Last night during citizens’ comments I addressed the perception of city mismanagement (though admittedly not well). I think Council members are trained by administrators to believe community ire is the norm. It’s not. The reason the locals are in an uproar several times a year is because of administrators’ poor judgment and ample evidence that…
Category: City Watch
Is It Really Legal?
The agenda for the last meeting of the local chapter of Insomniacs Anonymous included a reading list. So, I’ve been perusing the Illinois Statutes (this one, this one, and this one). Each contains provisions allowing elected and appointed municipal officers to do business with their municipalities — but only under strict conditions. The following is…
2008 Timeline for Wogen & Masonry Works, LLC
January 2008: Third Ward alderman Victor Wogen files with the Illinois Secretary of State to do business as Masonry Works, LLC. He votes to approve the purchase of the building at 231 E. Lincoln. March 2008: Wogen votes to request a permit to facilitate demolition preparations at 231 E. Lincoln. July 2008: Masonry Works receives…
10/22 City of DeKalb Press Conference
Find video of it at DeKalb County Online. Thanks, Mac.
Blast from the Past: Wogen
Third Ward Alderman Victor Wogen’s letter to the editor published October 4, 2007: Next, there’s a perception that I have been bought and paid for by builders and developers. This is far from the truth. The majority of my supporters don’t have anything to do with construction. Yes, I do sell architectural precast. But I…
Northern Star Rocks
Amanda Podgorny is bringing a very important story about city government to the fore, for which I am grateful. “We checked with the city attorney to make sure there was no conflict of interest,” Wogen said. Biernacki said that this issue of aldermen working on city contracts was on a list of various things that…
Alderman Renews DeKalb for TIF Money
With the help of city administrators, Victor Wogen managed to parlay his seat on the DeKalb City Council into income approaching $60,000 of taxpayers’ money in 2008, about ten times more than his annual salary as representative of the Third Ward.
Chronicle Covers Flood Buyout Factors. Sorta.
[Update 10/27: Somebody sent me an anonymous note — why anonymous? How odd for something like this — pointing out that some of these streets the mayor mentioned are in fact on the long range plan for property acquisition and suggesting I study the facts before blogging. Well, I did and I stand by my…
Flood-Prone Home Buyout Thread
Acceptance of a “pre-disaster mitigation grant” for buying more flood-prone homes is on the agenda for Monday (.pdf p. 33). Questions: 1) We’re broke, except for TIF. Where do we get the the $289,507.00 for our share? 2) What is the cutoff for number of years of home ownership required for a buyout? In other…
Your TIF Dollars at Work
Michael “Max” Maxwell sent CB a few snapshots of two of the new outdoor cafes. Thanks, Max!