Township board funds $508,000 in Denning Park improvements from bonds voters approved in 2004

UPDATED 02/17: The Park District of La Grange Tuesday night was awarded $508,000 by the Lyons Township board from a $10 million park bond issue approved by voters in 2004.

The money will be used for improvements to Denning Park, including the clearing and removal of a structure, site grading and excavation, site drainage, paths and walks, and construction of a parking lot.

The award was one of 15 announced by the board, totaling $4.2 million worth of recreational projects throughout the township, following nearly two years of study and presentations.

Altogether, 22 park districts, municipalities and non-profit groups submitted requests for funding.

“The board tried to take projects that were itemized fully enough and get each township resident a tangible park improvement in his or her community or as close as possible,” said Tom Garrette, township board member and chairman of its finance committee

Garrette said that seven projects not addressed Tuesday night had not been denied, only that additional details and discussions were required before the board could make funding decisions.

He said a special session of the board may be called for that purpose before its regular March 9 meeting, and that the board hopes to award all of the funds by its April 6 meeting.

The Denning Park award is a partial approval of a $1.893 million request for improvements to the park submitted by the Park District in Oct. 2008.

Click here to view a copy of the Park District's application, including a rendering of its master plan for Denning Park. The items approved for funding by the township are A through E on page 6.

Comments

[Chris Walsh]

Nice job getting this reported so quickly, Thom.

[William Dobias]

If, as the Park Board says, Gordon Park is the worst park in the system, why was the money applied for to be used in Denning Park?

[Chris Walsh]

Unofficial response:

1. Just because Gordon needs alot of help, doesn't mean Denning needs none.

2. It was not at all clear when the money would be awarded, so we didn't want to try to obtain it for a project with perceived time sensitivity.

3. Dollars are fungible.

I'm sure none of this is a surprise or is at all controversial.

[You Want Some Whine With That]

Hey Dobias,

Instead of always whining from the sideline why not jump in the pool and apply for Metzger's seat. According to Kelpsas they need applicants and , Lord knows, you have plenty of ideas and opinions.

My guess is you won't because it's easier to whine.

[William Dobias]

Chris - Fungible?

When Rob Metzger announced that you were going to sell part of Gordon Park, we heard that you wanted to "monetize" our park land.

When pressed by a Tribune reporter for an exact amount of money you were going to receive for the land we heard that the amount was "north of" $400,000.

Now, the Lyons Township funds are "fungible." (That's a concept that Lyons Township might find troubling.)

Perhaps if we could have less "high finance" conversation from the PDLG it would be easier to understand what you are thinking.

If you are saying that dollars you receive from the Township may be interchanged with dollars you anticipate, but might not see, from Gordon Park in order to build the new Gordon Park, that sounds like you might dig yourselves into a larger hole.

[William Dobias]

Dear You Want Some - or however you would like to be known. I usually avoid conversing with unidentified people who lay in the bushes in this blog and elsewhere and who occasionally, and not so reasonably, snipe at something I willingly publish with my name.

I consider my question, as first stated, as a reasonable question - not a "whine." I got an "unofficial" response from Chris Walsh which is appreciated, but not without another response from me.

We obviously don't know each other, for if we did you would know that I am currently incapacitated and physically unable to attend PDLG meetings where I would rather make my comments first-hand. That same difficulty would keep me from reasonably serving on the PDLG at this time.

There are regular readers of this blog that welcome my participation in the way that I offer it and, if they disagree - as Chris Walsh often does - they counter my ideas and opinions. That seems rather healthy to me.

[Chris Walsh]

So now the objection is not to what I say, but the words I use in saying it? Man, I should have stayed in bed.

The upshot is that if I need both a new car and a haircut, and you give me $30 but say I have to use it for the car, it still frees up "haircut resources", because I can simply use existing car money for my haircut.

[William Dobias]

Thanks Chris. But I thought the capital moneys were depleted and you had no money available for Gordon Park improvements or much of anything else.

[Jim Boo]

An interesting and unacceptable item to me that I've heard from attending the Lyons Township Meetings is that $1 million of the $10 million has already been spent on underwriting, legal fees, and consulting fees. $1 million gone, right out of the box, aren't public bodies "efficient"? I would hope the PDLG would NOT get their crack legal team reviewing the terms of this "grant". Perhaps just a meeting with a representative of each of the bodies getting the "grant" WITHOUT legal counsel with a Lyons Township Representative could save all the Park District bodies $10,000's if not more in unnecessary legal fees.

[Chris Walsh]

Jim:

Allow me to tell you, to the best of my recollection, how much the PDLG has spent on legal fees related to obtaining this grant: $0.00.

Somewhere, Ayn Rand is gnashing her teeth.