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Home My WebLink About10/12/2002 CWC minutes MINUTES VILLAGE OF MOUNT PROSPECT COFFEE WITH COUNCIL SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2002 9:00 A.M. 2n~ Floor Conference Room, Village Hall The meeting was convened at 9:00 a.m. Those present were Trustees Michaele Skowron, Paul Hoefert, Irvana Wilks and Michael Zaedel. Representing Village staff was Assistant Village Manager Dave Strahl and Chief of Police Richard Eddington. Residents In Attendance Craig Iverson Carol Tortorello Joanne Engstrom Donald Burger Gordon McLenaghan David Schein Steve Skokacek Luisa Rodriguez 214 S. Wille 223 S Elmhurst Avenue 110 N. Kenilworth Avenue 210 W. Bob-o-Link 428 W. Bob-o-Link 512 Nawata 332 S. Prairie 1416 S. Roberta,D~te .' Craig Iverson, 214 S. Wille Street, inquired about parkway restoration. He was concerned that there was a prohibition of having flower gardens on the parkway. The issue became focused on the restoration of a flowerbed in his parkway. He was directed to contact Joe Michalik (847) 870-5640 of Public Works to coordinate the restoration and facilitate the planting of his tulip bulks. Mr. Iverson wanted to be sure that once the tulip bulks are planted they would not be covered by sod restoration. Mr. Iverson also expressed concems on the narrowing of northbound Emerson at Northwest Highway. The explanation of channeling the traffic and the timing of the signals was discussed at length. Donald Burger, 408 Bob-o-Link, and Gordon McLenaghan, 428 W. Bob-0rLink, came to Coffee with Council to discuss an ongoing situation with the Auto Barn Car Dealership. The background to this is when the Auto Barn took over the dealership; the footprint of the dealership was changed so that the service and delivery occur in the rear of the dealership, which is adjacent to the residential area. The following is a list of five things that the neighborhood would like addressed with the Auto Barn: 1. Scrap metal pick up after 8:00 a.m. 2. Deliveries after 8:00 a.m. 3. A timer on the air compressor system. 4. A timer on the exhaust fan system. 5. A prohibition on the use of horns when turning blind comers in the rear of the dealership. n interesting side issue to this matter is that sometime in the early sixties the residences that butted the dealership at that time sold twenty feet of their backyards to that dealership. Carol Tortorello, 223 South Elmhurst, brought in a Tribune editorial from 10/10/02 that discussed the increase of traffic fines and the use of cameras at intersections. After a long discussion, it was decided that the Village would monitor the progress of Chicago. Based on that information, a decision whether this is an undertaking for the Northwest Municipal Conference to address the chronic traffic problems in the Village and Northwest suburbs. Joanne Engstron, 110 N. Kenilworth Avenue, came to Coffee with Council to discuss correspondence she had received from George Wagner the Attorney for the Village of Mount Prospect. This letter was in relation to an ongoing neighbor dispute regarding a shared driveway. Steve Skodaeek, 332 S. Prarie, attended Coffee With Council to discuss his Halloween display. Mr. Skodacek wanted to make sure there were no violations by having the display. He stated that the display runs from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. and a little bit later on Halloween night. Further, it would be run Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of Halloween. He was concerned about neighborhood complaints. He is willing to adjust the sound level and be as cooperative as possible so as to insure that the display can continue. The Village Board members present, Assistant to the Village Manager and the Police Chief were unaware of any complaints regarding the display in prior years. However, Mr. Skodacek pointed out that last year's attendance was down due to 9/11 and the year before, there had been a major traffic problem. The Website for the display is www.thehaunting~332.com. David Schein, 512 Nawata, attended Coffee With Council as a representative of the Youth Commission. The Youth Commission has come to an agreement on what recommendation should be made to the Village Board regarding go peds or motorized scooters. Trustee Skowron suggested that this information be presented to the board during the citizen comment session. Luisa Rodgriguez, 1416 S. Robert Drive, came to Coffee With Council due to her dismay with a bulk garbage pickup. Staff had already arranged for a pickup on Monday; however, a lengthy discussion ensued regarding the roles of bulk pickup, specifically surrounding construction materials. The staff will follow up to make sure the pickup occurs on Monday the 14th of October. Assistant Village Manager Dave Strahl distributed the tentative schedule for Capaunari's Night at the Movies for summer of 2003. Trustee Skowrown suggested that DB Sound Stage, a firm in Mount Prospect, be contacted for some suggestions regarding an alternate sound system. This sound system would be less disruptive to the neighbors at 10 S. Pine Street. The meeting concluded at 10:45 a.m. Richard Eddington / Chief of Police r vers: ["~ ince so many Chicagoans appear to be color- .~ blind when it comes to red lights and stop ~ signs, the city has decided green just might get their attention. Green as in cash, that is. Chicago is leoking at roughly doubling the traf- fig fmee for such violations as framing a red light, l~oubled intersections. The company that provides the services for Washington and Baltimore says red4ight running at covered intersections has been reduced 70 per- cent in the nation's capital and 45 percent in Balti- more. New York installed its first intersection camera zipping through a stop sign or speeding down the nine years ago. It now has 50 operational cam- street. Fines for these violations, which now eras--andleveragesthosewith200mucheheaper ronge from $50 to $200, would become $100 to $500..dummy cameras. Drivers never know which cam- Butmakingpeople paymore in frees on!yhelps eras are operational and which aren't. Red-light when violators are caught and ticketed by over: runners get photos cgthemselves committing the 'worked cops. Short of hiring an army of tralTic offense and $55 tickets in the mail. The program cops, that's never going to be an effective solution., brought in $10 raillion in flues last year, after sub- Fortunately, it's not the only measUre Cl~cago is tracting out its cost. , ~ ~. ,' -'°nsidering.,':.:.'. ~' :'~,:' ~'?. BeeauseChicagowon'tbegoingfn'st, itcanalso ~ ~ld. Thomas. Allen (38th), chairman Of the cit~ benefit from lessons learned by other jurisdic-, ?~ l Transportation C,6mmitt'e~,' recoguizesi' 'tions that use automated traffic enforcement:, xi frees are 0nl~r a piece of the puzzle. Hisf There are privacy and fairness issues to be con- ~ is ~o'convene a hearing Friday to leog, ' sidered. What options will drivers h~ve ifthey feei ,~h means of curtailing-wha( has ,~ traffic menaco. That includas install-' :,:~ State legTslation may not be needed to stskrt an, program here because ignal,.viola[ors in' · the authority may already be covered by Chica:: photos, accompanied by ~ckets, carl go's home rule powers· That could avoid a mes~/ then be mailed to the violators. : I s about time. Anyon6 who g~ts behind the :i' wheel in Chicago knows just how dangerous the ~streets are because drivers routinely flout basic .t~r[T~c rules, accelerating through red lights and , ignoring stop signs. ~ ', ~'It's the Wild West out there," said Allen. "Yel- ~',~ ]6W means, 'Hurry up·' Red means, 'If that guy ',g6es, I'm going.' It's contagious. The rules of the r0ad don't exist anymore.~', , ?i; This is not a problem confined to chicago~ of "~urse. According to the U.S. Depattl~ent' of Transportation, there are L8 million iritersection crashes each year. Red-light nmning caused hasmatchedthephoteswith_,d,,ri,'~v.ef'slicensepho- 106,000 crashes in 2000, killing 1,036people and in-' tos. (It discards tho,se that can t be matched.) ~ juring another 89,000. Making Chicago s' streets safer goes beyond ; Precisely because this is a national problem, ' locking up criminals. R means taking advantage .,~. iChicagocanbenefltfromtheexperlehceofother of every tool available to make sUre driving ~".'i' cities that are eons ahead when i% comes to con- through anintersection doesn't turninto a death- · i frohting the dangen New York, Los Angales, Phil- defying fsat. Mayor Richard Daley 1Lkes to portray eadelphia, San Francisco,. Washington, D.C. and ChicagoasaleaderinUrbanstrategtes. We'reway Baltimore are among the nation's larges~ cities, behind on this one. It's time to give.these life-sav- that are Sdccessfully using electronic cameras a~ ing ideas a green light: legislative flghi. It is important, however, that th~ - city involve local courts and judges in planning a program. If the courts are hostile to automated en- forcement: it won't be worth the effort and ex- pense. The city also should decide early on who is go- ing to be ticketed--the driver or the registered owner of the can. New York treats its automated red-light tickets similar to parking tickets--no points on the license--and sends them to the reg- istered owner of the can San Francisco. on th~'Oth- er hand, takes photos from the front, then sends those out as $271moving violation tickets after it