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Health & Fitness

Council Preview Aug 20 Part 2 - Booze and Bucks

We’ve already discussed the Brookfield project which is on the agenda for this week’s City Council meeting. Here are some other items of interest –

EVEN MORE BOOZE (ITEM 16)

Only a few weeks ago, the City Council shamefully allowed another store in the City to sell alcohol. Click Here for that story. Our City already leads most other cities in our rate of DUI arrests and alcohol related violations and we even have a City Council member who was convicted of a DUI. We have tracts in the City that are 200% and even more than 300% over-saturated with stores selling alcohol, as determined by the ABC (Alcohol Beverage Commission). Yet Council members Herzog, Voigts, and McCullough say “Line ‘em up” with no regard to the damage that easy access to alcohol can cause. Is it mere happenstance that we are so over-saturated with stores selling alcohol and have such a high high rate of DUI arrests?

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Even the Planning Commission (PC), who often get things wrong (e.g., Brookfield, U-Haul), got this one right and unanimously voted to deny the applicant a permit to open a new store selling alcohol. It so happens this new store is within a drunken man’s stumble from Bev Mo and from Smart and Final, two stores that sell so much alcohol you could fill the council chambers to overflowing with all the booze they have.

Why on earth would we condone a new store selling alcohol in our City? The census tract where the proposed store would be placed is certified for no more than 3 stores selling alcohol, yet there are already 7 stores in that tract that sell alcohol. It may be good to be ”business friendly” but it mustn’t be done at the expense of the health and well-being of our citizens. Council members Herzog, McCullough, and Voigts did a grave dis-service to our community last time. We can only hope they will not be repeat offenders.

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CITY SALARIES (ITEM 10)

Here’s a list of city salaries taken from the City’s website. For some reason the City doesn’t list yearly salary but instead lists “monthly” salary. Maybe that’s an excuse to hide the true figures, which are a little shocking. They also don’t list the actual salaries, but rather list the “minimum” and “maximum”. Looks like another excuse to hide the truth. The only salary that’s actually listed is for the City Manager, who makes an incredible $247,876 as his “base” salary.

For this list I’ve used the “maximum” monthly salary listed and multiplied by 12. I also included only those making $100,000 per year or more (base salary).

  1. Assistant City Manager - $191,508
  2. Deputy City Manager - $173,496
  3. Public Works Director - $173,496
  4. Development Services Director - $165,132
  5. Finance Director - $165,132
  6. Community Services Director - $149, 604
  7. Asst. City Engineer - $142,392
  8. Planning Manager - $135,528
  9. Traffic Engineering Manager - $135,528
  10. Information Technology Manager - $122,784
  11. Principal Civil Engineer - $122,784
  12. Accounting Manager - $116,868
  13. City Clerk - $116,868
  14. Public Works Manager - $116,868
  15. Asst. to City Manager - $111,240
  16. Public Safety Manager - $111,240
  17. Recreation Manager (2) - $111,240
  18. Housing Manager - $100,776
  19. Senior Planner  (2) - $100,776

Looking at the list, 21 people make $100,000 or more per year using the maximum monthly base salary. Not bad for government work!


MORE HOMES (ITEM 17)

Brookfield’s partner in transforming the Auto Center is Trumark Homes, and they passed the Planning Commission a few weeks ago and now come before the City Council, asking for permission to build their homes and throw out a thriving Lake Forest company that employs dozens of Lake Forest residents – Elite Automotive.

Though the Trumark project is considerably better than the Brookfield project, both suffer from the same fatal flaw of not having done their homework by looking at the impact of traffic on the entire city, the impact of additional homes on public resources (libraries, post office), and the impact of the new homes on the local schools.

Both also wantonly threw their money around in the last two elections, helping put 3 council members in  their seats.

The bottom line for both Trumark and Brookfield is that neither should be approved until the proper studies have been done. Indeed, my understanding from having spoken  with several attorneys who specialize in this sector, the City may be acting illegally by moving forward in both these cases, as the city, as lead agency, has before it facts and expert opinion, including from their own staff and Commissioners, that the plan should not go forward.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

Don't forget to wear black if you attend in recognition of the death of "truth and justice" in our City. Since it's pretty hot, black pants will substitute for a black jacket.

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