Mouse
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On the Blog Post Local Matters: Wherein We Investigate Western Springs' Genteel Caucus System
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On the article Water Main Break Forces Water Shutoff for Businesses on Burlington
Mouse
7:50 pm on Monday, March 25, 2013
ReplyFor the love of all things holy, PLEASE hire someone who knows how to run a water plant without breaking every freaking pipe in town. What a laughingstock.
If I owned an affected business I would be shopping for a lawyer about now to go after these freaks for all the lost business. So much for their "revitalization plan"...nobody is going to set up shop here until this nonsense is fixed for good.
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On the Blog Post Local Matters: Wherein We Investigate Western Springs' Genteel Caucus System
Mouse
12:36 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
ReplyCraig, you may redeem yourself yet.
The WS caucus system is primarily the way the little power club that runs the Village keeps outsiders out. Even the Lynch "exception" was a family dispute. Notice that he's still in the Party and nothing has changed. They talk a good inclusion game but rarely if ever go outside their inner circle for candidates. And since everyone knows it, nobody bothers to run against them. It'd be like running as a Republican for Mayor of Chicago...a colossal waste of money and time.
The only way we get actual representative government in WS is to outlaw the Village Party and have an actual open election.
Now, take on the water plant.
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On the article Clarendon Hills Man Dies After Being Hit by BNSF Train in Hinsdale
Mouse
12:02 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Have fun paying for all that Scott. Plus, it doesn't stop people like this from suicide-by-train. They just step off the platform into the path instead. This is tragic but the cause is not the train.
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On the article Car Stuck in Mud after Teen Drives into Sereda Park: Police
Mouse
6:12 pm on Monday, March 18, 2013
ReplyWe have drive-by reporting here so why not drive-by photos too!
Patch slowly sinks into the mire of irrelevance.
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On the Blog Post Local Matters: Local Villages Get an "F" in Transparency
Mouse
11:40 am on Saturday, March 16, 2013
For starters, you might want to look into the new fire station and why it now takes over six minutes to respond to a medical emergency in Ridgewood (hint: you can walk faster) when Pleasantview used to arrive in two. You might also want to review the activities of the 1990's Village Manager and Trustees, which should spawn a lot of current story ideas, starting with the below-market sale of "surplus" village property to developers which reportedly kicked back a commission to the VM.
You could dig around in the public works dept to find out why their engineering consultants did not account for how the new water plant is overloading the well #4 transmission main along Hillgrove to the plant resulting in multiple breaks and flooding in the business area "downtown". It appears that $6.6 million was not enough and it will take another $1 million or more to fix this. In the meantime, the Village's water customers have suffered a conservative $4 million (less than $1000 per water meter) in unreimbursed damage to plumbing fixtures, appliances and lost business due to mismanagement and incompetence during this project. It would be nice to know just how much this boondoggle will actually end up costing us. My rough figures indicate about twice what the Village says it will.
And then there is the flooding caused by disregard of existing chronic drainage problems when issuing teardown building permits covering every allowable square inch of a lot.
Have fun!
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On the article This is What $499,000 Will Buy You
Mouse
7:20 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
ReplyThree more water main breaks this week and not a peep about them in Patch. Instead we get real estate ads.
Way to go, new editorial staff! You're more useless than ever.
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On the article Election 2013: Village of Western Springs Board
Mouse
9:42 am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Craig over the last 30 years I have been involved. I've sat through uncountable board and committee meetings, been laughed at by corrupt Village Managers, threatened by planning and code enforcement managers, and denied access to public documents merely for questioning why important decisions affecting the lives of Western Springs residents are made long before the public hearings rubber stamp them. At some point their tactics worked and I decided that it wasn't worth it anymore. I'm cryptic because it is very easy to attract the Village's ire in the form of nuisance lawsuits designed to shut you up. One thing I learned is never stand between the Village of Western Springs and money.
Unless you are in their little Village Party politburo you are nobody and they do not want to hear from you. Go research how many candidates from outside are elected. It won't take long. It'd be nice if this were a Democracy.
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On the article Election 2013: Village of Western Springs Board
Mouse
1:18 am on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
ReplyUntil actual, free elections are held in Western Springs, and not the politburo appointees being winked and nodded up to the dais, none of this matters.
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On the Blog Post Local Matters: Local Villages Get an "F" in Transparency
Mouse
1:15 am on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
ReplyAnyone who has ever found themselves in the unfortunate position of standing between Western Springs and one of their developer buddies' latest follies knows exactly how transparent they are. In fact, they score 100 on the "expect to be mowed down" chart having absolutely no moral compass or need to actually serve anyone but the entrenched contractors and vendors who control this village. It's laughable.
Mouse
6:33 pm on Tuesday, March 26, 2013
No burning issues? Do you live here?