Trustees Vote To Divide Remaining Build America Bonds
Each district to receive about $750,000 each for summer infrastructure repair projects as Build American bonds come to an end.
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Oak Lawn trustees voted to divide remaining funds for infrastructure improvements equally among the village’s six districts, delaying the traffic signalization project at Central Avenue and Southwest Highway indefinitely.
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Following an appearance by Cook County Commissioner John Daley (11th District) at Tuesday’s village board meeting to clarify remarks made by another Oak Lawn trustee that the county no longer considered the project a priority, the village board postponed voting on the project until it could discuss allocating the remaining Build America bonds.
The village has until 2016 to utilize the available funds through Cook County, which would pick up 50 percent of the costs for adding a left turn lane to the intersection. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.2 million.
“I’m just not prepared to vote on this yet,” Trustee Carol Quinlan (Dist. 5) said in front of Commissioner Daley. “I don’t think anyone on this board disagrees that this is something that needs to be done.”
The traffic signalization project at Central Avenue and Southwest Highway has been a cause célèbre of Trustee Alex Olejniczak's (Dist. 2) who is up for reelection in April. Neighborhood residents have long complained about the accident-prone corner anchored on the southeast by St. Gerald Church and School, and for its close proximity to Oak Lawn Community High School.
The project had until recently, been approved by the Oak Lawn Village Board.
Approximately $8 million remains of the original $36 million in Build America bonds, most of which has been spent on an ambitious infrastructure improvement program, according to Trustee Bob Streit (Dist. 3) chair of the public works committee.
At the mayor’s request, $1 million has been set aside from the remainging funds for possibly expanding the Village Green and/or a senior wellness center at the former Beatty Lumber Company site at 52nd Avenue and 96th Street.
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Another $2 million has been earmarked this summer for sewer maintenance and improvement, leaving approximately $4 million for 2013 street resurfacing and other infrastructural projects.
“Now we have to prioritize,” Streit said. “We feel it makes the most sense to divide [the remaining funds] equitably and is fair to all residents.”
Streit said each district would receive about $750,000 to use for infrastructure projects chosen and prioritized by village staff, not at the trustees’ whim.
“For the record, 75-percent of $2 million will be spent in Dist. 2 and Dist. 6,” Streit said of his former allies, Olejniczak and Tom Phelan. “I think we agree that alleys aren’t going to get [paved] this year.”
Lame-duck trustee Phelan (Dist. 6), who at the last village board meeting called the plan to divide the remaining dollars a recipe for disaster rife with political connotations, was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
Trustee Cindy Trautsch (Dist. 1), running her own campaign for reelection in April, was out of town but participated in the meeting by speaker-phone.
Trustee Tom Duhig (Dist. 4), whose term is also up, said that the village should see through its original commitment to adding the left turn lane to Southwest Highway and Central Avenue.
“I just feel safety and security at the intersection should be put as a number one priority,” Duhig said. “I don’t think we should delay it. It’s a project long past due.”
Trustee Carol Quinlan (Dist. 5) suggested that Duhig, feeling as he did, direct some of his district’s share to Olejniczak’s project.
Duhig countered that the six trustees could each direct $50,000 to the intersection project. Quinlan responded absolutely not.
“You’re not concerned with the safety of children,” Duhig asked her.
The mayor called Duhig out of order.
“That’s not really fair,” Heilmann said. “We all want Oak Lawn to be safe.”
“That’s absolutely out of order and inappropriate,” Quinlan said.
The village board voted 3-2 to approve the public works committee’s recommendation to disburse the remaining infrastructural funds equally among the village’s six districts. Olejniczak and Duhig were the dissenting votes.
After the meeting, Duhig called the public works committee’s move political and a way to punish rivals with the upcoming election.
“If Streit wanted it in his district, I’d have voted for it,” Duhig said.
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Oak Lawn Community High School
9400 Southwest Hwy, Oak Lawn, IL -
Village of Oak Lawn
9446 Raymond Ave, Oak Lawn, IL
Driving Us Nuts
11:30 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
OMG! Who cares? Is this really the big issue of the day?
I drive through that intersection all the time and nobody (or rarely anyone) is turning left. This isn't a need when we have streets crumbling and alleys unpaved. If the county is so concerned, they should pay for it. Isn't that a county street?
melissa
11:30 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Anyone who travels on Central and SWH knows the turn signal should be a priority. I am dismayed some trustee's don't feel the same way. Thank you to Duhig for standing up to these idiots. And thank you also to Alex for not quitting trying to get this project completed.
Abe Froman
11:30 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
"Following an appearance by Cook County Commissioner John Daley (11th District) at Tuesday’s village board meeting to clarify remarks made by another Oak Lawn trustee that the county no longer considered the project a priority, the village board postponed voting on the project until it could discuss allocating the remaining Build America bonds." Can you just say who the Trustee was? instead of making us hunt for it? Who was the trustee that made the comment that sent Daley out? Who?
Blackjack
11:30 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
If these guys (and girls) don't do that project at SW Hwy. and Central in time to get half of the $1.2M cost from Cook County, apparently ready to move ahead (Thank you, Commissioner Daley), we don't get the intersection re-done, AND we lose the shot at $600,000 of matching funds and getting the project done for half of its actual cost. That's a bargain in anybody's book. If that chance gets blown, there should be a recall election for the entire board.
One idea everybody would support is to take the $600K from that million they want to waste on buying the Mason's property and expanding the village green. Table that idea indefinitely.
BS
11:30 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
I could care less about a left turn lane at SW hwy, and central ave. but it occurs to me that far more people use that intersection then the village green. Witch is automatically getting improvements.
Blackjack
5:24 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
And, voting to give each trustee control over spending $750,000? For real? Think of the potential for abuse and just the potential for the trustees' allocations to look bad. Phelan was right when he said that's "a recipe for disaster."
rick
7:39 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
It must be election time for "Sleepy Tommy" Duhig to wake up and say something...your service is almost over in District 4...thankfully!!!!!!
anthony
8:07 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
For a while i thought the low rumbling sound was snoring background noise. But than realized it was interference from the listening devices in the various areas
Dave W.
9:14 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
I go through that intersection all the time...that light REALLY needs a turning lane, has since the 80's, really.
I'm no great fan of the 'proponents' of this, but unless somebody can give something specific on the Village Green that would be more useful and cost about the same, traffic flow should be a priority...still wating for them to figure out a better system at 54th and 95th Street, since the blocked off Cook for like four or five parking spots and everybody needs to get out of the same two streets (54th and 52nd) now. Urban planning is NOT anybody's specialty it seems...
no answers?
9:39 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Good Lord Dave are you trying to lose the election? You have a church/school on one corner, a bar on another, two houses completing the intersection all three blocks from OAK LAWN community high school and you can't get a merry band of fools to fix a corner everyone knows is a problem?
Dave-Let me ask you this-if this were a corner by St. Linus, would you have taken care of it? If your kids were anywhere near that intersection, would you have pushed to get it fixed? Some day take a ride west of Central and south of 95th to see how the other half live. Watch out for the speed bump by your house.
Screw you, Mister "Family Friendly, Community!" But let's put an ice rink on the Village Green. Which one of your kids are you going to name it after?
Driving Miss Alex
9:46 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
So this is for the church that a trustee is very active with? It can't be the school because you access the school from 95th not by turning left on SW Highway at Central. As far as a bar being there, are you kidding? Who cares about a bunch of drunks!
Grunty
10:13 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Think big picture here. Not everyone that goes to a bar is a "drunk" but for the sake of your argument, lets say that everyone leaves that bar drunk and goes through that intersection.
They are not going to plow into "nothing." They are going to plow into something, maybe a car...maybe a car that has your family in it. Drunks drink all times of day, so unless you never drive through that intersection, I don't see how this doesn't effect you or the entire community. Swhwy is a busy street, and most everyone in the heart of our village uses it very frequently.
Although this might appear as the first comment in response to what you've said, its actually my second. Please understand that my disagreement with you is not a personal attack or meant to offend your sensibility as is often the case on these forums.
Tom S.
9:35 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Seems to me the problem at this intersection is only the North and South traffic on Central making a left turn. Simplest solution would be to time the light for North and South to allow only one at a time to proceed. Set it to 30 seconds each way. No big deal and a lot cheaper than tearing up the entire roadway. As a prime example look at the 87th street, Ridgeland Ave and State Road intersection to see it in action.
Grunty
10:13 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Totally missed this comment but I agree with you 100%.
Joe Skibinski
9:35 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
It's unfortunate that $1m is diverted from a serious community safety issue for the children of St. Gerald and OLCS in favor of ribbon cutting projects that offrer little return. Hopefully we voters have a better sense of priorities than our trustees.
Driving Miss Alex
9:46 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
So this is for the church that a trustee is very active with? I think Tom S and many others have much better solutions than you and the trustee. Quit wasting the money
Grunty
10:02 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
That is really not a fair statement. Its for any motorist, and any pedestrian that goes through that intersection. I do not attend St. Gerald, but my whole family drives, bikes, runs, or walks through that intersection daily and I'm not in Alex's district.
In addition I know lots of people turn down 91st and 92nd to avoid that light, increasing traffic in those residential areas. Many driving down to 52nd avenue or going all the way to cicero and then getting onto swhwy there Addressing the challenges that intersection creates is definitely a benefit to many people in the area, not just the church....
Grunty
9:59 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
I think everyone can agree that something should be done with that intersection. Everyone who isn't the trustee of another district anyways....
If the left turning lane fails to go through, putting safety first, an alternative would be to make the southbound and northbound signals independent of each other. Let east and west function as they do now, then give the southbound lane a green light, then after a period of time stop the southbound and let the northbound traffic get a green.
I'd bet if they did this, the could either keep the amount of time north and south have to go through the intersection the same, or reduce it overall (meaning if north/south currently have 1 minute, south has 30 seconds, and north has 30 seconds). I don't know how much it costs to reprogram those lights, but I can't see it being a million dollars...
Cooper
10:21 am on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Lorraine, I have a challenge for you. I would like to see a timeline, start to finish, tracking the SAFETY issue of the traffic signalization project at Central Avenue and Southwest Highway vs. the PLEASURE issue of expanding the Village Green.
M
10:12 am on Sunday, February 17, 2013
How about making it so you can't turn left off Central and making it a school safety zone with flashing lights?? Very simple solution. Making a left turn lane would require additional surface area (which would put cars closer to those houses on the north side of SW Hgwy) or tie up traffic more since an existing lane would need to be dedicated to this.