So last month I e-mailed the members of the District 428 school board a link to the great precast discussion (vs. bricks-and-mortar construction on the new high school and Cortland elementary school) we were having here at CityBarbs, in view of the debate we were so sure would occur soon at a Facilities Planning Committee…
Skating Rink Tearing Me Apart
On the one hand, the city’s shelling out $75,000 for a skating rink (p. 9) seems frivolous and inappropriate in view of the recent two tax increases, an impending big rise in water rates Monday, and a few more tax hikes coming down the pike shortly. (Not even a kiss first!) So, maybe I should…
The Fatal Flaw in Home Rule Law
[This is the 2nd part of a series examining home rule in Illinois. The first one is here.] Municipal home rule powers are granted by the Illinois Constitution. Except as limited by this Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs including, but not…
Enviro Woman & Building Schools
The intention is to begin attending DeKalb School District 428’s Facilities Planning Committee (FPC) meetings despite harboring doubts that a non-construction type could contribute much to the discussion. But now the thought occurs: Send Enviro Woman! She’ll know what to say! Such as, “LEED, or get out of the way!” Take the case of the…
Wogen, Neighbors & the Women’s Center
This is to update the post of October 29 concerning Victor Wogen, the Neighbors Helping Neighbors group (NHN) and the DeKalb Area Women’s Center (DAWC). Victor Wogen did indeed obtain use of a lift for the DAWC paint job after all. (We had a chuckle over the lift belonging to Irving Construction. Made us wonder…
Wogen & the Women’s Center
Last spring, Victor Wogen showed up to the DeKalb Area Women’s Center (DAWC) while university students and others were painting the place. The DAWC building is an old church, and parts of it reach to a third-floor level that the volunteers simply couldn’t reach. Wogen told the DAWC director, Anna Marie Coveny, that he knew…
Wogen Watch Gets Results
Third Ward Alderman Victor Wogen came out both on the air and in print today to clear up a few things. The timing was no accident. Wogen had met with and made promises to a regular poster over at the Wogen Watch blog and, indeed, beat an October 5 deadline to follow through on them…
Additional Reports: Public Access Improvements
The Daily Chronicle today published an article by Benji Feldheim regarding recent complaints over the City Council meeting minutes and subsequent actions by citizens and the city to improve public access to them. Mr. Feldheim did a good job. The story is accurate and IMO almost annoyingly objective. 😉 My aims here are only to…
A Discussion of Ethics
Lately I’ve been pondering questions of conflicts of interest in political life and recently declared (elsewhere) that since a certain act of omission by a certain politician made me trust him less, I knew he had made the wrong decision. I was mocked for it, I suppose because it sounds simplistic. Short rebuttal: It is…
Ethics & Downtown Revitalization
All we know for sure is this: DeKalb Mayor Frank Van Buer cast a vote against Gavin Wilson’s candidacy as 5th Ward alderman. The mayor is now found to have close political relationships with Wilson’s opponent in the race and with the man who challenged Wilson’s ballot petition. Van Buer’s campaign manager, Don Floyd, says…