quote:

Nicholaou also sees need for more regulation: "There should be some restrictions on how many of the same types of businesses are in the area. ... Otherwise we're all just competing with one another."

....says the dude that opened a coffee shop three doors down from Starbucks.

There is no way to argue with you, Superette. In the decade plus that I have known you, you have proven me time and time again to be an intellectual lightweight while in your presence. You are eloquent, intelligent and brutally witty. Adjectives I have long wished others would use when describing me.

One thing I will agree with. You point out all of the many reasons I chose to move to Glen Ellyn, and you are correct in insinuating that they are the wrong reasons to make such a decision. In hindsight Glen Ellyn probably was a bad choice if one wanted nirvana. If it were not for the relationships that I and my family have forged, I suppose we would have move years ago. If asked by an outsider if Glen Ellyn would be a good place to move their family or open their business...knowing what I know now...sadly, I would have to answer no. Oddly, two towns I never would have dreamed of considering 13+ years ago would be at the top of my recommendation list, Wheaton and Naperville. That whole revelation sort of makes me ill.

Anyway...back to the parking deck. I don't believe it is needed. Never have, never will. A town of 27,000 just doesn't need one. A town of 27,000 just doesn't have the $10MM needed to build one. Our downtown will never get bigger. The footprint is established. I do think that if one were to give grants...perhaps good-sized grants to owners in the CBD to modernize/renovate (in the case of the Banyan Tree Mall....knock it down) their space, along with a concerted effort by the village to play nice-nice with business owners and also keep the place clean (all in favor of replacing one of the full-time meter maids that we have with a full-time CBD cleaning liason, raise you hands) then new business will trickle in. You can't sell a town to investors as an elegant oasis when all you have is a town that is a shell of its former glorious self.

LOL!! Too funny. It's a good thing that I don't frequent either of his places or I'd feel obligated to slap him in the side of the head and force him to tell me the definition of "irony".

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
If asked by an outsider if Glen Ellyn would be a good place to move their family or open their business...knowing what I know now...sadly, I would have to answer no. Oddly, two towns I never would have dreamed of considering 13+ years ago would be at the top of my recommendation list, Wheaton and Naperville. That whole revelation sort of makes me ill.

That's B/S Clamato. When in the last two decades was downtown Glen Ellyn a thriving metropolis? Yes, Glen Ellyn has some issues with its downtown, Village Gov't, Park District, School Boards, etc. but what municipality doesn't? Each and every town/municipality in this nation has these same issues, give or take a few. However, in most other towns the residents don't care enough to talk about them, discuss them and take steps to change them. To me, that makes Glen Ellyn great and certainly worth investing in.

What in the world makes Naperville and Wheaton better than Glen Ellyn? (RibFest...LastFling? ) The housing stock is a lot less diverse, a lot less interesting and isn't any cheaper. The locations are further from the City and less convenient to interstates, etc. The schools, if you drink the ranking cool-aide, are marginally better...but not substantially. The downtowns have more shops, stores, restaurants, etc. but who gives a crap. If you want to go there....drive the 5-10 minutes. If you want to go out for an evening that would make driving unintelligent, there are plenty of places in downtown Glen Ellyn that are perfectly suitable.

Now on to the parks and open space...Glen Ellyn absolutely blows away every surrounding community. Community pride and overall fellowship....Glen Ellyn hangs in there with the best. What would cause you to tell someone not to move here? I'm interested in your reasoning for making such a bold comment. I can understand your justification for not recommending the latter...but the former?

For your dumb comment, I'm going to give you two ellipses down.
. .
. .
. .

Wheaton and Naperville have parks...nice ones and lots of them, diverse housing stock (that one is ridiculous, Fan), and better school districts serving twice to five times as many residents (not a small feat, I assume). Wheaton does it at a slight discount. Are they without problems? No. Do I subscribe to the Naperville hyper-hysteria in the press? No. But both of these towns do so many things right. Basic things.

Screw the downtown. Frankly, if it never comes back or if it does, it doesn't really matter to most of us. I suppose it just makes my drive through town easier to navigate.

C'mon, Potts...if that is your real name...if giving a recommendation of two other towns over Glen Ellyn makes me simplistic and reactionary, then I am simplistic and reactionary. Perhaps I overreacted. Easy to do. Do I enjoy living in GE? Absolutely. Would I recommend it to a friend. I would have them look elsewhere, ALSO. Would I move? No. Would I open a business downtown in our CBD? No. No I would not.

Am I good at flip-flopping? You bet. Just one luxury afforded to a guy that has zero political or social aspirations beyond where I am now.

Go Glen Ellyn! You are truly the Jewel of the Western Suburbs. I just wish Vicky would run out and get a 55-gallon drum of jewelry cleaner.

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Go Glen Ellyn! You are truly the Jewel of the Western Suburbs. I just wish Vicky would run out and get a 55-gallon drum of jewelry cleaner.

You're a funny guy Clamato...if that's your real name.

I knew you never meant all those mean hateful things you wrote...I knew it. But a point of clarification...you wrote: "If asked if Glen Ellyn were a good place to move their family...knowing what I know now....sadly, I would have to answer no." You didn't just give a recommendation.

But on behalf of the Village, I forgive you. Now let's hug it out.

I've never liked you. You are the real reason there has been no boys night out.

quote:

Originally posted by t.a. superette:

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
I fear this town will continue to be doomed because of it.

"we'll never make it. we're doomed." wasn't that a smurf thing? are you stealing papa smurf's lines, clam?

That was "Glum" from Gulliver's Travels.

Mr. Trivia checking in.

clam, you are one slippery SOB. that's one of the 12,432 things i love about you.

yoss, you are a trivia god (or excellent googler).

t.a. superette, you're like a bayonet at a balloon party. (christ, now i'm talking/typing to myself)

TA
There is comfort in talking to yourself, as you are guaranteed in talking to someone you care about!

quote:

Originally posted by JRPotts:

What in the world makes Naperville and Wheaton better than Glen Ellyn? (RibFest...LastFling? ) The housing stock is a lot less diverse, a lot less interesting and isn't any cheaper. The locations are further from the City and less convenient to interstates, etc. The schools, if you drink the ranking cool-aide, are marginally better...but not substantially. [B]The downtowns have more shops, stores, restaurants, etc. but who gives a crap. If you want to go there....drive the 5-10 minutes. If you want to go out for an evening that would make driving unintelligent, there are plenty of places in downtown Glen Ellyn that are perfectly suitable.

exactly. if you desire a CBD retail experience, drive a few minutes to the myriad of options around GE. let's reinvent what a downtown can be here in GE. let wheaton, naperville, geneva and st. charles slug it out over who has the best traditional CBD experience. we should/could create an entirely new experience.

ok, i'll put down the hash pipe now. i'm starting to see little horsies and puppies crawling up the walls.

quote:

Originally posted by scotty:
TA
There is comfort in talking to yourself, as you are guaranteed in talking to someone you care about!

this would be a good time to bring up my self-loathing complex.

;^p

what the heck are we doing posting at this hour, scotty?

Make we could "ideate" a way to move the folks-without-homes west (or east) of town? Just for a year or two?

My most recent foray into the downtown -- on the morning of the St. Pets 5K -- involved my sitting outside of Einstein's and getting yelled at by a homeless dude for ignoring him.

Just a thought.

I can't see how any ideations -- hypothetical, pragmatic, or empirical -- will work until the elephant in the room is tranquilized.

(BTW -- just to be clear for any big brother-ish official taking notes -- I'm talking metaphorical here. At heart, I'm a people-lover. This is just me ideating.)

I love GE and hope I never have to move away. Does it need some work? You bet. I agree that no town is free of problems and I certainly don't think the cluster-f*** that is Naperville should be our model. Yes, their CBD is successful and certainly it would be good to look at what they do right but we won't get their downtown with our population.

I agree that Banyan Tree mall is kind of ugly but I do like that I can often find a space to park in the lot behind it and they have a path to cut through to Main Street. I also LOVE the Good Works Gallery and my son begs for water massages all the time.

My husband and I were discussing this yesterday: if the GE Sun or News says it serves our community then every week they should have a business feature - not buried way back in the paper but something on the first few pages. Also, the businesses need to do a little more promotion. We had never stepped foot in the European Market in the retail space below the condos but always said, we should really check that place out sometime. Well, yesterday we went in (we didn't need lunch at the time but wanted to check it out). They have a deli and the menu looks really tasty. We plan to go back. They don't have much seating but it definitely seems worth a try. We always just thought it was a European Market and didn't really notice the whole deli thing until recently. Promotion and/or an article in the newspaper would really make a difference. Can the EDC talk to the papers and get this going?

I'll shut up for a bit but I still say that our businesses need to do more evening and weekend hours. Many people work. The ladies night out, halloween events, Harry Potter evening, Christmas Walk, all increase traffic...when are they held? Weekends and evenings!

quote:

Originally posted by farber55:
Make we could "ideate" a way to move the folks-without-homes west (or east) of town? Just for a year or two?

My most recent foray into the downtown -- on the morning of the St. Pets 5K -- involved my sitting outside of Einstein's and getting yelled at by a homeless dude for ignoring him.

Just a thought.

I can't see how any ideations -- hypothetical, pragmatic, or empirical -- will work until the elephant in the room is tranquilized.

(BTW -- just to be clear for any big brother-ish official taking notes -- I'm talking metaphorical here. At heart, I'm a people-lover. This is just me ideating.)

I'd have yelled back....twice as loud. But I'm a man...you may be a woman.

quote:

Make we could "ideate" a way to move the folks-without-homes west (or east) of town? Just for a year or two?

Here are two real life examples of how the homeless problem affects the economics of our downtown:

About two months ago, two teenage girls were eating dinner at Tipi Tai (sp?). They were seated at the window. During the middle of their meal, a homeless man started tapping on the window. At first they giggled, eventually he became irate and the police had to be called.

Last Christmas I bought a FIGO gift certificate for the parents of a very good friend of mine. They are elderly and do not live in GE. In spring they decided to use the certificate and visit FIGO for the first time. Upon entering and leaving FIGO, they were panhandled and swore at. They told me they would never visit GE's downtown again. Needless to say, I was embarassed.

Bry, your buddy at FIGO is losing business that he may not even know about, let him know.

The police will not enforce village ordinances when dealing with the homeless. I have made telephone calls while the homeless have been passsed out and waited to see if anyone showed. Guess what? Nobody shows up. I was told they have other priorities.

BitterBoy:

You are exactly right. Unfortunately, the problem seems to be getting much worse. Weekdays, weekends, holdiays whenever, we have homeless all over our town. In fact, the tables and chairs outside of Einstein's seem to be there for the homeless and not the paying customers. I can't for a second think that their constant presence in the CBD would be good for business or for the Village. There has to be middle ground somewhere which allows us to help the homeless while at the same time helping ourselves and our neighbors.

Someone on this board pointed out this problem 4 years ago. I'm glad people are starting to recognize the problem and are doing things to help it.

I really don't understand why this is a controversy - we have an incredibly disproportionate number of non-residents loitering and parked for extended periods of time in front of buildings and in public parks. I don't think this is the type of diversity that enhances the CBD. I also don't think it makes you a bad person to be uncertain and uncomfortable encountering people you don't know when you have no idea why they are on the streets. It is common sense to be cautious in these situations. If you were looking for a potential site for a business in GE what would you think about the near constant presence of an unkempt, sometimes aggressive - person occupying the space in front of your location?

Why isn't PADS accountable - PADS draws them to our community and then what? Why aren't ordinances against loitering and vagrancy enforced?

Look, I've offered to lead a community group who's mission might be to develop a healthy balance between the homeless and the rest of our community. I have next to no takers. This is a project that needs the attention of more than just a couple of concerned citizens. I think the problem may be that people are afraid to publicly voice their opinion about this sensitive subject while exposing their identity, much like planting that "PRESERVE 41" sign. I have no problem speaking publicly about it; however, I don't plan on becoming the next Mike Lynch.

I've come to realize that the answer is not ridding ourselves entirely of PADS. I have read some good things about their organization. Accountability is the problem both of PADS and our village and this is where our focus needs to be.

I will ask one more time, and never again. Anyone interested in tackling this problem, please let me know. If you have an email in your profile I will contact you, if not, we can arrange a time via the chat room where I will give you my contact info.

Diane, this includes your group too. Please let me know. If you can't access this BB, please let me know via NWBURBS.NET. I'll be looking for your post.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bitterboy,

Okay, bitterboy - I'll figure out how to get a gmail account on my profile. This is a community issue that I believe needs to be addressed.