Northbrook Star
Year in review: Mother Nature claims top story in Northbrook in 2011
1 Mother Nature has an angry year
Northbrook residents should not be strangers to harsh weather, but this year was a tough one even for lifelong residents.
By January, village officials were already seeing public works costs spiral as heavy snows in December and January led to increased overtime costs and salt use.
Then on Feb. 2, a blizzard dumped more than 17 inches of snow on Northbrook in only 15 hours, closing local schools for multiple days and keeping work crews busy round-the-clock. Northbrook Village President Sandy Frum made a formal Declaration of Emergency and Disaster for the village that day.
But worse was to come, a the heavy snows were followed up with even more damaging rain storms.
On June 22, a severe rainstorm knocked out power to about 5,800 customers in Northbrook, some for several days. A week later another storm left about 1,500 customers in the dark.
The succession of severe storms culminated in a short-lived July 11 morning blast that left behind extensive damage and the second highest number of ComEd customers without power in the company’s history.
The storm, the third in less than a month, dumped about a quarter inch of rain on Northbrook in just a few minutes. Wind gusts in excess of 70 mph and several lightening strikes caused damage to trees that survived the first two storms and knocked out power to 3,642 ComEd customer in Northbrook alone.
ComEd representatives heard a litany of complaints from both village homeowners and trustees in a July 26 meeting at Northbrook Village Hall. The meeting brought forward many residents who told ComEd that power outages happened anytime there is a storm, not just major ones.
“My suspicion with this is they have a lot of aging infrastructure,” said David Valentine a Royal Oaks resident. “There’s something wrong with the infrastructure there.”
The anger culminated in August during a hearing of the Illinois House’s Public Utilities Committee featuring Cook and Lake County mayors and village managers at the Highland Park Country Club demanding action from ComEd to fix weakend power lines.
Anne Pramaggiore, ComEd president and chief executive officer, testified at the hearing that it was a “very challenging summer” for both ComEd and its customers.
Pramaggiore said there were 10 major storms throughout the summer, a number of which were record-setting and ComEd has tried to respond as quickly as possible. “The July 11 storm was the largest in our history,” she said, and had a “hurricane-like in impact,” knocking out power to more than 900,000 customers.
2 District 31 referendumfails, gets second chance
District 31 officials were severely disappointed in early April when a tax rate increase referendum was defeated by more than a two-to-one margin.
But after a year of more budget-cutting and the acceptance of a salary freeze by the teachers union, the district decided to give the referendum a second try, voting at year’s end to place another referendum on next year’s general primary election ballot.
District 31 officials said a successful referendum would have allowed the district to collect $2.236 million in additional revenue over tax revenue collected last year.
For a typical house officials said a successful referendum would have resulted in a tax increase of $59 per $1,000 of taxes paid last year.
Though the ballot itself cited the 49 cent increase in the rate, it did not specify that a portion of that, 17.8 cents, is the result of the 2010 reassessment of Northfield Township.
The issue was further confused by the ballot, which under statute could not reflect the impact of the Cook County multiplier, which also affects the amount of taxes collected.
In an April budget decision, the board cut more than $1 million from the budget and asked parents to pay higher school fees.
The new spending reductions will come on top of cuts totaling about $500,000 the district has already made in the last two years, including elimination of French at Field, said school board President David Handler.
Teachers in September agreed to forgo any salary increase this year in a new one-year contract between the district and the West Northfield Teachers’ Association.
Even with more than $1 million in cuts they made last spring following a failed referendum, the district anticipates a deficit of more than $1.5 million in the Education Fund, the largest operating fund, at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2012.
And in December, the District 31 Board of Education voted unanimously to pursue a 27 cent tax rate increase referendum question in hopes of raising an additional $1.55 million in revenue.
3 Father Kamp of Divine Word dies
The Rev. Francis J. Kamp of the Divine Word Missionaries died Sept. 3, at age 91.
Few individuals have had as much impact on Northbrook. As the longtime head of the Techny missionary, his reaction to the suburban sprawl of the 1970s and 1980s was both vital to the continuation of the order’s mission and key to the modern development of Northbrook’s east side.
Many developers and at least three towns — Northbrook, Glenview and Northfield — wanted the 770-acre property. Father Kamp realized that by leasing most of the sprawling tract, he could both ensure a steady stream of income and guide the development of the land around the mission.
Father Kamp engineered a 1988 deal for Northbrook to annex it, including about 133 acres the missionaries retain for their own use. The annexation opened the way for development, while 100-year leases kept the property in the hands of the religious order.
The move was controversial, “and it required many, many hours of public hearings,” said village attorney Steve Elrod. “Hundreds and hundreds of people came out, and Father Kamp sat there in the front row with a smile on his face — not too big of a smile so as to be arrogant — but with a smile on his face, accepting every comment and lots and lots of criticism from neighbors who did not want to see the property developed.”
He “nodded his head respectfully, and at the end of his hearing said ‘Thank you very much; I still want to develop the property the way I planned it,’ ’’ Elrod said
Father Kamp weighed concerns about traffic and the mix of commercial and residential development.
“He understood how to be a good neighbor,” Elrod said, “but still deliver for his order.”
As a result, more than 600 acres of Divine Word Missionaries property has been leased for commercial and residential use. It’s home to Crate & Barrel’s corporate headquarters; the Willow Festival shopping center at the corner of Willow and Waukegan roads, with a Lowe’s, Whole Foods and REI; the Royal Ridge and Meadow Ridge residential subdivisions; Willow Hill golf course, and the Five Seasons Sports Club. The property also includes dozens of acres of open space and recreation areas that were donated to the Northbrook Park District.
Father Kamp was born Francis Kampschroer in La Crosse, Wis. He was ordained in 1947 and later shortened his name. He served as the order’s national publication director, overseeing magazines and brochures that reported on missions around the globe.
4 Three synagogues merge into one
This summer saw three traditional synagogues form into one, creating the new Northbrook Community Synagogue.
Included in the merger were Northbrook Congregation Ezra Habonim, Maine Township Jewish Congregation of Des Plaines and Adas Yehuda v’ Shoshana of Northbrook.
The goal behind the change, which has made NCS the largest traditional synagogue in the local area, was to create greater unity among the local Jewish community, increase membership, and stimulate registration in the Sunday school program and Hebrew classes.
Focused on the future and growing their traditional Jewish community to eventually include up to 1,000 total members, Marshall Katz, former president of Adas Yehuda v’ Shoshana, said the congregation hopes to attract members from all over the North Shore area, and not just Northbrook.
The spacious synagogue on 2548 Jasper Court in Northbrook has plenty of room for growth. Although on a typical week between 150-250 members attend services, the room used for holding services is large enough to accommodate 1,000 people.
To celebrate their newly unified congregation, the former presidents of each synagogue held an open house for Aug. 21, which included a parade from the former Ezra Habonim site at 2095 Landwehr to the new synagogue, where Torah scrolls were carried from the old to the new site.
5 Judge rules against township board’s road budget cut
A Cook County judge ruled in late July that the Northfield Township Board of Trustees was wrong last year to slashed the budget of Highway Commissioner Peter Amarantos.
Cook County Chancery Judge Nancy Jo Arnold last week granted a motion by Amarantos’ attorney for a directed verdict, in effect ending the year-long lawsuit.
In her ruling Arnold said the board acted improperly when it cut the amount included in the road budget for Robert Dunne, who Amarantos had hired as township emergency management director.
In her ruling Arnold said that the case revolved around the extent of the board’s authority to change the road department’s 2010-11 budget.
Arnold ruled that state law requires the elected highway commissioner to “direct the expenditure of all moneys collected in the district for road purposes” including such things as special services and disaster relief. That includes setting the salaries of members of his department, she said.
“Instead, the board substantively changed the budget,” Arnold said. Specifically, the board reduced the $560,000 Amarantos had included in the budget for “crew and EMS Personnel” by $30,000, effectively cutting Dunne’s salary.
“By passing this budget, with its own modifications, the board effectively ... determined the salary for a specific employee, namely, the emergency management director,” Arnold said.
“The differences between the proposed budget and the budget passed cannot properly be characterized as “adopting” part of the proposed budget,” she continued. “Instead, the board’s action is more appropriately characterized as a substantive ‘change’ and ‘reduction’ in part of the budget.”
The suit was filed in August of last year and asked the court to restore funding for the emergency management director position.
On Jan. 1, 2010, Amarantos hired Dunne, a Glenview resident, at $55,380 annually as director of emergency services and disaster management, making him the second-highest salaried township employee — just below Amarantos’ yearly pay of $57,948.
But in May 2010 township trustees unanimously agreed to cut Dunne’s annual pay by about 40 percent, to $34,153.
At the time Trustee Mary Reynolds, citing the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, said Dunne was hired before the board approved an ordinance to create its own emergency relief department. Trustees contended the hiring violated state law.
6 Census 2010 numbers a let-down
Northbrook officials had hoped the population could top 35,000, making it eligible for an energy efficiency grant.
Instead, the U.S. Census Bureau data released in February put Northbrook’s 2010 population at 33,170, down 265 residents from 2000’s 33,435, about an eighth of a percent decrease.
The news brought a disappointing end to the “Strive for 35” campaign to ensure full village compliance with the 2010 U.S. Census survey.
The village had created its Strive for 35 campaign because had the population reached 35,000 the village would have been eligible for some federal money that is not available to smaller communities.
The new Census figures showed only small changes in the ethnic makeup of Northbrook.
The percentage of white residents declined 3.7 percent to 84.1 percent. Most area communities with the exception of Highland Park showed at least a small drop white residents.
The percentage of Asian/Pacific residents in the village increased by 2.9 percent to 11.7 percent while the percentage of Hispanic residents increased less than 1 percent, from 1.8 to 2.5 percent.
The population set by the U.S. Census for a municipality has financial consequences. The number is used by Illinois for a number of per capita revenue streams, such as a municipality’s share of the state income tax, motor fuel tax, use tax and personal property replacement tax.
By contrast, neighboring Glenview’s 2010 population rose to 44,692. from 41,847.
7 GBN band to play in London on New Year’s
Glenbrook North is among only 12 other U.S. high schools invited to participate in London’s 2012 New Year’s Day Parade and Festival, the city’s biggest celebration.
Glenbrook North Band Directors Rich Chapman and Mark Running will accompany the band on the trip, both agreeing the event would be the most memorable in the school band’s history.
In March, former lord mayor of the City of Westminster Duncan Sandys traveled to Northbrook to present the 90-plus band students and their families with the formal invitation to partake in the 26th annual celebration.
Sandys said the event is the “biggest event of the year” in London and takes place during the first week of January each year. An estimated 20 different countries take part in the parade every year.
“The Americans play an important role in the parade because they bring a lot of color and music to the streets of London,” Sandys said.
The parade route will take the students through the heart of London. The 2.5-mile route begins at the Ritz London Hotel in Westminster and weaves through the downtown streets until finally coming to an end at the historic Parliament Square.
The students will spend six days in London, having departed the day after Christmas and returning the day after New Year’s. Hoping to add to the cultural experience of the trip, Glenbrook North officials set aside days for private tours of London, Oxford, Windsor and other cities, as well as the Stonehenge ruins.
8 NSO, New Traditions join for Sept. 11 concert
Many municipalities in the United States honored the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But Northbrook’s event stood out as it was organized by two of the village’s premiere cultural institutions
The Northbrook Symphony Orchestra and The New Traditions Chorus joined forces for a special Sept. 11 concert “From Sea to Shining Sea — Remembering Our Heroes, Celebrating Our Spirit...10 Years Later.” Though both are based in Northbrook, the Sept. 11 concert marked their first performance together.
The event took place at the Sheely Center for the Performing Arts at on the campus of Glenbrook North High School and included separate performances by each group and a collaboration on several songs including two being arranged just for the event.
The event was the brainchild of NSO Music Director Lawrence Rapchak, who said he wanted the event to be something, uplifting, celebrating what is good about America.
Allstate Insurance signed on as a key sponsor along with several other local sponsors.
Rapchak said the collaboration between the NSO and New Traditions was “long overdue.”
The programme included:
From the Northbrook Symphony — “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Aaron Copland, “Sunrise” from “Grand Canyon” Suite by Ferde Grofe, “A Festive Prelude” by Alfred Reed and “Jubilee” by George Chadwick.
From the New Traditions Chorus: “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie (arr. Jay Giallombardo); “Patriotic Medley” by George M. Cohan (arr. Jay Giallombardo); and “You Raise Me Up/Wind Beneath My Wings” (arr. Jay Giallombardo).
From the Northbrook Symphony and Chorus together — “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “My Grandfather’s Clock” by Henry S. Work; “The Vacant Chair” George Root; and “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor: by Irving Berlin.
9 Northbrook Garage site redeveloped
Northbrook Garage was the oldest family-owned business in Illinois when it closed in downtown Northbrook in 2008, lasting 166 years.
The redevelopment of this desirable site didn’t happen immediately, but 2011 was the year the new businesses finally opened on the site.
The developer, TEF Shermer LLC, owns the property at 1347 and 1349 Shermer Road.
After presenting a plan for the site in spring 2010, development was sidetracked when Panera Bread later pulled out of the project. TEF Shermer could not meet the conditions of the permit and the ordinance granting the permit was nullified
The new plan presented in February instead indluced a Caribou Coffee store and Sherwin Williams paint store, with space left over for other retailers. After an agreement was reached for replanting some displaced trees, the project was approved in spring.
Work continued from there and both Caribou Coffee and Sherwin Williams opened at the beginning of December. TEF Shermer is still looking for retailers for the remaining storefronts.
10 Wood Oaks a Blue Ribbon School
Wood Oaks Junior High School in Northbrook was named a recipient of the 2011 National Blue Ribbon School award.
This year 256 public and 49 private schools were named as National Blue Ribbon Schools. In Illinois, Wood Oaks, in Northbrook School District 27, was one of only three junior high schools to receive the award. State-wide, only 11 public schools were recognized.
The program honors schools throughout the country where students achieve at high levels. Schools that receive this award are ranked among each state’s highest performing schools.
Wood Oaks Principal Marc Schaffer said he was honored to receive the award on behalf of the school community.
“This award represents the excellence and achievement of our students and staff,” Schaffer said. “It is not only recognition for our school and district, but for our community as well.”