Odds and ends with some a bit odder than others:
News from the East: Ray Johnson, former Oak Park trustee, is still following along from Brooklyn where he relocated last year. We know this because just a few hours after we posted a story on Friday about Village President Anan Abu-Taleb taking a cattle prod to the slow-moving pseudo-developers of the Colt site on Lake Street, Johnson offered his thoughts on our Facebook page.
He said he urged the board to cut the cord with Clark Street Development in 2013 and 2014. “It’s time for a new process,” he wrote.
So Ray and Anan, who did not get on well after Abu-Taleb’s 2013 election, agree on something. Time for Clark Street to go. But if you are looking for a marker delineating the difference between past practices at village hall and the current administration, Ray Johnson just set it out there.
If Trustee Johnson were still on the board he’d be all hepped about the next RFP (Request for Proposals) and waiting out 90 days to see who mailed in a proposal. Don’t exactly know what Anan has said in executive session to persuade his fellow trustees to potentially jilt Clark Street. But I can guarantee he did not say, “I’ve had it with Clark Street’s delays. We’re through! Now let’s put our heads together and craft the best-darned RFP we’ve ever written. That’s the ticket!”
When Abu-Taleb says he wants a shovel in the ground on Lake Street this fall, he doesn’t necessarily care whose shovel it might be.
Speaking of shovels: There will be a groundbreaking Thursday for the Maple Place condo project at Chicago and Maple. The village president will be there. With seven of the 10 units already booked, I hope Abu-Taleb will not suggest that the project should be redesigned — again.
Don Harmon – Hijacker!: Our state senator is in a bit of a rough patch. A Republican governor, his chosen 29th Ward alderman toast, the state’s still broke, and now we find out that Sen. Harmon has “hijacked” $400 million in road repair funds. Discovered that via a recent mailer from Better Roads Ahead, a lobbying group, which assures us via its website that it is part of a “broad-based movement.” I’ll just bet.
The giant headline is “How Many Must Die in Illinois?” superimposed over a horrendous picture of a collapsed bridge with a dozen cars all helter skelter. Two questions: How do I not remember something this tragic happening in Illinois? and What are the chances that a bridge would collapse in Illinois and every car on the road at that split second had a Minnesota license plate?
Oh, that’s the I-35 bridge collapse from 2007 in Minneapolis. That was the federal interstate highway. And Don Harmon caused it? How does he sleep at night!
Preckwinkle and Boykin: In something of a coup for the Chamber of Commerce, its Economic Luncheon: State of the County lunch/fundraiser this Friday will feature Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and 1st District Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin. Tickets are still available at $50 a pop at oprfchamber.org.
Facebook and OakPark.com: Over the past couple of months, we have required that commenters at OakPark.com must be Facebook Verified to post. Made that change in the run-up to the local elections and said we’d reevaluate the decision after the vote. And the decision, despite a notable downturn in the number of comments, is to stay with the Facebook feature. Fewer but more thoughtful comments is OK by us.
By the way, for the handful of people convinced we are mining your Facebook account for data every time you comment, just last week we upgraded to Facebook Connect 2.0 and placed the settings to allow us the very barest of information possible. All we want to know is that your account is Facebook Verified.
