Riverside Info » About Riverside

TIF is Over, Now What?

(20 posts)
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  1. KimJ
    Member

    First of all,

    THANK YOU to everyone, on both sides, that took the time to fight for what is (in their opinion) best for Riverside.

    Clearly, the TIF was not it, but something else will be.

    It is not enough for us now to walk away. We must be part of the solution as well.

    I strongly encourage everyone to stay involved & informed, in whatever capacity possible. Volunteer on landscape workdays, donate a tree, shop as often as you can locally, write letters to the editor, educate yourself about Landscape & Olmsted, continue to speak your mind with your neighbors & at public meetings, or at the very least watch them on Ch. 6.

    Riverside is precious (crawling with bugs at the moment, but precious none-the-less) and it needs our protection. Please stay interested, and start thinking about the next election! Four trustee seats will be up, are you ready to run?

    I honestly don't know what will happen to this site. It would be a shame, now that there is some real momentum to make a difference, for it to disappear. We will keep it up as long as we can.

    Again, a very heartfelt THANKS!
    Kim

    Posted Tuesday May 22, 2007 09:21 #

  2. chrisrobling
    Member

    dear kim, and dear holly,

    thanks to you two for pulling this together. i think thanks also go to a wonderfully dedicated webmeister who frequently prefers to remain just off-stage, and i thank him too. this web site has been an invaluable benefit to the community, at times a platform for widely read statements, and at other times a quiet study within which to refine ideas. if you need contributions to keep this going, then i think "ask and you shall be answered."

    best,

    chris

    Posted Tuesday May 22, 2007 09:47 #

  3. Flight
    Member

    We should get the Village to commit the $50,000 that would have been spent on consultants and use it for improving the landscaping downtown, erecting a nice sign at Harlem and Burlington directing people to downtown, cleaning up the Village of Riverside website, and enforcing the building/zoning codes on commercial property.

    $10,000 - $20,000 would go a long way towards assisting a new restaurant or retailer with a build-out of their space.

    We need to consider a moratorium on none sale tax producing (i.e. banks, real estate offices, medical offices) in downtown, along Harlem Avenue and Ogden Avenue.

    We can sit down and do a comprehensive plan, but the Village Manager will probably spend more money on consultants. If a comprehensive plan is started it should be with talent we have here in Riverside.

    Don Spatny and I have started on a "Wright In Riverside" brochure to market our beautiful burg.

    We should also look for "Targets of Opportunity" to improve our sale and real estate tax base. Are there empty or under utilized lots along busy streets in town? Are there eyesore buildings that have lots of code violations in downtown?

    Now that the TIF monster has been slain we need to get moving in the direction that will retain the charm of Riverside while growing the tax base (and cutting expenses).

    Posted Tuesday May 22, 2007 11:45 #

  4. spatny
    Member

    Shall we organize and pay dues top keep the Forum alive? I'm all for that - and we could broaden it so that it could be a place for the exchange of ideas and bringing out the truth about what goes on. I'm personally concentrating on four things - picking up the trash that seems to rain down here, raising money for the RBHS Riverside Tree Bank so that we can plant more trees on a recurring basis, doing the "Wright in Riverside" brochure with Mike Flight and trying to keep the most draconian elements of Trustee Smith's proposed No Smoking ordinance in line with reality. What we don't need is another unenforcible and unenforced ordinance like the "No Fishing" and No Picniking" ones we have now. I believe the Forum could be a solid answer to the monolithic Caucus system and we should use it to promote better candidates who understand what Riverside is and why it needs to be protected, not "developed" - whatever that means.

    Posted Tuesday May 22, 2007 12:57 #

  5. Catherine
    Member

    I am more than willing to pay dues to keep the forum going. It might be the premier public square in Riverside.

    Also, given the headline here, I am going to repeat something I said in another thread (forgive me):

    TIF is over, now what? Why not start on small projects everyone can agree on.

    The new revenue stream was always to come from massive condo development, not from increased sales tax on businesses. The Long Term Finance Committee will have ideas about cutting the budget and alternative revenue sources, and their work will be very important.

    However, we know that what nearly ALL, probably all, residents want is the beautification of downtown and also, the attraction of small businesses in the normal way.

    A good place to start, I think, is the beautification of downtown. Does the village not own the parkways there as in the rest of the village? Why can we not hire (having blown so much dough on "consultants", an Olmsted-knowledgeable landscape architect (the one we were going to hire under the revised TIF) to design plantings for all the parkways in the Central Business District. One design would serve to visually unify it. Despite some people's perceptions to the contrary, Olmsted is not without color. There are very numerous native northern Illinois wild species that could be planted that have plenty of color and interest. The plantings identified as village-appropriate by the Forestry department are these:

    Perennials, Grasses and Groundcovers

    Wild Ginger Asarum canadense
    Black Snakeroot Actaea simplex
    Wild Nodding Onion Allium cernuum
    Lead Plant Amorpha canescens
    Rue Anemone Anemonella thalictroides
    Wild Columbine Aquilegia canadensis
    Jack-in-the-Pulpit Arisaema triphyllum
    Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata
    New Jersey Tea Ceanothus americanus
    Virgin's Bower Clematis virginiana
    Tickseed Coreopsis tripteris
    Shooting Star Dodecatheon meadia
    Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea
    Purple Love Grass Eragrostis spectabilis
    Rattlesnake Master Eryngium yuccifolium
    Bottle Gentian Gentiana andrewsii
    Wild Geranium Geranium maculatum
    Prairie Smoke Geum triflorum
    Blue Flag Iris Iris shrevei
    Royal Blazingstar, Rough Gayfeather Liatris aspera
    Meadow Blazingstar Liatris ligulistylus
    Cardinal Flower Lobelia cardinalis

    Blue Cardinal Flower Lobelia siphilitica
    Virginia Blue Bells Mertensia virginica
    Pale Beard Tongue Penstemon grandiflorus
    Purple Prairie Clover Petalostemum purpureum
    Prairie Phlox Phlox
    Yellow Coneflower Ratibida pinnata
    Wild Petunia Ruellia humilis
    Bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis
    Royal Catchfly Silene regia
    Prairie Dropseed Sporobolus heterolepis
    Foamflower Tiarella cordifolia
    Purple Trillium Trillium erectum
    White Trillium Trillium grandiflorum
    Wake Robin Trillium luteum
    Bell-Wort, Big Merrybells Uvularia grandiflora
    Blue Vervain Verbena hastata
    Common Ironweed Vernonia fasciculata
    Culver's Root Veronicastrum virginicum
    Bird's Foot Viola pedata
    Golden Alexander Zizia aurea

    Once the design is made, we could implement the planting.
    No one objects to beauty, even if it is as Olmsted set forth. Next, we can try to persuade Mr Kafka to take off those brown boardings from his buildings on Burlington. There could also be the prospect of an appropriate awning scheme. We could approach business owners about sharing their parking space. First American Bank comes to mind.

    Finally, we can market doing business in Riverside the old-fashioned way, by getting the word out. We have the NIU study showing what the people want: FOOD. Take-out food, restaurant, or grocery (a niche store.) Existing business show that the market is there for anyone who wants to meet the needs and wants of the residents.

    Posted Wednesday May 23, 2007 11:33 #

  6. KimJ
    Member

    It is my understanding that municipalities can charge a fee from their businesses/landlords of Central Business Districts to maintain their sidewalks/planters if they are unable/unwilling to do it for themselves.

    Oak Brook Mall charges tens of thousands per month per shop to maintain the grounds. Chicago also charges for their planters if not done by the business.

    I do, however, think that we should get the Landscape Advisory Commission to design the plantings. Their expertise is free, and I assume they know something about Olmsted. If it is determined that sidewalk grade plantings cannot survive foot traffic, then they should be paved over and we should ask Garden Club, Juniors, Olmsted Society, Lions Club, etc. to donate raised planters that are chosen by the LAC. About their maintenance, I know of one boyscout troup that would be proud to adopt a planter for a season to keep it watered. I am sure we could get more organizations to help.

    Posted Wednesday May 23, 2007 12:39 #

  7. Catherine
    Member

    OK, super.

    I do not know whether there is a landscape designer on the LAC. I do know that coming up with an overall design, and one that is good for at least 3 seasons and looks OK in the winter, is not a simple matter. The Olmsted part of it is that the plantings be native to Northern Illinois, as put forth on the list. His contemporary, and equal, in garden design specifically was Jens Jensen. (He did the original design for the Coonley estate.) But even native plantings without a great design would be an improvement. Do people actually walk on plantings?!!! And the good thing about native plantings is that they are born and bred to withstand our weather conditions and are, therefore, low-maintenance and environmentally friendly.

    Posted Wednesday May 23, 2007 13:14 #

  8. Catherine
    Member

    By the way, for the entreprenurially inclined, a special use under the B2 zoning ordinance for any space in the CBD is a saloon. (What they call a tavern, or a lounge.)

    Personally, I don't like to have in a small town like this an establishment that serves liquor and not food, but there you go, they put it in the law. Someone could make quite a pub in the empty Tower Bldg space (assuming no more raw sewage pours down.)

    Posted Wednesday May 23, 2007 13:54 #

  9. Elisa
    Member

    Obviously a TIF isn't the answer to some of the business concerns that are found in the CBD. During one of the meetings, Mr. Scully was bemoaning the loss of Parallel 42 and made it seem as if they were closing due to lack of business (to be fair, he did say that he didn't know why they were closed but his comments were in the context of all that was wrong in the CBD) and we'd better visit it before it's too late. Now we find out that the problem was quite different - they had too much business and it was too hard to manage. http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=2601&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=&S=1

    I know it has been mentioned here before, so it's not a new idea - but has anyone ever approached the businesses who are not making it to see what the trouble is/was? Is that a Village thing or a Chamber of Commerce thing? Is there a way to help support current businesses and new businesses - like a mentor-type program? Does the Village have a way to entice or keep businesses in a low-cost way? I have heard for years that the Village was not "friendly" to businesses in the past, but never heard any details. Is there a way to be friendly and supportive to business prospects by having the village officially try to be welcoming and help them gain the necessary permits etc?

    Posted Wednesday May 23, 2007 13:54 #

  10. spatny
    Member

    Catherine - There are several very knowledgeable people on the LAC. Mauro is a landscape architect, Sue does the plants for a number of Home Depots, etc. There are even existing plans for plantings all around the CBD. Just go to the meeting or send a letter and ask them how it could be done...

    Posted Wednesday May 23, 2007 14:56 #

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