By Sally Ho

Source Chicago Tribune

With a background on the Arlington Heights plan commission, newly appointed Trustee Robin LaBedz said she has a handle on the village’s overarching issues, but wants to dive more into direct services for residents.

LaBedz, 57, says she plans to tackle topics such as flooding and the emerald ash borer, two often-discussed village problems.

“Even with all the experience that I do have, there’s a lot still to learn,” she said after being sworn into office at Monday’s meeting.

LaBedz, though, has been there for key moments in recent village matters. The birth of Arlington Downs and the emergence of the redevelopment plan for the Hickory/Kensington neighborhood both took place during her six-year tenure on the village plan commission.

While she helped approve the full Hickory/Kensington redevelopment plan as a planning commissioner, LaBedz also draws from her experience as a member of the downtown master plan task force. She says she would support the idea of a tax increment financing district to fund the future neighborhood.

“I’m in favor of the redevelopment. I think the plan is good. I voted for it,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Arlington Downs development, which LaBedz said is among her proudest accomplishments, began construction this spring and is expected to be one of the largest projects in the village’s history.

LaBedz also is no stranger to some of the hot-button issues in the village, including matters like affordable housing and economic development.

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By Sally Ho

Source Chicago Tribune

Arlington Heights is moving forward on another study for a long-term flooding fix, but officials said the short-term answer is overhead sewers.

At a meeting Monday night, the village board gave the preliminary green light to the commissioning of a $285,781 study with the Chicago-based engineering firm CDM Smith.

The comprehensive study is expected to take six months and will cover about half of the village that is on a combined storm and sanitary water system. In addition to a full analysis, CDM Smith will also present models and possible solutions with cost estimates, which could be worth millions.

CDM Smith was not the lowest bidder, but Arlington Heights officials said they were chosen based on experience with complicated systems and with work in other communities such as River Forest, Oak Lawn, Evanston and Chicago, according to a village memo.

“Our system is extremely complicated. We’ve done a lot of improvements, a lot of different things to improve the system,” said Jim Massarelli, the village’s engineering director. “There’s some technique that is needed there to actually be able to understand it.”

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By Karen Ann Cullotta

Source Chicago Tribune

When Arlington Heights officials tallied the profits from selling memorabilia celebrating the village’s 125th birthday, they faced an enviable economic dilemma: The party was over, but about $17,000 remained unspent in the Quasquicentennial Committee coffers.

“We decided that with the excess funds, we should all be thinking about sustainability at our neighborhood schools,” said Lauree Harp, a former member of the committee and a member of the newly created Green Canopy Initiative.

“In the past, we’ve seen our students plant pretty flowers in pots brightening up the front of the school during the spring, but then school is out for the summer, and everything dies. We are exploring the future of thinking long-term with sustainable projects that enhance not only the schools but the community at large.”

Harp said the Green Canopy Initiative — an outgrowth of the Quasquicentennial slogan “Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present and Explore the Future” — would provide grants to all nine schools in Arlington Heights School District 25, in addition to the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization’s Timber Ridge School.

A $5,000 grant was already awarded to the NSSEO’s Miner School, which used the funds to renovate a decrepit greenhouse on campus, Harp said. District 25 officials are now garnering proposals from the individual schools, all of which could receive $1,500 grants for green projects.

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By:  Gloria Casas

Source: Arlington Heights Patch

Arlington Heights Park District planted a tree at Heritage Park, as it has for years, in honor of Arbor Day.

Juliette Low Elementary School students read poems, showed their artwork and sang for Arbor Day 2013. Executive Director Stephen Scholten wrote his own poem, too, and shared it with an audience of public officials, families and students.

Arbor Day has taken on even more importance in the village, which has been a Tree City USA for more than two decades, with the emergence of the Emerald ash borer.

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By: Gloria Casas

Source: Arlington Heights Patch

Katie Kemper is among the 91 percent of Americans who support gun control legislation.

The Arlington Heights resident wanted to know if U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who made a stop in the village this week, was still committed to passing legislation despite last week’s Senate vote against requiring universal background checks for anyone purchasing a gun at a gun show or online.

“I absolutely believe we are going to be able to pass gun legislation,” Schakowsky said. “There could be a change within the next two weeks.”

What could affect the legislation is the “passion gap,” Schakowsky said. The gap occurs when people feel passionate about the topic but don’t speak out. The key is motivating enough people to take action, she said.

People need to contact their representatives, who will be on a break from Washington in the next few weeks, to get their voice heard on gun control, she said.

Schakowsky met with residents of the newly redrawn District 9, which she has represented for 15 years in Congress at a town hall meeting in Arlington Heights this week.

Her district was redrawn in the past year. Schakowsky gave her opinion and updates on what’s happening in Washington then answered questions from the audience of about 30 people.

Gun-control and ObamaCare were two topics Schakowsky audience members wanted to discuss.

Last week, a gun control measure backed by President Barack Obama and gun violence victims like Gabrielle Giffords, was defeated by six votes, 54-46.

“We will continue to work on that,” she said.

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