Journal & Topics Media Group

Priorities Differ In 5th Ward Aldermanic Campaigns


Fifth Ward aldermanic candidates Charlie Melidosian (left) and Sal Raspanti (right) participated in a March 13 forum, moderated by Heidi Graham from the League of Women Voters.

A candidate forum, organized by the Park Ridge League of Women Voters, was held at City Hall March 13, focusing on the 5th Ward race between Ald. Charlie Melidosian and Sal Raspanti, a former 4th Ward alderman.

The other aldermen up for election this year are unopposed: John Moran (1st), Gail Wilkening (3rd) and Marty Joyce (7th).

Heidi Graham, from the Arlington Heights LWV chapter, served as moderator.

Questions from the forum audience focused on various City Council initiatives, spanning Raspanti’s 2011-13 term, Melidosian’s service since he was appointed in February 2017, and the years in between.

The Candidates

Melidosian was appointed, from among 10 applicants, to fill a vacancy after the death of Ald. Dan Knight. He serves as council liaison to the Park Ridge Library and chairs the Public Safety Committee.

A graduate of Maine East High School and University of Wisconsin, his career has focused in information technology, currently in management at Alliant Credit Union in Chicago.

He was a member of the city’s Fair Housing Commission in 2009. When the late Mayor Dave Schmidt wanted citizens to have better access to city council meetings, Melidosian filmed them for posting. Later, cable television and web postings took over the video process.

His community service has ranged from Habitat for Humanities to assisting local organizations with their website needs.

Raspanti is a former Park Ridge Park Board member and president, and served on the Planning and Zoning Commission. He was elected in 2011 to a two-year as 4th Ward alderman. He chose to not seek reelection, he says, because his job responsibilities at F.W. Global took him out of town too often.

Raspanti says he did not rule out running again in the future.

Now retired, and relocated to the 5th Ward, he hopes to serve again.

Attendance

When Melidosian inherited being liaison to the Park Ridge Library from Knight, some library watchdogs complained he was missing library meetings because he was attending City Council meetings.

Melidosian defended his attendance record for City Council, Mayor’s Advisory Board and his extra efforts working with library and city staff to get the library renovation permits back on track.

Raspanti said he had missed 12 city meetings when he was out of town.

Council attendance rules have changed, and improved technology allows aldermen to participate in meetings by phone.

Planning, Spending

Raspanti’s aldermanic term fell within a difficult phase of the Uptown TIF District, when the redevelopment of Target Area II in the 5th Ward, delayed by lawsuits and crippled by a national recession, left the city absorbing deficits instead of profits.

He remembers an era of city zero budgeting and is critical of the current council’s decisions to start spending.

Recalibration of the property values in the tax increment financing district, refinancing of bonds at a lower interest rate, and renegotiating agreements with school districts and the Park Ridge Park District took some of the pressures off the council during Knight’s years as alderman and finance chairman.

Under City Manager Joe Gilmore, and Andrea Lamberg, who replaced Gilmore as finance director, goals from a 2016-17 strategic plan have been integrated into budgets for fiscal years 2018, 2019 and the proposed 2020 budget currently under discussion.

“He’s taken credit for three years of reductions, but he’s (only) been on (the council) for two years,” Raspanti said, of Melidosian.

Current Finance and Budget chairman Ald. Marc Mazzuca (6th), who authored the city’s procurement policy, is critical of any sole-source procurement contracts. Most recently under fire was the police department’s choice of Axon to provide body cameras and taser training for officers.

Park Ridge Chief Frank Kaminski defended the opportunities through Axon to interface videos with Cook County and other departments and get taser training. Melidosian said there are city policies which set guidelines for single-source providers.

Raspanti asked why Niles police got a less expensive contract with a different firm.

Raspanti believes the city should retain a six-month operating reserve and is critical of the current council’s decision to spend down several fund surpluses.

Melidosian said there are cases, such as the library’s decision to reduce its spending this year, when a temporary break in taxes can be passed along to taxpayers. Future construction will require some increase in the levy later.

Investment in new water meters across the city will be paid for with another part of the surplus. The meters will track water use automatically, improving prompt billing and identifying leaks sooner to track disparities with Chicago’s water supply to Park Ridge.

Another project, spending down saved sewer funds, will be to launch engineering studies on two flood relief developments. Stormwater utility fees, already authorized several years ago, are expected to be activated for future projects.

After the City Council approved changes to Uptown parking recommended in a study by Gewalt-Hamilton, several developers approached city staff in 2018 asking the city to give them the city-owned surface parking lot at Summit and Euclid virtually for free, so they could build a multi-story apartment complex on it. The incentive would be, they suggested, that 100 expensive apartments, and possible retail below, would improve the tax increment in the Uptown TIF, although public parking spaces would be lost.

Raspanti alleged that Melidosian supported that concept. On Dec. 10, 2018, all the aldermen declined to consider it at all until a revision of the city’s Comprehensive Plan, just starting, is complete.

Raspanti said he is certain there is land available in Uptown which could be dedicated for parking.

With Park Ridge-Niles School Dist, 64 facing increased enrollments and running out of classroom space in many of its buildings, both candidates expressed concerns about adding a lot of extra residential development.

Raspanti wants the city to change its priorities. He would reject an opportunity for a grant to test permeable surface paving at the city parking lot next to the library. He thinks the city should be filling blocks of potholes on Summit instead.

Consensus

Both candidates agreed that the city’s tax dollars should not subsidize not-for-profit groups or social service agencies. Aldermen have stepped up as volunteers to raise donations, such as Grilling for the Arts, which benefits the Park Ridge Fine Arts Society summer concerts.

Neither candidate is happy that Park Ridge was not given a seat on the new Fly Quiet standing committee by O’Hare Noise Compatibility Chair Arlene Juracek of Mount Prospect.

To hear more: A video of the debate is currently posted on the city’s website. Look for the “News” postings on the main page for a link to this video.

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