Planning Director Beiting Zhao, PhD

Chicago planner Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no small plans.” Mr. Burnham’s spirit lives on in Beijing. After landing in China’s political, governmental, and high tech capital we sped to the Beijing Planning and Land Resource Bureau. Here Director Beiting Zhao gave us a high tech tour of the past, the present, and the future of this ancient community that 19 million residents call home.

3D Model of the entire city of Beijing

The entire city is laid out in a 3D model which covers the entire third floor of the large planning exhibition.

The 2008 Olympics were just a warm up. The process has begun to build 11 new cities. That’s right, they are building 11 new cities. Each city will be built to accommodate one million people. They will be satellite cities to Beijing to help deal with population growth and environmental challenges. Ten new train lines are planned over the next decade, doubling the ten already in service. The trains are being built to help with traffic congestion and better serve Beijing and the new cities. They seem to do what they plan here while harmonizing the old with the new.

From watching futuristic 4D movies of Beijing, we stepped out into the majestic pass and walked around the neighborhood just south of the largest public plaza in China, Tiananmen Square, where over 100,000 people can gather.

Thanks to our Beijing guide and interpreter, Liu Zhen (JC), we learned many things  about the Square including how bathrooms are set up for national events.

Rita Guo of the 21st Century Institute, Oak Brook, IL

Thanks to Rita Guo I was not overcharged for the t-shirt below below of President Obama, which says “serve the people”. I was showing the shirt on the street to my fellow travelers when an older Chinese gentleman approached us and said he was thankful and glad Bin Laden was gone.

President Obama t-shirt with “serve the people”

Of course I always try to meet the local police.

As the sun set we headed to an incredible dinner of Peking Duck. We dined with several top Beijing Directors of Finance, Courts, Statistics, Architecture, Pediatrics, Digestive Disease, Museums, and Research. They had all visited Chicago, Oak Park, Lombard, and Oak Brook a year ago and wanted to strengthen the knowledge and friendship between our two nations and communities. Mr Burnham would have been impressed.

Police Chief Rick Tanksley, Kenya Presidential Candidate Professor George L. Wajackoyah, Village Manager Tom Barwin, and Deputy Chief Tony Ambrose

Whether we agree with their politics or not, it is usually an honor when a United States President or Presidential Candidate visits our town. Over the years the communities I have managed have hosted Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton.

Not so long ago, back in 2008, than US Senator, and long shot Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama filmed some of his early Presidential TV commercials here in Oak Park at Pleasant Home in Mills Park. Candidate Obama also held a town hall meeting at Peterson’s Ice Cream on Chicago Avenue just east of Harlem. We like to remind President Obama how much support he always had here in Oak Park. 

Our latest Presidential Candidate visit was yesterday morning at Village Hall. Police Chief Rick Tanksley introduced me to Professor George L. Wajackoyah, who has announced his 2012 candidacy for President of Kenya.   

Kenya is an east African country named for Mount Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa.

Professor Wajackoyah was once a Police Inspector in Nariobi, Kenya, before having to flee Kenya after being imprisoned and tortured for uncovering inconvenient information on violence and political assassinations in Kenya. We found Professor Wajackoyah to be a sincere, well spoken, and thoughtful gentleman. Currently an adjunct Law Professor at the University of Southern California, Professor Wajackoyah plans to return to Kenya soon to campaign for the Presidency on a platform of honest government, improved education, improved health care, and a better economy for Kenya’s 41 million residents.     

Police Chief Tanksley and Professor Wajackoyah, a former Police Inspector, review crime fighting strategies

I was impressed Professor Wajackoyah was taking the time to learn more about Community Policing from Oak Park’s best; Chief Tanksley, Deputy Chief Ambrose, and Detective Ron Bongat.

The Professor’s visit proves once again just how small our globe is and the growing potential for Main Street to Main Street collaborations, even across the globe. It is also exciting that so many who have had to leave Africa for one reason or another (diaspora) are now engaged in assisting their home countries with the long, slow journey toward effective, honest government.

No doubt Professor Wajackoyah is a long shot. But he isn’t the first long shot candidate to visit Oak Park. Good luck Professor.

The magnificent wildlife of Kenya

Village photos by Detective Ronald S. Bongat, Investigations Unit, Oak Park Police Department

Stephan Grushas with his electric vehicle and his brand new Electric Vehicle Parking Sticker from the Village of Oak Park, IL

Last Friday, May 6th, the Village awarded its second Electric Vehicle Free Parking Sticker to Stephan Grushas, of Lagrange.  Mr. Grushas is a member of the Fox Valley Electric Car Club. We hope Mr. Grushas and his fellow pollution free car club members visit Oak Park frequently.

Who will be #3?

I blogged about the Walgreens Corporation’s efforts to adapt and reuse a historic building at Madison and Oak Park Avenue some time ago. From that ‘facade-ectomy’ to yesterday’s unveiling of the first electric vehicle charging station in Oak Park, IL Walgreens has exceeded virtually everyone’s expectations!

How many stores have you ever been in that it actually feels good to be there? Shoppers in the new Oak Park Walgreens shop in a clean store, bathed in natural light, with night and enhanced lighting via energy efficient LED lights. The fresh air in the store is heated and cooled by a cutting edge geothermal energy system, reducing the building’s carbon footprint by approximately 60%. The floors are buffed concrete with no toxic glues holding down warn or soiled carpet squares. Fresh produce is available for on the run customers who might wish to bypass a bag of chips for a banana.

Leadership comes in many forms but we have learned to not expect it from corporations. Yet, responsible, balanced corporate leadership is absolutely essential in our economic and governmental system.

Walgreens has been a breath of fresh air to deal with over the past couple of years. I hope more companies will follow their inspiring architectural and environmental example.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Village President David Pope were spot-on in recognizing the Walgreens team and CEO Greg Wasson for their sustainability, environmental, and cutting edge efforts in designing and building their newest store here in Oak Park. It appears doing the right thing for the environment can also be good for business. I can’t think of a much better message for Earth Day 2011.

Thanks Walgreens, keep up the good work!

It was an honor last Friday afternoon to welcome ComEd COO/President Anne Pramaggiore, ComEd Smart Grid VP Michael McMahan P.E., ComEd Smart Tech Manager Rich Gordus, as well as members of Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s staff, led by Paul Gaynor, to Oak Park.   The executive group was in town on a rainy Friday afternoon to inspect recent “smart grid technology” upgrades to our area’s electricity grid.

The upgrades have brought some components of ComEd’s aging power distribution system into the 21^st century. The Smart Grid upgrades we inspected were undertaken as part of the ComEd, Illinois Commerce Commissions (ICC) approved, Smart Grid pilot project now underway in what is being referred to as the Innovation Corridor. The corridor generally runs along the I-290 and was selected after considerable public input for its demographic, business, housing, and geographic diversity.

The first stop on our tour was at the ComEd substation in Oak Park located just east of Oak Park’s central fire station on North Boulevard and Euclid. The multi-million dollar conversion of the substation from electro-mechanical controls to computerized digital controls is a giant leap forward.   These beginning upgrades to the grid nerve centers will someday lead to and are perhaps analogous to the early phases of the amazing transformation we have seen with communication devices.   The communication revolution over the past few years has taken us from the old Bell rotary phones that graced our homes for many decades to the amazing personal communication devices we now take for granted.    

The Oak Park substation is the first of ComEd’s 270 substations to be fully upgraded with Smart Grid technology.   If, when and the pace of upgrades to the remaining 269 sub stations will be determined by ComEd and the Illinois regulatory system. 

At the most basic level, smart substations with their computerized, digitized communication devices will reduce the length of power outages beginning with the 21,000 customers served by the Oak Park sub station by detecting and pin pointing problems/outages in the sub station service area instantly as they occur.   This will allow for much faster repair responses when wind whipped tree branches take lines down or our favorite urban animal, Mr. Squirrel, decides to munch on a power line.    

Smart sub stations can not only identify outages quickly as they happen, but even better, can detect small, fixable, equipment issues before they become cascading breakdowns leading to outages.    

For example, many of the key components of a substation, like the fans and oils that keep transformers at optimal functioning levels, are currently maintained by manual inspections.  If a component fails between human inspections the problem may not be identified until it becomes a much larger and costly problem, possibly cascading to a million dollar plus transformer burning out and shutting down.   The smart substation monitors all of its key components 24/7, 365 days a year.  It will alert the ComEd repair/maintenance center immediately should a problem occur.  Smart substations have many other innovations helpful in monitoring power flow/demand and operating a more efficient distribution grid.

The second and third stops on our tour took us to neighboring River Forest where new “reclosers” and “interrupters” have been installed on some lines and are being tested. These mid-circuit devices, which cost many thousands of dollars each,  automatically reroute power during outages to minimize the number of customers who lose electricity during outage events.  The way the system is now, when an area outage occurs, typically a couple of thousand customers, or so, lose power until the problem is repaired or repairmen are dispatched to manually reroute power as repairs are being made.

Testing the automatic digital control function of the interrupter with Paul Gaynor, Division Chief, from Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Office

The ” interrupters” communicate automatically and instantaneously with the Smart Grid system and reroute power as necessary.  In areas where these improvements have been installed the size of outage zones can often be reduced by 50%.  This is a part of the so called “self-healing” aspect of the Smart Grid.   These automatic controls are obviously much more efficient than waiting for customers to call in their outage and ComEd repair crews pulling out their circuit maps to drive out and manually manipulate electro-mechanical grid switches. The “reclosers” are manufactured in Wisconsin, the “interrupters” in Chicago.

ComEd COO/President Anne Pramaggiore and homeowner Kristina Entner checking out how a smart electric meter and in-home electricity reader can work together for the consumer to educate, conserve, and save on their utility bill.

Our last stop took us back to Oak Park where we visited the home of Kristina Entner and Ed Malone on Fair Oaks. Like all Oak Parkers, Kristina and Ed’s home has received a smart meter. 

Ed and Kristina have also participated in another aspect of the Smart Grid pilot project. They have received what is called an in-home reader.  Working in conjunction with the smart meter, the small in home reader device which they keep on their kitchen counter, can tell them in real time how much electricity they are using at any given moment.   Kristina showed us how much juice the baseboard electric heaters use in their enclosed sun room. Kristina noted that now that the family is aware of how much electricity the heaters actually use they are mindful to shut the heaters off promptly when they leave the room.

As ComEd and state regulators in Springfield and Chicago work through how to move forward toward implementing the Smart Grid throughout Chicagoland and ComEd’s service district, I would urge them to get on with it.  The Smart Grid will decrease outages, increase grid management efficiency, help us positively impact climate change, spur conservation and renewable energy innovation, create jobs doing something that needs to get done, and give us a competitive advantage to keep and attract new employers who need perfect power.

Perhaps even more than customers, I might also mention, police and fire departments also appreciate anything that can be done to minimize or eliminate power outages as they are the ones responding to the emergencies created for many when extended power outages occur and family is not nearby.   

Thanks to ComEd, Lisa Madigan’s office, and our sustainability manager KC Poulus for the opportunity to tag along on the smart grid pilot project tour, and the ICC for its vision in authorizing the initial phase of the smart grid pilot here in Oak Park and along the innovation corridor in Chicagoland. 

Stay tuned. 

This past February residents living near OPRF High School began to notice a corner of the intersection at Erie and Scoville was beginning to collapse. This was not a super sized pothole but a fast expanding sink hole. 

Upon investigation the Public Works Department and Engineering Department determined a corner “bulkhead” in the eight foot diameter relief drain, located 30 feet below the street, had collapsed. 

The engineering detectives determined that when the relief drain began to fill up with storm water, the storm water would leak out from the damaged section of the drain and loosen the earth around the drain. Once loose, the earth above the relief drain began to collapse into the relief drain. After some time, the street intersection began to give way as the earth below the street began to fill into the damaged section of the relief drain.  

A “bulkhead” on the north side of the relief drain, which runs east-west under Erie street, had failed. The bulkhead was designed to be ready to accept a larger north-south neighborhood relief drain connection if it ever became necessary. The “bulkhead plug” so to speak, is what failed.

This damaged section of the vast underground network of drainage pipes the village maintains was built as part of the $7.5 million, 1967 Sewer Relief Project. This project expanded drainage capacity in the Oak Park system. The combined sewage system takes our sanitary sewage and polluted rainwater away to be cleansed at the largest sewage treatment plant in the country.

Partial view of the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant

All our sewage is sent to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s (MWRD) Water Reclamation Plant in Stickney. It is the largest wastewater treatment plant in the world. Oak Park’s 2011 wastewater treatment charges are expected to be approximately $4.8 million and paid through an MWRD property tax formula.

The 14 mile addition to our drainage system, built in 1968-70, makes up about 8% of our drainage system and is now 43 years old, almost middle age in drainage pipe life years.  

The failing section of the drain needed to be fixed promptly. The problem with excavating from above and creating a shaft to repair the bulkhead from the outside, besides the drain being 30 feet deep, is that three utility lines that run near the relief drain would also have to be temporarily relocated.

Because this section of the relief drain is quite large, over seven feet in diameter, engineers and experienced contractors felt the repairs could be made from within the drain by sending crews in to clean out the drain and rebuild the failed bulkhead from the inside out.

Engineering bid the job both ways, fixing from inside or outside. Of the 13 companies that expressed an interest in the job, four submitted bids. Bids ranged from the lowest responsible bid of $165,000 (no dig option –repair from the inside) by the Cerniglia Company, to $422,750 by Kenny Construction for the open cut repair option. 

Although the board awarded the project to the low bidder with staff’s recommendation, I still thought $165,000 sounded like a lot to repair a relatively small section of a relief drain. I asked Engineering to arrange for me to be able to inspect the relief drain and the damaged section and see for myself the conditions underground. 

My adventure into the underground began with a big surprise. I thought there would be a ladder built into the manhole to descend into the relief drain. Nope.  

My escort from Cerniglia, Louie Napolitano Jr., and I had to be lowered into the relief drain with cables and a harness. The depth, the pitch black dark, the running water around my feet, the smell, not a problem.  Being lowered 30 + feet, dangling by a cable, not seeing where the bottom could be, well that was just a tad bit disconcerting.   What if the cable snapped or harness broke?  What if Louie or I dropped like bullets down the long narrow manhole?  Scary thoughts of a control freak? 

Once we got down and organized in the tunnel with our flashlights, navigating the slippery conditions in a few inches of running water, the poured in place intersection drain and extended drain sections looked in decent shape. But signs of chips  decay and future vulnerabilities were able to be located every ten feet or so in my mini inspection.  While we only managed to look at 30 or 40 feet of the 100 + miles of our drainage system, I’m feeling fairly confidant we should get another 60 years use or more from the 1968 built additions to the system if we continue to apply best practices to the inspections, maintenance and repair of the system. 

The repair job is not quite half done but most of the debris that had fallen into the relief valve has been sucked out from above. Over the next couple of weeks the temporary bulkhead repair will be removed as the permanent repairs are made. We will inspect the repairs carefully and I will post a photo of the repairs for the civil engineers amongst us who may be interested in such an obscure part of our community lives.  

As a result of today’s underground adventure I have a couple of observations and a suggestion.  

First, the unheralded men who do this type of construction work certainly deserve our respect, appreciation, and decent pay.   These are challenging and dangerous jobs requiring care, caution, strength and no fear of confined spaces.   

Second, much of our country’s aging infrastructure will be hitting that 100 year old plus mark and we really should be setting aside local, state, and national funding to repair and replace our aging infrastructure in a timely fashion.  Timely inspections, repairs and replacement of our aging infrastructure, our economic and environmental backbone, will actually save taxpayers money.   Just look at how much one relatively small hole, in one 43 year old relief drain costs to fix!  (Sidebar-the unexpected $165,000 necessary to repair this collapse will likely result in defering $165,000 of other planned sewer maintenance/repair work scheduled for 2011.)  

Conclusion and Recommendation:  Mainstreet to Washington DC – lets figure out a way to end wars and spend our resources to fix up our own infrastructure! 

Thanks to Village Engineers Jim Budrick and Bill McKenna, as well as Louie Napolitano Jr. and Albert Conforti from Cerniglia Underground Construction, for making my trip to and back from the underground possible.  I’ll lay off the pasta Albert just in case there is a next trip to the true underworld.  

PS.  No I did not see any rats! 

Last fall the Village Board approved an ordinance which provides for free electric vehicle parking in Oak Park throughout 2011 and 2012. Last week one of our forward thinking residents took advantage of our mini-incentive. Our very first free EV Parking permit was issued to Oak Park resident Glenn Hunter, of North Elmwood Street, on Valentine’s Day. Appropriate timing for those who love clean air!    

Glenn was kind enough to take a few of us for a spin around town on this cold, snowy, Tuesday morning.    

Glenn’s E-Car was brought to the US market by the Electric Car Company, based in Missouri. It retails for $18,900. E-vehicles are eligible for a 10% federal tax credit which reduces the retail price of the car to $17,010.

Glenn’s E-car is built on a chassis made in China, adopted from the gas vehicle world.  14 million vehicles around the world use the same chassis as the E-car.   

I have to say the ride was comfortable. Glenn’s E-car also has all the basic amenities including heat, air conditioning, and am/fm/cd player. The car comes with a one year warranty for parts and labor and a 3 year warranty for parts including all the electronics.   

Glenn has been engaged in using, promoting, and selling clean energy (solar) since the 1970s. He remains passionate about our climate, and believes his E-car is the best, most affordable, “urban commuter / neighborhood” E-car the market has seen to date. 

Glenn intends to use his E-car for his vehicular travel needs around town and around Chicagoland. The manufacturer claims a range of 59 miles but Glenn plans on a 40 mile range until he proves otherwise. The recharge cord is always in the car.     

With gas prices rising once again, it’s increasingly relevant to know that the E-car costs about $1.20 in electricity to “fill up”. The E-car batteries can be 50% re-charged in just two hours from a standard 120 volt plug. The regenerative breaking system also helps charge the batteries while traveling. 

Converting to miles per gallon, Glenn’s E-car gets an eye popping, money saving, 168 miles per gallon.  Wow!  If that’s not enough, Glenn is working on ways to integrate his new E-car recharging set-up with solar panels to take a shot at making his new e-wheels carbon neutral. That would be truly amazing.

The 4-door, standard transmission, front wheel drive E-Car has far fewer parts than a gas car. The ride, which reminds me of a fun FIAT I had in the 1980’s, uses 10 conventional lead acid batteries to run off, with two under the hood and eight under the back seats and in the trunk. Glenn expects to replace the batteries at 25,000 miles. Replacing all 10 batteries today could be done anywhere in the country, and would cost about $1,200.   

Glenn is confident that cost effective lead acid batteries will continue to do the job until the higher priced lithium battery technologies are perfected. A lithium battery is available for the Electric Car but bumps the price up by $7,000.   

The E-car is street legal, equipped with seat belts, and is fully licensed as a low speed vehicle under Illinois law.  Although the vehicle can go faster than 35 mph, as a low speed vehicle, state law limits its top speed to 35 mph. So the vehicle is legal on any road with a posted speed limit of 35 mph and can legally cross roads with higher speeds.

This low speed vehicle category and new system here in Illinois, means the vehicle does not need to be equipped with air bags. Slowing things down sounds like a pretty good idea, even beyond vehicles.  

Glenn will be mixing economics with his environmental passion. He has not only bought Oak Park’s first known E-car, he will also be selling them. To contact Glenn Hunter visit Ecological Products online. You can call him at 708.445.0341 or email Glenn.

With the reality of climate change and the prospects of ever increasing gas prices, the E-car, or cars like them, could be a big hit in communities like Oak Park. With so many services, shopping, and jobs available within a relatively short geographical range, the E-car fits in perfectly with the notion of sustainable living and conducting as much commerce as possible locally. With an easy 40 mile range, you can go as far as 15 to 20 miles to a job, store, medical appointment, or cultural venue and return easily without having a recharge concern.    

In metro regions like Chicago, with two big airports, commuter trains, CTA and PACE busses, taxi cabs galore, increasing numbers of shared cars, and an abundance of auto rentals for longer hauls, a short to mid-range commuter E-car is all one may need for day to day living. 

One final note, anyone who has an electric vehicle is eligible for a free E-vehicle parking permit for 2011 and 2012. Chicagoland E-vehicle owners who want to take in a bit of Oak Parks flavor, just stop in at our Parking Services counter at 123 Madison, with your E-vehicle documentation, and the staff will be glad to help you.

So congratulations to Glenn Hunter for being a pioneer and making a little Oak Park history. Who will be #2?

Touring the GE Appliance Reliability Lab with David McCalpin, General Manager of Home Energy Management

Louisville, Kentucky - This past Thursday morning, as things were heating up in Egypt and the mid-west remained in a deep freeze, Sustainability Manager KC Poulous and I headed to General Electric’s Appliance Park in Louisville Kentucky. The purpose of our trip was to explore public/private collaborations related to community based energy and environmental sustainability initiatives.

KC’s flight was sponsored by the Galvin Initiative. My flight was covered by fees I earned for the Village last fall by teaching a local government course to Chinese government officials visiting Chicagoland.

As a result of our trip we hope to see a few Electric Vehicle charging stations installed in public parking bays in Oak Park this summer. Nearly all automakers plan on bringing electric vehicles to market over the next few years, so it is strategically important that early and potential Electric Vehicle users know that public recharging stations will be available when necessary in between home recharges.  Just last week Oak Park processed our first application from an EV owner to qualify for free EV parking in Oak Park throughout 2011 and 2012.

For EV’s to succeed this time, we need to start creating the EV infrastructure now, particularly in urban areas. EV’s need to succeed because they will reduce green house gas emissions into the atmosphere, lessen our dependence on volatile and diminishing oil supplies,  stimulate American research & development, and strengthen our manufacturing base.

As energy costs rise and the reality of climate change takes hold, in home energy management coupled with energy saving appliances will also become mainstream on mainstreet.

Since Oak Park now has smart electric meters in all of our homes, we are also hoping Oak Park, GE, ComEd, Galvin, and perhaps other partners can collaborate on a pilot project in Oak Park to test in-home energy management strategies. The new generation of smart appliances will be able to reduce or defer an appliances energy use during periods of peak or critical energy demand. These advancements can help lessen peak pressure on the energy grid, save customers on their energy bills, and reduce green house gas emissions.

All good things.

Touring the GE Test Kitchen, learning more about induction cooking with GE’s J. Thompson; K.C. Poulous, VOP Sustainability Manager; GE’s Dave McCalpin and myself.

As important as the sustainability movement is, the other story unfolding at GE in Louisville is just as interesting to a former Detroiter like myself. GE manufacturing will be hiring again!

The back story is GE’s massive, 1.5 square mile industrial park called Appliance Park was built in the 1950’s. The park is so big and employed so many people at its peak that it has its own traffic control signals. At one time over 25,000 people were employed in manufacturing at Appliance Park. We know the story, the confluence of globalization, increased competition, adversarial labor-management relations and other factors transformed a once busting complex into a shadow of its former self as employment at Appliance Park plummeted from a high of 25,000 to a low of 5,000. A snap shot of the recent American manufacturing economy.

In Louisville we learned GE is bringing back some appliance manufacturing lines from other countries and expects to create 2,000 new jobs at Appliance Park. Over the next year employment at Appliance Park will head back up toward 8,000 jobs. Labor-management relations have evolved and all are striving to work together. American built quality and productivity can now overcome the advantages of lowest cost production when long distance product shipping costs and quality are factored in.   Of course, it will also help if Americans try to buy products built in America whenever reasonably possible.  

What we may be seeing, or perhaps hoping, is that the global, lowest cost manufacturer economy (or race to the bottom as my UAW relatives might say)  that has cost our country millions of manufacturing jobs may be giving way to a smarter, more rational, loosely knit, regionally based, albeit global economy. This would be a good thing. Regions would be wise to start planning for it.

Before & after pics of a parking lot on South Maple. See ‘Snow Day’ pics at the Wednesday Journal.

The NFL Super Bowl won’t be played until tomorrow, but Oak Park Village employees embraced Tuesday’s white out, 20 inch, thunder blizzard as our own personal Super Bowl. Our game plan goal of keeping roads open for emergency vehicles throughout the blizzard and having the Village dug out and navigable within 24 hours of the storm ending was achieved!

Human Resource Director Frank Spataro’s pre storm duties included recruiting extra snow plow drivers from the ranks of Village employee’s to supplement our recession reduced DPW crews

Led by by Public Works’ Director John Wielebnicki the village put together a text book response to a near record blizzard that weather experts and state officials accurately warned would be very dangerous and life threatening.  John took the advanced weather reports seriously, strategized his manpower and equipment needs, filled the salt bins, with HR recruited non-DPW employees who had snow plowing experience, lined up private contractors to supplement village crews, put his game face on and opened snow command before the first snow flake hit pavement.

Fire and EMS Department service calls doubled during the storm

Our team took the offensive and was in full response mode by noon Tuesday, well before the rush hour white out. Like the MVP quarterback that he is, John went into battle with a solid game plan but called several audibles as events dictated.

The 48 hour storm match didn’t have a half-time so John and his key flankers caught a very few winks over night on cots, provided by the health department, which were set up in chilly public works offices.  Our team stayed on offense until every street, alley, and transit connection was re-opened after the whipping mother nature attempted to put on us. 

Tailgaters digging out on South Boulevard

Our drivers, and all the men and women in Chicagoland who were out fighting the blizzard, who actually got the work done, all deserve a special game ball and tip of the helmet. They worked very long hours in extremely treacherous conditions.   To avoid accidents and injury plow drivers had to be focused and alert throughout the all night and Wednesday morning prime time storm response.    As plows tried to wiz down the streets and use velocity to push enormous amounts of snow some cars were still out and getting stuck in streets during the white out conditions.  The volume of snow and drifts made sidewalks unwalkable so the few pedestrians who were out for whatever reason were walking in the streets.  Dicey circumstances indeed.

L CTA and PACE buses: 1 stuck, 1 broke down, 2 trapped  | R CTA bus slides into Marion street viaduct

The Village’s relatively new Public Works facility on South Boulevard is proving to be a fantastic facility to work out of, and the Blizzard of 2011 gave us the first chance to really test our new emergency operations center.  From this experience and with citizen input we learned a few lessons for next time but overall our DPW, Police, Fire, Parking, and support departments worked very well together throughout the event.  Although 3 of our older trucks went down with overheated transmissions our fleet services crew kept our equipment functioning between runs to excavate some of our equipment which occasionally got stuck in massive drifts.

Our Housing Department, Business Services, and Recycling Managers all made their way to DPW at the break of dawn on Wednesday morning to help with the phones as residents awoke.  The Law Department came in to cook real food for the crews on break. The Public Information staff worked to communicate with residents through the local press as well as tweeting, facebooking, emailing, and scrowling short messagese on VOP cable TV.  We also stayed in communication with ComED as 500 homes and the Central Fire Hall experienced lengthly power outages during the storm. As the dig out began we were in close communication with school district D-97 and D-200 as well as the Parks District.  All had a major dig out of their own to tackle. 

Pedestrians came out with the sun with many walking to one of our 11 business districts for snow day supplies

As I write this Saturday morning update, things appear to have returned ALMOST back to normal. Main Street is open for business and business appears to be brisk.  Waste Management just passed through my alley collecting trash and recyclables just one day behind the regular schedule.

Neighbors working together.    Out and about inspecting streets for emergency vehicle passage Police Chief Rick Tanksley observed one spirited neighborhood appearing to be having a block party which included a barbeque.  More pics at the Wednesday Journal.

But the enduring memories I will take from the Blizzard of 2011 was how the sun came out after the storm, how pretty the snow was and how good we felt that nobody got seriously injured or died from this event. The bonus was seeing all the kids around town wearing big snow day smiles and the good people with able backs, strong hearts and snow blowers helping less able neighbors shovel out their sidewalks (including Mark, Val, Randy and others in my hood) as well as seeing the platoons of citizens who got together to open up their alleys even before Village equipment could get there.

Drifts at Village Hall were five feet tall.

Our snow battle even made the Los Angeles Times. Go figure.

So thanks to all who fought the storm, all who helped each other out, and all who demonstrated patience and civility.  Events and challenges like the storm is what being a community is all about.

DPW Director John Wielebnicki accepting flowers from a kind and grateful citizen who appreciated the effort and results

Our most special thanks goes out to the kind citizen who sent flowers to Village Hall for our efforts.   In today’s remote control, internet world, it seems the angry, invisible, often unnamed critics with access to keyboards seem to dominate the freedoms of the gigabyte world, so it was really nice to get the flowers and hear more directly from so many others who had positive things to say about the effort.    I presented the flowers to our storm fighting MVP quarterback, John Wielebnicki, for the team effort he led in recognition of  the men and women who worked their tails off to get the job done!  

Oak Park, good town, good people, darn good snow storm fighters.

PS.  Our 4 legged friends may be happy to know the meltdown should begin on Valentines Day.   Let’s hope it’s gradual.   We could use a few extra days to recover before going into flood fighting mode!  Happy Super Bowl Sunday all.

Anyone remember this headline?

The front page of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967.

…and 2011

As we begin the New Year a variety of reliable sources seem to agree that the “great recession” is slowly receding. However, with national unemployment above 9% and gasoline prices rising once again, optimism remains muted.

The recent recession reminds us that much of our economy is determined by national and now even global trends, realities, and macroeconomics. The bursting of the housing bubble and financial market meltdown revealed that much of the go-go 90’s and early 2000’s was fueled by unsustainable, and to be kind, very questionable business practices.

Although macroeconomics has an enormous influence on local community economics all economic activity, from idea thru to sales and consumption occurs in some local community somewhere.   Despite not being in control of any aspect of the macro economy, the fact is some communities and some areas do much better economically than others.  Blessed by being located in the virtual center of where the 8 million residents who call Chicagoland home live, Oak Park has been and should remain a business incubator zone for those who wish to pursue the American Dream of owning ones own business.    The Dream has become an increasingly difficult and intimidating undertaking.   

The lesson of the “Great Recession” should be that wall street and main street need to compliment each other. Ideas, innovation, products, processes, creativity, getting started, markets happen in our home towns, especially the communities that embrace ideas, diversity, vibrancy and people who can work together.

As we recover from the Great Recession and begin to factor Peak Oil and Climate Change into our future,  Oak Park will be drilling down and reviewing the local and regional economy and local government’s role in facilitating grass roots economics.  

In todays increasingly populated, urbanized world, hunting, fishing, and farming just isn’t a realistic survival option for most of our citizens.  Whether we think about it much or not, we are highly interdependent.   People and families must have good jobs and/or support systems to thrive and enjoy their lives.   And we must have people in positions and systems that support those courageous souls who put it all on the line to create jobs for themselves and their fellow citizens. 

Today, thanks to reforms resulting from previous economic traumas the local, state, and national safety net have prevented the Great Recession from becoming another Great Depression.    But where do we go from here?    How does Mainstreet respond to Internet sales competition?    How will the global economy impact us over the next ten or twenty years?  What are the next growth areas for our economy?   Are there limits to growth?   Can we have prosperity with less than 5% annual GDP growth?    Is climate change a threat or an opportunity?   As the rich reportedly get richer, the middle class reportedly shrinks and those on the lower end of the economic ladder struggle desperately, how do we build an economy that all who are willing to work can benefit from?  Will American productivity improvements ever result in shortening the work week for the overworked?     

During January and February the Board of Trustee’s, staff, and our economic development partners will be reviewing the Village’s role and priorities in support of our local economy.    Perhaps the analysis and discussion will provide some hints, insights or ideas into the fascinating subject of our ever churning, always changing, new or next economy we may hope for.   Stay tuned for updates. As always, your questions, insights, and suggestions are welcomed at tbarwin@oak-park.us.

I rang in the “New Millennium” on 12/31/1999, in a makeshift emergency operations center in the basement of Ferndale, Michigan’s City Hall, with the Police, Fire, and Public Works’ Chiefs. The feared meltdown of our nation’s computer systems at 12:01 am on January 1, 2000, did not occur. 

With electricity, water, sewer, gas, and traffic control signals functioning as usual, our emergency ops team left city hall by 1:00 am, with our Fire Chief having the last word, “I told you all this Y2K stuff was pure bull!”   

Y2K fear and paranoia resulted in billions being spent in 1999 on accelerated software upgrades.  Many new millionaires were minted in the process. From Australia to Alaska, the Y2K contractors must have done a marvelous job. I’m not aware of even one traffic signal going out due to a Y2K computer glitch.  Looking back it appears a profit making crisis was created through smoke and mirrors.

The extra stop signs we had made in Ferndale for intersection control in case the traffic control lights went out, never had to be used. We sold them as Y2K souvenirs on E-Bay, and got a nice sales bump when the Today Show did a feature on them from City Hall.       

2000 seemed to get off to a pretty good start on MainStreet, despite a President who did not connect with most of our residents. As the new millenium began urban sprawl was a concern to locals and fiscal realists, but of little concern to policy makers.   Housing sales enjoyed double digit increases in annual sale prices and everyone hoped the unprecedented increase in housing values would continue so when they sold their home they could profit handsomely. While perplexing, increasing housing values were hardly questioned because so many were benefitting from them. As we look back it is clear the housing bubble was contrived through Smoke and Mirrors finance, profit taking and wall street bonus schemes.

Then 9/11 happened. The shocking event had our police and fire departments on full alert across America for several days. 

Suddenly, the recently ended cold war had been replaced with a war on terrorism.  While no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq by United Nations Inspectors, President Bush insisted they were there. We were told the world had changed.   Ironically,  about this time Google Earth was launched, and a potential terrorist could map out your neighborhood from almost anywhere on earth. Even more amazing, the largest, most technologically equipped military force on earth could not capture the reported head terrorist. Osama Bid Laden remains at large?   

During the troop build up, after testimony from experts, my city passed a resolution unanimously opposing a war in Iraq. We knew Washington wasn’t really taking input from the “hicks” in local government. The courageous board took some heat because they were only “local” government, but the resolution proved to be prophetic. As we walked out of City Hall the night the “Diplomacy Before War” resolution passed, one of the Councilman said “This weapons of mass destruction stuff is nothing but Smoke and Mirrors.” In a surreal moment, President Bush told Americans the best thing they could do was “go shopping.” Smoke and mirrors on steroids!  

Shortly after I moved to Oak Park in 2006, we learned “advanced” software programs, which ran far ahead of regulatory capacity, allowed for the “bundling” and “peddling” and “casino like” selling and reselling, financing and refinancing, of inflated, toxic mortgages, bad debt, and other fraudulent financing schemes. By 2008 we were told that in order to avoid an economic depression, the advanced Smoke and Mirrors economy would require require massive federal bailouts. Some banks and industry’s were too big too fail.    Wow.

Than perhaps a course correction began. In 2008 Americans stunned the world when they elected Illinois Senator Barack Obama President. Despite his youth and relative inexperience, Senator Obama appeared to be the smartest candidate in the race, at a time real talent, integrity, and dedication had clearly become necessary.    

While much had failed over the first decade of the new millenium the people came through and changed our racial paradigms by electing the first US President of color, an event many thought they would not see in their lifetime. New windows of hope were opened for billions around the globe. Mainstreet felt different, better. With the few governing choices available to them, the People were trying to make a difference. 

As we begin the YouTube, facebook, twitter, Groupon second decade of the not so new Millinieum let us continue to hope, that a course correction is underway. Can common sense and mainstreet values of integrity and fairness win out over greed, smoke and mirror economics, and the best federal government that money can buy?  

The same technology that had me sitting in an emergency operations center at the dawn of Y2K now provides limitless opportunity for American and the planet’s citizens to come together for a better and sustainable world for all. However, as incremental as progress is, we just might have to figure out a way to get to Y3K before we put away all the weapons to focus on the basics for all. Meanwhile, lets all try to keep our sense of humor, treat each other well, and collaborate on figuring out the next economy as many of our fellow citizens are still looking for good jobs. But please, no more smoke and mirrors!  

Thanks to all who helped make 2010 a productive year here in Oak Park, and best wishes to all for 2011.

Few areas in the United States have the traffic volumes, parking demands, population densities, and pedestrian movements found in the Big Apple. This reality, combined with fleets of taxis, jammed busses, and miles of subways would make New York seem like the last place on earth to integrate bicycle lanes into it’s transportation grid. Yet, they are one of the first to successfully do so and it seems to be working out just fine.

Our annual Thanksgiving week trip to Manhattan and Brooklyn gave Peg and I the chance to inspect a few miles of the 200 miles of new “protected” bike lanes which have been installed in New York over the past four years by the Bloomberg Administration.

The protected bike lanes have been installed on major streets next to the curb, with protective guidance barriers at each intersection, protective spacing between the marked bike lanes, and pushed out parking bays, traffic, and turning lanes. This design protects bikers from being struck by car doors or vehicles themselves.

While we were in New York last week the Times ran an article that said the bike lanes had become controversial. But everyone I talked to including police officers, business owners, and cyclists (including my son who lives in New York) loved them and hope more will be built.  By most accounts  ridership has increased significantly since the protected lanes have been installed. 

A police officer explained serious cycling injuries have dropped and more people seem to be cycling. An 8^th Avenue retailer and life-long New Yorker told me as only a New Yorker could or would “anyone who doesn’t like them is crazy, older people need ways to get around and exercise too. ”   A 30-something woman cyclist stopped at a traffic signal simply said “I just love them” as she sped off on a 35 degree morning.

I am pleased that this November the Village Board has retained two firms to help Oak Park plan the future of 3 key grid links here in Oak Park, which includes looking into the feasibility of better integrating safe bike lanes into our grid, as called for in our 2008 bike plan.

The Lakota Group will continue to work with the Village on future design improvements to South Marion and South Oak Park Avenue in our Central Business District as we pursue the vision of truly becoming a Transit Village.  

Last Monday, Altamanu Inc.,  was selected through a Request for Qualifications and Proposals competition (over 14 competing firms) to help layout the future of Madison Street from Harlem to Austin.

Can Oak Park figure out a way, and have the will, to take our grid to the next level?   Will “safe” bike lanes have a future in Oak Park?   

As we begin the process of planning our future on these important corridors I ask all to keep an open mind and consider participating in the public discourse of these strategic quality of life and community building initiatives. Your ideas are welcomed, examples from around the country are appreciated.  We may not be able to copy NYC but I am hopeful and confidant we can better integrate and tailor “safe” bicycling routes into Oak Park’s transportation network. 

New York City has lots of show and glow and is a great city.   We here in the mid-west are practical.    But what could be more practical than having the option to get around town safely on bikes.  In today’s world, practical seems pretty great too!

Drive past the home of environmental pioneers Mary Chris Javlevic and Roy Schuster on the 1100 block of Clinton Avenue and it looks much like the other well-kept homes on the block. Take a closer look – or be lucky enough, as I was, to go inside – and you begin to realize this is no ordinary Oak Park home. Actually, it is no ordinary American home. It’s furnace free, yet designed to keep its occupants comfortable in what can be a pretty brutal Chicago climate.

The house, designed by architect and Oak Parker Tom Bassett-Dilley, speaking to visitors in the photo above, is based on the concept of European passive houses that use materials and design to create a thermal envelope so tight, no furnace is needed. The heat comes from the warmth generated by appliances, electrical devices, body heat, and sunlight.

According to Tom, the house uses nearly three-quarters less energy than a comparable building. When it comes to keeping its occupants warm, which is the biggest energy cost a homeowner must meet, the home uses 85 percent less energy than the average home. And thanks to the super-insulated walls and roof, it is 10 times tighter against air infiltration, a feature those of use who live in older Oak Park homes certainly can appreciate when the winter winds begin to blow.

Mary Chris, who graciously invited members of the Environmental Advisory Commission and several of us from Village Hall for a tour Thursday, described her home as a Thermos. Sealed from top to bottom. With the doors and windows closed, the only opening in the thermal envelop is a relatively small air exchanger in the basement that keeps the air inside fresh, with no drafts, no breezes, and no heat loss. In fact, the exchanger actually captures the heat from the house and recirculates it with the clean, fresh air from outside, a process it can reverse in the summer.

Even inside you wouldn’t readily see anything that would suggest the home’s energy efficiency. The only visual hint of the R-45 insulation is the 12-inch or so depth between the inner wall and the super-insulated windows. The walls actually were prefabricated, then erected on site, a process that I would have liked to have seen.

Such super-insulation means that the only heating source is considered supplemental. It’s a stove that uses wood pellets manufactured from production waste. The stove is so efficient it can’t be used at maximum capacity even on the coldest day without overheating the entire house. In the basement, a new heat-pump water heater, pictured above, captures warmth from the air to help keep the family in hot water.

Among the many interesting aspects of this home is how its owners worked with their architect and builders to balance their desire to be green with the goal of building something that will last. They used green features like non-toxic, no-VOC paint, water saving faucets and toilets, ecological landscape design and locally sourced oak floors. The roof is metal – which can last virtually forever – and the siding is essentially maintenance free cement board that is impervious to just about everything.

Natural light is a key component of the design as well. The windows, primarily on the south side, bring light deep into the home, including from the third floor down a central staircase. The windows are so insulated that they were warm to the touch on the inside, even when the temperature was quite brisk outside.

As we left the house after more than an hour, I couldn’t help but be excited about what a wonderful example of a true house of the future we have right here in Oak Park. But I also was a little troubled by some of what I had learned. So much of what made this house so special was not from the United States. The windows were from the Canada, the condensing clothes dryer that required no outside vent was from Germany, and the heat exchanger was from the Far East. Even the concept of super insulation and passive heating was European.

With all of our talk about wanting to be the world leader in green technology, the United States is still far behind when it comes to designing and producing the products that will make it happen. I remain optimistic, however. The U.S. has always been about individuals blazing a trail through the wilderness that eventually becomes the superhighway for future progress. Perhaps Mary Chris and Roy are leading the way. Now, it up to the rest of us to follow their lead.

If you would like to learn more about their no-furnace house, visit their blog at Four Thick Walls, One House, One Family, No Furnace.

With everyone concerned about the economy, it was appropriate to begin the $8.5 million Roosevelt Road Improvement Project on the Friday before Labor Day.

Optimism filled the air as Governor Quinn, who provided crucial support in our pursuit of federal and state funding assistance ($7 million) joined local village and legislative leaders to break ground to start this major south Oak Park public works project. After nearly ten years of planning and two years of designing, improvements are finally underway.

The collaboration between Berwyn, Cicero, and Oak Park to design a unified streetscape and zoning district is unprecedented.

Roosevelt Road, named in 1919 for President Theodore Roosevelt, the original conservationist, is home to an array of excellent small businesses and neighborhood services.  Roosevelt Road is one of those places where the dream of starting ones own business continues to flourish.   Recent trends have featured the growth of the hispacnic community along the corridor.    

I fully expect that within five years the $8.5 million in public investment on the Roosevelt Road Corridor, will be tripled by private investors as they improve and fix up their aging properties to match the new standard being set. 

Rebuilding our infrastructure creates jobs and it is estimated that 100 various construction jobs will be necessary to complete this project over the next year.   Although Roosevelt Road appears built out, there are currently several vacant buildings within the corridor.   Our goal is to match the 100 construction jobs with another 100 new jobs over the next three years,  by attracting entrepreneurs to invest on Roosevelt and put vacant store fronts to productive use. 

I think we can hit our job creation goal as a result of our communities making this investment and statement about the future of Roosevelt Road.   To monitor our progress, I have asked our planning, building, and business staff to baseline, study, and monitor building vacancies, new investment, and job creation on Roosevelt Road over the next five years.

While the future of Roosevelt Road is promising; dining, shopping, and supporting Roosevelt Road businesses during construction will be more important than ever.

Road Improvement projects are always an extremely challenging time for businesses and we need to stick with the folks who support our neighborhoods despite some occassional orange barrel inconvenience.    Your support of them is deeply appreciated.

And thanks to the many staff, firms, Roosevelt Road business leaders, and our elected officials who came together to create a new vision for Roosevelt Road and stepped up to get it funded.   Let the work begin!   

Residents can safely recycle old electronics and related items from 9 a.m. – noon, Saturday at the Public Works Center, 201 South Blvd. Acceptable items include desktop computers, peripherals, laptops, monitors, televisions, cell phones, rechargeable batteries, printers, fax machines, MP3 players, portable digital assistants, video game consoles, video cassette recorders/players, digital video disk players, zip drives and scanners. Residents must unload their own items. Call 708.358.5700 or e-mail publicworks@oak-park.us for more information.

It’s amazing how quickly our electronics become obsolete and this stuff piles up.   Thanks Karen Rozmus for once again organizing an exceptional environmental public service project.