brands Ogden With Marge’s Red Hot Idea

Sideline comments here and posts some pretty funny pictures at DGreport, and emailed me this idea for branding Ogden Avenue with banners:

UPDATE: Two more branding signs for Downers included after the break!

The $95,400 Question No One Asked

At Monday’s special Village Council Workshop staff rolled out a $95,400 plan to hire North Star Destination Strategies of Nashville TN for an “integrated branding and marketing initiative” for Downers Grove.

Rupert Borgsmiller Is On It

Rupert Borgsmiller called and emailed me yesterday with some sense of urgency that I call him back, giving me his direct line phone number.

I know, I know: who the heck is Rupert Borgsmiller? Mr. Borgsmiller is one of the most important state officials you don’t know: he is the Director of the Campaign Disclosure Division of the Illinois Board of Elections, the state watchdog of campaign finance transparency.

So I called him…

The Extra Million From FS #2

The bond issuance for construction of Fire Station #2 was for $10.2 million, and the total construction costs are firming up around $9.3 million. The bonds have been issued and it is not simply a matter of paying back the near million on the bond-you cannot necessarily do that. So what to do with the extra $$?

Bond Debt Picture Developes

The current agenda for tonight’s meeting includes the updated slides. There is one bullet point on the very bottom of page 4 that is not correct. It was an informative meeting, and I would urge everyone with an interest in knowing what is happening for the largest assumption of village debt ever to listen to the MP3 podcast file when it is posted.