Elburn "Digs" Arbor Day

Approximately 45 Cub Scouts, parents, village employees, and village officials attended today's Arbor Day ceremony at Prairie Park. The first Arbor Day was held in 1872 when J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. On Arbor Day, 1872 over one million trees were planted in Nebraska on a single day.

This year is the 133rd anniversary of Arbor Day now observed throughout America and the world. Holding an Arbor Day ceremony is a requirement for Elburn's Tree City USA application, and this year will be our 7th consecutive year of participation with that program.

The planting of trees convey many benefits to our commuities. Trees reduce erosion, cut heating and cooling costs, clean the air, produce oxygen, and provide a habitat for wildlife. Trees also are a renewable resource giving us wood for construction, fuel for our fires, paper for us to use, and their natural beauty for all to enjoy. And, trees, wherever they are planted, are a source of spiritual renewal and happiness.

I have always remarked that our village looks more like a forest preserve than a town when observed from a small private airplane or helicopter. Let's continue to work together to preserve our community forest.

The Toughest Job I've Ever Had!

Several years ago Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert came to Elburn to award millions of Federal dollars to Metra for their UP West Line extension. Before the press conference I met Secretary Mineta in our Village Hall lunch room. He asked me if I was the Mayor of Elburn, and I replied "Well yes, I am." Then he asked me if I knew that he was a mayor once. I replied, "No, I didn't know that." Then he said something that has stuck with me for a long time. He said, "Being a mayor was the toughest job I've ever had!"

Now, this is coming from a man who served as Secretary of Commerce for President Clinton, and now serves as Secretary of Transportation under President Bush. This was also coming from a man who made a pivotal decision to ground all the commercial flights on September 11th, 2001. He definitely had my attention.

Then he told me that when he was a mayor his office was right next to the reception desk at City Hall. And from his office, he could hear the residents come in with their complaints. One time he said he heard a rather loud individual come to the counter and say, "I want to talk to the mayor. I want to talk to the mayor right now! I'm not talking to anybody "lower" than the mayor."

When he came out of his office, he told the person, "Ma'am, don't you know? There is nobody "lower" than a mayor."

This story has been one of my favorites to share with others since the day I spoke with Secretary Mineta. For one, it reconfirms something I felt for quite some time. That is, serving as a mayor, even in a small town, is a little more difficult than most people think. And second, it expresses a sentiment that several of the more enlightened mayors I've met have have also shared with me. Leading a community only from the "top-down" doesn't work that well. The best mayors learn to build consensus and to "lead from behind."

Secretary Mineta probably recalls little of his visit to Elburn. I doubt he even remembers the short conversation he had with me. But what he said in those few minutes of "small" talk was really pretty "BIG!" Thank you, Secretary Mineta for giving me a great story to tell again and again.

Better, but Much Bigger!

There is one thing growing "bigger" in Elburn, and that's the size of our homes. The March/April 2005 edition of Mother Jones magazine outlines some of the recent trends we're seeing in home building. Here are some of the latest facts concerning our pursuit of the "American Dream" house:

1. Since 1950, the average new house has increased by 1247 sq. ft. Meanwhile, the average household size has shrunk by 1 person.
2. The National Association of Homebuilder's "showcase home" for 2005 is 5,950 sq. ft. That's 15% bigger than last year's model.
3. 1 in 4 Americans want at least a 3-car garage.
4. In 1950, 1 in 100 homes had 2.5 baths or more. Today 1 in 2 do.
5. 14 million American households own 4 or more televisions.
6. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition recently gave a 6-bedroom, 7-bath, 7-television house to a family of 4.
7. The average cost of a luxury kitchen remodel is $57,000. That's $10,000 more than it costs to build a typical Habitat for Humanity home.
8. The average new home requires 13,837 board feet of lumber and 19 tons of cement.
9. Only 2.7% of its teachers, 5.7% of its cops, and 4.2% of its nurses can afford to buy a home in San Francisco.
10. Since 20o1, the number of Americans who have bought second homes has increased by 24%.

I thought those were some interesting facts to share with you. But I also have one additional personal observation to share. I spend my working hours treating patients in a 1200 sq. ft. dental office. I then spend 95% of my non-working hours living in less than 1000 sq. ft. of my 2525 sq. ft. home. In America, we "want" more than we "need," this blogger included.

A direct link to the article mentioned in this blog can be accessed at "This New House." The home pictured for this blog is a 7800 sq. ft. home recently built in the mountains near Seattle, Washington.

Which Way to Turn on Metra Access?

Deciding which way to turn on Metra's temporary access in Elburn is a difficult decision. There is an acronym called "SCRIPTS" that was designed specifically to help decision-makers sort through the options and make the tough calls.

"SCRIPTS" stands for search for signals, find the causes, evaluate the risks, apply intuition, take different perspectives, consider the time frame, and solve the problem.

Let's apply the "SCRIPTS" decision making model to Elburn's temporary Metra access issue:

Search for Signals-By searching for signals, we are looking for opportunities and threats. Selecting the southeast side of Elburn for a temporary Metra access will give us a new street, new sidewalks, a stoplight with intersection improvements, and a sight and sound reducing berm surrounding the entire Metra coachyard. Those improvements represent a $1.8 million dollar infrastructure investment in our community. Deals like this one don't come around very often. On the other hand, choosing this option has a potential to temporarily increase traffic congestion, increase neighborhood safety concerns, and has already upset most of our residents on the southeast side.

Find the Causes-What can we identify as the root "cause" of this temporary access dilemma? The answer is basically one of "delay." There has been a delay in transit oriented development decisions for the property surrounding our future train station. This is likely a good thing, because it keeps Elburn from growing too fast.

There has also been a delay in securing the Federal funding needed for the future Anderson Road overpass. When dealing with Washington DC, the delay in obtaining TEA-LU funding for Elburn's bridge was as we expected.

Finally, there was a delay in determining if the Grove/Elburn land speculators who control a potential Fourth Street easement would grant us a street right-of-way there. In fact, that last issue of "delay" was the "one and only" reason that the Kansas Street alternative is even being mentioned as a last minute option.

Evaluate the Risks-Here we should estimate the cost of a "missed opportunity" versus the cost of an "needless blunder." If the village board does nothing, and Metra builds the Anderson Road access, clearly we missed obtaining $1.8 million dollars of community investment. We might get the $800,000 berm back from a future developer, but the street, sidewalk, and intersection improvement dollars are gone for good.

If we choose either of the southeast side temporary access routes, and it doesn't work out well for our community, the cost of the "needless blunder" is largely "political." People on the southeast side will likely be upset with the village board for many years. It is quite probable that the Metra temporary access will significantly increase the property values of their homes, but the residents have made it clear that they don't want any Metra traffic in their neighborhood.

Apply Intuition-The intuitive and emotional side of this decision was expressed passionately by the residents who attended our village board meeting last Monday night. They don't like it. They expressed their concerns about increased vehicle counts, and the potential for more speeders. They were also concerned about resident parking and safety in their neighborhood, about their children playing and going to school, and about mature trees that might have to be removed to make way for the street repairs. At a separate meeting when one resident was asked, "What would it take to make this temporary access worthwhile to your neighborhood?" That person replied, "Nothing!"

My own intuition tells me that a temporary Metra access won't have as dire an effect on the neighborhood as some of the southeast side residents predict. I also believe that there are many things that we as a village can do to mitigate the negative effects of the temporary access on the southeast neighborhood as a whole.

But, I definitely respect and understand the emotional side of this issue. I lived in the Judge Landis house at 425 S. First Street on the southeast side of Elburn for 16 years. Many drivers used First Street to avoid Route 47 when I lived there, just as they do now. And, yes, concerned about their safety, I walked my boys to the school bus stops, too.

Take Different Perspectives-It's important to look at any difficult decision-making process from different perspectives. As I mentioned at last Monday night's meeting, $1.8 million dollars represents over three years of property taxes to a village trustee.

The southeast side neighbors expressed their concerns about increased Metra traffic in their neighborhood, and they have mobilized to stop the temporary access, regardless of the infrastructure improvements offered to them.

Our Elburn Chamber of Commerce really hasn't spoken as yet, but obviously sending the Metra traffic out to Keslinger and Anderson is not likely to increase their sales or the village's share of retail tax revenues.

And lastly, what about our residents who do not live on the southeast side? Eventually, the streets and sidewalks on the southeast will have to be repaired, regardless of the the Metra temporary access decision, and that future cost will be shared by everyone. Many people have told me that they think accepting the improved infrastructure is a great deal for Elburn. But, they also point out that they don't live on the southeast side.

Consider the Time Frame-I feel that the "T" in the "SCRIPTS" acronym represents perhaps the most critical element of the Metra temporary access decision. We keep calling this a "temporary" access decision, and yet the hard truth is that the word "temporary" probably means a lot longer than any of us imagine. Knowing full well that the Grove/Elburn Partnership controls the property around the future Metra station, I truly doubt that we will reach any kind of an agreement on that property in the near future. The best that I can say is that, if selected, this access through our southeast side would be "indeterminate" in nature. With Terry Grove on the other side of the negotiating table, we could be stuck with this southeast side temporary Metra access for a long, long time. And that's just telling it like it is.

Solve the Problem-The final "S" in "SCRIPTS" says to "solve the problem." To make the final decision we can compare a computed "probability of success" to an estimated "risk ratio." I wish it was that easy.

In Star Trek, Mr. Spock tells Captain Kirk, "Jim, the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few." So clearly Vulcan logic favors accepting the offered infrastructure improvements on behalf of the entire community, and making the best of the temporary access.

But, what about the indeterminate timing issue? It may well be that the very best interests of Elburn are not to be pressured by Mr. Grove, or anybody else, to prematurely develop around our future Metra station. That scenario definitely favors locating the access off Keslinger Road for now, and waiting patiently for the best transit oriented development plans to materialize.

Personally, I would feel much more confident accepting Metra's infrastructure offer, if I could promise the southeast side residents that the primary Metra access route would definitely open within the next 18-24 months. This moment, as I write, I cannot make that promise, or even conceive that a 24 month time frame would be possible.

At last week's village board meeting, someone shouted out that this decision was a "no brainer." I hope after reading this blog that the interested reader will agree with me that the temporary Metra access decision is definitely not that simple.

The "SCRIPTS" acronym helps decision-makers sort through the issues, but it doesn't make the call for you. Making good decisions is more art than science. The Elburn Village Board will make the decision about Metra access this coming week. Our trustees are all honest sincere community-minded individuals. I have great confidence that their collective wisdom will in fact make the "right" decision for Elburn.

Note: The "SCRIPTS" acronym used in this analysis was taken from the book The Art of High-Stakes Decision-Making by Keith Murninghan and John Mowen. This book was graciously given to me by Joe Martin, Director of Dental Society Services at the American Dental Association. "Joe, I read the book."

Temporary Metra Access Decision

On Monday, April 4th at 7:00 pm the Elburn Village Board will again discuss the issue of whether or not to allow Metra to establish a temporary station access route through the southeast side of our village. The only reason we are considering this decision is because Metra has voluntarily offered to donate significant infrastructure improvements to our southeast neighborhood in exchange for our approval. Some of these improvements include a new street, new sidewalks, and the possibility of a stoplight configuration at one of our Route 47 intersections. These improvements alone represent almost $1 million dollars of capital investment into the neighborhood on our southeast side.

There are three potential access routes into the future Elburn Metra station. Each route has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

The first route, and the one that Metra will use if the village rejects Metra's offer of improvements, is to travel directly up to the coachyard on future Anderson Road, and then turn left into the station on Metra's own property. This route eliminates the traffic concerns on our southeast side, but also removes approximately $800,000 of sight and sound reducing berm included in the original Metra coachyard plans.

The second potential route goes east on Elburn's South Street, until it connects to a future Fourth Street block, and then turns north for one block, and then east into the station. This route helps connect the west side of Elburn the the east side at South Street. It also makes the most sense when considering the value of Metra's offered intersection improvements. Unfortunately, the required Fourth Street right of way needed to complete this route is controlled by land speculator Terry Grove and his Grove/Elburn investment partners. My impression is that Mr. Grove is attempting to leverage our village into an expedited approval process for the rest of his property that surrounds the future Metra station. It is also my opinion that Mr. Grove is a master at erecting roadblocks to development that have forced both Elburn and Metra to do things "his way." Honestly, I am not anxious to offer this gentleman further concessions that benefit his speculators in the short term, and only harm our community in the long term.

The third and final potential route into the future Metra station is to travel directly east on Kansas Street. This choice was always intended to be an emergency access route into the property. That is until such time as the future streets built around the Metra station were ready to make connections to our existing southeast side. Please understand that Metra as a property owner who legally connects to Kansas Street is entitled to access there, just as any homeowner living on Kansas Street has driveway access to the street in front of their own homes. The chief disadvantages of this route are that it affects the most Elburn residents, and that the route itself begins at a three-way corner configuration at Route 47.

I expect that many residents will want to attend tomorrow night's meeting. After a short presention reviewing the options that are available to us, rest assured that we will listen to every resident that would like to be heard on the issue. Also, understand there will be no final decision, and no vote taken at this meeting that affects our residents living in the neighborhood on Elburn's southeast side. If more people show up than our meeting room can handle, we will schedule additional meetings to accomodate as much public input as possible.

I expect that much more will be written in the newspapers and communicated to our residents before the final temporary Metra access decision is made. Calling a trustee, or writing them a respectful letter or e-mail expressing your opinion is just as effective as attending tomorrow night's meeting. So, if you want to stay home and watch the "Fighting Illini" shoot for the national basketall championship, don't feel guilty. I wish I could be there with you to cheer them on.

Finally, later this week I intend to blog about the "SCRIPTS" decision making acronym. Stay tuned!