Don’t Be “Dense” About Density. This Monday, April 28, the City’s Planning & Zoning Commission will be meeting (7:30 at City Hall) to discuss increasing the amount of area zoned “R-5” – which allows as many as 29 dwelling units per acre of land, the densest number permissible under the current zoning code. For those of us who like the traditional, small-town feel of Park Ridge, the prospect of more tall buildings looming over an even larger area of Uptown – especially if they’re filled with condos that add more residents – is unappealing at best; and, at worst, could actually be ruinous to the character of the community.
But as we’ve seen under the rule of Howard “Let’s Make A Deal” Frimark, the character of the community is of little concern when there’s an opportunity for developers to make a buck by jacking up the residential density. So if you feel strongly about further expansion of an already congested Uptown, you should attend Monday night’s meeting. If you cannot attend, however, consider contacting P&Z Commission members (as currently listed on the City’s website): Anita Rifkind, Aurora Abella-Austriaco, Tom Provencher, Alfredo Marr (Chairman), Milda Roskiewicz, Joseph A. Baldi, Louis Arrigoni and Cathy Piche to express your viewpoint. Or contact Ald. Dave Schmidt (1st Ward), who can be counted on to represent the residents while still exercising his own reasoning and judgment.
Allegretti’s Cone Of Silence. No Alderpuppet of Mayor Frimark seems to like government secrecy more than Jim Allegretti (4th Ward), who acts like “closed” Council sessions and confidential memos are the greatest thing since sliced Wonder Bread. And nobody is more adept at playing “Chicken Little,” even though he substitutes “We could get sued!” for “The sky is falling!” when peddling his brand of panic.
Both of these qualities were on display at Monday night’s City Council meeting during the Council’s debate over how the police “audit” will be conducted and whether its results will be made public. Allegretti first voiced his support for letting his (and Frimark’s) choice of Police Department outside auditor, Ekl-Williams, give police officials and officers immunity from disciplinary actions in return for their cooperation with the investigation (which was defeated), but he also opposed making a commitment to the auditor’s full report being made available to the taxpayers who are paying at least $75,000 for it. His reason for the latter vote: “We could get sued.”
None of his Council peers asked him the obvious question – “What about that report would be a valid basis for a lawsuit against the City?” – and Allegretti wasn’t telling. But, fortunately, Alderpuppets DiPietro and Ryan inexplicably unhooked their strings long enough to join Ald. Schmidt and Wsol to forge a 4-3 majority in one of those classic politics-makes-strange-bedfellows moments. So unless something changes, we should get to see the auditor’s evaluation of the PRPD, warts and all.
Call Napleton’s/PRC’s Bluff. Yesterday’s Herald-Advocate reports that the City’s retreat from its $400,000 bribe (our term, not the H-A’s) to keep Napleton Cadillac in Park Ridge is being blamed for queering Napleton’s planned sale of its old site to Uptown redeveloper PRC Partners, who was planning to build more condos there once the environmental clean-up was completed using the City’s (i.e., the taxpayers’) cash.
Bill Napleton – who so rankled Alderpuppet Don Bach (3rd Ward) several weeks ago that Bach threatened not to buy his next Cadillac from Napleton, before turning around and voting to give the dealer up to $2.4 Million in sales tax revenues and environmental clean-up costs – claims that without the $400,000 from the City the deal doesn’t work for Napleton or PRC.
Well, Billy Boy, that deal never worked at all for most of us taxpayers who never could see why we should pay to clean up your mess. And the same goes for PRC, who already has received enough economic favors from the taxpayers of Park Ridge in Target Area 2 to last the rest of Andy Koglin’s lifetime.
It’s way past time that the City let it be known in no uncertain terms that if Park Ridge isn’t an attractive enough community for a business to locate or stay here without being bribed to do so, then maybe that business should look elsewhere. Because we don’t need to pander to those kinds of carpetbaggers. And, frankly, we can’t, and shouldn’t, get into a bidding war with other communities for them.
As for Napleton, it can either sell the old Cadillac site to a ready, willing and able buyer or it can hold the property and continue to pay taxes on it. Either way, there’s no reason for the City to make any more sucker bets on this property or to fold its hand. Because anybody who says a deal for that site fell through because of $400,000 is clearly bluffing.
Memo To Mayor Frimark: Tax Increase Is Not A Decrease. Also as reported in yesterday’s H-A (“Council agrees to a smaller, 3.3 percent tax hike,” April 24), the City approved a 2008-09 budget that includes a property tax levy increase of 3.3% – the first time since 2002 that the increase will be under 5% – although water rates will be increased 6.7% and the sewer surcharge will rise by an average of approximately $14.64 per household.
We are puzzled, however, by Mayor Howard Frimark’s statement that the 3.3% property tax increase “shows our good faith to our citizens that we are interested in reducing taxes when many governmental bodies are increasing taxes.” Hey Howard…a 3.3% property tax increase is not a tax decrease, even if it is less than the 5% the City has been hitting us for since 2002. Repeat after us: A tax decrease means we pay less property tax to the City than we paid last year.
No More Library Space Needs Studies. Even though the City cut the $200,000 budgeted for ventilation system improvements at the Public Works Center and $150,000 in motor vehicle funds, the Council preserved the $50,000 for yet another Library space needs study. For those of you who haven’t been following along, the Library’s quest for more space – or a brand new building – has been going on since 1991, when the Library staff piled books on the floor to support its bogus claim of a space shortage.
As recently as 2002 the voters decisively rejected the Library’s plan for a new $20 million building that would have almost doubled the square footage of the current building. Since that time, the Library Board and Staff have incessantly whined about space shortage and the need for a bigger “state of the art” library building. And now they are going to spend $50,000 for a study “to determine the options for building a new facility, or expanding and substantially remodeling the existing facility” – as the Library Board and Staff explains in its “Action Plans 2007-2009-.pdf”
What about “No” does Librarian Janet Van De Carr and Library Board members John R. Schmidt, John Benka, Shlomo Crandus, Kathleen de Grasse, Margaret Harrison, Patricia Lofthouse, Dorothy Hynous, Eileen O’Neill-Burke and Richard T. Van Metre not understand? Instead of wasting more of our money on the thoroughly predictable results of yet another one of those tell-you-what-you-want-to-hear studies, find yourselves a seminar or two that explain how to learn to live with, manage and maximize the value of the facility you already have.