McHenry County Blog

Last Saturday, it was Democrats approaching homeowners in Lake in the Hills on behalf of Paula Yensen, McHenry County Democratic Party candidate for county board in the 65th district.

Today, it is 6th district candidate Robert Ludwig.

Accompanying him with be the Democratic Party for McHenry County State’s Attorney, Tom Cynor.

They are meeting at Culver’s at 11 AM. They will knock on doors until 3, when treats at Culver’s

I wish I could be there to take a picture when they meet, but I’ll be at the First Methodist Church of Crystal Lake at our 11 o’clock service looking at some of the hundreds of pictures I and others took at Vacation Bible School this past week. They will appear on the big screens before each church service.

And, I’m sure my wife and weekend scheduler has me doing something in mid-afternoon as well.

But, maybe someone will send me a picture I can show you.

Free publicity, folks, and both candidates certainly need more name identification, if they are to have a chance of victory.

I was going to run a story entitled, "Democrats Invade McHenry County," but it will have to wait until tomorrow. One Democratic Party invasion story a day is sufficient.

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Democratic Party District 6 McHenry County Board candidate Bob Ludwig is in the top photo. State's attorney candidate Thomas Cynor appears below.

Labels: Culver's, Huntley, McHenry County Democrats, Robert Ludwig, Sun City, Thomas Cynor

Can't you just hear minor league baseball stadium promoter Pete Heitman saying that?

Heitman is on a search for his Holy Grail—a minor league baseball stadium that he and his mysterious investors won't have to pay for.

This Black Knight has had one arm hacked off in his efforts to storm McHenry County College treasury.

The peasants got angry.

Pitchforks.

Torches.

You know the routine.

Still, it wasn't a total loss.

Heitman's buddy Mark Houser made off with checks for tens of thousands of dollars.

But the Black Knight has another arm left.

Plus two legs and a body.

Plenty of more profit motive fight left in his black heart of hearts.

“Just have to find the right public treasury,” the Black Knight thinks.

“One with feeble guardians.”

And, now the Northwest Herald's Tom Musik reports Heitman is approaching other castle treasure chests.

A half a dozen, most in McHenry County, but two in Lake, according to the article.

I wonder if one is near a prospective pig farm in Island Lake.

No.

The prospective pig farm has a vigorous defender. He has a finger gun, too.

Maybe it's Round Lake, I thought.

Mayor Bill Gentes, who is running for the 26th state senate district, has a site on which he wanted Advocate to construct a hospital. I thought it might work. Instead they looked seriously at one near downtown.

But it didn't work out.

When I asked, here is what Gentes said,

"We talked to those guys about 2-3 years ago and decided it made no sense for us."

He said he had written about it on his blog.

As reported before, Huntley, Woodstock and McHenry are interested and one whose leaders want to discuss disbursement of the coin of the realm with the Black Knight in the dark.

“The team would seek some financial help from its home community and county,” Musik quotes Heitman indirectly.

And in a direct quote, “... we’ve just got to find somebody who’s going to help out. We need a little bit of help, obviously, because we can’t do it all ourselves.”

Is it possible county board members could be so audacious as to support such a proposal with McHenry County Democrats preparing the ladders to storm the excellent paying Round Table's gates?

The Northwest Herald has already indicated it thinks county financial support is a good idea.

Could the Republican Party be ready to cede the role of fiscal conservative to that the party it has painted as the B-I-G SPENDERS?

McHenry Mayor Sue Low and Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager are quoted in the article, which says Heitman wants a four-lane highway.

Don't we all?

Maybe that puts Huntley in the lead. It already has a four-lane road.

But, then again, so does McHenry.

Tomorrow, the questions Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes asked of Heitman and the ones Heitman could not answer satisfactorily.

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Holy Grail modification of Monty Python movie scene compliments of Heck of a Guy blogger Allan Showalter.

Labels: 26th District, Baseball Stadium, Bill Gentes, Black Knight, Brian Sager, Huntley, Mark Houser, MCC, McHenry, McHenry County Board, McHenry County College, Pete Heitman, Sue Low, Woodstock

A couple of Mondays ago (March 31st), I didn't get around to reading the Chicago Tribune and, miracle of miracles, the paper did not end up in the re-cycling container before I had time to look at it.

On the front page was a story entitled,I was more interested in the map printing on the inside.

You can see the McHenry County portion here.

Red is worst.

25 or more foreclosures per 1,000 mortgageable properties in 2007, the key reads.

There are two more areas of red in the county, one appears to be in western Lake in the Hills. It may be in Huntley School District 158, as the biggest on in the county clearly is. The other is in western McHenry.

A lot of old Carpentersville also seems to be colored red.

I was just thinking.

If so many people in your school district were suffering from foreclosure, would it be the right time to put your school district in a position where another tax rate hike referendum would be almost a foregone conclusion?

Labels: Carpentersville, Huntley, Huntley School District 158, Lake In the Hills, McHenry, Mortgage Foreclosure, Tax Hike

It appears that Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley was correct.

Other communities like Huntley, Woodstock, McHenry and Algonquin, are interested in a minor league baseball stadium, just like Shepley predicted right before his zoning proposal went down the Crystal Lake watershed drain tile:

“I guarantee you there are other communities that will accommodate a baseball team.

“What if it goes a couple miles down the road and settles in Woodstock?” he asked, pointing out that Crystal Lake would have the same problems with none of the benefits.

The interest from other McHenry County towns was revealed to Northwest Herald reporter Tom Musick by baseball promoter Pete Heitman, who heads up an unknown group of investors called McHenry/Lake Professional Baseball Limited Liability Corporation.

That’s “Limited Liability,” as in “We can walk away from the deal and leave you to pay off the cost to build our stadium, if we don’t make enough money.”

Musick, who covers Huntley for the NW Herald found explicit support from Huntley village and park district officials.

“It has been in my mind for probably six or seven years that I-90 and [Route] 47 would really be an ideal place for a minor league baseball stadium,” (Thom)Palmer said.

A possible solace to McHenry County College taxpayers is that Huntley is not near enough the center of the college district to be selected as anything the trustees could sell as being a centrally located MCC taxpayer-supported site.

Not in the original college district, Huntley School District 158 joined when the state legislator mandated that all parts of Illinois be in one junior college or another.

So maybe there will be a bidding war among communities like those for a major tax generator like a regional shopping center. Or a housing developer playing one municipality off against another.

The only difference is that baseball stadiums are not major tax generators. (Now that I think about it, subdivisions don’t pay their own way either, but towns still fight over them.)

In its one and only article looking at the financial end of McHenry County College’s baseball stadium, its staff could not find one economist who had done a study that showed the benefits outweighed the costs for a baseball stadium.

Huntley Village Administrator Carl Tomaso expressed excitement on behalf of village government. He talked about the desire to have a large entertainment venue near the tollway or elsewhere, reporter Musick found.

At least Huntley has figured out how to pry significant road improvements out of developers, something Crystal Lake has not done yet.

All of the widening of Route 47 from the tollway north to park was financed by developers.

The only pathetic contribution from state government on Route 47 is the center turn lane thru the old part of town—built by the state, complete with curbs and gutters, which will have to be torn out when the road is widened to five lanes.

Built with only three lanes, even though every state IDOT official with a brain knew Route 47 needed five lanes.

One final thought—if you thought the Crystal Lake city council chambers were full for the baseball stadium zoning meeting, can you imagine how large the room will have to be if a Huntley location is proposed where fireworks could be heard from Sun City?

Labels: Algonquin, Carl Tomaso, Huntley, Huntley Park District, MCC, McHenry, McHenry County College, Sun City, Woodstock

As I was about to head beddy-bye, a press release arrived from United States Representative Don Manzullo. It follows up on the earmarking of $250,000 to help a bit with extending Algonquin Road west of Huntley. I will point out again that $250,000 is not big money in highway projects, as you can see from the prior projects

The press release follows:

U.S. House Approves $250,000 Manzullo Secured to Help Extend Algonquin Road West of Huntley

(CRYSTAL LAKE) The U.S. House of Representatives tonight approved $250,000 in federal funds to help relieve traffic congestion in McHenry County by extending Algonquin Road west of Route 47 to the western side of Huntley.

The funding, secured by Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) is included in the 2008 Transportation-Treasury-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill the House approved tonight. The funds must still be approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President. Manzullo will work with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, both of Illinois, to make sure the funding is protected throughout the process.

The 2.7-mile-long project will extend Algonquin Road west from Route 47, cross Marengo Road and intersect with Harmony Road at Brier Hill Road just west of the Huntley High School campus. The federal funds would be used to design a grade-separated highway structure over the Union Pacific Railroad as part of the road project.

"This is a critical project that will ease traffic congestion in one of the fastest growing areas of McHenry County," Manzullo said. "Algonquin Road is a vital east-west artery for motorists in the southern part of McHenry County. The extension will allow motorists a faster way to get to the west side of Huntley and westbound Interstate 90 by bypassing congested Route 47. I was happy to seek and secure federal funds for this important project."

Transportation funding has always been Congressman Manzullo's #1 priority for McHenry County. Over the last several years, he has secured more than $31 million in federal funds to relieve severe traffic congestion in McHenry County, including:

• $19 million ($9 million in 1998 and $10 million in 2005) for a new western bypass road around clogged Routes 31/62 intersection in Algonquin.
• $6.72 million ($1 million in 2004 and $5.72 million in 2005) to widen Route 47 to 5 lanes from Kreutzer to Reed roads in Huntley.
• $5.72 million in 2005 to widen Rakow Road from Randall Road to Route 31 in Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills.
• $1 million in 2004 for intersection improvement at Crystal Lake Avenue and Pingree Road in Crystal Lake.

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The photograph is from Congressman Don Manzullo’s press conference near the corner of Routes 62 (Algonquin Road) and 31 in which he and other called for Governor Rod Blagojevich to put Algonquin’s Western Bypass back into the state budget.

Labels: Algonquin Road, Don Manzullo, Earmark, Huntley

Another unreported story from the May 17th Huntley School District 158 board meeting is that the board rejected the Village of Huntley’s request to join it in opposing the placement of high tension lines.

Chief Operating Officer Glen Stewart briefed the board. At least I think I recognized his voice.

The little dots representing people on the Huntley School Board DVD that I got through a Freedom of Information request are too small to see who’s mouth is moving.

In any event, the board concluded they did not have a dog in the fight, even though it will cross a little, if ever used road, which I think runs along the edge of one of the school properties.

Newly elected board member Kevin Gentry asked how much Commonwealth Edison might be willing to pay for its power lines to cross district property.

Stewart suggested that it would probably be up to the amount it would cost Com Ed in attorney’s fees to get the Illinois Commerce Commission to issue an order for the crossing.

I know virtually nothing about this fight, but I do remember when Com Ed tried to put power lines at the western and southern edge of the Lake in the Hills subdivision southeast of the intersection of Algonquin and Lakewood Roads.

I even participated in a sign carrying demonstration at the subdivision’s entrance one Saturday. The signs warned potential purchasers that some new homes would back up to the electric lines.

We succeeded in convincing Com Ed to move them in the middle of a field to the west, where you can see them today.

You can notice that the subdivision next door is separated from the lines by a drainage area.

It’s a shame Com Ed didn’t think of such a solution ahead of time (in 1998, I think).

Labels: Com Ed, Commonwealth Edison, Glen Stewart, High Power Lines, Huntley, Huntley School District 158, Kevin Gentry

The Huntley Village board may have sent Centegra back to the drawing board for its new facility on Algonquin Road, but a truck and men were out drilling on Thursday before the meeting.

From Tom Musick’s article in the Northwest Herald, I gather the trustees just thought the Legat Architects drawings were just boring.

The article reports Centegra plans

an urgent-care center, physicians’ offices, diagnostic laboratory suites and more. The fitness center would include fitness rooms, pool facilities, tennis and basketball courts, and other amenities.

Note the haze in the background. It's soil erosion blown by the wind from bare farm fields.

You can enlarge either the picture of the Huntley Centegra site with sign on the left side and drill on the right or the close-up of the drilling truck.

Labels: Algonquin Road, Centegra, Drilling, Huntley, Legat Architects

One of my best pictures is of Jay Kadakia talking to State Senator Pam Althoff at the Huntley American Association of University Women meeting.

Citizen Kadakia is talking about the fiasco created by passage of the Huntley School District 158's referendum.

You can fill in your own balloon above Kadakia's head about what he is telling Althoff.

The duplicity of that referendum, of course, is what brought citizen, now Huntley School Board member, Larry Snow to the scene.

Kadakia is running for the Huntley Village Board for a second time this year.

He an engineer who spent his career working for the State of Illinois.

Somehow, I don't think the village board will be the same if he gets elected.

Labels: Huntley, Huntley School District 158, Jay Kadakia

The Union Pacific freight train that was roaring through Marengo with horns blasting a little after noon Saturday was not a precursor of Amtrak service to McHenry County.

That was made abundantly clear at a Rockford College presentation Saturday morning.

The once-a-day round trip Amtrak engines and coaches are on the track from Chicago to Rockford and Dubuque though.

They’re picking up speed, but not through McHenry County.

There was a clue late last week when U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s press release announcing Saturday’s meeting did not even mention McHenry County.

McHenry County officials from Huntley and Marengo attended anyway.

Under the aegis of Durbin and Congressman Don Manzullo, Amtrak officials presented the results of a study stimulated by a meeting last July.

There were three alternative routes, but the old Blackhawk route to Dubuque is the one that is so, so most likely to be selected.

Its major problem is “some congestion issues around Chicago,” where there is a need for “additional capacity.” The cost would be about $23 million for what the Amtrak chart calls the “direct route” with estimated annual ridership of 113,300 passengers.

The “Belvidere” route, which would go through Huntley and Marengo, has “no connection between Metra and Union Pacific in Elgin” and would need “a connector in Rockford.” The cost would be $32 million and the number of passengers 62,200.

Part of the route through the Rockford Airport is so bad that it would require “a complete rebuilding” and the “East is quite poor,” Franke said. The cost would be $55-62 million with 51,200.

The old Blackhawk route is the cheapest and Durbin, Manzullo and Acting Illinois Department of Transportation Director Milt Sees want action now. A cursory glance shows construction cost of $200 per annual passenger, while the Belvidere route is in the neighborhood of $513 and the airport route $1,100-1,200.

On capital cost, then, there is no question that the “direct route” is cheapest.

It wins on annual operating cost, too. The Belvidere route is 1.2 times as expensive, while the airport route is 1.24 times higher.

In absolute dollars of annual subsidy, however, the difference between the three is only $600,000.

The congress folks and IDOT want action so “now” that the public hearing will be on Monday, April 16th!

That’s two weeks from now.

And, disagreement is likely to kill the possibilities.

As Sees put it,

I, too, have been in this racket for a long time. The only way for people to get their projects is to agree.

Anytime you get into a protracted debate, you lose time and time increases money.

The window of opportunity can close on you very rapidly.

You have to help them help you,

Sees said, indicating the two congressmen.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrisey, whose city wins regardless of which route is selected, said, “We don’t want to be fighting against ourselves. We look forward to rail coming to our communities.”

After Amtrak’s Mike Franke indicated service could be started as soon as two years from now, assuming negotiations with the railroad go well, Drubin said, “I’d sure hate to waste this construction season.”

Durbin called for “a spirit of cooperation,” for "not letting the best become the enemy of the good."

Other problems include the need for train stations.

“It’s going to be up to the locals to build the stations,” Franke said. “Five or six stations make sense.”

“Don’t come to us for earmarks for stations,” Manzullo warned.

There would be “no food service” and “the supply of Amtrak rolling stock is extremely tight.”

If Amtrak is to supply them, they will “have to be taken out of storage and rehabbed.”

Only one ordinary citizen was allowed to speak.

Janet Fisher, describing herself as “The Crazy Train Lady,” said, “I’m just thrilled with all of this. If we get something in place, it will blossom and grow.”

Manzullo wanted to know if the train could be used for commuting from Rockford to Chicago. He was told that the trip would take an hour and 45 minutes, leaving Rockford early enough for commuters and leaving Chicago at 6:15 in the evening for the return trip.

Manzullo made a point of stating,

There is not one passenger train that operates (without a subsidy).

Two of the people allowed to speak were state representatives.

Republican State Representative Dave Winters asked whether this effort could be part of the effort to extend Amtrak service to Minneapolis.

He got a “No” for an answer.

At one point, when Durbin was pointing out that it would take state legislation to change the "footprint" of Metra, Winters indicated that "very informal" talks were taking place that would apparently give the Rockford Airport Authority the power to deal with trains.

It is my impression that the Rockford Airport Authority has significant non-referendum bonding authority. Maybe local influentials intend to use that power to get money to pay for local Amtrak track repairs.

Rockford Democratic Party State Representative Chuck Jefferson was the final speaker. He was effusive in his praise of Durbin.

Also introduced was Boone County’s Republican State Rep. Ron Wait.

Attending from McHenry County were Huntley Village President Chuck Sass and Village Manager Carl Tomaso, plus Marengo Mayor Don Lockhart and City Administrator Scott Hartman.

None got an opportunity to speak at the forum.

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The Union Pacific train was on the track speeding through Marengo right after noon.

Next can be seen the three routes being considered and the table showing the cost figures for each route.

Acting IDOT Secretary Milt Sees is below on the right.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrisey is down to the left with Senator Dick Durbin's picture to his right.

Underneath is a photography of Congressman Don Manzullo.

Below her is "Crazy Train Lady" Janet Fisher.

The three state legislators attending come next. On top, at the left, is Dave Winters. Below him is Chuck Jefferson. To Jefferson's right is Ron Wait.

Beneath the photo credit line are pictures of Huntley Village President Chuck Sass and his Village Manager Carl Tomaso leaving the meeting.

Next is a "before meeting" shot of Belvidere Mayor Fred Brereton and Marengo Mayor Don Lockhart. Brereton got to speak, as did Boone County Board Vice Chairman David Taylor and Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen. Christiansen is seen to the left.

Labels: Amtrak, Belvidere, Chuck Jefferson, Dave Winters, Dick Durbin, Don Manzullo, Huntley, IDOT, Janet Fisher, Larry Morrisey, Marengo, Mike Franke, Milt Sees, Rockford, Ron Wait