I felt the same way after finding out Mr. Deetjen had a little vacation with the new owners of the Beatty/Permacor property, and met with them on the sly before they met Mr. Heilmann. These decisions only make people more suspicious. Where there's smoke.......

We all knew the Mayor was on Advocates side when he said publicly that the hospital should not pay any impact fees to the village!! Only someone in Advocates pocket would take that position against the residents and taxpayers of Oak Lawn..

Instead of "- A perceived perk given to an elected official is a betrayal of public trust," I should have said "A perceived perk ACCEPTED by an elected offical..." My apologies.

Dr. Bury I respect your opinions but the misleading information you are including in your post concerning the police and fire departments cannot go unchecked. First this expansion does not require any new fire truck. We have existing taller buildings in town and once owned a 100 ft Ariel ladder that the members of the olfd applied for via grant, costing the taxpayers almost nothing. Then it was sold less than a year later and we bought a much smaller and lets just say inadequate fire truck. Further the need to hire more firefighters/ paramedics is due to the high demand for pre hospital medical care. The ever increasing emergency medical calls is why we need additional staffing and also why we need the hospital expansion especially in terms of beds, so that Christ is not on bypass as often as it is. Thanks for your continued concern of our town and it's resources.
Bob Lanz Secretary-Treasurer Oak Lawn Firefighters local 3405 708-269-7144

Good morning Bob!

I don't know how many fire/medical calls were made to Christ last year, but heard a number of about 550 calls for police were made. When you increase the number of patients seen by several thousands, that number will certainly skyrocket.

Also, asking around what a fire truck costs to reach that high put the estimate at about $800,000 to over $1 million. If we continue to use the "inadequate" (using your own word) fire truck fire truck we have or not is an issue for professionals to decide. No one can argue that it doesn't merit careful study and consideration. That's what's being asked.

Again, no one denies that Advocate Christ Medical Center needs the expansion, or that it's good for Oak Lawn. Those are facts. The village is prudent to study the impact on the neighborhood, resources and infrastructure more carefully. It's the right thing to do for the taxpayers who foot the bills. To do less than that is reckless.

You used the word "misleading" to describe my post, and I re-read it carefully and can't see how saying "extra police and firefighters may need to be hired" is misleading in any way. What is misleading about that statement?

Good morning to you Dr. B! Please understand I that I believe your post is misleading because the people providing you some of your information is just wrong. The police generally are called to the emergency department when there is a disturbance, this will not increase very much if any because the ER is not expanding drastically. As for the rest of the time the police are at Christ it is usually to babysit prisoners from the lockup when they require medical care. Christ has its own fulltime security staff and handle most problems on their own. That again has no correlation to the expansion of the hospital.
As far as what needs the fire department requires... Where do I begin we had a 100 ft. Ariel ladder truck that the village gave away, we have other buildings in town already that exceed the proposed expansion including the hospital itself. Having a more productive truck would be great but the village refused to properly staff it last time and sold it. So I really do not see how this has come up as a hot issue just cause the hospital is expanding. If it is an issue it just shows what kind of shoddy leadership the current village manager is providing. Do we need more police officers and firefighter /paramedics? Yes but to try and blame it on the hospital is just political and that's oak let's get those 6 fire-medics that were illegally laid off back to work as the village has been ordered to do so by the Illinois Labor Board.
Bob Lanz SecretaryTreasurer Local 3405

Mr. Lanz once again the comments of more fire and police came from the chiefs of the respective departments. You are a union official who wants the most for his of her department,nothing wrong with that but you can certainly say you have a vested interest in this project going through and are not the most shall we say independent mind on this issue. I love your interest in " our " town especially since you do not even live here,you can not vote and do not pay property taxes. Keep up the good work Dr. Bury looking out for the residents and taxpayers of Oak Lawn..

I feel for the Crawford Gardens residents and sympathize with their plight. I support their position. I've learned a few things about Advocate and actions taken relating to other facilities to convince me they are trying to railroad this expansion. To me, what stage some project is in matters little. Mr. Deetjen's actions were very poor choices. Mr. Heilmann made one just as poor. The only difference is one project is closer to fruition than the other. If dirty deeds are involved, then they are close to being done with the Advocate expansion, and in the talking stage with Beatty.

My contention is that there is some business from the hospital staff and visitors for local restaurants and perhaps retail to a small extent. Staff also live in the area so contribute to property taxes. I'd guess Walgreen's, being a 24 hour pharmacy, gets a boost in business. Andy, you worked there, do you know if that's the case?
As I have found out for myself, there's not a lot of direct revenue paid into Village coffers by the Hospital itself, though, and that's a problem. In this particular situation, they want the Village to invest a bunch min infrastructure. There's no guarantee what the return on that might be.

I seriously doubt Walgreen's would do as much as business as it does and have a 24 hour pharmacy if not for Christ.

It's not just visitors, it's the employees. There are many hospital employees who out of convenience, have their oil changes, car repairs, dry cleaning, nails, haircuts, lunch deliveries, and gas station purchases at Oak Lawn businesses. Visitors/Family order from the local florists, drug stores, hotels, transporation services, and restaurants. There are a lot of businesses up and down 95th street and Cicero that benefit from having such a large employer in the area. Please don't pretend that their contributions to Oak Lawn are insignificant.

I do live in Oak Lawn and pay taxes. No one needed to write that speech for me, I am of the habit of thinking for myself. As an advocate employee, I see the amount of merchandise we bring in from local businesses everyday. I need not be a math whiz to add it up and times it by 365.

Wow, Andy...Attacking a woman isn't like you...calling her a liar because she disagrees with you is sort of harsh, no? I get that you don't want the expansion, I even REALLY get that the people over there are adversly impacted (my best friend lives literally down the block behind there). But I am often out for lunch in the area, and you cannot go into the Burger King, or Portillo's, or White Castle or even Longhorn at lunch or after a shift and not see mulitple scrub-wearing folks in there...Same for Kmart, Jewel, Home Depot, and of course, the grand puba of negative local impact on residents, Target.
It would be nice if more local residents were employed at the hospital, I will give you that. I'm not sure how much revenue the hospital generates for town business...is it worth the $800,000? Don't know, you may be right that it is too big a burden. I would like to think a compromise could be worked out, though. How about half? I cannot imagine the hospital is going to go broke from $400,000 after spending millions to build the expansion. I don't like the mayor beign chummy with hospital brass enough to win an award, that point is well taken...but it is in the same murky water as what Mr. Deetjen did, no matter who doesn't like whom.
Here is the huge unmentioned part of this; if we allrewind this back to when there was a Unity Party, before the infighting; would any of this matter? Now because of the split, sides are taken. That is natural, I suppose, but it isn't productive.

Andy, I will give you that she never posted before this thread, and while it is possible that she only started because THIS topic inspired her, it is possible that she is a plant by the hospital or similarly interested group.
Like I said, I think a compromise would be in the best interest...maybe right downt the middle, maybe something else...I didn't know it was $70,ooo,ooo a year, but I knew it was a lot, and enough that they should definitely pay something. I do think that it is a two way street (literally) though. While obviously the hospital is using city services, isn't the town typically using the hospital? People from all over come to that hospital and the children's wing, I can tell you, is top notch. Waiting in emergency wasn't as much fun for five hours wehn I myself went, but when is it fun to wait there? Of course it isn't free when they use our resources, but they are saving lives and stuff, there...it isn't a strip joint or another bar. We as a soicety accept certain things; police, fire, schools, libary, parks, hospitals...they increase the quality of our lives, our standard of living. I'm not, um, advocating that we give them anything for free or rush into anything at all. If the hospital cannot be bothered to submit a better detailed report about how a multimillion dollar entity cannot afford some impact fees (which I hope would go to actually help those impacted), then maybe their business plan isn't sound enough to warrant expansion in the first place.

Press 1 for English......

Be glad English is still '1'...for now.