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GlenEllynite |
Someone pointed out to me that the planning and consulting firm that Glen Ellyn hired, for one reason or another, hired another consultant from Cleveland (yes.... that Cleveland) by the name of Christopher Diehl. Mr. D. is not listed on the original consultant's website, so one has to wonder exactly how and why he came to the table...other than to be the consultant to the village's consultants.
Mr. Diehl was quoted no fewer than five times in today's GE News article on page 4. Mr. Louthen and the TBS staff...zero. Which leads one to ask, who is in charge of this project? A tiny bit research (one minutes worth) shows why Mr. Diehl was selected by TBS as the consultant's consultant: "Diehl, 45, earned a bachelor's degree in environmental design at Miami University of Ohio in 1983 and a master's degree in architecture at Harvard University in 1988. He pursued postgraduate studies in architecture and film at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste in Frankfurt, Germany, and interned in Spain with Pritzker Prize winner Rafael Moneo. Diehl joined the Cleveland office of the engineering and architecture firm URS in 1999 after two years of teaching at Penn State University. At URS, he heads a design staff of 24 in an office dominated by more than 120 engineers." But the question that keeps coming back to my little mind is...why the need for another URS guy when we have already hired the best firm out there?  |
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GlenEllynite |
Yes, I too thought that this was quite interesting.
Help me out here - are we paying experts to formulate a plan or are these "experts" just going to retread the citizen's ideas? Here's my idea, all of the bushes, snicker, should be trimmed as such.  "Often Wrong, Never in Doubt" |
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GlenEllynite |
Was it a secret that TBS had never really done this before?
Just take a look at the five options listed in that joke of an article... All but one (the parking) fall into the "Let's try to put a dress on a pig" category. Not one mention of economic development, not one mention of cleaning up the existing situation with the dumps of buildings we have in the CBD. No amount of "green space" is going to attract any foot traffic.... if there is nothing to drive traffic towards! I'm glad it was at least, finally, mentioned in that article that no one is going to use any green space adjacent to the train tracks with the trains whizzing by every 5 minutes. The inevitable could just be accelerated... call it "PADS Park". |
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GlenEllynite |
The Mickey Mouse tie was a harbinger of things to come, I knew it.
"Deck the halls..." |
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GlenEllynite |
I wonder when they realized they were over their heads and needed outside help...because I cannot imagine there is any other explanation. If I'm wrong, I'd love to hear it.
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GlenEllynite |
Seriously, how much money could these people have pocketed if they had to pay this guy to come in from Cleveland? $100K seemed pretty low for a quality consulting engagement of this magnitude. Especially for the number of meetings they were required to run.
Here's his bio: Diehl, 45, earned a bachelor's degree in environmental design at Miami University of Ohio in 1983 and a master's degree in architecture at Harvard University in 1988. He pursued postgraduate studies in architecture and film at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste in Frankfurt, Germany, and interned in Spain with Pritzker Prize winner Rafael Moneo.  "More green space!" So, as it turns out... the consulting firm that the Village selected couldn't build a simple website, and they couldn't even deliver the services they were contracted to provide. NICE JOB EVERYONE!!! |
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GlenEllynite |
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GlenEllynite |
Now if this picture was in the newspaper and a guy was just doodling on the train ... |
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GlenEllynite |
Is it just me or... Oh never mind.
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GlenEllynite |
I was thinking more this:
 |
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GlenEllynite |
Didn't Nick Swisher sport that look for a while???
Go Sox!!  |
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GlenEllynite |
And you are surprised about this latest developement? The vociferous little minority strikes again!
I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world. |
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GlenEllynite |
Is this Whizzo? |
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GlenEllynite |
Yes it is. I was driving down Main street the other day, thinking about the various proposals. I didn't think the 1 way streets were a big problem - if anything, they add character. And if they were properly striped, they could really lead traffic through and around the downtown - almost like a village square effect. And I don't understand the appeal of grass instead of commuter parking, and don't understand where the commuters would go... S of the tracks I thought, "My, how nice it would be if we had a nice building N of Geische's instead of a surface parking lot. Maybe if a building were built to modern retail standards - perhaps with a particular tenant in mind. Maybe they could incorporate a parking deck in the development, with perhaps some sesidential apartments/condos above." Now how's that for a radical idea? Heck, done intelligently it would require little/no public funds. Of course it wouldn't be as much of a draw as a floral clock. Or a fountain in front of the Village Hall... Oh yeah - driving down Main from North, I didn't really see how an additional strip mall N of the Walgreens would necessarily add anything, or create the type of "welcome" our town wants/deserves. And the dry cleaner's building is a real treasure. Seriously! |
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GlenEllynite |
Noony, Noony, Noony! Yup |
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GlenEllynite |
Yeah, we disussed that in our small group...and the part about putting a parking deck in place of the fire station was not exactly what we proposed either. We proposed incorporating a new fire station into a parking deck with a welcome center housing the COC and EDC as one retail space and potentially another, anchor retailer as well. We suggested a rooftop restaurant there too....none of that was mentioned but hopefully it's still in the notes. The underground ped crossing for the RR wasn't mentioned either. We thought one could easily be put in at Forest. So, I don't know what they've really proposed. OH, and our suggestion to fix the congestion with all the streets coming together at Crescent and Main as well as Crescent and Park was to make Park one way going North and Main one way going south from Pennsylvania to Duane. "The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith. " -Bertrand Russell V. Delong |
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GlenEllynite |
The obvious win/win here is to put a two-level deck with the top level roughly the same elevation as Main Street. It would extend all the way to Glenwood, taking over the St. Pets lot, and knocking down that residence just west of Giesche's. That would certainly give enough parking for all of the downtown businesses south of the tracks, and might promote better development on the South side of Duane west of Main. The lower deck would, I think, be a slight dip for St. Pet's parishoners, but frankly, that'd be an improvement over the 40% grade we have to drive up and down to get into the current lot (take a look at the scrapes in the asphalt on Glenwood). The floral clock would probably stay, with such a proposal. The parking lot behind it would be removed and replaced at the proper elevation. North of the tracks I think you knock out all the buildings between Penn, Crescent, the alley behind the Main St. buildings and whatever that N/S street that McChesney's and the Glen Oak are on. Then you put up a two tier lot, with the top level a little higher than Penn, and the bottom tier a little lower than Crescent. You ring the deck with high-class storefront shopping/ restaurants for Mews residents. |
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GlenEllynite |
I've always thought the downtown traffic pattern was near perfect.
It makes it a destination - anything else and it becomes a thoroughfare. I don't think the Village would benefit from speeding up cross town travel times by a fraction of a minute. I do not think it is in our best interests to facilitate truck and travel traffic looking for alternatives to RT 53 from North Ave to Roosevelt. Increasing flow did nothing for Lombard. Our travel pattern is found in many quaint village's, from Wheaton to beyond, it is also used in many upscale shopping areas that seek to recapture small town scale and pace. Wrecking it will only bring us that one step further to making Park, Main, Western or Lorraine a four lane road with traffic lights as have blighted far too many area communities already. |
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GlenEllynite |
Agreed. And, again....why the hell is this Christopher Diehl guy involved? He seems quite competent but we didn't hire him. We hired RinoCo....are they not competent? I know who is not competent - our Board for letting this happen. "Often Wrong, Never in Doubt" |
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GlenEllynite |
I agree with jombl...again. I wanted to say something snide and smarmy about Amy's group's traffic thinking...but I am really afraid of her lately. I think if I cross her...it would be bad. Bad for me. |
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