[0:06] Good evening everybody. So I'm going to I'm going to cover a couple of the items

[0:10] which I think probably are going to be want to want to be heard about anyways.

[0:14] Uh just so we don't have multiple questions about the same about the same

[0:17] thing over and over. So ICE, everyone's wondering what's going on with ICE. You

[0:22] know, why are they here? Why are they there? Why are they everywhere? Here's

[0:25] what I can tell you and what I know. Unless you see somebody in a green

[0:30] uniform, they're not ICE agents. What they are are bounty hunters, believe it

[0:34] or not. And they're all over the United States right now. So unless you see them

[0:38] in those green uniforms with the gold patches, those are the ICE agents. All

[0:43] these other people, from what what I've understood, and I've talked to five

[0:46] different people, five different agencies, federal, and they've all

[0:49] coincided with this. These are bounty hunters for the most part. Okay. So, but

[0:55] we do have policy when it comes to all that. So, everybody knows we're all on

[0:59] the same page. First of all, uh, the police department does not

[1:04] engage in federal immigration enforcement, which is a responsibility

[1:07] of ICE and custom border patrol protect border protection. Okay. Immigration law

[1:14] is civil and falls under federal jurisdiction. Local police have zero

[1:18] authority to enforce federal civil immigration laws unless specifically

[1:22] authorized. The Supreme Court 1997 ruled that the federal government cannot

[1:28] compel local police to enforce federal laws.

[1:33] Uh Illinois Trust Act enacted in 2017. It limits cooperation between Illinois

[1:39] police and federal immigration agencies. Officers cannot detain, arrest, or

[1:44] assist in immigration enforcement unless there is a criminal warrant issued by a

[1:49] judge. The law promotes trust with immigrant communities so victims and

[1:54] witnesses feel safe reporting crimes. At least that was the mindset in 2017.

[2:01] Illinois Way Forward Act further prohibits local law enforcement from

[2:06] entering into contracts or agreements with ICE for immigration enforcement.

[2:10] Local police may only assist when a criminal warrant has been issued by a

[2:15] judge. A person is arrested for a criminal offense under state or local

[2:18] law. Cooperation with federal authorities relates to a criminal

[2:22] investigation, not a civil immigration matter. Rationale

[2:27] to comply with state law and avoid civil liability to maintain community trust

[2:31] and cooperation. To focus resources on local public, not federal immigration

[2:35] forces. The Niles Police Department has always followed state and federal law by

[2:39] not participing in immigration important except when it involves a criminal

[2:43] matter or a valid issued warrant. Now, it's a lot of mumble jumble. So, here's

[2:48] here's what and that's the the policy and everything else. Bottom line is when

[2:54] federal agents, no matter who they are, Homeland Security was just here and they

[2:57] scooped somebody up about eight weeks ago, Roy Kelly, about eight weeks ago,

[3:02] 10 weeks ago, zero notice. They came in, trucks, units, everything else. They

[3:09] don't tell our police anything, nor can we interfere with any federal operation.

[3:13] It's against the law for us to interfere. Now, let's say, for instance,

[3:18] there's somebody like these bounty hunters out there. We have absolutely

[3:21] right. If we're called, we can go there. We start by running their plate. Correct

[3:26] me if I'm wrong on anything. We run their plate, find out if the plate is

[3:29] federal or not. If it's not, the police officer will ask for identification and

[3:34] stop everything until they find out who this person is, who they work for. And

[3:39] if they are doing anything against our laws, we can stop them. But is that it

[3:44] in a nutshell? Pretty much right without all the

[3:49] technicalities. So yes, if there is a problem and we see somebody being

[3:53] accosted or grabbed or whatever it may be and they're not in uniform, our

[3:56] police officers will stop them. They're going to run the plate, ask for their

[3:59] IDs, and then move forward with the process, just like for civilians, just

[4:03] so everybody knows. Um, and I wanted to be clear about that. Uh, number one, so

[4:11] that's all I have to say on ICE. And we could always talk about later as well.

[4:14] If somebody wants to ask any other questions, if I have the answers, I'll

[4:17] give them to you. Major developments. We Niles has not developed anything in our

[4:22] town. Nothing major has been done here since 1999, I believe, was uh the last

[4:29] major building ever put up. Uh all the all the condos in Milwaukee Avenue were

[4:34] all built before 2000. And Four Flag Shopping Center, which is

[4:38] half Niles and half Skooki, went up about 98 or 99 if I'm correct, somewhere

[4:43] about that. And we started saying to ourselves, why are all these young

[4:47] people moving into every single village around us and not here? We wanted to

[4:52] know why. Well, we started falling behind and so we've really pushed

[4:57] development here. Um the 9201 uh building up by uh church in Milwaukee,

[5:04] 48 units. Uh it's a $20 million development.

[5:09] 6633 North Milwaukee South End. Uh by the old Singer Drum, uh if anyone

[5:16] remembers Slinger Drum back in the day and Hesco all the way at the south end

[5:19] of the town. uh $52 million project, 180 luxury apartments. And by the way, these

[5:25] apartments are starting at 325 a square foot. It's insane. And they're

[5:29] pre-rening them. Uh the White Eagle and the office building development,

[5:35] uh 6,000t restaurant, 17,000 ft² open space, ancillary amendments, so on and

[5:42] so forth. 330 luxury rental apartments with 24 luxury rental town houses. We

[5:48] have not gotten the official number on the project, but it's about estimated at

[5:51] $150 million uh in in project SE. Yeah, it's a lot of money. 7201 uh

[6:00] the pinnacle on Harlem TUI, which has been an isore and everyone wanted to

[6:04] know what's going on there. We finally got somebody that's going to develop it.

[6:07] Uh it's going to be a five to seven story unit. The seven stories will be

[6:11] closer to Tui Avenue. The five sort of in the back part of it. 250 uh 215

[6:17] luxury apartments, $90 million uh valued.

[6:22] Uh Kla's restaurant, Amichi, everyone's like, "When is it opening?" They're a

[6:27] week and a half away from opening. They're supposed to be open by November

[6:29] 10th now. Uh it's it's finally they're coming to that final day. Um people have

[6:35] asked for more restaurants uh during the referendum. I know that 68% was it

[6:39] referendum or 20 or the 2040 plan? I forget which one it was. plan

[6:43] » 2040 plan. 68% of our citizens said we need more restaurants, better

[6:49] restaurants, so we don't have to go to Rosemont or Park Ridge or anywhere else.

[6:53] Uh so we've been bringing them in. We've brought in Crosby's. Uh we've brought in

[6:57] Sabore on Milwaukee Avenue. Uh we have Kuclas. Now there are a couple other um

[7:02] chefs talking to us right now for better restaurants. Uh Klas, I could tell you

[7:07] Jimmy Banels Jr. was named the number one chef under 30 years old in the

[7:10] United States by the James Beer Foundation. If you don't know what that

[7:14] is, it's like going to the Academy Awards. If you're a chef and you make it

[7:16] to James Beard, it's like being given an Academy Award. His father as well was

[7:21] considered the number one Cajun Creole chef outside of New Orleans.

[7:25] 7,400 links. So on the south northwest corner, uh Kitty Corner from the gas

[7:31] station on Codwell and Gross Point Road or Hearts it turns into there. We've got

[7:36] a new business going in there, a start, a woman-owned business. It is going to

[7:40] be their international headquarters. 2027, a redevelopment, and we're waiting

[7:45] to get the final numbers, but it's going to be pretty huge. We're knocking

[7:47] everything down and rebuilding. Fire station number two, I'm going to

[7:51] talk about last. And the nature nook. So, the nature nook is the old ideal

[7:56] property here on Walkegan Road. It's been an isore with a big swallow in it.

[8:01] And now you see a bulldozer there, and they're filling it in. we just put in

[8:04] for an OSLAD grant uh community development and it was led by Chris uh

[8:09] Regusulo the department head secured it they were selling it for 800 some odd

[8:14] thousand we bought it for half a million instead of the 800,000 we're waiting on

[8:19] an OLAD grant and I don't have the number in front of me here

[8:24] $600,000 OLAD grant where we're going to keep it open natural there'll be some

[8:28] honeybee a small honeybee farm things of that nature walking path it's going to

[8:32] be really really Nice. Um, fire station number two. There's been a lot of talk

[8:37] and everything about fire station number two. Fire station number two right now

[8:41] is the one on Cumberland and Dempster. It's outdated. Uh, our equipment, so

[8:47] fire trucks and equipment have been getting bigger and bigger and they're

[8:51] not fitting properly in the firehouse anymore and the towers are actually

[8:55] scraping the ceiling, pulling in there, which could be very, very dangerous.

[9:00] Uh we have entered into talks with the arch dascese of Chicago. The arch

[9:04] dascese of Chicago uh is getting back to us sometime this week by the end of the

[9:09] week otherwise I can't say too much. I'm Greek so they

[9:13] can't banish me from the church. But anyways, but we are working with them

[9:17] very carefully. It looks like we've got a plan in place. What we're going to do

[9:20] is build a new firehouse there across the street on the northwest corner of

[9:24] Mary Hill Cemetery. And then we'll move that now. We'll have that property then

[9:28] it's to either develop or sell depending on which way it goes. If we get

[9:31] something that commercial obviously we would love that. Um

[9:35] » I heard cappies >> cappies. I would love to move in the

[9:38] Niles. Yeah, believe me. But um so that's really about it. And then there

[9:43] was uh questions. I'm going to give this to Elliot so he could read them himself.

[9:48] Um and we were talking about the Niles Free Bus. So the Nile free bus was not

[9:53] stopped by Well, we did stop it. I shouldn't say that. We are the ones that

[9:56] stopped the Nile free bus. Uh there have been negotiations going on for

[10:02] started in January of 24. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's January 24. They came up

[10:08] with and you could see it's all been in the news. All of a sudden you're hearing

[10:11] all about the buses and trains and you know there's no funding and so on and so

[10:14] forth. They came up with a ludicrous um ask of us. So right now it's pretty much

[10:21] split. 2/3 is paid for by

[10:26] PACE and we pay for the other third. That's labor. It's maintenance. They

[10:31] give us the buses. Uh maintenance, it's our workers, it's the parts, it's

[10:36] mechanical, it's everything. And they insure them. Well, the the initial

[10:41] insurance, they said they wanted to pull on us, which they did. And our original

[10:45] numbers were somewhere up over a million dollars a year besides. Now, let's be

[10:51] real about this, folks. It was never a free bus. It was a courtesy bus. It was

[10:55] free for people to use. It's always cost the village in Isles about $650,000.

[11:00] I don't disagree with it. I think it's a great service to have. We are in talks

[11:05] with them trying to get it straightened out. Uh it's not like dealing with us.

[11:10] It's we're dealing with government big government agencies and they all got a

[11:14] song and story that they want to sing to us. We are working very hard on it.

[11:18] We're starting to break through certain things. Um, so we're hoping that we will

[11:22] be able to restore it. There may there's other options that we're looking at,

[11:26] smaller buses, things of that nature. So it's not a dead issue. Um,

[11:34] yes. Uh, so that covers everything, Elliot, that you asked for here in just

[11:38] one long answer. Anyways, so at this point, the floor is wide

[11:44] open. Any questions that you have whatsoever?

[11:52] Every one of your housing projects you listed were were great, but I don't want

[11:57] Niles to become a condominium in community and several that you mentioned

[12:02] are on the busiest streets Niles has. Have you ever tried going down Harlem

[12:06] Avenue after 4:00 or Milwaukee? Have you in invited the state for any

[12:12] improvements on these roadways? And second question quick. I would hope

[12:18] that you would use your Greek influence to uh

[12:22] Mr. Jio >> Janulius and get these ebikes off the

[12:27] street.

[12:31] Okay. So folks, yes, we are we are in talks with IDOT. So first things first,

[12:35] Milwaukee Avenue is hellacious. Harlem Avenue is hilacious. Tou Avenue is

[12:41] hellacious. dumpsters. I mean, all these major streets are just rough with

[12:46] traffic. You know, unfortunately, the United States of America is very good at

[12:50] going in and blowing up countries and then rebuilding them, and they're better

[12:53] than ours now with their infrastructure and everything else. Our infrastructure

[12:57] is all from the 50s and 60s after World War II predominantly and the baby

[13:00] boomers. There was one car in the house. Now, how many cars you see in a home?

[13:05] Four, five. I mean, every kid's got their own car. Not in my house, thank

[13:09] God. But it's really congestive. We are talking to these apartments. Uh they're

[13:14] going to have zip cars there. A lot of these young kids now, the millennials

[13:17] don't drive or I'm say they don't own a car. They don't want to build a house or

[13:22] rent or or uh they don't want to build their own a house or condo. They want to

[13:25] rent. Uh they want everything free. They want, you know, don't pay taxes, so on

[13:30] and so forth. Yes, we are. I would love to see our housing market. We are

[13:34] working with the grow your own grow your home program and things of that nature

[13:37] to get people in here. We're hoping that this is a stepping stone for young

[13:41] people that come in, they get married or they're dating or whatever they have,

[13:45] you know, and maybe have a child. Hey, we like it here in Niles and you know

[13:50] what, we're going to look for a home now. So, that's what we're hoping for.

[13:53] We're also working with C DOT and I do DOT uh to change a light at two uh

[13:57] divine Milwaukee to lengthen it heading north and southbound. Another 45 seconds

[14:02] will help alleviate that. I'm in talks with Anthony Npalitano, the 41st war

[14:06] too, to see what we can do about the lights over at TUI in Harlem as well as

[14:10] maybe getting TUI a two-lane street heading uh westbound as well. Wide open

[14:14] and us coming eastbound. You know, traffic is a major problem everywhere. I

[14:18] mean, I went downtown for a wedding Saturday night. I mean, 9:00 at night,

[14:23] there was traffic from downtown all the way to Wilson Avenue coming home. I

[14:26] mean, it was ridiculous. So, so yes, that we are doing our best.

[14:30] ebikes. Uh it's all in review right now. Uh they've got some type of um first of

[14:37] all, e- scooters were banned in Niles by at 2004 or five, I forgot the year. Uh

[14:42] and ebikes are going to put constraints on the ones that really go fast. Some of

[14:45] the you know Mickey Mouse smaller ones aren't that the class AB. Those are just

[14:50] regular humans could run that fast. >> You and I are old enough to remember

[14:54] mopex. >> Yeah.

[14:55] » Same thing with a different boat. >> That's what it is.

[14:58] » Had license plates. >> Yeah. Well, I think that the way they're

[15:01] working out, they're if somebody's got one of these ebikes, I think they're

[15:04] going to have to be licensed and insurance. Don't quote me, but I think

[15:06] that's what we're looking at. Martin Grove just did that. Um, sure. Next up,

[15:13] » um, George, I had made a suggestion at one of the I think the first town hall

[15:17] meeting, and I don't think it ever happened, is I I don't think that people

[15:20] realize how little of the roads Niles has control over. And I had suggested

[15:27] maybe putting something in the community guide or issuing something. I don't

[15:32] remember if if you did, I missed it then. I apologize, but I think that

[15:36] would be a good idea because there need I I travel Milwaukee, you know, every

[15:40] day because our office is on the the south end. And um and we do need more

[15:46] lights. But again, hopes and dreams, we don't control it. And I think that

[15:52] that's important for people that live in Niles to really understand that.

[15:56] » Sure. So I could I could bring that up right now. The only major thoroughway

[16:01] that's in the village of Niles that's owned by us is Howard Street. Every

[16:05] other major street is owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation

[16:09] except for Greenwood. Greenwood is owned by Cook County. So, and that's why you

[16:14] see us maintaining them for them because God knows if we waited for ID do or the

[16:18] county to plow our major streets, they would never get plowed. I mean, that's

[16:22] why we do that. We take care of the median when there's overgrown um weeds

[16:28] and things of that nature. Our guys go out there and do use a weed whacker.

[16:31] They kill the weeds, which we're not supposed to, but I'm not going to sit

[16:35] and look at three foot high weeds and everyone say, "Well, what's going on in

[16:37] Niles? Why are there weeds growing out of the middle of the medians of all the

[16:40] highways?" Uh, so that's what's going on there. It's got its pluses and its

[16:44] minuses. When they need to be fixed, we get the money to fix them, which is

[16:47] great. But the minuses are we have very little control. In today's day, it takes

[16:54] you to get a stoplight put in on a street about two and a half years. Yeah.

[17:01] It's it's it's terrible. It's bureaucracy. That poor young man that

[17:04] got killed over on uh with the bicycle on Cleveland Shurmer in Milwaukee that

[17:08] blind at the Walk Keaggan Shurmer and Cleveland with that blind spot. Still

[17:13] nothing. And there was a kid killed there. Yeah. I mean, they're going

[17:17] through traffic studies and this and that and and it's a shame. I mean, I

[17:21] don't think that's the way things should run. So, I mean, we're fighting for

[17:25] everybody, believe me. And you don't want to be in these rooms of closed

[17:28] doors with me in there sometimes. I mean, well, you'd like it what I'm

[17:31] saying, but they don't like it. But because I'm pretty straight with

[17:33] everybody, so we're still fighting for everybody all the time.

[17:38] » Yes. Carol, >> talking about traffic in our area. We

[17:43] live off of Monroe Street on Mural and Monroe Street is such a thorough fair.

[17:49] We've all talked in our neighborhood. Uh they come through, they don't stop at

[17:54] any stop signs from Cumberland all the way through. So, we're wondering if

[17:58] there could be a no left-hand turn from Monroe onto Milwaukee Avenue. There's a

[18:03] stoplight at Main Street. All they have to do is go around the cemetery, go to

[18:06] Main Street, make a left-hand turn, and it would be perfect. But it's really a

[18:11] bad intersection, Monroe and Milwaukee. >> There's lots of accidents there.

[18:19] » We'll talk to Tony and Ron over there um about that. Um, there's already plans in

[18:25] place for stop signs and I know I spoke to Chief Romano as well. It looks like

[18:29] we're going to have just one. Well, you guys may not know this.

[18:34] Anyways, uh there may be just one police officer that is doing nothing but

[18:38] patrolling neighborhoods on all the major throwaways is watching

[18:42] the stop signs, things of that nature. And I'll tell you, you know what the

[18:45] shame of it is? 85% of them are citizens just flying through.

[18:50] » I know. >> I mean, that's the shame. It's like, you

[18:52] know, God forbid if there's one kid. I mean, how do you replace? That's

[18:57] » a shame. >> Yeah. I I don't get it,

[19:04] » folks. Yeah.

[19:11] » Thank you.

[19:20] Um, I live adjacent to the parking lot in St. Jumbrabbuff, who recently started

[19:25] broadcasting bells via loudspeaker over 12 times a day. I accept that living

[19:30] next to a church means a certain amount of noise honking horns in the parking

[19:34] lot, October Fest and other festivals, loud bass pumping from their event space

[19:38] at night that I can hear in my house, etc. I accept that hearing occasional

[19:43] bells is an accepted sound coming from a church, but I would expect that that to

[19:47] be limited to calls to service and a couple of calls to prayer each day. The

[19:52] 12 hourly broadcasts, [clears throat] excuse me, are excessive

[19:56] and unnecessary. I have a petition of over 20 people who agree that 12

[20:01] broadcasts a day are excessive. There were six additional people recently on

[20:05] Facebook that agreed and there are nine complaints on the Niles website about

[20:08] the broadcasts. What is the village going to do to address the concerns of

[20:12] the residents that our peace and our property values are being diminished by

[20:16] this excessive violation of the news noise ordinance?

[20:21] » I'll take that petition. I did speak to father Jason. We do have bells ringing

[20:25] throughout the village. So we do have them leaning tower which I don't know

[20:30] how many times a day they ring. >> Nobody lives next to

[20:33] » No, I know. I get it. And St. Kalamos their church does it. I believe some of

[20:37] the other churches do. I know he cut a couple of the bells out already. I could

[20:41] talk to him, but yeah, it just once again, it's a church, so we have to

[20:46] tread water very carefully as well. Just if if it was a mosque and they were

[20:50] calling people of prayer and so we have to really tread the water very

[20:53] carefully. Uh they're protected by moral laws and all of us all all houses of

[20:58] worship. I could talk to Father Jason, see what we can do and maybe limit a

[21:03] couple of the hour chimes. And he I think he does the the the song or

[21:07] whatever it is three times a day at 12, three, and six.

[21:12] » It's all the constant that times within 10 minutes.

[21:18] » Yeah, we'll find out. I can work with them on Janette. No problem.

[21:25] » I would assume. Yeah, I I'll talk to him. I Yes. I mean, he's very easy to

[21:30] talk to and it's best because I'm handling my office is handling it

[21:33] personally and he's pretty receptive to most things we say. I just of course

[21:37] have got to watch what I ask. So, >> can I volume?

[21:42] » Yeah. >> It's the constant. It's the constant.

[21:45] » It's the con. >> Sure. I got it. So, you don't have

[21:48] earbuds in like every 15-year-old kid all day. Just tune out the whole world.

[21:52] I got you. Who's next, please? Oh,

[21:57] » Margaret

[22:06] Buak um 30 years now as president. I want to address the um the tiff money

[22:14] which was given to those two restaurants. I work in private sector. I

[22:20] did many projects and whenever I ask for a money for the project in private

[22:27] sector they tell me that they will sign it CFO CEO if they can see one year max

[22:34] two years return on investment we give them $2.8 8 million. If we invest that

[22:41] money at 4% in standard CD, we will be generating $228,000

[22:47] and 480 in two years. That will be no return on investment

[22:54] just to get our money back. In order for them to give us that money back in the

[23:00] form of taxes, assuming that our share of taxes is 3.5%,

[23:05] they will have to generate $219,178

[23:11] a day. And we all know that's impossible. So, how was that good

[23:15] investment?

[23:22] » The restaurant industry, I could tell you. Um, and it it's more than just the

[23:27] financial investment. So once again, 64 or 8% I forget what the number was. 68%

[23:33] of our people are screaming for new restaurants, for better restaurants,

[23:37] things of that nature. Now, an investment doesn't come just

[23:40] financially. It comes in the well-being of a community. It's a place where

[23:44] people could gather, where they have places to go, things of that nature,

[23:48] too. So, it's Listen, and I'm a businessman and I have eight places. I'm

[23:51] in the industry hardcore and let me tell you something. I didn't get anything

[23:55] from Morton Grove and I did all my remodeling either and I've been there

[23:59] for 47 years. So I I understand that. But the people wanted it. People asked

[24:05] for it. That's why tiffs are in place. Tiffs are in place. You you're not

[24:09] necessarily going to get your money back fiscally, but it's a new place for

[24:13] somebody to go to. So on and so forth. Uh property taxes will generate. We get

[24:18] a small portion of that. We get 9.5% of a property tax bill, I believe. Uh, as

[24:22] well as a sales tax dollars and there's a food and beverage tax on top of that.

[24:27] I wish I had a restaurant that did $29,000 a day, Stanley. I'd be really

[24:31] happy. But so, it's a little bit more than that. We are listening to our

[24:35] citizens and it's us investing in the community as well. It's letting them

[24:39] know that we are serious because it's heartbreaking even for me. I mean, I

[24:45] spend as much money as I can in Niles and I'm not, you know, I don't go out to

[24:48] these big shot dinners. It's not who I am. I'm just, you know, just an average

[24:52] guy. But if there's a special occasion, we go to Crosby's now, but it's places

[24:56] like that that will keep more people in the community and bring people in here,

[25:00] which will cause more awareness and getting into that. I could I could

[25:04] piggyback this on it. So, all these luxury apartments right now are all

[25:08] privately funded, by the way. So, does everyone hear me? It's all private

[25:11] money. Um, number one. Number two, studies are out and somebody could

[25:16] correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I'm pretty close that 42% of the money in

[25:22] that those households are spent within the village that they live in. So all

[25:26] these apartments that are coming in means more income, which means more

[25:29] income, which means more people coming in, things of that nature. So it's it's

[25:33] a balancing act, Stanley. Financially, on paper, it doesn't look great. I'm not

[25:36] going to lie about it. I'm I'm you know, I'm not going to say it it's a smart

[25:40] investment. smart investment. It's not a good investment, if that makes sense. I

[25:45] mean, I get it. Like I said, I've been there 47 years and I can't tell you how

[25:50] much how many millions of dollars we've dumped into the restaurant. I got

[25:53] nothing. I got half a sign. They paid $30,000 for my sign out of 60,000. That

[25:58] was it. So, I hear you and I understand. No, I just because we're running short

[26:04] on time. I'm sorry. Is there something I could add to it? Uh just that the tip

[26:10] money it does not come from the res. >> Yeah. It doesn't come from the general

[26:14] fund whatsoever. >> Businesses to help promote businesses

[26:16] which helps do gift shopping. It's not coming from your your household.

[26:20] » Yeah. It's not coming from your personal households or the general fund just so

[26:24] everybody knows. >> Can you give us an update on all

[26:28] shopping center? >> I was going to get to that because I

[26:30] Yes. I talked to the landlord a few times over the last 10 days. So, as of

[26:34] now, it is a $4435 or $8 million project somewhere around

[26:40] there. Uh 443 today's dollars. Thank you, Tom. Tom Rob is here from the Niles

[26:46] Journal as well. Uh when they put it up for sale a few months ago, uh they did

[26:51] that to cast a wider net. They had one strong investor that backed out at the

[26:56] last minute. Uh they want to get out of this problem and get it done. They're

[27:01] losing about $15,000 a day the way it is. Yeah, I know. No one in this room

[27:06] wants to lose $15 a day, let alone 15,000 a day. Uh they're trying to ca

[27:11] cast a wider net. There's a lot more interest. There's more developers

[27:14] talking to them now and things of that nature. They assured me that it's still

[27:18] on track. I've talked to them, like I said, three times in the last 10 days.

[27:22] Uh they asked us if they could start doing certain things. I'm not ready to

[27:25] talk to them about that yet. I've got to sit down with staff and talk to them all

[27:28] about that first. Um but it still looks 70% uh retail

[27:34] entertainment and 30% will be office andor hotel possibly and or uh

[27:43] residents. So it's it's there we did the RDA. We made sure that everything the

[27:49] redevelopment agreement. So the village annals has done absolutely everything. I

[27:54] want to reiterate one thing that's very strong especially about tiff. So, we

[27:58] promised them $94 million in tiff. But the tiff money does they don't get a

[28:04] penny until those buildings are built, till those buildings are on the payroll,

[28:08] on the property tax role, and we start collecting property taxes from that.

[28:12] Then they start getting their money. They don't get a penny. So, we are all

[28:16] protected. You know, the board and I all live in Niles, too. So, we watch our

[28:20] money as well. And we made sure that there was no way in or out. Parkidge

[28:25] uptown could have been disastrous for them. They were about they were about if

[28:28] they didn't do Tommy may know but they're going to put an extra tax on

[28:31] everybody because that was tiff that was not going very well. We've protected the

[28:36] community in a dozen different ways on this. So fingers crossed I'm supposed to

[28:41] be talking to him tomorrow at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon and I'll know a

[28:46] little bit more. >> Yes.

[28:51] » Yes. So follow up. >> I got you. I got you. I got you.

[28:56] Follow up on Golf Mill. >> Yeah.

[28:58] » When do you expect demolition to actually start? Because it was supposed

[29:01] to start in September. >> Supposed to start at the end of

[29:04] September. Correct. They just called me and it was supposed to start in the

[29:08] southwest corner. Come up Church Street to Milwaukee and then Ma or up to the um

[29:15] they're going to leave all the outlets. All the outlets on Gulf Road and all the

[29:18] outlets street side or the outlots are staying up. They're supposed to leave a

[29:23] Penny's, Target, Ulta, Burlington, and Ross, as well as Gordon Food Store, and

[29:29] um the export store. The export store was bought out by LA Fitness and they

[29:33] shut it down. So, we don't know what's going to go there. They called me and

[29:38] they have great interest of starting in the southwest corner soon. But I have to

[29:41] talk to staff and trusty Nethermire who's the chairperson of that committee

[29:46] as well as well as I slowed things down because we have a new village manager

[29:49] here like we announced earlier, Frank Lindloom, and I don't want to bring

[29:52] everyone in into a whirl whirlwind. So, they're going to call me tomorrow. I'm

[29:56] going to take the call. I'm going to report back to staff. So, we should have

[29:59] a little better answer to that. Yes, we have three here and then

[30:04] Rosemary, I won't forget. Young man, we'll get you two. Okay.

[30:09] » Hi, my name is Ashley and I actually emailed you about 3 weeks ago. Um, I'm

[30:14] going to be referring to the issue on ICE.

[30:16] » Don't email me. >> Yeah, I don't have

[30:20] » that's not what Denise said. So, >> okay. Yeah, I hate email.

[30:22] » Very heartfelt email uh email. Sorry that you didn't get to read it. Um,

[30:27] however, um, I want to talk about the issue on ice. You talk about all the

[30:30] limitations and the things that we cannot do. I don't understand why we're

[30:34] not talking about the things that our residents can do, the rights that they

[30:38] do have. And the confusion is coming and the I'm sorry, the fear is coming from

[30:42] the confusion. They're very much scared and I don't see any of them here. And

[30:46] they don't feel comfortable being in a setting like this because of the

[30:49] situation that is happening out in other towns, neighboring towns, Mount

[30:53] Prospect, Wheeling, Glen View even is being very much a hot spot at the

[30:58] moment. And I have co-workers. I work very much in a very close vicinity to

[31:01] Cappies and I have co-workers who are fearful to leave their home to be on the

[31:05] bus to come straight down dumpster because they have seen people being

[31:09] taken out of their cars. There is video happening. Juel in Home Depot has been a

[31:13] very prime spot for them to be and I understand we have limitations but every

[31:18] other town is letting every other resident know you do have rights.

[31:22] They're not here for they have list of names whatever the case is but nothing

[31:27] is being said just we don't get involved and as a Niles resident I moved out

[31:32] moved to the city hated it over there brought my children here because I love

[31:35] it here was raised here my family home is still here in Niles and I work here

[31:40] however I see my co-workers my neighbors my kids bus stop dimissioning by half

[31:45] because they're fearful because their bus stop is directly on dempster that is

[31:49] an issue I >> I hear So, I did send the letter out to

[31:55] Suzanne, predominately Hispanic community or just everybody in general.

[32:00] Yeah, I did send a personal letter out to everybody letting them know that we

[32:03] are here for them. Uh, here's what I can tell you. First of all, we all know

[32:08] social media. Once you get on social media and you start putting in Costco,

[32:12] Costco, Costco, anything that has to do with Costco is going to pop up on your

[32:15] social media feed. >> I am a I have been there when it

[32:17] happened. >> No, no, no, I'm not. Yeah, I'm not.

[32:19] Yeah. No, I agree with you. Listen, I'm in an industry that I rely on, you know,

[32:24] predominately Hispanic. So, and I've always fought for for the Hispanics uh

[32:29] my whole life. And I get it and I'm going to say this with the utmost

[32:33] respect because the Greeks were the Hispanics. We came here, we didn't speak

[32:38] English, we had no money, we had the worst jobs in the world. My grandfather

[32:42] was making 2 cents an hour on the railroads in 1912. And he was paid by

[32:47] what he was. He wasn't paid because it was, you know, it wasn't race. It was

[32:51] just by what ethnicity it was. And there are three ethnicities above him. And I

[32:56] get it. And we worked hard to get out of it. Different scenario, but that's why

[33:00] I've always had a soft spot for that. Uh there have been

[33:05] five incidents total in the village and total that I'm unless you guys have a

[33:13] different number than me. Uh three were with bounty hunters. two were with uh

[33:19] ICE agents. Um and we have 31,000 people here. And percentage- wise, and I'm not

[33:28] dissing this whatsoever, percentage- wise, it's good. Uh there's an article

[33:31] that Tom Rob just wrote about all the area mayors and elected officials about

[33:36] this. Um and we're doing as much as we can. And you know, we we are always good

[33:42] to our people. So if there's something or a way that you think I could get in

[33:45] touch with people or talk I'd be happy. >> I think like we should be just like

[33:49] everyone else having at the library have the schools main east has put out their

[33:53] own statement because there was you know um alleged spottings. There was alleged

[33:57] spottings outside of elementary schools and these are kids who talked to their

[34:00] parents at home. They have game plans like maybe we have to go back. They're

[34:04] just fearful because again it's the unknown. So I think just finding a way

[34:08] to send out a village letter saying you do have rights. Please visit these

[34:12] websites to understand this is what we're doing to protect you and

[34:15] understand that we do not care where you came from and that why you're here. We

[34:19] just understand that we are community and we stand together.

[34:22] » Yeah. Simple. >> I gotcha. Thank you. I appreciate that.

[34:25] » Okay. So, yes. Hold on. You were next. And then who else had their hand up

[34:30] there? And you did, young lady. I'm sorry. So, the two ladies here, then

[34:33] Rosemary, then this gentleman here with the glasses. We got about 10 minutes.

[34:37] Um, I'm about shutting you guys guys down quick just to give me a sort of a

[34:41] time time of what we have left. >> I I have a followup to that. So other um

[34:47] first of all, Niles is 42% foreignb born. 42% of residents of Niles.

[34:53] » I'll give you a better standard. 64% of our uh 64% of our citizens first

[35:00] language is not English. >> That's amazing. So we are really a

[35:04] village of immigrants and right now the immigrant community is under attack.

[35:09] People are living in fear. Other mayors in this area have kind of made stronger

[35:14] statements. The mayor of Evston um recently passed an ordinance declaring

[35:21] their city property to be ice free. And I wonder if you would consider measures

[35:26] like that to make sure the immigrant population um of Niles feels more

[35:31] comfortable. It would really send a message in addition to the things that

[35:35] you were saying as well. >> Children are living in fear as of last

[35:40] week, last Friday. I think that's beautiful. It's not just the last is our

[35:44] Middle Eastern people as well. The Uber drivers are getting held up at O'Hare.

[35:49] It's a very much a diverse city and I want to keep it that way. So,

[35:54] I agree. I'm going to tell you why Dan Bis did that. He only did it because

[35:57] he's running for Congress right now. And I know Dan,

[36:00] » it still sent a message. >> I understand. But sometimes when you

[36:02] prod the bear too much, the bear bites back pretty hard. And it's I'm not I'm

[36:07] not trying We're trying to find a good middle ground.

[36:10] I'm not trying to appease anybody, but in the meantime, the harder you push,

[36:15] and a lot of this was brought on by politicians that were just kept slamming

[36:18] the president as well. And I don't agree fully with what he's doing whatsoever,

[36:23] but you keep going blah blah blah. Guess he's gonna slap back and this is the

[36:26] kind of guy that will get at you. >> But again, Nile, I do feel very strongly

[36:30] that Niles needs to do something something right now. There's kind of

[36:34] nothing. And like I like she said too, sorry I forgot your name. Um, kids are

[36:40] not going to school. Ashley, people are staying home from work and they're

[36:44] living in fear. My husband is a citizen. He's carrying around like copies of his

[36:49] documents with him. It's very very scary.

[36:52] » I understand. I understand. >> Thank you.

[36:54] » Sure. Thank you. >> Sorry.

[36:59] » Uh my name is >> Excuse me. And Ashley the Dondes Mexico.

[37:04] » Yes. My father actually built his life after he left Mexico, came here. Omega

[37:08] was his first job. Big daddy was >> a poor man. He worked at Omega. Oh no.

[37:13] » And he finally bought a home in Frank. Um yeah. River.

[37:19] I know. >> I get you.

[37:24] » My name is Jessica. I live on Jessica. >> Hello. I uh live on Odell um between

[37:29] Howard and Jonquil. My question is about storm water drainage. Um

[37:35] » we just had that discussion right before the start.

[37:38] » So I have an ongoing petition and just >> you are in you're in the zone. You don't

[37:44] need to say anything more. Yes. And I wish

[37:49] » Yes, we have a plan. We were given $2.5 million for that project. I think our

[37:54] guys are we breaking ground this year for phase two.

[38:00] » Right. Yeah. So phase there, it's a three phrase phase project. I was just

[38:04] talking I was talking to you guys about that just earlier. Yeah. When I went out

[38:07] to DC, I brought them newspaper clippings from 1963 about that area.

[38:12] There's 78 homes that flood constantly. We're talking about hundredyear reigns

[38:16] which are happening every two or three years nowadays. But um we just got $2

[38:20] and half million dollars. We did the first part was over by Howard Street.

[38:24] Phase two was supposed to be starting I think at the end of this year and phase

[38:28] three will be right after it. >> So what will that alleviate? Because my

[38:32] issue specifically is with back the backyard drainage program. I have

[38:36] neighbors that are increasing their grading by three feet. I get everybody.

[38:40] Well, you got then we need to get people over there to Yeah, that's Yeah, they

[38:44] can't do that. >> I've like I said, I've had an ongoing

[38:46] petition with since 2020 and I know there's been turnover at the village,

[38:50] but nobody will come out and help me. >> Uh we will. So, see Ron, Sister Lucky

[38:55] over there, sewer and water, and you can speak to Chris at the community

[38:59] development as well. >> Okay.

[39:01] » Um Yeah, I get it. I understand. >> Yeah.

[39:04] » Uh yeah, because Yeah. Be Yeah. They cannot be pitching grades and throwing

[39:08] water into your neighbors. It's illegal. >> A lot of it has to do with improvements

[39:12] that the village has appro, you know, approved. And I know Tom Powers is gone.

[39:17] You know, Steve Quinn was somebody I was dealing with back in the day, too. But

[39:20] it's just very frustrating. I'm a we're a younger family. We have six kids. It

[39:24] creates a health concern. >> Sure. Yeah. Um

[39:27] » West virus standing water. Sure. I get it.

[39:29] » Yes. >> Yeah. So that your area was number 10 on

[39:32] the list uh when I was got into office. Uh, we moved it up to number five and I

[39:38] think you guys and you guys are next up now. So, we Yeah, we we went five years

[39:42] quicker than we're supposed to. Not supposed to, but I don't know if the old

[39:45] mayor had a beef with a neighbor over there or somebody pushed. No, I'm

[39:48] teasing you. [laughter] >> Thank you.

[39:50] » Sure. Uh, we've got Rosemary and then this gentleman in the glasses as well.

[39:55] I'm sorry I don't know your name. I apologize.

[39:58] » Thank you very much, George. Rosemary Peliki, resident of Niles for about uh

[40:02] 50 years. >> Rosemary also sat at the deas and she

[40:05] was a trustee for years here in the village of Niles. How about a round of

[40:07] applause for her?

[40:11] » Thank you. It was my honor to serve the people of Niles, I must say. And I'd

[40:15] like to just follow up a comment on the ice thing. Poking the bear is a

[40:21] responsibility of everyone who's in this room and who's in the village of Niles

[40:25] and throughout the United States. Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people

[40:29] poked the bear without any fear of consequences or swallowing the fear of

[40:35] consequences. And if we or if anyone doesn't do anything, saying nothing,

[40:39] doing nothing is accepting what's happening. We can't do that.

[40:43] » I agree with you. [applause]

[40:49] » But now to get more personal, well, this is personal.

[40:52] » Can I start? Can I say something about that first? Sure. there are a group of

[40:56] us out here that are working back channels on this and sort of keeping

[40:59] this area safer. Uh I can't say too much, but you got to sort of trust

[41:04] that's as a politician, we work other channels as well instead of just coming

[41:08] up and so there's other things that we're doing and I'm doing it with people

[41:12] in the state level as well as people in the local levels. There's mayors

[41:15] involved and other people that are No, I am I just don't like to say too much and

[41:21] that's why the incidents have really not been that bad here. People are afraid. I

[41:25] get it. >> But I think when we go to higher levels,

[41:27] and I don't want to talk federal here, but when people don't say anything,

[41:30] that's what's gotten us to where we are now.

[41:32] » Oh, I agree with you. Yeah. No, no. >> But anyhow, I wanted to talk about in

[41:36] addition the the PACE bus system. And I was very surprised when I learned about

[41:40] the fact that PACE was cancelled that weekend. And I wondered why there hadn't

[41:44] been a robocall throughout the village to let everybody know that PACE uh

[41:48] transportation was going to be cancelled because even though during the course of

[41:52] the day, I think the bus drivers went out, drove the routes, there's still

[41:56] people who left their homes not knowing that they weren't going to find a bus

[41:59] there. I I know back in the days when I was electioning, uh we all used

[42:04] robocalls because it didn't cost much money. So, right,

[42:06] » why didn't the village do that this time?

[42:09] » We they talked about doing a robocall. Uh Steve is not here tonight. He was the

[42:13] head of public works. Uh he went out right away, spoke to the drivers, called

[42:17] everybody. Then those drivers went to all the bus stops and were waiting for

[42:20] people and driving people around the initial day or two. They got the signs

[42:24] up right away. In the meantime, we had um

[42:31] 32 phone calls about it. I believe eight of them were not from people from the

[42:36] village. So it as the numbers were coming in, it didn't seem like this

[42:40] massive disruption. Had I seen a few more numbers, would would we have done

[42:45] it? Yes. But I just decided since it was there and it was up on social media and

[42:50] everything else that I thought it just we weren't getting a lot of uh action

[42:53] about it. That's all. And if I made a mistake, I'm sorry.

[42:56] » Yeah. I think we have to remember that a lot of people who use the free bus are

[42:59] not on social media. >> Yeah. No, no.

[43:01] » That they would not be seeing what had been posted there. and that I think

[43:04] whenever there's a major change in services to the village, we don't wait

[43:08] to see what the response is to that change. We get ahead of it, let people

[43:12] know this is what's happening and then we'll deal with what are consequences

[43:16] are. >> Sure.

[43:17] » Okay. And then if I can say one more thing absolutely

[43:19] » about G Mill uh you know you've already acknowledged the fact that Sterling did

[43:24] not live up to their promise to break ground in September. Is there any poss?

[43:29] And by the way, that was the result. It wasn't the result, but you had a

[43:33] wonderful meeting with Sterling where you presented everything that was going

[43:36] to happen, but you didn't give the public any opportunity at that meeting

[43:40] to voice their opinions. There were no questions that were allowed at that

[43:44] meeting. You could talk to people individually afterwards, but in a thing

[43:47] like that should have been that people here maybe had ideas that they would

[43:51] like to have floated >> and they still can. So it did go to

[43:54] referendum as well and 70 some odd percent of the people said keep doing it

[43:59] and for that reason but Sterling wanted to give they wanted to put all this

[44:02] information out. We've gotten feedback from people. We hear them. There's one I

[44:08] can't use the name of a store there but there's one person that's really holding

[44:11] up the whole development. They've got an old school lease there and that lease

[44:16] they have a lot of control of that shopping center. I mean I have something

[44:18] like that in my restaurant. I would never hold my landlord hostage. But

[44:22] » is there any openness on Sterling's part to perhaps review their plan and

[44:26] incorporate some new ideas instead of what they originally proposed?

[44:30] » Community development is already working on that. Uh we are talking uh they we

[44:34] redid the RDA or we're starting to fix it. Uh there are some gaps in it that we

[44:38] found like I had said earlier. We're rethinking the whole thing and then we

[44:42] will be presenting it. Right now we're keeping it pretty tight uh just between

[44:47] well us now we've got our stuff done now that Sterling's talking and then

[44:50] community development we're all going to sit down and figure it out. It's

[44:53] probably going to be two, three, four different developers in there at once

[44:56] like they want to be the master developer and then they'll bring other

[44:58] people in to do you know certain areas. But yes, it's it's not a done deal yet.

[45:03] So we still have time. Absolutely. And then I'm going to hand this back to

[45:06] Margaret with one comment to thank whoever in the village was responsible

[45:09] for the coasters that were put out by I think the Niles Art and Culture

[45:14] Committee showing the highlights of places in Niles. They were for sale at

[45:17] the Niles uh festival art festival a couple weeks ago. One of the pictures

[45:22] that they had on the coasters, it was Leaning Tower, the historical society,

[45:25] the waterfall, and the circular building at Golf Mill, which was the professional

[45:31] building. >> We're trying to save it, Rosemary. It's

[45:33] worth trying so hard. It's I Everyone's saying it's not worth it to save, but

[45:41] that's because they don't want to spend the money. Believe me, I would love to

[45:45] see that building stay there. It's It's iconic. I agree with you. And we are

[45:49] fighting for it. >> Get those items out into the local

[45:51] Hallmark stores for sale. Park Ridge puts all their items in the Hallmark

[45:55] stores. We should have ourselves. >> Thank you.

[45:57] » Thank you for the >> Sure.

[46:01] Yeah, keep saying that young man. >> John, I'll have time for one more

[46:06] question after this. >> So, can you clarify? I I I'm kind of

[46:11] hazy on Golf Mill. Is the developer trying to sell its interest in G Mill?

[46:17] Are they Are they It sounds like it's in flux.

[46:21] » Everything's for sale, John. My restaurant's for sale if I get the right

[46:24] price. >> Okay.

[46:25] » No, what they did was >> they want to be the master developer.

[46:29] They want to keep it. Are they going to sell it one day? If I was a gambling

[46:33] man, I'm going to say, "Yeah, whether they do it ahead of time or they do it

[46:37] now, we still have control with the RDA of what's happening there." When they

[46:41] threw that up for sale sign up on it with JLL, that was casting a wider net.

[46:47] Now there's people saying, "Hey, you know what? I've got 50 million I want to

[46:50] invest. I got 100 million I want to invest. I got 40 million I want to

[46:54] invest." That's what they were trying to attain like that and it seemed to work.

[46:59] They were going to sell off certain parcels like uh where they want the

[47:03] residencies on the southwest corner. They were upfront with us that they

[47:06] would sell that off to the developer. Whoever develops it will, you know, own

[47:10] it, build it, and operate it as, you know, rental apartments, condominiums,

[47:14] whatever the market's asking for at that time. Uh are they going to sell the

[47:17] whole mall? Somebody give enough money? I think so.

[47:20] » So, it sounds like they're getting cold feet and want to put they don't want to

[47:23] do the project. Nah, I just think everyone nationwide is just a a little

[47:28] skittish right now about everything. I mean, the markets the market's been a

[47:31] little volatile. I think nationwide things are just a little scary right

[47:35] now. >> Uh I know a lot of people in the

[47:37] financial, you know, banks banks are not loaning. You know why all these

[47:40] apartments are being built? Because the banks don't want condominiums built. The

[47:45] amount of money that they'd have to give for the condominium, they'd fail. So the

[47:48] all the markets right now are a little people are standing back just a little

[47:52] bit. Everyone has cold feet. you and I would have cold feet for, you know,

[47:56] investing $443 million. They're not walking away from it. They've been very

[48:00] open with us and there's been nothing but great communication up to this

[48:03] point. So, that's what I know. Yeah, it's sort of an ongoing thing. I can't

[48:09] say too too much. There's there's legal stuff involved in it. So, I can only

[48:13] say, are they going to bail? No, I don't believe so. Not at all. Are they going

[48:18] to sell it? Somebody gave enough money? Yeah, they would sell it. I mean, anyone

[48:22] would, but I'm talking about crazy money. But yeah, so they are still

[48:26] working with us very tightly. I mean, I got three phone calls from the last 10

[48:30] days. One last question.

[48:34] » Uh, Tisha has one here, too. >> Oh, Tisha, go on with you first, honey.

[48:37] I'm sorry. >> That's okay. Hi, Tisha Ashcraftoft. I

[48:41] sit on the bike pedestrian committee. Um, safety is very important to me. Um,

[48:47] would like love the Niles focus newsletter. would like to state

[48:51] reminders under the Niles Police Department page about speeding, obeying

[48:56] stop signs, yield st yield signs. If you break the law, it's a ticket. Um the

[49:02] problem, this problem is not isolated to Niles. It's everywhere. Um also being

[49:07] mindful of people on bikes, pedestrians around town, share the road, being

[49:12] mindful of your surroundings while driving. The important of using

[49:16] crosswalks is it can save your life. We just learned that a an 84 year old uh

[49:21] individual was crossing outside of a crosswalk on TUI. Devastating. Um I

[49:28] would like to see some consistency in our newsletter about safety tips to help

[49:32] our residents uh young and old. Thank you.

[49:37] » Good evening folks. So my name is Raone Prietto 7035 KDzy right off of Shurmer

[49:42] which has a speeding problem as we know. But to to tie into what Tisha just said,

[49:46] I I'm I'm a big proponent of safety. I'm a retired soldier, served 28 years.

[49:51] Safety is a part of my life every day. Understand the importance of it. Mr.

[49:55] Lindloom, welcome aboard. We're glad to have you. Look forward to having that

[49:58] conversation. Uh but it's huge. It's huge in our world right now. Our police

[50:03] officers, our firefighters, they are busy. They are extremely busy. And from

[50:08] my observations as a retiree, I have some time on my hands and I go out there

[50:13] and I ride my bike and I walk and I observe behaviors. The behaviors that

[50:17] I'm seeing from our residents specifically, the speeding, the lack of

[50:21] stopping at stop signs and other reckless behaviors. Is serious business,

[50:27] folks. Serious business. So, my public appeal to you who are about to get

[50:31] behind your wheel this evening is to slow down. Slow down.

[50:37] Everyone's in a hurry for whatever reason, but you're putting all of us at

[50:42] risk. You're putting everyone in this room at risk. That woman was 80s

[50:47] something years old on Tuli. She was killed. Yes, she wasn't in a crosswalk,

[50:50] but why is a senior citizen getting run over? Why is a senior citizen that's a

[50:56] couple of fatalities we've had in our our community as well as neighboring

[50:59] communities? So, >> we just and we just had one two days ago

[51:01] in Dempster in front of Cooper. 61y old man got hit and thrown across dumps or

[51:06] almost hit the building at Cooper's Hawk.

[51:08] » So there it's happening everywhere and now we have ebikes and and you know

[51:11] young people are young people. We've all been there. We get it. But we need to do

[51:14] a better job and I'm going to use this word policing ourselves. So what does

[51:18] that mean? Checking yourself. Checking yourself as you enter your vehicle and

[51:24] deescalating because for some reason right now in our society everyone is

[51:28] moving and nobody's getting out of the way fast enough. I have concerns, folks.

[51:33] I've deployed numerous times. I brought all my soldiers home. I want my

[51:37] residents to get home safely. We're all in this together. We all have skin in

[51:41] the game. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ramon. And finally, we have

[51:47] one last question here. >> One final question is who?

[51:54] » Hi. I was trying to state all the end because but I just wanted to make sure

[51:58] um like when we go to the meetings the trust the regular meetings um our

[52:03] questions should be answered correct >> like that we ask so so um one of my

[52:09] concerns and I'm asking tonight because it wasn't answered um I don't hear

[52:13] anyone which I'm so surprised of being concerned about sustainability and

[52:18] wildlife and the and the forest preserves uh being impacted by the high

[52:23] density of all of these units going up. I feel like there's already enough

[52:26] condominiums along the North Branch River. Um, but adding the apartment that

[52:32] was just there, an additional 354 units is it um is I'm very concerned about

[52:39] that river and that forest preserve. And in addition to that, very concerned

[52:44] about um you know, having these I think Trusty Netherm put it at islands instead

[52:50] of cohesive neighborhoods. Um, I walk a lot in this neighborhood and every time

[52:57] a new development goes up, I'm faced with a no trespassing sign and there's

[53:02] no pass through for public access on with the exception of a busy street. And

[53:08] I really respectfully request that that be considered and part of these plans

[53:12] that we have places safe places for people to walk and not blocking, you

[53:16] know, access. I'm sorry, Janice. Janice, >> it's okay.

[53:19] » I got news for you. I just want to know if there was also an environmental study

[53:23] done. I asked that question last time and I would I would like to that to be

[53:27] published if it was done. I >> if it's done it's all public matter.

[53:30] » I didn't find it. >> Um yeah, I guess you could talk to you

[53:33] could foyer whatever you need. So I don't I don't know specifically what you

[53:37] need but maybe talk to community development. I know that they talked to

[53:40] MWRD. You know, we have to make sure things are good with the county as well.

[53:44] I am going to start working with friends of the river.

[53:47] Uh so I just got some literature for them today. John Thar friend of mine. He

[53:51] was a trustee in Morton Grove. So, they're talking about the river itself

[53:54] and how to better do things over there. So, I'm going to use that as sort of a

[53:59] maneuverability piece. Uh, I'm excited about it. I was a boy scout. I get you.

[54:04] And the wildlife. >> I mean, that's why

[54:07] » I see the wildlife every morning by my house. I get you.

[54:10] » Thank you. >> Very concerned,

[54:13] » folks.

[54:16] That's it. Thank you.

[54:23] Folks, everybody please, we have a lot of department heads here, questions,

[54:27] whatever it is. And make sure you stop and see Mr. Lindlum too as well.

Village of Niles Town Hall Meeting October 2025 with Mayor Alpogianis

Transcript