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We hope PRU readers take the time to read and critically consider the offerings in today's Park Ridge Herald-Advocate.

The PRU Crew is again planning to enjoy a long weekend.

Enjoy!

Kafka? No! Kopkaesque!

We've never seen anything like it! The speed! The agility!

Last week we posted a letter to the editor from Mr. Steve Kopka, who was protesting the plan to put another drive through bank in Park Ridge on the old Napleton parking lot near Uptown, and a CVS pharmacy on the site of the old Napleton Cadillac dealership.

Today we read in the Journal and Topics that the bank in question, CenTrust, is backing off of their plan.

JT73008CenTrust - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: JT73008CenTrust

In the Journal article today, CenTrust Chairman and CEO Carl Vander Wilt says that zoning variances and the process are too risky for his bank to go through. -- O.K., stop that! Really! That's enough laughing! -- But that's not what Mr. Vander Wilt was saying just a few days ago.

In an online Herald-Advocate update, Mr. Vander Wilt credited "concerns that residents in neighboring blocks had expressed about a bank at that location."

Also in the Journal and Topics article today we read that "some city officials...were not aware" of CenTrust's "recent change in plans" but that Mayor Howard was contacted personally about CenTrust's decision.

So what do you think, PRU readers? Think Mayor Howard isn't communicating with "some city officials"? Or, was Mayor Howard denying knowledge of the change in plans to the local press? Is anyone else willing to describe the current administration of Mayor Howard as "Kafkaesque"? And why is Mr. Vander Wilt now singing a different tune?

Is it possible that Mr. Kopka's letter to the editor and the efforts of other area residents that have produced one of the most rapid responses to citizen concerns that we've ever seen is viewed as threatening by the Kafkaesque Mayor Howard?

The PRU Crew can't say for sure. But from now on, whenever the concerns of citizens of Park Ridge are met with this kind of rapid response we're going to be calling it Kopkaesque!

Getting Away From It All.

If you're not into fishing, try Bocce ball!

Have a great day!

More PRU Briefs!

1. Taste of Public Relations?

As most of our readers know, we had a guest essay not too long ago, The Park District's Own Mr. Haney, about board president Dick Barton. It seems Mr. Barton was using his connections and political influence to promote his business.

Our pals over at the Pub-dog's put up another tasty piece of reading last Friday, Hooray for Us? Somebody decided to ask us if we knew anything about the financials of the Taste of Park Ridge and if we'd seen the following pic --




The above is a screen capture from the http://www.bartonchicago.com/ web site. The cars in the photo on the right are from the Taste event. There is no reference to the Taste of Park Ridge on the Barton & Barton web site and the Taste is not listed as a client. But we're sure that if anybody asks why a picture from the Taste is on the Barton & Barton web site the answer would be that Mr. Barton donates a lot of his time to the Taste and nobody saw anything wrong with letting him use a photo in the promotion of his business.

As for what we know of the financial arrangements of the Taste of Park Ridge committee, the answer is we don't know anything. The Taste of Park Ridge NFP organization hasn't provided any public information on their income and expenses that we can find.


2. "Hell No! You Can't Go!"

We were recently asked by a PRU reader if we knew about a meeting held at the Park Ridge Country Club, organized by Mayor Howard to discuss problems at the Youth Campus in the 1st ward with surrounding area residents, and if we were aware that Mayor Howard hadn't even bothered to invite 1st ward Alderman Dave Schmidtzkrieg to the meeting. The answer is yes. We have heard from several sources that Mayor Howard would rather play politics than actually work with all concerned parties on a problem facing residents.

What the PRU Crew finds surprising is that anyone would find it surprising that Mayor Howard plays politics first and sees to public policy second.


3. "Clean up on aisle D2!"

Last week we told you about Rosemary's Political Baby.

This week Rosemary's Political Baby got an address change, thanks to Mama Mulligan's filing of an amended D2 candidate disclosure form.



We can only imagine the conversation that took place on this one!

Bachtard, The Constitutional UNscholar!

Many of you may have read 3rd ward Alderman Don Bachtard's latest letter in the local rags the past few weeks. We're putting it here for our own abject amusement.

Letter to the Editor:

I wrote this to let your readers know how I will vote regarding Special Use for PADS at St. Paul, and to render my reasoning for that vote. I will vote "yes" to require special use. The primary reason is that the bulk of the constituents (at this point about 70% of more than 300 people) I have spoken with support special use.

I must say that I don't believe myself that government should be involved in this, that essentially it should be decided by the parish at St. Paul and the nearby neighbors of St. Paul. I am troubled by the fact that the city seems to be at odds with itself over this. Since I am an engineer by trade, and not a legal expert, I can only render my opinion of what is or is not constitutional or legal based on my own research and conversations with attorneys, including the city attorney.

With that in mind, there is some basis in law to support the Special Use requirement. If you read the Wikipedia article about the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment, you will see that the exact phrasing of the clause is, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"). The most commonly held interpretation of the clause is the Jeffersonian interpretation which defines the clause as "a wall of separation of church and state".

The city is not part of Congress. Since the clause is directed specifically at Congress, it may not apply. We are not legislating to prevent the free exercise of religion. We have codified the Special Use process for the safety of our citizens, including the occupants of the PADS shelter. Under this interpretation, what we are asking is perfectly legal and constitutional.

Also, several state and federal court judges have ruled favoring municipalities and state governments in cases like this, as you can see in the Wikipedia article referenced. Fire safety, food safety and other risks associated with overnight stays are, according to the opinions I have read, "compelling reasons for a municipality to request special use". We, as the citizens of Park Ridge are liable if some one is injured there and we have not enforced our local safety codes as preventative measures to that injury.

Also to be considered is that statement in several of these opinions that "a homeless shelter is not directly connected to the free exercise of worship". In other words, these judges have ruled that requiring special use does no interfere with the church's worship or mission in any way.

Finally, I would say what I have said to several of the ministers in the PRMA. Going through Special Use is an advantage, not a hindrance, to the shelter and the PRMA. It shows that the churches are good neighbors and do not consider themselves to be above the law, and that they are not only concerned about the safety of their PADS clients and St. Paul's neighborhood, but are aware of the liabilities that the city and they themselves face by noncompliance with the city's codes and process.

I ask the ministers to consider also that if the church were to go through the process and meet all of the requirements that according to the opinion of several municipal attorneys I have spoken with, there would be no basis in our own local law that would provide an avenue to deny the permit. As a matter of my profession, I have been denied Special Use by several cities here in this region for placement of cellular transmitters. The denials were based on things that were exclusive of their Special Use permissions and governed by federal or state law. In every one of these cases, lawsuits that were filed were ruled on or settled quite expeditiously in our favor.

I ask for you all to encourage your minister to comply with our request for Special Use, should the council vote that way. I am voting the way my constituents have asked me to, in spite of the fact that I personally disagree with them. This is not the first time that has happened, and I doubt that it will be the last, but that is what I promised to do.

Donald Bach, 3rd Ward Alderman, Park Ridge

The PRU Crew couldn't believe what we were reading... And we think we understand how he got to that dark and distant corner in his head... And we thought about deconstructing the thing... But we're pretty sure even the Gonella Bakery doesn't have enough bread crumbs to get this man home again.

Reader Soapbox!

Two sent to PRU for you to read and consider --

Letter #1

Here's another example of what I'm assuming is Frimark and Friends. The following is a letter to the editor I'm sending out today. Please feel free to investigate yourself, or start a new conversation. Thanks for the great site.

Dear Editors:

I was floored to discover that the City of Park Ridge was negotiating with a bank (CenTrust) to build on the empty Napleton parking lot on the corner of Northwest Highway and Meacham, across from the Napleton Cadillac building. The plans include cutting new curb access on Northwest highway and drive-thru lanes. Anyone who has driven in the area and is familiar with traffic patterns knows this will effectively turn the residential streets of Meacham, Cedar, and Elm into drive-thru lanes too.

Not only is this an ill-thought-out plan, it is also completely contrary to what the citizens expect and what the City Council and (former) Mayor adopted for the area. The Uptown Master Development Plan, available for all to see on the City’s website (see https://www.parkridge.us/assets/Upfinalplan.pdf), clearly shows this land to be used for “transitional residential,” which is defined as condominiums or town homes (p. 16). It is not to be used for commercial at all!

If that’s not bad enough, I learned the same day that the City was talking with CVS Pharmacy about putting in a store and parking lot across the street on the site of the former Napleton Cadillac property. This too is addressed in the Uptown Master Development Plan. That land is to be used primarily for town homes.

As citizens we have to ask ourselves: who is this benefiting? Whatever answer you find for yourself, one thing is clear: it is not benefiting us. Just because the current developer is no longer interested in building town homes on the site doesn’t mean that the City can step in to help Napleton sell their property to any available buyer.

No one who lives near uptown, no one who uses Hinkley Park, and no one who is concerned with the character of Uptown wants a car-traffic-heavy (and perhaps 24-hour) drug store like CVS on that spot. Neighbors and park users do not want the bank across the street. These two businesses seem to mainly benefit people driving through town. Neither are pedestrian-oriented.

And neither of these is supposed to be allowed under the Uptown Development Plan, which was unanimously adopted and amended into the Comprehensive City Plan in 2002 (p. i).

The same Plan lists two of its primary objectives (p. 3): 1) Maintain Uptown as a small, compact, and well-defined geographical area, and 2) promote a pedestrian-oriented shopping environment.Both the CVS idea and the bank violate both of these primary objectives.

I don’t think we as citizens can allow major decisions about the character of the City, the traffic safety of our streets and parks, and the quiet altering of long-time plans to be made in back rooms, restaurants, or golf courses and then later be presented to the citizens as the new plan. The citizens have a right to expect our elected officials and City employees to follow the Plan as adopted, to keep the citizens posted on developments, and to act and communicate with full transparency so that we can see for ourselves that they are acting in our best interests.

The Uptown Development plan is clear: Uptown commercial development is not supposed to creep further up Northwest Highway. The Napleton parking lot is supposed to be residential. The Napleton Cadillac building across the street is supposed to be condos or town homes.

Stick to the plan, Park Ridge. It’s what the citizens want.

Steve Kopka

Park Ridge, IL

Letter #2

Letter to the Editor:

Today, we read where Mayor Frimark had the US government funds all set and ready to cash the check to the tune of $ 500,000 for a study for the Cumberland Ave possible extension.

Its not a big surprise here to see that all was just about closed for discussion on this issue and the ink on the check was ready to dry for mailing. But Mayor Frimark forget something - the people!

What is their desire ? What is their concerns....as well as traffic flow through the town north and south and back. A major artery that would be revised and extend - all because of HIS desire to collect federal tax dollars! "Its only federal dollars" Mayor Frimark once stated at a recent city hall meeting and its not city money.

Now, US Rep Jan Schakowsky must think that we are all two sandwiches short of a picnic in asking for federal tax money and the PEOPLE have not been approached.

Mayor Frimark this is just a continuation of the type of leadership that we have here in Park Ridge - from YOUR office sir.

Grant applications, state tax breaks, state monies from Gov. Blagojevich, veterans money stolen and used for " art in the park" with Roasemary Mulligan's fingerprints all over it ?

Parachutes being given out, a screw up with the (just retired police chief 's) pension/package and the payment to our new city manager in his cost of living - here?

I ask you sir - when is this all going to come to a halt?

Are we leading from the rear - here ?

I guess you could loop it all together and call this term the following:
" the dark night" or "the joker", or even better "space chimps".

"Momma Mia" as the film title goes.... when is the next election!!

Gene Spanos

" Dedicated Twice By Choice"
Police - Marines
Det # 553 MCL

Rosemary's Political Baby!

By many accounts, Mayor Howard wouldn't be in the political position he's in today if it weren't for the backing he's received from State Rep. Rosemary Mulligan.

So, it comes as no surprise that insurance salesman, Howard Frimark -- Park Ridge's self-described 24/7 Mayor, would also be Ms. Mulligan's go to guy when she needs insurance. And if you're going to be Park Ridge's 24/7 Mayor then we guess nobody should be surprised when you conduct your 9-to-5 insurance business out of City Hall.


Click on pic for larger view -
from Illinois State Board of Elections Campaign Disclosure listings

We wonder which loyal city staffer gets to volunteer to also handle Mayor Howard's insurance business at City Hall?

But as the Journal & Topics' "braying ass", Dwight Esau, put it to everybody in response to a letter written in reaction to our 'Worth 1000 Words' piece, this is probably just another one of those ethics violation "dust-ups".

Anybody have the number handy for ServiceMaster?