quote:

Originally posted by GE Fan:

Jean Kaczmareck.

I know I've heard that name before. It results in some interesting Googling, including an apparent visit to the Clinton Rose Garden. There's a also a Jean Kaczmarek (note the different spelling at the end of the name) from Glen Ellyn who is a Great Diebold Conspiracy type. Ultimate White Pages, though, returns one Kaczmereck and two Kaczmerek entries for Glen Ellyn. So qualify any Google results through that prism. Who would have guessed it was that popular a name??

quote:

Originally posted by middlein87:

quote:

Originally posted by GE Fan:

Jean Kaczmareck.

I know I've heard that name before. It results in some interesting Googling, including an apparent visit to the Clinton Rose Garden. There's a also a Jean Kaczmarek (note the different spelling at the end of the name) from Glen Ellyn who is a Great Diebold Conspiracy type. Ultimate White Pages, though, returns one Kaczmereck and two Kaczmerek entries for Glen Ellyn. So qualify any Google results through that prism. Who would have guessed it was that popular a name??

She stood up at the last TBS meeting with a very long story of her life and why she and her husband moved to town. . . yada yada yada. . . Then she said she was in favor of the TBS Studio Study. . . . yada yada yada and how TBS would save the town and the reasons she moved here would be restored.

OK GEM, I will chime in with something nice (yada yada yada).

Jean has a lot of opinions on many issues, of which I might agree on the minority. She is very generous with her time. Her husband and son are killer chess players. Her daughter plays classical piano, and at my Christmas party even made my crappy piano sound great.

OK, back to the bowls of milk.

Other than Jen Shannon...the only people that I know on this list are way older than Ron Kas . Not that is anything wrong with the 60+ set or their opinions. It just doesn't seem like a very diverse group. Just a group that will agree with one another...and perhaps the village president. But in all fairness to Vicky, I would have criticized any choices she would have made. Even if she had picked my own wife. That's just what I do.

My 4th annual 49th birthday is coming up soon.

quote:

Originally posted by middlein87:

quote:

Originally posted by GE Fan:

Dr. Riebock is on the committee...I take it TIFs are off the table.

I would hope so. I mean, a TIF is only going to shift more of the burden to residential taxes.

Shouldn't all options be on the table when STARTING a plan?

And wouldn't the burden only shift if the taxpayers were further burdened with additional tax levies or referendums?

I'm utterly disappointed that a builder, developer and/or fund manager is not on the committee. Plus, the only lawyer on there is an education lawyer. How about a land use, zoning or development attorney? I am pretty happy to see a highly qualified banker on the committee.

But, the good thing is that BOTH the historical society AND the preservation group are represented...so we have that going for us.....which is nice.

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Other than Jen Shannon...the only people that I know on this list are way older than Ron Kas . Not that is anything wrong with the 60+ set or their opinions. It just doesn't seem like a very diverse group. Just a group that will agree with one another...and perhaps the village president. But in all fairness to Vicky, I would have criticized any choices she would have made. Even if she had picked my own wife. That's just what I do.

I'm pretty sure Beth Howley of GoDowtown is in her late 30's. Beth and Jen are the only folks I recognize out of the group. I plan on participating in as many focus groups or charettes as they'll let me, I hope many of you do the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Other than Jen Shannon...the only people that I know on this list are way older than Ron Kas . Not that is anything wrong with the 60+ set or their opinions. It just doesn't seem like a very diverse group. Just a group that will agree with one another...and perhaps the village president. But in all fairness to Vicky, I would have criticized any choices she would have made. Even if she had picked my own wife. That's just what I do.

Why do they keep doing this? Can't they find REAL change agents? Do we have to have the same old fogies making these decisions? I'm looking forward to more quilt stores and a bitter fight (not really) to preserve the empty storefront's that are true to Glen Ellyn history.

quote:

Originally posted by ronkas:

Jean has a lot of opinions on many issues, of which I might agree on the minority. She is very generous with her time. Her husband and son are killer chess players. Her daughter plays classical piano, and at my Christmas party even made my crappy piano sound great.

OK, back to the bowls of milk.

So, Ron, is the Jean K. you know the actual woman selected or not? Does -merek = -mereck? Just wondering, because it's an easy mistake for the Herald to make.

And I would like to know if one of the selected members is the same person that (per some Google results) believes that evil political operatives have infiltrated every electronic voting machine in the nation and can control election outcomes from their secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows. All right, I'm paraphrasing a little. But seriously, if this is the case, my confidence in the panel isn't exactly boosted by the selection. I'll put aside the partisan connections that one can read between the lines of the Google results.


Presuming this is the same person, of course..........

quote:

Originally posted by ronkas:
OK GEM, I will chime in with something nice (yada yada yada).

Jean has a lot of opinions on many issues, of which I might agree on the minority. She is very generous with her time.

Agreed she is generous with her time, but that doesn't make it good business. Her reasons for supporting TBS at the meeting was entirely based on emotional appeal, not on anyone having any special qualifications to tackle the problems at hand. This alone makes me question why she would be advising. Her imagery about Glen Ellyn being like Mayberry and wishing it was like that again won't solve any of the problems in the CBD and will more than likely be misleading, doing nothing to restore the economic health. Her advise would be like taking a deposition and getting answers such as: I think. . . . Or I believe. . . . Its useless! Its like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! Nothing personal towards Jean she is a very nice person . . . Nothing personal, just business

Don't recognize a single name on the list - other than the supe. Does that mean there's another cabal I've been excluded from?

I can't be too disappointed in this committee as I don't know exactly what they - or the $100K consultants - are supposed to be doing. I will observe that the 4-meeting agenda struck me as textbook advisory workgroup BS.

I do agree with the folks who have observed that GE seems consistent in avoiding involvment by the most capable of its residents. During my 10+ year residence I have been consistently impressed by what I consider the amateurish efforts of well-intentioned actors in just about every facet of the village and the schools. The whole Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "Let's put on a show!" approach no longer impresses me. A "can-do" attitude by itself is insufficient substitute for competence and experience.

I for one welcome our strangely picked, but picked none the less, panel of folks leading our downtown into a bright and exciting future.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueEchoes:
I for one welcome our strangely picked, but picked none the less, panel of folks leading our downtown into a bright and exciting future.

If they are leading, then you must follow. I only believe that the lead dog is the one with the best view!

Hmmmm. I put my name in - wrote a nice little letter and all but NOPE. Guess they don't want to hear from a mom with two kids in the schools who has lived here for 14 1/2 years, and whose husband has lived here since 1974, and who is an active member of the GEBB, and who shops downtown frequently, and who is open to working with TBS, and who attends church in downtown GE, and who happens to have a lot more time on her hands even though she normally works full-time, bringing both the full time mom and full time working mom perspective to the board...but then again, there are probably a lot of people like me who wanted to be on this committee. Oh well. It would have been interesting. I only recongnize a couple of the names on the list too - which, considering my involvement with so many different groups in town (Forest Glen, Hadley, GW, D41 PTA Council, AAUW, First Con), is kind of suprising.

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
Hmmmm. I put my name in - wrote a nice little letter and all but NOPE. Guess they don't want to hear from a mom with two kids in the schools who has lived here for 14 1/2 years, and whose husband has lived here since 1974, and who is an active member of the GEBB, and who shops downtown frequently, and who is open to working with TBS, and who attends church in downtown GE, and who happens to have a lot more time on her hands even though she normally works full-time, bringing both the full time mom and full time working mom perspective to the board...but then again, there are probably a lot of people like me who wanted to be on this committee. Oh well. It would have been interesting. I only recongnize a couple of the names on the list too - which, considering my involvement with so many different groups in town (Forest Glen, Hadley, GW, D41 PTA Council, AAUW, First Con), is kind of suprising.

Is it?

Yes, it's surprising, typo-man!

Tonight is the GoDowntown meeting at Figo at 8:00 and TBS is going to be there. If you have any questions you'd like me to bring forward, just write them here and I'll do my best.

I'll post a summary of the meeting here tomorrow.

How'd that go?

Overall, I thought it went pretty well. Their were approximately 20-25 people in attendance, of which three were business owners. They started with asking what the town liabilities were, then we moved into the town's assets and finally what would we like to see. John with TBS did a good job of facilitating, we had a couple of participants go off on "war stories" and he and Diane McGinley would reign them in. I think TBS will be posting a summary of this and other meetings once their GE website is up. There was nothing that was stated at this meeting that hasn't been mentioned on this BB and if I were TBS, I would go through the postings to really get a sense on the level of frustration residents are experiencing. I also think there are some excellent ideas that have been posted. Candidate and I had a debriefing afterwards at THG and I will say I admire his passion regarding this subject. After our discussion, I'm of the opinion that the GEBD really needs some dramatic changes to make it viable.

On a side note, I had the opportunity to speak with the owner of Cosmos, a nice woman and one who I have seen at every GoDowntown meeting I have attended. We spoke for about 10 minutes and she gave me a high level overview of her experience in getting her business set-up. I won't get into details as I know she wants to remain neutral in this community, but I will say I have considerable admiration for her perseverance. I think TBS would do well to interview her and other business owners in order to really understand the challenges of running a business in GE.

Yoss:

Were any property owners in attendance?