Foreclosure Seminar

Earlier this week I attended a program sponsored by the The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago titled, “Taking Action: Local Government Strategies to Mitigate the Impact of Foreclosures on Communities.” The program was held on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, at the Federal Reserve Bank.

Along with much of the nation, metropolitan Chicago has recently seen a dramatic increase in the number of foreclosures. According to the latest figures in March 2008 from the Woodstock Institute: Between 2005 and 2007, the number of properties with foreclosure filings in the region increased by nearly 80 percent. The number of properties with foreclosure filings grew to 38,215 in 2007 which was an increase of nearly 32 percent from a previous high of 28,997 in 2006. This is on the heels of a 36 percent increase between 2005 and 2006.

Suburban communities have seen the largest recent growth in foreclosure filings. Between 2005 and 2007, the areas with the greatest increases included DuPage County, Northwest Suburban Cook County, and Kane County which all had the number of properties with foreclosure filings roughly double. It is likely that foreclosures will continue to rise in 2008 as regional property values stagnate or decline; refinance options remain limited for homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages; and the monthly mortgage payments on many loans reset to higher levels. However, as foreclosures mount, many suburban communities may also be unable to manage the foreclosure glut.

The objective of this meeting was to provide local government leaders a forum in which to discuss the tools and strategies necessary for mitigating the impact of foreclosures on community. The topics included:

• An overview of the regional foreclosure state of affairs and examine the implications of foreclosures on local government (revenue and assessments, property values, safety, etc.)
  
• Focus attention on the legal aspects of foreclosures in terms of the local authority to enact responsive ordinances and policies aimed at preventing the issues related to building vacancy
  
• Identify best practices, both locally and nationally, where governments have implemented innovative programs to address foreclosures within their communities (for example: maintenance ordinances, vacant building registries, and land banking)

Overall it was quite interesting and put the issue into perspective, some of the ideas are fits for us and I will push them forward here in Round Lake

Community Rummage Sale--- for the Relay for Life

Join the Village of Round Lake in the fight for a cure with our 1st annual community garage sale.

When: Saturday June 7th Time: 8:00AM – 3:00PM
Where: The Village of Round Lake’s Police & Public Works Building at 751 W. Townline Rd

Everyone in the community is invited to come out and hunt for bargains. All proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society by our very own team “The Round Lake Village People” at the Relay for Life overnight walk Anything you wish to donate can be dropped off at the Public Works building starting June 1st.

If you are not able to bring it in, your donation can be picked up at your home by contacting Sherry Perkowitz at (847) 452-3681 or Jennifer Blum at (847) 309-7018. Anyone interested in either making monetary donations or joining our Relay for Life Team can do so at www.relayforlife.org

We hope to have you come out, enjoy the day, buy some great items and help in the fight against cancer with your community!

Passenger moons speed camera

I got this from one of my favorite sites Boing Boing, and since we all seem to be tense with my last couple posts this could be funny. I warn you its mildly graphic so you have been warned adult concepts! Road rage! You could visualize this happening in some Lake County commutes!

Building Safety Where You Live, Work and Play

When you enter a house or building, most likely you’re not thinking about whether it is properly
constructed and safe. Fortunately, your local safety experts think about building safety and fire prevention every day. To help raise awareness of building safety, the Village of Round Lake and the Building Department is celebrating Building Safety Week from May 5 through 11.

Across the nation, communities will promote the use and understanding of building safety and fire prevention codes to protect lives and property. The theme is “Building Safety: Where You Live, Work and Play.” “The important work we do is often overlooked until a catastrophic tragedy occurs,” said Round Lake Building Commissioner Dale Engebretson. “When building safety and fire prevention experts inspect buildings during and after construction, we help to ensure that the places where you live, learn, work and play are safe.”

Building safety and fire prevention codes address all aspects of construction, such as structural soundness of buildings, reliability of fire prevention and suppression systems, plumbing and mechanical systems, and energy efficiency and sustainability. To ensure buildings are safe requires the active participation of building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, builders, engineers, and others in the construction industry, as well as property owners. “Public safety is our number one concern,” said Engebretson. “During Building Safety Week and all year long, building safety and fire prevention officials are here to help protect you and your Round Lake.”

Building Safety Week, first observed in 1980, is sponsored by the International Code Council, a membership organization dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, of which Round Lake is an active member. The International Code Council develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states choose the International Codes—building safety codes developed by the International Code Council.

The picture is of me presents Building Commissioner Dale Engebretson with a proclamation for Building Safety Week.

Section 8 Questions

I have been getting some questions on Section 8 housing recently. So I thought I would address some of the questions here.

Section 8 housing is run by the Federal government by HUD (Housing and Urban Development Department). Locally the program is administered by the Lake County Housing Authority in Grayslake. The poor local housing environment has led to a growing number of homes being rented out and of course some of them are rented with the Section 8 rental program.

If you own a home and have to rent it, the program makes sense becuase the government is paying the rent on time and regularly. Where it becomes tricky is when the new tenants have less invested in the community then the home owners who live around them.

What I would encourage homeowners who are having legitimate issues with "any of their neighbors" is to contact the village. While we are unable to go into a house without being invited (not likely) we can bring pressure to bear with parking enforcement, property maintenance issues that are not being addressed. Contact the Building Department using this link. (An email will pop up). Code enforcement of parking, mowing, and general cleanliness can be very powerful towards fixing these types of issues.

If there is a loud party or something going on that is not appropriate call the Police, this is how you do it... Dial 911. I can't tell you how many times in the last 7 years someone has told me that such and such a house is doing such and such a thing, and I say did you call 911 and the answer is always as follows:

1. I did and they never come.
   
2. I don't want to be identified
3. I don't want to bother them.

When I hear excuse number 1, I think BS and then write the address down and find out if it's true, and of course it never is. With item 2 you do not have to be identified, and of course number 3 is why would you not want the police to do their job? Trust me the village spends a lot of money on training and equipment so we want them out using it!

What am I telling you? Please let the village know when we have a problem developing, I pride the village staff on being proactive and I prod them to be more proactive constantly, but we can't do and see everything, nor can we recognize every issue, so please let us know, if we can help we will.

Illinois Works Coalition

Illinois' infrastructure is a vital asset that significantly contributes to our overall success. A strong state infrastructure fosters business growth, world-class schools and thriving communities.

Investment in infrastructure creates jobs and sets the stage for Illinois' continued economic leadership. However, it has been nine years since the Illinois General Assembly passed a capital bill.

Illinois Works is a $25 billion capital improvement program designed to make crucial investments in our schools, roads, bridges, airports and transit systems. Crucial investments that will improve our quality of life and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

In the coming weeks and months, this site will be home to a statewide movement calling for the passage of Illinois Works during the spring legislative session.

We ask you to join with us and advocate for passage of Illinois Works. It's time to rebuild our infrastructure and put Illinois to work.

Arbor Day Recap

The third annual Arbor Day event was Saturday, April 19 at the Village Hall and celebrated our 2nd year as a Tree City USA. The rain held off long enough for the crowd to play some tree trivia, do some kid activities, have a snack and select from over 100 trees the village provided.

Our thanks again to our sponsors Home Depot, Highland Green Nursery, The Acres Group, Turks Nursery and Lurvey's. Residents had their choice of evergreens, hybrid elms, oaks and beautiful flowering dogwoods. Officer "G" made a special appearance and took pictures with the kids.

Walk Strong to Make Life Long run/walk event

Please join Gavin South Junior High School’s fight against cancer at our Walk Strong to Make Life Long run/walk event! On Saturday, May 31^st, at Lakewood Forest Preserve, students and adults alike will be running/walking in order to raise money for cancer research. Any interested participants may either pre-register, register upon arrival, or collect pledges from family/friends. The registration fee is $20. (The first 100 registered individuals will receive a t-shirt to commemorate the event.) The event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will include a free breakfast boost for early risers. Please join us as well for a meal at our picnic festivities (nominal fees will apply). Gavin South’s students and faculty are proud to be sponsoring an event through which all proceeds earned will be donated to cancer research.

For further information or to pre-register please contact either Michael Filipowicz or Erin Wilhelm at (847) 546-9336 or visit our website www.firstgiving.com/gavin37 .

Briefs

This will be a brief post becuase I am in Springfield, and a busy beaver! But Paul Hollingsworth insists that I post every day or else!

Hey its Three Years Since the First Post

This weekend the blog turned three! It started off as one thing and has slowly morphed into something else entirely. As many of you know I write another blog, although not as often as this one at my Senate site (www.billgentes.com/blog), and I have been giving serious consideration towards moving this blog to that location where I could write a little bit more freely on issues and give my opinions.

However since this is a birthday post, I will break down the blog by the numbers. With some observations thrown in for good measure.

• Over 1,000 posts and 8,000 comments have appeared on the screens of my readers
• The average number of unique users hovers between 1,100 and 1,500.
• Most of you read the blog in a period between 7am and 9am, or from noon to 1pm. The lunch crowd is almost all from work type domains!
• 474,326 total visitors to the site since its inception (Its actually more but I switched counters and lost some numbers about 2 years ago).
• Those visitors stay an average of 63 seconds.
• The most commented post was one of the school posts about a year ago (I can't find it right now) but it had 273 comments on it.

No matter where I go people tell me they love and read the blog. I was at a campaign event last night in Long Grove and someone told me they read it every day (checking on Route 53). That never fails to get a smile from me when someone notices!

Recently I have not been posting on weekends since I am a wee bit busy, and I don't think the blog has been as good recently (although readership is climbing) but two of my most "enjoyable to write" posts ever were written this month (April Fools and Pumpkins on the Run) so go figure!

Round Lake High School Hall of Fame Next Weekend

The RLHS Athletic Hall of Fame Commitee is hosting our first Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet. The event will be held at the Cultural and Civic Center, May 3rd at 6pm.

The cost of tickets is $30.00. This is going to be one of the greatest nights in our school's history. If you need any information you can contact me at hconkling@rlas-116.org. For ticket information you can contact Jan Prochnow at jprochnow@rlas-116.org.

Saint Joes Math-Letes

Twenty two public and parochial schools and approximately 150 students in the seventh and eighth grades participated in the Carmel Catholic High School Mathematics Contest on February 23rd. Last year, St. Joseph School from Round Lake participated for the first time with one team of seventh graders. While they didn't place in their division, Nick Ezyk brought home an Individual First Place for their division (there are three divisions based on school size).

This year, under the direction of Mr. Jerry Burger, the seventh and eighth grade Math teacher and Math Team Advisor, St. Joseph School entered both a seventh and eighth grade team in their division. The seventh grade math team members are Connor Dierks, Sam Lakoske, Melissa Mahone, Rick Seng, Myra Rivera and Alex Vandergriff. The eighth grade team members are Dalton Daily, Nick Ezyk, Hannah Green, Steven Hubert, Christine Kenyon and Abilgail Patricio.

Armed with their brains, enthusiasm and number 2 pencils, the teams of math-aletes came prepared to compete. The seventh grade team came in SECOND place and the eighth grade team came in FIRST place in their division, with Nick Ezyk also bringing home another Individual First place in their division. Congratulations to both teams and their coach!
NOTE: My apologies for not getting this out sooner, but every time I had it scheduled something pumpkin seemed to happen!

7 Years in Jail errrrrr Office!

Well today is my anniversary of exactly 7 full years as Mayor. I could have sworn I would be out for good behavior, by now! I have learned a lot in the last seven years. Allow me to summarize!

• Trust your instincts, making good decisions is hard and sometimes making those decisions means unpopular results happen.
• Once you have learned how the village works, don't be afraid to take it out for a spin! You would be surprised at some of the results.
• I have made 100's of friends, when I was elected my contacts in Microsoft Outlook were under 200, today I have close to 3,200 (not all are friends I would observe) but many are.
  
• Its much harder then it looks!
• Government moves much slower then you want it to.
  

Some of the other comments or observations I would make are:

• Being Mayor is the single most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.
• Being Mayor is the single most aggravating thing I have ever done in my life.
• Always keep an eye on the "out of the ordinary residents" when they somehow get your cell number make sure you tag them in all "UPPER CASE" in case you "accidentally" answer that phone call. By the way there are 23 of them at this time in my contact list. If you are on this list calling my phone 2 times a day for 5 weeks in a row, is not going to get improve your odds!

Things that I find myself saying more and more!

• Did you call 911? No, then why not?
  
• Thanks for telling me that.
• Please don't park on the grass.
• Yes we do patrol the sub divisions
• No we are not picking on you.
  

Mayoral oddities that only I may find amusing:

• People do not tailgate my car, since it has Mayoral plates, the moment they see that, they drop back suddenly, quite amusing to me! When I drive my daughters car I notice how people are on my tail all the time, outrageous!
  
• 4th graders get the biggest kick out of my mayoral badge, that seems to be the optimal age, lower and they don't get it, higher and they are jaded.
• People of all ages enjoy meeting the Mayor, that never gets old!
• Almost everywhere I go, someone says I love or read the blog!

Best things I have done:

• Modernize the village's operations (not sexy but needed).
• Fixed our police department.
• Started this blog to better communicate.

Worst things I have done:

• Yeah you wish!
  

Community Garage Sale for the Relay for Life

Rummage for Relay Community Garage Sale-- Donations needed!

Join the Village of Round Lake in the fight for a cure with our 1st annual community garage sale.
When: Saturday June 7th Time: 8:00AM – 3:00PM
Where: The Village of Round Lake’s Police & Public Works Building at 751 W. Townline Rd

Everyone in the community is invited to come out and hunt for bargains. All proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society by our very own team “The Round Lake Village People” at the Relay for Life overnight walk

Anything you wish to donate can be dropped off at the Public Works building starting June 1st. If you are not able to bring it in, your donation can be picked up at your home by contacting Sherry Perkowitz at (847) 452-3681or Jennifer Blum at (847) 309-7018. By the way the picture is of last years team at 6am in the morning, not a pretty sight, but a rewarding one!

Anyone interested in either making monetary donations or joining our Relay for Life Team can do so at www.relayforlife.org We hope to have you come out, enjoy the day, buy some great items and help in the fight against cancer with your community!

Parents Night at Grant High School

Last night was parents night for Grant High School's Girls Track and Field team, where they recognized the parents of the seniors on the team. It is always a nice ceremony and I vowed not to miss it when my girl was a senior.

Denise has been a squad member over her four years on the varsity with the team finishing 8th in 2007, 4th in 2006 and 7th in 2005. She has long jumped, triple jumped, run relays and sprints and has turned into a decent 3,200 runner (2 miles) in her senior year. I am very very proud of her!

She is running 4th in the picture (#9) at a recent invitational in Wisconsin. Denise is going to be a bilingual art teacher and will attend Illinois State this fall.