forum: Bellwood and Maywood candidates for village president

Last night West Suburban Journal sponsored a forum for Bellwood and Maywood candidates for village president (popularly called "mayor"). Neighborhood United Methodist Church hosted the forum. From Bellwood Jeanette Johnson had the stage to herself because incumbent Frank Pasquale declined to participate.

From Maywood all three candidates participated. Seated from left to right on the stage was Grady Rivers (Proviso Township Clerk and president of the board of education District 89), Demetrius Davis, Henderson Yarbrough.

Before the forum began Davis, Rivers and Yarbrough responded to the following questions in writing.

• What is your vision for the village?
• What are three things you will attempt to do if elected?
• What is the probability each will succeed?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the village?
• What are the opportunities and threats?

Below are the answers provided. (It's going to take me a little time to type Rivers' response because he sent it by fax. The others were emailed.)

The candidates also offered to respond to questions that did not get included in the forum in writing. If you have questions you can email them to me at RadioNyberg circled "a" Yah00 spot C0M or greatdebate circled "a" westsuburbanjournal spot C0M.

Davis:

What is your vision for the village?

My vision is to transform Maywood into the "pace-setting" community of the western suburbs. The Maywood of tomorrow will be a diverse community of residents expressing deep love for both their neighbors and neighborhood. 5th Avenue will once again be the vibrant downtown section that it once was. Unique boutiques, shops, and eateries will line both sides of the street. The "Town Center" (1st/Eisenhower) will serve as our retail and entertain complex. This area will house big box retailers as well as entertainment venues such as a bowling alley, skating rink, video arcade, and a fine arts theater. Finally, my vision for Maywood includes weeding out the criminal elements infecting the town to provide a safe environment for families and businesses to thrive.


What are three things you will attempt to do if elected?

1.) Provide Safe Streets by increasing the number of police on patrol, and by launching a full assault on gangs and drugs

2.) Provide New Jobs by hiring seasonal employees within public works, providing summer jobs for youth, and requiring 5th Ave road improvement contractors to hire a certain percentage of Maywoodians.

3.) Attract New Businesses by using our available resources to attract businesses through incentives.

What is the probability each will succeed?

There is a high probability each will succeed, but it will be a collaborative effort between government and citizens. The community must be supportive of their mayor abandoning the status quo and calling the entire village to a higher standard.


What are the strengths and weaknesses of the village?

Strengths:

Location
Resilient Residents
Rich Tradition
Diversity

Weaknesses:

Crime
Poor Leadership
Politically Divided
High Number of Foreclosures
High Property Taxes
Poor Schools
Lack of Businesses
High Unemployment

What are the opportunities and threats?

Opportunities:

The Most Vacant Land in Western Suburbs
TIF and Empowerment Zone
Residents Ready for Change
Attractive Location

Threats:

Low Employee Morale
Poor Reputation
High Unemployment
High Drug Abuse
Political Division
Poor Educational System

Yarbrough:

What is your vision for the village?

In the last four years the village of Maywood has reshaped its image from a community primarily known for crime, poor service and lack of professionalism to a village that is proactively addressing issues of public safety, service and 21st Century professional management. Moving forward, my vision of Maywood is a West Cook leader for developers looking for business prospects. Additionally, my vision of Maywood is as a destination tourists want to come to for its unique history, its showcase homes and what will be an economic development boon that will draw shoppers from throughout the Chicago-land area and beyond. Also in that vision is a hope of improved public education, which is a major factor in how families choose where to live.

What are three things you will attempt to do if re-elected?

My administration will continue its efforts to improve public safety, develop our next phase of economic development, and further accelerate our efforts to deal with infrastructure needs.

What are the probabilities each will succeed?

In the area of public safety, I look to a continuation of reduced crime and increased arrests and convictions. The 77 security cameras, the tightening of our ordinances dealing with graffiti and prostitution, the stepped up vigilance and visibility of our police officers and our efforts to patrol in collaboration with our county, state, other villages and Cease-Fire partners all result in a safer community. Maywood will continue to increase public safety.

We are very satisfied with the first phase of our economic development plan—finalizing our Comprehensive Plan and updating our zoning to reflect contemporary Maywood realities. Additionally, we have “shopped” our villages through numerous conferences and seminars and have developed solid relationships with proven developers who await a brighter economy before being able to finalize a development. Most importantly, we have gained control of a significant amount of land, which gives us leverage in dealing directly with developers without having to deal with property owners. Therefore, our economic development planning will result in many new businesses opening in Maywood.

Our on-going relationships with elected officials on the federal and state level have resulted in significant grant monies for infrastructure. This year’s ambitious capital improvement plan will yield $15 million for projects in key Maywood roadways—5th Avenue; Lake Street; Madison Avenue; Roosevelt Road; 9th Avenue and others. Those projects include roadway improvements, sidewalks, gutters, curbs and lighting. We will be getting funds to fix some long-standing water main problems and drainage problems which are exacerbated every time it rains. I am proud to say for the first time in recent history we have allocated dollars to pave alleys and will look for additional funds to pave more alleys.


What are the strengths and weaknesses of the village?

I have already talked a lot about Maywood’s strengths; in short, Maywood is the equal to any West Cook village. If Maywood has a weakness, it is the perception that Maywood is inferior to its neighbors and will never get better. There are nay-sayers and stone-throwers who would rather criticize from afar than get involved in continuing our efforts to move Maywood forward. I applaud the 100 or so commissioners who serve our village as volunteers in many capacities. I applaud our special events committee, which has helped Maywood build a new community spirit by their involvement in our movie nights, our family fests, and our holiday special events. I have experienced the wonder of our new senior club, which every Friday provides fun and fellowship for our most treasured citizens. I am very pleased that our M.A.P.S. program of community-police engagement continues to grow and help all of us become crime fighters. To those who find comfort in hurling insults from sidelines, I challenge you to come on the playing field and help make Maywood better.

What are the opportunities and threats?

As Maywood continues to progress in all ways, the opportunities are limitless. We can be the economic engine for the West Cook suburbs; we can be the model community that illustrates diversity can work; we can continue to hold the line on taxes yet operate in the black while delivering professional, efficient services to all our residents; if public education in the district is reformed, we can advertise our village as a model community within which to raise a family. There are only two threats—an economy that presents infinite challenges both now and for the immediate future; and a gnawing yet happily reduced number of nay-sayers who don’t believe that Maywood can truly take its place as a community leader. I am both an optimist and a realist. I believe in Maywood and look forward to leading my village to a new and brighter future.

Rivers:

What is your vision for the village?

My vision for Maywood is for it to be a community that all residents can be proud of because it is sage and a great place to raise a family in. I envision a town with robust economic development, and good recreational facilities for our children. In order to do this we must get a handle on crime so my focus will be on working with our local police department as well as state and federal agencies in order to battle the gangs and drug dealers that plaque (sic) our community.

What are three things you will attempt to do if elected?

1.When elected I will work to change the image of the village, because as long as we are viewed in a negative light it makes it difficult to move forward in a positive manner.
2. I will fully implement the park district referendum that was overwhelmingly approved a couple of years ago. This is how we improve recreational opportunities in Maywood and our parks should be under one entity the Maywood park district because all they deal with is recreation, if you look at the successful park districts in our area for example veterans park district in Melrose park (sic) and memorial park district in Bellwood all they deal with is recreation. The current situation in Maywood where you have the village recreation department which levies a tax and then you get taxed again by the Maywood park district is unfair and has been proven to be unsuccessful.
3. I will establish a better business bureau in town in order to promote Maywood as a viable business destination, and help current business be successful.

What is the probability each will succeed?

I don't see any reason why these goals can't be accomplished with strong leadership.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the village?

One of our greatest strengths is the location of our village, people want to be close to the city. The north south dividing line for Chicago is Madison st. (sic) which runs right through the center of our town. We have the railroad that runs along st. charles rd. and the Eisenhower expressway on the south end of town. Also most maywoodians take great pride in our community, anyone who has lived here the last few decades remembers what a nice place Maywood used to be and realizes our great potential.

One of our biggest weaknesses I believe is the image people have of Maywood because of our high crime rate. It has led some people to give up on our village and has contributed to business not wanting to invest here.

There also seems to be a lack of faith in our political leaders. We need strong leadership in order to succeed.

What are the opportunities and threats?

Opportunities are numerous the Roosevelt road corridor needs to be developed. Loyola hospital needs restaurants, and a hotel. Loyola is our areas biggest employer yet they are hardly mentioned in Maywoods comprehensive plan. We need a full service grocery store, the downtown area (5th ave) stands mostly abandoned. Our biggest parcel of open space, the old comed property at 1st ave. and the Eisenhower must be developed these are great opportunities that must be taken advantage of.

The biggest threats to Maywood are the high unemployment rate, high taxes, gangs and drugs all are tough problems but with bold leadership they can be overcome.

partial list of Proviso candidates for local elections

West Suburban Journal has a list of candidates for local elections including District 209 (but not other school districts), Proviso Township and the villages of Bellwood, Broadview, Maywood and Melrose Park.

Vicenik and Yarbrough use taxpayer resources for political work

West Suburban Journal-News (L. Nicole Trottie with Kevin Williams contributing) covers the criticism Broadview Village President Henry Vicenik took over letting Rep. Karen Yarbrough and U.S. Rep Danny Davis use a village-owned property rent free.

Vicenik said the board’s decision to offer the space rent free was never a board agenda item....

Vicenik counters, the decision by the board is justified as providing a service to Broadview residents.

“I thought it would be good for the village and residents to have a state representative and congressman here as a resource for the people of Broadview,” Vicenik said Tuesday.

Having a village subsidize constituent services is at least an unusual arrangement. And unusual arrangements need more specific contracts. And contracts need to be approved by the governing boards, or they formally delegate this power.

Broadview has been in financial trouble for years. Why wouldn't it ask its tenants to pay for using village property?

IMO, Yarbrough and Vicenik are in some legal trouble, or should be, for using public resources for political activities. I assumed that Yarbrough and her organization were paying rent and that there was a contract which separated the political portion of the premises from the government part of the premises. I'm pretty sure my assumption was based on this being claimed or implied by Yarbrough. Maybe I'm misremembering.

If Yarbrough and Vicenik knew that the space was provided gratis by the Village of Broadview they both know that there should be no political activity being done there. I made a formal complaint to the Cook County State's Attorney against Eugene Moore and District 209 for a comparatively minor transgression.

h/t Proviso Insider

BTW, there is something of a back story to Trottie's interest in this building. Trottie sought to acquire use of the property for free from Vicenik. Trottie mentioned the arrangement to Yarbrough. Apparently Vicenik decided it was more advantageous to him to give the property to Yarbrough and Davis than to Trottie's newspaper which was brand new at the time.

However, whether Trottie has an ax to grind with Vicenik and Yarbrough over this property, it doesn't mitigate the wrongdoing by Vicenik and Yarbrough.

Trottie column on Yarbrough and Nyberg

L. Nicole Trottie (West Suburban Journal) has a column taking Karen Yarbrough to task for accepting campaign contributions by Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, the Village of Maywood's law firm. Karen's husband Henderson Yarbrough is village president.

Maybe I should have explicitly praised West Suburban Journal for the news story, but I rarely praise other newspapers for doing their jobs. If I praised West Suburban Journal it would probably be in the context of pointing out how boring and useless most of the paper's journalism is. Or outright defamatory.

West Suburban Journal has migrated editorial perspectives from being allied with Bellwood Village President Frank Pasquale and District 209 board president Emanuel "Chris" Welch to being allied with Karen Yarbrough (and critical of Pasquale and Welch) to being aligned with Welch again.

But I may be oversimplifying. Trottie felt double-crossed by Pasquale on some advertising revenue. Trottie later accused Pasquale of cutting off the advertising money when she refused to have sex with Pasquale. And Trottie had been dating Welch, but turned against him with a vengeance.

So, Trottie was not so much a Yarbrough fan--she felt Yarbrough or Yarbrough's staff--leased some office space out from under Trottie, space Trottie wanted for the office of West Suburban Journal. This predated Trottie becoming anti-Pasquale and anti-Welch.

Later Trottie's relationship with Karen Yarbrough went sour. According to a comment posted to Proviso Probe by someone using Trottie's name, Yarbrough's father, Don Williams, failed to complete an advertising contract because he disagreed with some editorial decision made by Trottie.

So, Trottie ended-up in the anti-Yarbrough camp and the newspaper eventually settled on covering Maywood.

This is a decent situation from the point of view the media is supposed to be skeptical of the government. And the Yarbrough political camp dominates village politics.

However, Trottie seems to believe the enemey of her enemy is her friend. And perhaps she's pressured into this thinking because she has to chase after advertising revenue.

By focusing on political factions instead of principles, Trottie's column is weaker than it would be otherwise. It also contains statements that seem debatable. And the sniping at me (Carl Nyberg) is irrelevant to her larger point.

One good point made by the column is that Karen Yarbrough didn't respond to West Suburban Journal's request for comment. I share West Suburban Journal's frustration at elected officials not returning phone calls and emails because they don't want to deal with the issue at hand.

Trottie wrote:

A taxing body that accepts contributions from a no-bid vendor is a very big issue. In fact, it’s a federal hot topic.

I wish this was true, but it's not. Law firms are hired through no-bid processes because they fall under the exception for professional services. Law firms giving money to the politicians that hire them does not automatically trigger a federal investigation. If Trottie had a broader perspective on local issues, she'd know that Odelson & Sterk contributed to Welch's campaigns and Giglio & Del Galdo contributed to campaigns of Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico. Welch and Serpico are under federal investigation, but the investigation wasn't triggered by contributions by law firms they hired.

The interrelationship between the village counsel and Yarbrough’s political parties imply that something of value is given in return for something of value.

This statement goes too far. This statement would appear to damn all campaign contributions. And defenders of the status quo on campaign contributions would probably respond to Trottie by saying that it often appears there is a quid pro quo relationship between her editorial perspective and her advertising revenue.

If a politically-connected law firm, let’s say, Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, is hired by the Village of Maywood to defend the wolf’s actions in “Little Red Riding Hood,” it would not focus on the wolf’s unbridled desire to consume Little Red Ridding Hood; instead, it would argue that said wolf, disguised in drag as Grandma, should be offered protection under the state’s anti-discrimination laws. The attempted consumption of Little Red is of little worth.

Can someone explain this analogy to me. If a law firm is hired to defend the wolf then the law firm should defend the wolf to the best of its ability, right?

[The Yarbroughs] should give the money back and amend the Village Code ethics portion to prevent such messy contributions from happening in the future.

On this point Trottie and I agree.

Finally, I will defend my honor. Trottie called me the president of the Karen Yarbrough fan club. I like Karen, but she's not the only person I like locally. In 2007 I've spent far more time on the phone with Arnie Bryant, Charles Flowers, Theresa Kelly and probably Mike Manzo than I have with Yarbrough.

You don't especially have to take my word, look up what I've written on Karen Yarbrough on Proviso Probe. Since January 1, 2007 I have written 20 entries that mention Karen Yarbrough out of over 375 entries. Of those 20 entries a number have been less than complimentary.

* Yarbrough political committees hit up village's legal counsel
* A07, election analysis

Most of the entries are neutral, in many Yarbrough just gets mentioned and is not a central character in the entry.

I disagree with Trottie labeling me the "president of the Karen Yarbrough fan club". It's not accurate. And mentioning me is superfluous to the point of her column.

[UPDATE: The Proviso Insider responded to this post under the title, "Carl Nyberg Admits Relationship With Anti-Welch-Serpico-Moore Group!!!". How should I respond? My Naval Academy roommate would have used sarcasm.

"Insider, you're right. There is a group dedicated to ruining Welch, Serpico and Moore. It has weekly meetings. Not only are Nyberg and the others there, but Patrick Fitzgerald and the FBI attend the meetings too."

I could point at that it's hardly a revelation that I talk to most of these people. How often am I on Bryant's radio show? Who attends board D209 board meetings and hasn't seen me talking with Kelly or Flowers? What's sinister about me talking to the political opponents of Moore, Welch and Serpico anyway?

[If you care about the details of my relationship with any public figures, feel free to ask in the comments.]

Yarbrough political committees hit up village's legal counsel

West Suburban Journal (Kevin Williams with Nicole Trottie) detailed how two political committees aligned with Karen & Henderson Yarbrough received $9,000 since 2005 from Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, the attorneys for the Village of Maywood. (h/t Proviso Insider)

Karen Yarbrough is the state representative for Maywood and much of the surrounding area; she is also Proviso Township's Democratic Committeeman. Henderson Yarbrough is Maywood's village president. Before the April, 2007 election Yarbrough's block had a 4-3 majority on the village board; now they have a 6-1 majority.

In an email to me Karen Yarbrough wrote that the Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins contributions were a “non issue”. I disagree.

In the past I have expressed concern that politicians raising money from law firms that work for local taxing bodies is simply money laundering. At its simplest the taxing body picks a law firm—because legal work is a “professional service” it doesn't need to be bid out—and the law firms merely pad their bills to cover the contributions the politicians want. They can either build the cost of the political contributions into the firm's hourly rate or add extra hours.

Raising money from vendors and contractors looks bad, but there are a number of ways raising money from law firms is worse.

1. Legal work is not bid upon.
2. If there is a quid pro quo negotiated it is more difficult for outsiders, including law enforcement, to detect because of the protections of attorney-client privilege.
3. There is no protection against attorneys padding their bills other than the personal honor of the attorneys. Normally, law clients have an incentive to be skeptical of the bills and pay as little as possible. But when politicians are making money off the attorneys the incentives for keeping bills low are weaker than the incentives to “get along and go along”.
4. The interrelationship between attorney and client also taints the legal advice given. Normally an ethical lawyer counsels clients on ways to avoid legal costs. But if the politicians can reasonably anticipate a kickback to their political committee (or an ally's political committee) then they have an incentive to make choices that increase the legal bills, not keep them down.

When people want to rip on Karen Yarbrough they say she practices politics like the people she seeks to replace; at best she's a “reluctant reformer”. She's more articulate than Eugene Moore and less likely to do something flagrantly illegal. But from the community's point of view the new boss looks like the old boss.

I disagree with this assessment. But I think Yarbrough has to make an effort to be better. Most of the people with their hands on the levers of political power want the system to stay the same. The people with political power can convert it into wealth and power for themselves and their political allies. They are going to serve the community as little as possible while maintaining the perks of attaining political power.

There's always going to be a pull to “get along and go along”. Yarbrough and her team have to make an effort to resist this inevitable pull. The pull is inevitable, but giving in to pull of “get along and go along” politics isn't.

IMO, the Yarbroughs should return the contributions to Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins and the Village of Maywood should attach language to the contracts with all law firms that they are expected to stay out of local politics in the Proviso area.

LEGAL, Does anyone know a good defamation lawyer? [D88]

West Suburban Journal (Kevin Williams) is not just floating the theory Dr. Nichelle Rivers planted the porn on Principal Paul Glover's computer, it's making the allegation in a headline.

Superintendent plot foiled; Glover retained, Rivers removed

A principal accused of having pornographic material on his district issued laptop, a superintendent accused of planting the material and releasing photos to the media and shredding documents is the latest controversy swirling around Bellwood McKinley Elementary School.

If the board majority and Glover have been floating the theory Rivers placed the porn on Glover's computer, none of the Chicago media outlets even included this in their stories.

Oh wait, I just finished reading the West Suburban Journal article.

The school board president Marilyn Thurman said that she had seen the pictures, and commented that she did not think they were bad, although they were on school property.

So, Glover's patron, school board president Marilyn Thurman is defending Glover by saying the pictures aren't that bad, but West Suburban Journal is floating the theory Rivers placed the pictures in the same article.

Don't you think if the pictures were planted by a third party he'd tell his patron on the school board?

BTW, Thurman's defense doesn't hold water. Employers can fire employees for using work computers for personal activities, although I consider it over-reacting when the personal use is relatively innocent, like checking email. However, after having been warned--especially about porn--almost any employer would terminate the individual in question.