The Kane County Forest Preserve District’s largest land acquisition in history will be paid for in part by its largest grant in history, officials have announced.
The district recently received a $1.46 million grant from Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to help offset the costs of the October purchase of the Brunner Family Forest Preserve in Dundee Township. The 741-acre parcel, much of which fronts the Fox River, came with a $40 million price tag, so officials began looking early on for grant dollars to contribute to the cost, according to KCFPD Executive Director Monica Meyers.
“When we knew we were going to purchase the property, we went to (the) Clean Energy (Community Foundation),” Meyers said. “Really, this grant is linked to the protection of the portion of the property that’s on the riverfront. No (county) development can take place on that portion of the property.”
The Brunner deal — combined with money already set aside in an improvement fund — will use up most of the dollars remaining from a $85 million referendum passed by Kane County residents in April 2007.
District officials had coveted the Brunner property for the better part of 20 years, officials have said. Bordered by Illinois 31 to the west, the Fox River to the East, Buffalo Park Forest Preserve in Algonquin to the north, and two other district holdings in Carpentersville to the south, the purchase means 1,000-plus acres of contiguous district-held open space.
Several rare birds and other animals inhabit the land, officials said. [Original Article]
As the media keeps gushing on about how America has finally adopted tolerance as the great virtue, and that we’re all united now, let’s consider the Brave Catherine Vogt Experiment.
Catherine Vogt, 14, is an Illinois 8th grader, the daughter of a liberal mom and a conservative dad. She wanted to conduct an experiment in political tolerance and diversity of opinion at her school in the liberal suburb of Oak Park.
She noticed that fellow students at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president. His campaign kept preaching “inclusion,” and she decided to see how included she could be.
So just before the election, Catherine consulted with her history teacher, then bravely wore a unique T-shirt to school and recorded the comments of teachers and students in her journal. The T-shirt bore the simple yet quite subversive words drawn with a red marker:
“McCain Girl.”
“I was just really curious how they’d react to something that different, because a lot of people at my school wore Obama shirts and they are big Obama supporters,” Catherine told us. “I just really wanted to see what their reaction would be.”
Immediately, Catherine learned she was stupid for wearing a shirt with Republican John McCain’s name. Not merely stupid. Very stupid.
“People were upset. But they started saying things, calling me very stupid, telling me my shirt was stupid and I shouldn’t be wearing it,” Catherine said.
Then it got worse.
“One person told me to go die. It was a lot of dying. A lot of comments about how I should be killed,” Catherine said, of the tolerance in Oak Park.
But students weren’t the only ones surprised that she wore a shirt supporting McCain.
“In one class, I had one teacher say she will not judge me for my choice, but that she was surprised that I supported McCain,” Catherine said… [read full]
Chris Robbling’s criticism of the McCain campaign seems a bit extreme, like an arm-chair quarterback chewing up competing political consultants, but overall it’s a good show…
I don’t see how anyone can criticize Rick Davis’s TV ads as being un-memorable. The Obama/Hollywood ad was the most memorable of the season…
The declining economy has begun to deliver a big hit to Illinois tax receipts.
According to the state Department of Revenue, Illinois is on track to see a roughly $800-million revenue hole this fiscal year, based on receipts for the first four months of fiscal 2009, which began July 1.
“And if the Illinois economy worsens, as many predict,” the department continued in a press release, “the shortfall between fiscal 2009 receipts and budgeted revenue may exceed $1 billion.”
The higher figure would represent almost 4% of the state’s $28-billion operations budget.
The decline is affecting all of the state’s locally generated revenues, particularly the individual and corporate income taxes and the sales tax.
In the four months ended on Halloween, individual income tax receipts were down a scary 4% relative to projections, rather than rising 1.1% as assumed in the state budget. If that trend continues for the remainder of the year, the state will be short $330 million in that category.
Often-volatile corporate income tax collections were off even more, dropping 14% from budget projections rather than growing 4.1%. The annualized loss would be about $270 million… [read full]
That’s what flyers being passed out in Norridge, IL are telling voters.
Remember the post that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the anti-transparency shenanigans in Norridge and Ridgewood High School District 234? Well, now the supporters of a tax increase–which failed in February–are scaring people into voting for it by saying that they face home foreclosures, bad schools and even gangs without it.
And then there’s this warning:
Unconcerned renters will move in, destroying the stability of Norridge and Harwood Heights, home property values and other local schools and churches.
Wow. Sounds ominous. Class warfare, anyone?
FICTION: Higher taxes make for better schools and neighborhoods.
FACT: Higher taxes make it difficult for people to afford homes, cars, basic necessities, and school supplies. More money does not make better schools or more successful students. Higher taxes make it so the people can spend less money on their homes, children and saving for retirement.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that two of the “Concerned Community Homeowners” who are listed on the flyer are officials with the Norwood Park Township. They are Rocco Secco (Clerk) and Larry Rogawski (Highway Commissioner). They’ll be running for office again in April.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was a great step forward for citizens as they sought to learn about the behavior of their government and hold it to account. FOIA allows people to request certain types of information from government officials, including salaries, contracts, expenditures and more. There are some limits to what one can request through FOIA, however, those items are relatively few. Information relating to national defense or a criminal case, for instance, are generally exempt from FOIA.
There is no limit to how many documents a citizen can request through FOIA or how frequently they can petition.
But sometimes citizens exercising their right to know about their government run into some difficulty. This can mean waiting weeks or even months before they receive the information they have requested.
Other times citizens may run into government officials who become weary of making public information available to those who ask for it. This appears to be what has happened with Riccardo A. Mora of Norridge, Illinois in his project to learn more about the operations of his local school district.
Mora has issued 21 FOIA requests since February 2008 to Ridgewood High School District 234. “I decided to investigate, gather facts and quotes from reliable sources…[and present] that information to my neighbors for their consideration,” says Mora.
Mora requested numerous items from the school district, including expenditures, capital plans, audits, and notices. He is interested in seeing just how the district spends taxpayers’ money prior to a November vote that will determine whether property taxes will increase to fund the schools.
On September 29th, Mora received a letter from the law firm Schartz, Lipton and Taylor of Chicago, which notified him that the school district had retained the firm in the matter of his FOIA requests.
In the letter (PDF), the district’s lawyer wrote that Mora was abusing the FOIA and that his requests may not be fulfilled.
The Act is not intended to be used for purposes of furthering personal gain. See 5 ILCS 140/1…Your numerous FOIA requests demonstrate that you are mis-using FOIA as a vehicle to address personal issues rather than public interest…The use of FOIA to further a personal rather than public need is clearly an abuse of the Act…We are writing at this time to make you aware that we will work closely with the District to scrutinize and future FOIA requests propounded by you upon the District to insure they are within the spirit of the Act.
The statute that the lawyer cites is the Illinois FOI law. She writes, correctly, how FOIA requests are not supposed to disrupt the work of the government body from which a citizen requests information.
This Act is not intended to be used to violate individual privacy, nor for the purpose of furthering a commercial enterprise, or to disrupt the duly‑undertaken work of any public body independent of the fulfillment of any of the fore‑mentioned rights of the people to access to information.
The lawyer claims that a district staffer spent 20 hours fulfilling Mora’s FOIA request to prove how this interfered with the operation of the office. However, 20 hours of an employee’s time spread over a two week period hardly interferes with the normal operation of the school system.
In fact, being accountable to the citizens of the district is right up there with making sure that kids are being taught well, so public disclosure is part of the “duly-undertaken work” of the district.
The lawyer’s main claim, however, is that Mora is sending FOIA requests to further himself in some way. The letter claims that submitting a FOIA request for “personal gain” is outside of the act’s parameters. However, the only mention of “personal” anything (not pertaining to personal privacy) in the Illinois FOIA is in 5 ILCS 140/6–Authority to charge fees:
(b) Documents shall be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge, as determined by the public body, if the person requesting the documents states the specific purpose for the request and indicates that a waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest. Waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest if the principal purpose of the request is to access and disseminate information regarding the health, safety and welfare or the legal rights of the general public and is not for the principal purpose of personal or commercial benefit.
There is no mention whatsoever in the statute of the phrase “personal gain.” The petitioner’s motives are mentioned nowhere in the Illinois FOIA law.
A citizen can request a document for personal benefit, it seems, but he or she will have to pay for the reproduction of the document(s). Mora has already paid to have numerous documents reproduced, and is now requesting a refund for being overcharged (PDF).
Regardless of his reason for asking the information, Mora is entitled to the information he is requesting, and the Ridgewood High School district should provide him with it.
Additionally, the district should seriously consider posting its financial data in an accessible format on its website. Once all of the information is online the district may face the prospect of fewer FOIA requests and will increase the level of trust between the citizens and the school. A great number of school districts are already posting their expenditures and budgets online. See a list of transparent government school districts here.
There’s no doubt about it–FOIA has advanced the cause of government transparency, but it’s not necessarily a speedy solution. It does take time for staffers to complete citizens’ FOIA requests. People are entitled to know what their government is up to, and the combination of new citizen interest and new technology make it easier and more affordable than ever for government to implement comprehensive transparency policies.
Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran on Thursday released the results of an audit that showed a fifth of his jail population is undocumented and pressed for the power to deport them.
In the process, he took shots at Cook County, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and politicians in Springfield and Washington for not doing the same.
“The city of Chicago as well as the state of Illinois have shown little interest in cooperating with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” Curran said. Later, he added: “Throw the bums out of Springfield and Washington but treat the illegal immigrants with love and respect.”… (read full)
Bill Sarto was recently served a subpoena for involvement in a domestic battery case against a political opponent, Paul Humpfer. Although Sarto ignored the subpoena, the Courier News reports no investigations into the issue.
ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP — The attorney representing Carpentersville Village Trustee Paul Humpfer in his ongoing criminal matter recently asked police to conduct an investigation into Village President Bill Sarto’s alleged refusal to accept a subpoena to testify at a hearing in the case.
But Carpentersville Police Cmdr. Mike Kilbourne said Friday “there is no active investigation” into whether Sarto committed a criminal misdemeanor on Aug. 19 by reportedly refusing to accept the subpoena from a process server.
Humpfer’s attorney, Patrick Crimmins of Brady & Jensen in Elgin, subpoenaed Sarto to testify at a hearing on Humpfer’s motion for a new judge in his case. Humpfer claims that Judge James Hallock, who convicted the trustee of domestic battery in a bench trial in March, failed to disclose relationships he has or had with current and former Carpentersville officials.
According to an affidavit filed by the process server, Sarto would not accept the subpoena outside an Aug. 19 village board meeting, and denied he actually was Bill Sarto. The affidavit stated that the process server left the document on Sarto’s windshield.
Sarto failed to appear for the Aug. 29 motion hearing, and later said he never was served with the paperwork and walked away because the process server never identified himself.
Sarto appeared in 16th Circuit Court here Friday to answer another defense motion that he be held in contempt of court for missing the previous hearing.
Because of the supposed police investigation — which Crimmins told Judge Grant Wegner about during Friday’s hearing — Sarto was not called to testify Friday regarding the prior absence.
If there indeed were a criminal investigation, Sarto potentially could incriminate himself if he spoke about the Aug. 19 incident, Wegner said in court.
“I think it’s important you not be put in a position that would affect the criminal investigation,” Wegner said.
Sarto did not appear with a lawyer on Friday.
Sarto, in a telephone interview Friday, called Crimmins’ statement to the judge that there is a criminal investigation “a patent lie.”
“The truth is that there is no criminal investigation,” Sarto said. “For him (Crimmins) to file this false accusation with a judge in a court is ethically challenged if nothing else.”
In early March, Hallock found Humpfer guilty of four misdemeanor counts of domestic battery for hitting and poking his wife with a baseball bat during a May 2007 argument inside the couple’s Carpentersville home.
Humpfer is next due in court on Friday, Sept. 26 on the substitution of judge motion. Sarto is expected to appear again that day.
This is a great podcast of Craig Dellimore’s At Issue, which airs weekly on Chicago’s WBBM 780AM. Dellimore does quality interviews with some of Illinois’s presiding delegates.
Craig Dellimore and Julie Mann review Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Guests include Former Governor Jim Edgar, Former U-S House Speaker Dennis Hastert and CBS News Political Analyst Gerald Pomper.
AURORA — Illinois State Senate candidate Terri Ann Wintermute made one thing clear on Tuesday. If elected to represent the 42nd District, she will “not turn her back on Aurora,” she said to a group of supporters.
To accomplish that, the Bolingbrook resident and former Will County Board member set up a campaign office Tuesday on Aurora’s West Side, at 403 W. Galena Blvd., Suite 108.
Wintermute, 50, a Republican, faces State Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, on the November ballot. Wintermute was defeated by Holmes in the 2006 election.
State Sen. Chris Lauzen, R-Aurora, joined Wintermute in opening the campaign office on Tuesday.
“In (Wintermute’s) first vote, she will do a better job than her predecessor who gave the first vote to (Democrat Senate president) Emil Jones … who takes care of his family and friends,” said Lauzen. . . (read full)
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