Governor Launches Illinois Recovery Website

Wondering how Illinois will benefit from the $787 Billion (that’s with a “B”!) stimulus package? IL Governor Pat Quinn launched a website to information about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and how it relates specifically to Illinois taxpayers.

Illinois will seek part of the $2 Billion set aside for the redevelopment of foreclosed and abandoned homes to help fund its own Neighborhood Stabilization Program which provides emergency assistance to local governments to acquire and rehab foreclosed properties.

If you’re interested in seeing which other state programs will benefit go to the Illinois Recovery Website

Warrenville "State of the City"

I attended Mayor Brummel’s “State of the City” address hosted by the Warrenville Chamber of Commerce at the Courtyard Banquets. It was an overview of what was accomplished last year, and the general plans for 2009.

One very important thing to note is that Warrenville is not operating in debt. Projects and purchases are made with city cash, so there are no additional debt servicing payments. Even though these are some tough economic times, and the city has had to scale back or postpone some projects, overall Warrenville is in good financial shape.

I think this is in no small part due to the mayor and city council being prudent in their spending, and they deserve some credit for that. On a side note, in the upcoming city elections, the mayor and all city council members are running unopposed.

Some major projects/initiatives for this year include funding TIF #3, construction of a sidewalk on the south side of Galusha road, implementing a citywide bike & pedestrian plan, continued construction of the new Hubble Middle School and the next phase of the Warrenville Road resurfacing with permeable pavers. The use of these pavers has brought environmental recognition to the city of Warrenville!

The DuPage river cleanup should continue despite the fact that Tronox, the company that acquired Kerr-McGee, has declared bankruptcy. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out this year. The Forest Preserve purchased the Cenacle Property on Batavia Road, and has plans to build a River ecology education center on the site. This is just one more piece of open space for Warrenville to enjoy!

There were two flooding events this year, and the city hired Strand & Associates to do a study on how future flooding can be prevented. The study is being done in a phased approach, so the total cost of the study itself, or the cost of implementing any of its recommendations won’t be known for a while. I have a friend on Williams Road who suffered some major flooding damage, so preventing it from happening again, if possible, is very important.

I walked away from this event with a positive outlook for the new year, that and a full belly from the delicious food provided!

Related Links: Mayor Brummel's Warrenville State of the City Address

Expanded Parking Lot?

Ran out to get some pop (love my Diet Mountain Dew!) tonight and saw a bunch of Warrenville police lights at Route 59 & Batavia Rd. A car had gone into the ditch by the Family Foods lot. I don’t know if anyone was injured or what the story was, since I got there after the tow truck. It looks like it went straight into the ditch from the BK lot, narrowly missing the fire hydrant.

Always having my trusty Samsung Saga with me I snapped a quick pic!

January 2009 Market Statistics for Warrenville

As I’m writing this, the sun is shining and melting away the snow outside. Hopefully this is a sign that the Warrenville housing market will be heating up too!

There were eight sales* in Warrenville in January priced from $112,500 to $251,000 (median sold price: $182,000). Six were Single Family homes and one Attached home sold.

January of last year saw 11 homes sold at a median price of $185,900. While Jan 08 vs. Jan 09 the total number of homes sold was down 36%, the median price only dropped 2%. On a positive note, the average market time decreased from 200 days (Jan/08) to 119 days (Jan/09), a drop of 40%!

There are currently eleven properties under contract with an average list price of $182,500. There are also 133 active listings with a median list price of $218,500.

* Data according to MRED MLS (which may not include FSBO sales)

City Council Meeting & Sinister Mailboxes

Now that we’re finally having temperatures in the double digits again I made it out to the Warrenville City Council meeting last night. It was a pretty quick meeting but not without some interesting moments!

I did learn that if you enjoy running red lights you might be ok if you’re going westbound on Butterfield at Winfield. Apparently no citations have been issued there and the company that provides services the cameras has been called to look into it.

Interestingly, only about 45% of the citations the city gets are approved since according to Warrenville Police Chief Ray Turano the city makes sure an actual violation, as opposed to someone that has stopped past the line for example.

I have mixed feelings about these stoplight cameras. Some people just can’t seem to wait while turning left and have to try to sneak and be that 3rdor 4th car through. And while city officials can swear up and down that they’re just there for safety, at $100 a pop they’re definitely a good revenue stream for the city. Theres a lot of controversy on whether or not they are actually effective in ,aking intersections safer. In fact, some studies have even shown that accidents have increased when redlight cameras are installed.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if they’re effective at reducing accidents (were there really THAT many accidents at these intersections to begin with?), but one thing is for sure… they aren’t going away anytime soon now that they’re up, and we’ll probably see a few more installed at other locations.

Anyway… If you want to be get involved Mayor Brummel is looking for volunteers for the Police Commission and the Environmental Advisory Commission. Also, there’s a meeting being held at the Warrenville Public Library on 2/3/09 (today!) by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) as part of their regional comprehensive plan called GO TO 2040. If you have concerns or opinions about the needs and wants of the area, and its preservation, you should attend this informational meeting or visit their website for more info.

Finally, for me the best part of the meeting was the lengthy discussion on the “evil, sinister killer mailboxes from hell”.



Ok, I might be exaggerating that just a bit, but Alderman Bill Weidner (Ward 2) made a valiant effort to protect us from the brick menace. Ultimately he was denied though, and the City Attorney will draft an ordinance to define the process for having these approved.

Since these are built on the city right-of-ways, I understand the question, but people should be allowed to build these if they want to. The issues brought up were time and costs to the city for processing the permits, but isn’t that was the permit fees are meant to cover? Why else would they be charged?

There was also a question about safety, if someone drove into one, but are we going to remove light poles as well then? There is a legitimate concern that there could be liability to the city if they were damaged by a plow or utility service, but any ordinance would address that and limit the city’s liability.

Warrenville Sentinel Facing Tough Times

I first heard about the Warrenville Sentinel newspaper at a Warrenville Chamber of Commerce event last year. Published by Stan Zegel, and edited by former alderman George Safford, the Sentinel covers city government, events and articles by locals such as garderner/author Shawna Coronado. In fact, I was even mentioned in one of the fist issues! Although unfortunately it was only for being ticketed for driving on an expired license. (Long story!)

I’ve been saying for years that print newspapers are a dying medium. A newspaper offered news delivered in a timely fashion, that you could read at your convenience. Well the internet one-upped that by giving you virtually instant news, updated throughout the day, that you can read at home, work, even on most cell phones.

I’ve also said that the exception to his is “hyper local” papers that focus on a small area of community. While the internet certainly provides you world, national, and local news with ease, it is hard to get down to what is actually happening in your neighborhood or city. That’s where the local papers, like the Warrenville Sentinal still provide a valuable service.

The Warrenville Sentinel does just that, but it too is facing challenges from the slow economy. Right now, it is publishing at a loss each week. There just hasn’t been enough advertising dollars to offset the costs of printing and mailing the paper. In fact if it weren’t for some sponsors chipping in each week to cover the difference we may not have gotten it.

Because of the difficulties and costs the publishers have decided to rotate the area of Warrenville that will receive the paper each week, and offer a subscription plan for $29.95 a year which means you’ll continue to receive every issue.

Personally, I think having the Sentinel around is a great thing for Warrenville, and there’s ways you can help make sure it continues to be published:

• Donate the $29.95 for an annual subscription
• Place ads or classifieds
• Get involved by writing for the paper
• Sell ad space (for a commission)

If you’d like to get involved and help give them a call at 630.562.0011 or send a donation to:

The Warrenville Sentinel
PO Box 686
Winfield, IL 60190-0686