Hillenbrand's Folly

Hillenbrand's Folly Originally uploaded by jlwilley.

I had an opportunity last week to tour the headquarters of the American Dental Association in Chicago. During our tour we were shown a historic picture of the headquarters taken while it was being built. The building is located at 211 E. Chicago Avenue. You can literally throw a baseball from the front door of the 22-story ADA Building and hit the historic Chicago Water Tower on a couple of bounces.

When the ADA Headquarters was being constructed it was one of the very first skyscrapers built north of the Chicago River. They called the building "Hillenbrand's Folly" after Dr. Harold Hillenbrand, the Executive Director of the ADA at that time.

Here's the point! Can you imagine anyone today calling this Gold Coast landmark someone's "folly?" I think not. It stands today as a testament to the vision of a great dental association leader.

The lesson that struck me while I was visiting the ADA is that you can't judge "vision" in the present. Leadership and vision must be tempered with time and perspective.

The Village of Elburn has an excellent vision that guides our development decisions. We are trying to build a compact interconnected community centered on an existing downtown and a future Metra Station. We also want to use our wetland boundaries to form a natural border around our town that defines our outer limits. We always choose to pursue opportunities that favor the creation of a "community of people," not just of buildings. Furthermore, we never rush development decisions, and we always focus on making this community "Better, and not just Bigger."

This vision has served us well over the past eight years. However, I believe that we are going to be tested in the next few weeks. We are going to have to make a difficult decision concerning the initial temporary access route to our Metra facility.

Do we compromise our vision to accomodate the land speculators that control the property around Metra? Or, do we stay true to our ideals and make the hard decision. One that we know will be inconvenient in the short term, but will greatly benefit our community in the long run? Time will tell, but I believe it will be our "folly" if we allow ourselves to be manipulated and to rush things now.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Originally uploaded by jlwilley.

I suppose someone will think that it isn't "politically correct" for a mayor to wish his community "Happy Easter!" I'm going to do it anyway.

So, enjoy your Easter baskets filled with jelly beans and Peeps. Enjoy your back yard egg hunts. My nephews hunt faster if they know there's cold hard cash in their eggs. Candy just doesn't cut it for them any more.

Enjoy your church services, your gatherings and dinners with your families and friends. My Mom in Batavia will be serving a spiraled ham and her famous cheese potatoes. Her house will be full of people, and I'm sure the topic of what's happening in Elburn will come up more than once.

You can add 12 oz. of sour cream to the Cracker Barrel recipe for cheese potatoes. Then top with 1.5 cups of crushed corn flakes to recreate Mom's Easter potato dish. A good magician never reveals his secrets, but bloggers pretty much "blab" about everything. Sorry, Mom!

Oh, and one last thing, go easy biting into those chocolate bunnies! Ouch!

How Many More Huts by 2030?

Huts on Fanning Island Originally uploaded by jlwilley.

So, how many more "huts" do we have to build in America by 2030. The answer is really pretty scary. This information comes from a metropolitan policy e-bulletin I received last week from the Brookings Institute. Their conclusions are taken from an article by Arthur C. Nelson titled "Toward a New Metropolis: The Opportunity to Rebuild America."

Dr. Nelson predicts that fully half of the built environment in which Americans will live, work and play in 2030 doesn't even exist yet. In the next 25 years, America will need to create over 200 billion square feet of built space to accomodate our current growth projections.

The "bad news" for communities like Elburn experiencing "collar county" growth pressure is that most of the space predicted to be built between 2005 and 2030 will take the form of more new homes. The "good news" for those of us in the Midwest is that most of that new residential growth is projected to occur in the South and the West.

Concerning the Midwest, Dr Nelson's study predicts continued stagnation of "big" cities with sprawling land consumption continuing in outlying areas. He further expects that suburban sprawl will likely erode the overall competiveness of whole metropolitan regions. That sounds like a "bullseye" on what we seem to be going through here in Chicagoland.

Dr. Nelson further asserts that demand is increasing for more compact, walkable, quality living, entertainment and work environments. He states that the challenge for local leaders is to create the right market, land use and regulatory climates to accomodate sustainable growth. He also concludes, that there may be no better time than right now to reshape American communities for the next generation.

We can see some of these problems coming at us in the near future. Two critical questions remain. Are we smart enough to recognize what sprawl is doing not only to our communities, but also to our region? And, are we bold enough to work together to do something about it?

Hot Off the Press

"The Sidewalks of Elburn" by Marilyn Robinson has just arrived from the publisher. Marilyn is planning to attend our committee of the whole meeting Monday night, March 14th at Village Hall. We expect she will be available that night to sign copies for the village board and anyone else who would like to attend.

I anticipate that we will ask for a $20 donation for each book. They will be made available at Elburn Village Hall, and hopefully across the street at the Elburn Town and Country Library. We will also try to schedule additional book signings shortly for those who would like to acquire autographed copies for their friends and families.

The book itself is a wonderfully written collection of historical facts and anecdotes. There is a very interesting and eclectic collection of photographs contained within the book that are simply a joy to browse. There is even an detailed index at the end of "Sidewalks" so everyone can look up their family names and locate their references quickly.

Marilyn's book concludes with an anonymous poem taken from a 1934 edition of the Elburn Herald:

"We must go on and build today

On what was builded yesterday.

We may want much to tear some out,

To fix anew, and change about.

But what is builded, that must stay.

We must go on from yesterday.

So build you stout and build you strong,

And build to last a whole life long.

Place every stone, lay each line true

That it may be a joy to you.

For what you've builded, it must stay.

Today will soon be yesterday."

That sentiment fits nicely with all the construction that is going on in Elburn today. We must build for the future with a firm commitment to remember and honor our past. Thank you Marilyn for all of your hard work compiling Elburn's first historical tome. And, I offer an extra special thanks to the trustees of the Elburn Village Board for recognizing how important this project was, and having the interest and vision to fund it through to completion.

Brought to You by the Letter "E"

There are hidden meanings in the logo that represents our Village of Elburn. The vertical rectangle reminds us that our Route 47 business corridor is the "backbone" of our community. The circle reminds us to design a community where a mix of housing units accomodates the entire "circle of life" for our residents.

The square represents our desire to build our community first within the "friendly confines" of our natural wetland boundaries. Finally, the triangle represents our willingness to develop our community on the "cutting edge" of both conservation and transit-oriented design technologies.

A special thanks should be extended to Arvid Hormuth for creating this enduring symbol of both our wonderful village and the essential "building blocks" for cementing our future together.

Northern Lights

The northern lights are an awesome reminder of how nature surrounds us. In early March, we start to notice that the days are getting longer, and the intensity of the sun is getting stronger. It's actually light out when I head for "Cuts" at 6:30 in the morning.

Any snow that falls now may inconvenience us, but it won't be around for very long. Spring is just around the corner. It's time to "Think Spring!"