Should be called the "TC" (Tom's choice) tent. Give him a one way out "voucher" come election day!

Audits are a good thing

Dr Bury would you not agree that if there was anything improper done in the management of Fall on the Green it should be investigated? I don't think we should rank improper actions on the part of elected officials by the size of the project? It's the management of the event that's going to be investigated.

As far as having a VIP tent at FOTG I don't see the need.

Again what is interesting to me is Streit's repositioning. He's taking on Tom directly. Now I wonder if Alex is the next to be investigated. We live in interesting times.

Lets see = audit likers = larryd,tommie,ollie.& jane so the way things are goin take your pick voting time is aclosinin

Doc, I agree with your statements BUT no one is saying cancel the event. It is a great event, good for the village and the charitable causes. I favor any pressure/audit to make sure things are run better in the future. Any event can improve in its operation. Attention should be made to overpaymnet of legal fees, Advocate, etc, etc. BUT that doesn't mean lets forget about making sure this event is run better. I also agree with other posters, Audits are good and eliminate the VIP tent. Pass out some vouchers to the volunteers as a reward for their time and efforts, and thats it. The politicians and their friends can buy their own and mingle with the rest of us folk in the community.

Sandra
Why not just put x's and o's to the thugs and thugette at the end of your posts?
Stop drinking their water.
And there is no such thing as a Unicorn

Just think how much MORE money might be available to Park Lawn if it wasn't being spent on cronyism.

Wow. Tom has his own church now? That's interesting. Oh wait. You're talking about St Catherines. A church that is in Oak Lawn and is one of the pillars to this community. Yeah. Who would be crazy enough to support that place? Maybe someone who cares about this village. Do you even know where that money goes? Obviously not. Most of that money goes towards improvements to the school, like an elevator to help people who can't get up the stairs. To families in the neighborhood who have lost a parent. To buy electronic chalk boards for the classrooms. Etc. Do you really want to attack that? Since Phelan became involved in that fundraiser, the income has more than tripled. The income that is used to benefit all these great causes. He helpled put together most of the processes that make it such a success and that other parishes are copying. FACTS. But go ahead, tear that down. Where do you get your "facts"?

Hey REO Rocks, some of the money goes to you (Tom Phelan) with cash hand outs ,and that is wrong. You do alot of good, and you know it. But your twisted spirit it what kills you. If you are say 8% guilty, you are nevertheless guilty - and thats wrong! There is no doubt that your heart is good, but you have some serious issues that are kind of bizarre.

Dave Gaborik, sorry to disappoint you. I'm not Phelan...like I've said a few times.

Where oh where is ANDY????

Is the goal of a forensic audit to get money back? I don't think so.
Doesn't an audit just tell you what was done incorrectly and how it should be corrected in the future?

REO aka Tom
How about the fact that a LARGE number of those Vendors are your "Friends"?
I wouldn't be surprised one bit if something illegal was done!

REO
You wish Tommy boy! Wow! You have NO SHAME. LOL LOL LOL

quiet phelan, you'll hopefully end up getting a kick in the arse. well deserved i might add.

Hey "bs rolls"...I'm not Tom. Do I have to post it up here 5 more times for you? But if it makes you feel better, you can keep thinking that. While you have your one brain working on that, maybe you can have the other one working on something intelligent to post on this forum.

li'l andy
Have you ever seen anything like this, in your "20 years of OL politics"?

There is also the continuing behind-the-scenes play regarding the Beatty property. As I said before, lots of bigger fish to fry in this town. But as Dave W. notes, no reason they can't work on several issues at the same time.

We need mike, lisa, and Fitz to help us out here. Seems like some players have axes to grind so let the audits begin. Maybe the 4th of July won't need any fireworks.

As several have said they can pursue both issues. The village staff will likely not do the forensic audit. For a variety of reasons they'll probably hire an independent auditor to do that. And I thought Advocate was responsible for the revised community impact study which the village staff would then review and validate. Mismanagement at any level in village government is not petty or small-minded. It's something to be investigated.

Trustee Streit has this one right. He's always been a good watchdog of Oak Lawn funds and is a man of character. If he didn't think there was anything there, he wouldn't waste his time pursuing it. Bob Streit doesn't take on an issue unless there is something there.

To Dave W. - I never said anything about a "minor crime" or taking it lightly. I said "It may uncover some very petty issues but probably nothing illegal". Petty issues and minor crimes are different things. My point is, there should be a hint of evidence of a crime or MAJOR wrong doings before an audit is done, otherwise taxpayer money is being wasted. But if we decide to run things the way you and Available Auditor would like, then we should be auditing EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. That is just NOT FEASIBLE unless you want to triple taxes and get nothing done in the village. Besides, THE VILLAGE IS AUDITED ANNUALLY ANYWAY. This is purely a political stunt.

REO Rocks, you never said crime, but IF this was quid pro quo or bribery of even the smallest sort, it IS a crime. IF you can pulled over for a seat belt violation, no criime is 'too small' to pursue. I don't think it is a waste of taxpayer money to find out if there is corruption of a public official. I don't care if its Trustee Phelan, Streit, etc...the mayor, a clerk taking the window sticker money...so inured are we of corruption in Illinois that we think it is okay to have SOME level of it in even our local and most accountable governments? Elected officials should be doing great works AND not doing anything shady or illegal. Why is this even a question?
I don't want auditsa that take away money and time for everything. I want them for everything that is improper. Because only if people KNOW they can be investigated will they be most afraid of not DOING the things that can get them investigated.
While I can see that there can be politcally motivated hearsay involved here and that that isn't really the best evidence of wrongdoing, confining audits to "MAJOR wrong doings before an audit is done" is NOT the way to do things.
Lastly, the people who vote have a right to know the character of the people they elect. I don't know if Trustee Phelan has done anything, that is why an audit shoudl be done, to indict OR clear him of whatever. I know if the trustee of my district, Streit, was accused of the same things, I would want to know, because if guilty, I would vote him out.

REO
Everything? About we just start with expenditures where one person controls who gets what

If "THE VILLAGE IS AUDITED ANNUALLY ANYWAY." as you state, Why didn't the auditers catch the supposed overbilling by the law firm, and the Target Tax fiasco?

QC
Thanks. Now I know somebody is paying attention. If only more would wake up and smell the roses instead of the other stuff.

QC...good question. Why didn't the annual audit find that? Hmmm. I guess audits aren't perfect either, are they? Wow. Who would of thought. Available Auditor...What if? What if? What if you weren't an "Available Auditor"? Would you be asking all these "conspiracy theorist" questions? Looking for some work? No, I am not Tom. I'm just someone who doesn't like witch hunts, especially on my dime. But go ahead and have it. Like I said before, if it even happens, it will probably backfire. Why is Bob calling for this audit now? Why didn't this happen last year, after the fest? Because there is an election around the corner and because this is a political stunt.

Grunty,
What if there is more? What if the vouchers are the tip of the iceberg? Shouldn't the village fix its house now? These charges are just as serious as those leveled against the old law firm and the village board, led my Mr. Phelan, went all out on that one. If proper procedures aren't being followed because one man has an ego the size of Oak Lawn, then the board should hire an auditor and should fix the problems. It is taxpayer money after all!

I think one of the points of the audit is to find out if the accusations are true. If they are I doubt they'd put Tom in a role where he had any financial responsibility or contact with vendors. But at this point I imagine Tom wants the audit to clear his name.

Maybe I just don't understand the implications. Tip of the iceberg? What could be so bad as to waste money on an audit like this. Its not like these where so vaiuable that it got him a free pool or someone to paint his house or something. I just don't see him really getting rich off this or something. I'd say spend whatever money we would have on an audit and have some more oversight of future events. Why waste money on something we can't retroactively fix?

Grunty
Were you one of the people that stood outside the court and cheered Blago? We couldn't retroactively fix anything he did and yet he was investigated and was criminally charged. Gee wiz man what's wrong with you!

REO
And you,Tom, are familiar with "Political Stunts"!

possible candidates would be wise to sit and watch

QC??
My.....Rants? You sound suspiciously like li'l andy.
What is YOUR obsession with me?
LOL!!!

Sorry QC=The King You sound suspiciously like Dave.. I am not Andy but I do know who you are.. You Rant and say who other bloggers are So I am doing the same thing. You are Obsessed with anyone against you Dave. Typical Actor, an egomaniac who can't stand criticism !!

QC??
LMAO!!

More importatly QC??,
Do you STILL like Bob? LOL
Look who's talking about hiding behind a name, attacking someone and being a Bully...Tom.

There was no low income housing proposal, if you're referring to the development at 95th and 52nd that was to replace Brandt. There was not going to be any federal law dictating that a portion of that building be declared Section 8, that was a scare tactic that Mr. Streit was behind by passing out propagandist literature in D3. He was indeed the voice of independence back in the day, he is no longer. He's done some good work of late - outside District 3. He spent a lot of time on the medical building development in District 1 while Beatty was packing up and moving. He's involved in the development proposals that would place an office tower there: no one I know who lives in the area knew anything about that. He welcomed "with open arms" Midway Motor Inn, which has catered to as many undesirables as its predecessor. His fundraisers have been backed by Mike Madigan, that right there shows he's playing politics in the classic Illinois fashion.

If I remember correctly, and perhaps somebody, maybe OLG, can correct me, the specifics of the TIF was along the lines of something like there were 12 or 14 POSSIBLE criteria and 'low income housing' (a code word of a scare tactic if there ever was one) was ONE of the possibilities. There was NO mandate, EVER. I remember sitting there as they tried to portray parking lots as 'blighted' to meet one of the guidelines thinking "IT'S A PARKING LOT!" While our trustee has done his part to keep a once uniformly corrupt board if not in check at least not without a voice in the woods, as OLG notes, what has he done for OUR district lately. Maybe he has, but have we heard of it?
Beatty was one of the stalwarts in the mix for the village NOT grabbing even more property back then. If I remember (again...) they wanted to take all along 95th St to the tracks, along with the Beatty property. Why did Beatty leave now? Does anybody not politcal want a NINE story building towering over our landscape? Maybe, I guess, I don't claim to speak for all of district 3, obviously. But why is it being talked about without input from the residents? Trustee Streit was there for those meetings when residents decried the total lack of public input on the debacle that the Cook 'redevelopment'. Wouldn't it behoove him to get resident input as early as possible in the process? Are the residents' concerns no longer a priority? How about just informing us what is going on, not letting Patch surprise us?

Low-income housing was cited as an option, and both sides picked up on it. What Mr. Streit did that was good was to nix the large residential building that was proposed. The way he did so was underhanded. Beatty closed this year simply because they went under: construction material demand dried up enough that they could not support keeping even one outlet opened.

I did not vote for Dan Sodaro. I voted for Trustee Streit and don't believe he has done a terrible job by ANY means...I just have some realistic questions about what is going on in our district. The lack of people wanting to hold the people they vote for accountable is exactly why we have such problems as we do at EVERY level of government in this country. We all complain about our elected officials, then re-elect them in startling numbers. I'm not saying I want to vote Mr. Streit out, I'm only asking for transparency and accountability from anybody I vote on.
Is that too much too ask...?

It isn't whining to want accountablility from all our representatives. It isn't MY job to call people about what they are doing, they need to keep us in the loop. I'm not sure how you think a representative government works, but the people aren't beholden to the politicians. If you do not understand that, or do not like that, you can start by not reading the comments section of Patch, since I'm not the first, last or only person to say this, nor am I going to stop because you don't like it. Why should I have to call and check in with the person I voted for; to what, have to report back to everyone else? Many people have concerns about how our government is run. If they all called Trustee Streit's office, he would be deluged. Much easier for one person WITH the knowledge to share it, than for many who would like it to have to call and inquire...
Post again, Theresa R.., when there is some context or logic to your point. Don't pick on somebody for being a concerned citizen. If there had been a few more ten years ago, Trustee Streit wouldn't have been the only person fighting off the 'development' in our district.

Theresa
Joe's callin' you.

go back to bed jane, i mean theresa

Are you kidding me? the southtown printed rubbish throughout that time and continues to do so. It wasn't a federal mandate! It was in the documents for the types of bonds that were going to be used on the project. When you use those types of bonds, you have to read the fine print because it states that LOW INCOME HOUSING is a component. Some old biased southtown trash will not change that fact. Pull the records from the village instead of pulling news stories. The southtown is as reliable as you (maybe even a little less so)

OK, you're the man. There's more to it than these village papers you refer to, you can think what you want. It's all over with now. All hail Bob Streit, you lead the cheers.

Theresa's point is her head

You complain OakLawnGuy is anonymous, yet you go by 'wake up'...you HAVE to realize that is totally hypocritical.
Theresa may SEEM to have a point, but she does not. These boards are here for people to talk about the issues of the town and express our satiasfaction or lack thereof. It is quite consistent that the people who don't really have anything substantive to add to the conversation always make attacks personal, either to other posters or the trustees or elected officials. Interesting also that you know how often I'm on, so YOU are on here often enough, YET you created your profile JUST to comment on me.
My biggest complaint is one shared by many, whether YOU, or Theresa R.. like it or not...that there isn't enough transparency by our elected town officials. We seem to find out far too many things in the rearview mirror, so to speak. Patch and other newspapers at all the meetings, yet we don't see the officials talking about new office buildings or buying property with town money until the wheels are in motion or the first steps are already taken.
I haven't accused Mr. Streit of any wrongdoing. I haven't even accused Mr. Phelan of any, and this thread seems bent on doing that. I have only asked that we better kept informed. I have no idea why you are taking it all so personally; unless you and/or Theresa ARE some of the elected officials under fake names. Why are you SO AGAINST accountability? Answer that...how do MORE answers hurt us?

Tommy Tommy Tommy -- tsk tsk tsk why do you and your other heads insist on demeaning and insulting the residents-taxpayers of Oak Lawn?

More is the pity, QC.

LOL! Man. First off, It's NOT "Tom's Sports Night". In fact, he wasn't even involved with it this year. But, he was one of the key people who developed the processes for it. The processes that work so well, that they have been copied by other parishes. So if you would like to accuse several parishes in Oak Lawn for "strong arming" people for donations for good causes...like a small scholarship for students who win an essay contest (Tom's not a judge of the contest), an elevator for kids at the school who can't get up the stairs, financial aid for families who have lost a parent, the school's sports programs, new technologies for the school, etc....that's up to you. But be aware that you are attacking one of the finest organizations in this community....St. Catherine's and the families that live there. That doesn't seem very productive, does it?

Still bullying huh Phelan? The shoes on the other foot now. Hows it feel?

Jensen, Dave W.'s Ego: First of all, IF I had an ego (clearly you don't know me), it would be very flattered to have an imposter, created JUST to post this. Keep it up, I might get an ego after all.
You obviously don't know what the defintion of 'narcissistic' is, which is sort of amazing considering that you knew how to spell it. Also, glad you have a 'favorite' of mine; are you a fan or stalker?
You do not know what I have served in my life; BUT, even if I HAD never served, it isn't hard to not want to cut short a meeting to get home early, especially for a job that was GIVEN to me. It isn't hard to keep insisting on transparency in government. Are the other trustees going to stuff me in a locker or flatten my tires if I say it outloud at a meeting? They are called ethics, maybe you two should find some. I am amazed by the people that DEFEND secrecy. Are you FOR kicking puppies and taking candy from children also? When I said Trustee Streit almost lost, I never said I DIDN'T vote for him, only that general voter apathy almost undid him.
Regarding ME running for anything; it is called satire. Don't let the self-deprecation hit you in the brain stem too hard or anything...yeesh!
Small-minded? Again, you CLEARLY don't know me. Defensive? Well, when attacked by you both with nothing substantive, just personal slurs because you don't like what I (and many others) have to say; maybe. Nice, new profiles for your hit jobs, too!
Idiotic? Weirdo? Okay, you might have something.

Dave stop blogging and get back to work or whatever you do. Maybe trying on costumes for the next play...