[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.