Story posted Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Niles' Year In Review
Local Politics Play Prominent Role In 2009's Top News Stories
A new mayor for the first time in almost 50 years, along with declining sales tax revenues were just a couple things that had a profound affect on Niles residents in 2009. Here are the Journal's top stories in Niles in 2009:
Economics
Due to the majority of the village's revenue coming from sales taxes, the economic downturn hit Niles particularly hard in 2009.
In an address to business and community leaders this past October, Mayor Robert Callero reported that village sales tax revenues came in at a rate of $1.5 million below budget estimates.
Through cost cutting and belt-tightening, the village was able to make up $1.2 million of that and would draw on reserves for the other $300,000.
Blase Sentencing, Sorta
In October 2008 former longtime Mayor Nicholas Blase pled guilty to two counts of mail fraud in a federal corruption indictment. Blase retired after 47-years in office in August 2008.
His sentencing date saw four continuances in 2009 and is currently scheduled to resume once again on Jan. 29, 2010.
Prosecutors said Blase and co-defendant Steven Weiner engaged in a scheme to strong-arm companies wishing to do business in Niles to take out insurance policies with Weiner's company, Ralph Weiner and Associates (RWA), for which Weiner allegedly paid Blase $421,450 in kickbacks from 1997 until 2006.
Weiner pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges earlier this year and is awaiting sentencing.
Callero Takes Office
Village trustees voted to appoint Robert Callero, a longtime village trustee, to replace Blase as acting mayor in August 2008.
He went on to win a contentious five-way race for mayor last April that included rivals Trustee Kim Biederman and Niles businessman Chris Hanusiak along with Carol Harczak and Luigi Nitti.
Callero won with 48% of the vote and with some help in the form of letters from both Blase and his wife Fey.
"Tape Gate"
In January 2009 shortly after Blase was widely criticized for using village stationary to throw his support behind Callero's candidacy in December 2008, the Niles Journal discovered that village staffers used village equipment and made videotapes of Niles businesses people praising Blase as he awaited sentencing on federal corruption charges. Village Manager George Van Geem and Village Attorney Joe Annunzio confiscated those tapes locking them in a safe.
George's Past
When then Niles Planning and Zoning Board Commissioner and Morton Grove restaurateur George Alpogianis was introduced as a candidate on Callero's slate in December of 2008 little did anyone know just how many twists and turns his candidacy and brief time in office would take.
In February 2009, a Journal & Topics Newspapers investigation discovered Alpogianis was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to six felony counts of aggravated battery connected to a melee outside a Chicago house party in the mid-1980s when Alpogianis was 19-years-old.
Those convictions remain on Alpogianis' record. Under Illinois law, convicted felons cannot serve as elected officials.
In spite of wide media coverage of the convictions, Alpogianis won his race, placing third out of five candidates in last April's election. He was sworn in as a trustee last May.
After his swearing in, a spokesman for the Cook County State's Attorney said they would not seek his removal unless a complaint was filed regarding his convictions.
In June, Alpogianis stepped down under pressure from the state's attorney after a complaint was received.
Callero waited more than the maximum 60-days to appoint James Hynes as Alpogianis' successor. Callero said he was hoping to see whether or not Gov. Pat Quinn would pardon Alpogianis so he could reappoint him to the village board.
Last October, Alpogianis filed suit against Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez and the Cook County Board of Commissioners to clear his name.
Proposed Ethics Reform
When Callero announced his candidacy in December 2008, he pledged to institute ethics reforms in the village saying the village could have as many as five mayors in the next 20 years. He said it had nothing to do with Blase's crimes and said the former mayor "had done nothing to hurt the village."
As acting mayor, Callero formed an ethics committee to put together a nine-point plan in November 2008 but did not announce it publicly and held meetings behind closed doors.
When the ethics committee was later announced in 2009 and a move to formalize it was brought before the village board, it was not listed as an action item on the village board agenda.
Trustee Kim Biederman filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General's office that wrote an advisory letter to the village saying it had violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
At the time, Village Attorney Joe Annunzio argued that state ethics boards were allowed to meet in secret and villages could adopt state statutes directly. The attorney general's office disagreed saying that state statute only applied to state ethics boards. The village board voted the Niles Board of Ethics into existence a second time at a subsequent meeting in compliance with the Open Meetings Act.
Ethics Reform Plan
Once the Niles Board of Ethics was established, a Citizen's Plan Compliance Committee was created by Niles residents.
This subcommittee was charged with writing the actual ordinances and policies to implement Callero's nine-point ethics plan. To date, a hot line has been established to report ethical misconduct, a procedure has been established to adjudicate complaints and the first draft of a village ethics code has been written and is being reviewed by the board of ethics.
Teen Center Expansion
The Niles Teen Center had a good problem as it closed out 2008 — it was so popular with teens it was outgrowing its space. While in the process of working with the Niles Public Library to apply for a grant, the idea to expand the teen center was born.
Though the grant did not come through, the village, Home Depot and WalMart and other businesses did.
Last spring, the teen center took over an adjacent 1,001 sq. ft. storefront in Golf Mill where the center is located.
Home Depot donated workers' time and materials and WalMart came through with a major grant. Other businesses donated things like big screen televisions, pool tables and furniture. The expanded center offered the chance for expanded programming.
Swine Flu Blues
The H1N1 virus had school officials at East Maine Elementary Dist. 63 and Culver School concerned. A few students were diagnosed early on but stayed home and were fine, but school officials and the public was on edge.
The schools implemented and stepped up cleaning regimens, coached kids in how to cover up when coughing and sneezing and planned for other contingencies. Eventually, the Cook County Dept. of Public Health (CCDPH) came to each school and administered vaccinations.
Health Care
Health care reform was on the minds of many who flocked to health care town hall forums in Niles.
In June, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) hosted a town hall meeting on health care reform at the Niles Senior Center.
Attended by several hundred people, the crowd was civil with only a handful of protesters advocating a national single payer system. After a summer of intense media attention and widely televised raucous town halls across the country, Schakowsky's August follow-up town hall at Niles West High School was much different.
Thousands lined up for hours waiting to get into the main auditorium at Niles West. When the auditorium reached capacity, groups supporting and opposing comprehensive health care reform stayed outside the school verbally sparing.
Honorable Mentions
Violence at Golf Mill Shopping Center is extremely rare but just after the Black Friday start of the holiday shopping season, two incidents in two days shattered that calm. In a reported dispute over a girl, 16-year-old Francisco Moran of Glenview allegedly ran down 15-year-old Edgardo De La Torre with a car. De La Torre later died of his injuries. That same weekend in a "drug deal gone bad", according to police, a man was shot in the neck. He survived but refused to help police identify the shooter. Charges in that case are not expected to be filed...East Maine School Dist. 63 saw long time Supt. Kathleen Williams retire this year. Her successor, Asst. Supt. of Personnel and Pupil Services Scott Clay, was named to take her place at a base salary of $170,000 a year. Williams later came back to the district as a consultant earning $900 per day...Homes off Oakton Street were evacuated and hazardous materials responders came out in force when a gasoline tanker truck filled with fuel attempted to take a turn too fast and overturned just before the morning rush hour last August. Firefighters and public works crews cleaned up the mess without incident.
Speak Out!
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