Author: eakocs

SEOPCO ACTION ALERT: IDOT’s preferred options all call for widening the Eisenhower (Ike)

Dear Neighbors,

Please read the letter below from the Citizens for Appropriate Transportation.   The Illinois Department of Transportation’s four alternatives for the I-290 involve widening it.  We all have until next Monday, May 20th to communicate our opinions to IDOT.

The SEOPCO board intends to express to IDOT our opposition to their current build alternatives, and we plan to express our concerns to the Village Board during the public comment part of the agenda, also on May 20th.

 

Please take the time to do two things:

1.  Send an email to seopco@gmail.com with a “yes” if you also oppose widening the IKE, or a “no” if you are in favor of widening it. We’d like to know what you think.

2.  Send an email to the two IDOT addresses listed below with a cc: to seopco@gmail.com expressing your opinion to them. REMEMBER – the deadline is May 20.

 

FROM THE CITIZENS FOR APPROPRIATE TRANSPORTATION

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is asking for comments by Monday May 20, 2013. All four Build Alternatives that IDOT wants to carry forward widen the expressway. Below is information that summarizes our concerns. Please forward this e-mail to others because the more people who submit comments, the better. 

The contact information for IDOT is also below.

Our web site is www.CitizensForAppropriateTransportation.org and you can join our Facebook Page by clicking the Facebook logo below.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  Thank you!

Rick Kuner
rkuner@comcast.net
708/848-0942

CITIZENS FOR APPROPRIATE TRANSPORTATION (CAT) ACTION ALERT – MAY 10, 2013

We need your help. IDOT has asked for comments on the Purpose and Need Statement and the Round 2 Alternatives by Monday May 20, 2013. Please submit written comments to Pete Harmet (Pete.Harmet@illinois.gov) and Mark Peterson (Mark.Peterson@illinois.gov) at IDOT. Consider the following and add your personal perspective.

1. IDOT’s Purpose and Need Statement says nothing about the major impacts transportation has on livable communities – a serious omission.

2. By focusing on transportation criteria, IDOT under designed their alternatives. To do a fair and comprehensive evaluation, they should include all the environmental, economic, social, and financial impacts.

3. All four Build Alternatives IDOT wants to carry into Round 3 widen the expressway. At least one alternative should not widen the expressway. IDOT considered two versions of a multi-modal alternative suggested by Oak Park and CAT that upgrade and manage transit better, increase accessibility, and do not widen the expressway. Neither version scored in the top four because IDOT excluded important criteria.

4. IDOT’s proposed right-hand ramps at Austin and Harlem will negatively affect residential neighborhoods close to the expressway. Right-hand ramps move the source of air and noise pollution closer to homes.

5. The Village of Oak Park, Citizens for Appropriate Transportation, and 80+ others submitted written comments to IDOT in June 2012. IDOT did not respond until ten months later in late April 2013. Does a ten month response time make you feel IDOT valued your comments?

6. There are many ways to manage lanes. IDOT has not analyzed most of them.

7. IDOT committed to a Context Sensitive Solutions process, but has never had an architect or urban designer present either concepts or designs.

8. Using projections to the Year 2040, IDOT ranked the twelve Build Alternatives on each criterion from 12 (best) to 1 (worst). Differences among alternatives vary widely. IDOT used this Ranking System to calculate averages, a procedure that treats every difference equal to one. Many differences are so small that projections thirty years into the future are unlikely to be helpful in selecting the best solution.

 

IDOT should revise their alternatives based on lessons learned in Round 2 so they will perform better in future rounds. For more information see the CAT web site: www:CitizensForAppropriateTransportation.org. You can find IDOT’s documents at www.EisenhowerExpressway.com > Information Center > Reports. Thank you!

CAT 2013\CAT Action Alert May 2013.docx

 

IDOT’S CONTACT INFORMATION

U.S. Mail
Illinois Dept. of Transportation
c/o Mr. Peter Harmet and Mr. Mark Peterson
201 West Center Court
Schaumburg, IL 60196

Pete.Harmet@illinois.gov
mark.peterson@illinois.gov
FAX: 847/705-4159
www.eisenhowerexpressway.com

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SEOPCO – South East Oak Park Community Organization
P.O. Box 1722
Oak Park, IL 60304-1722
www.seopco.org
seopco@gmail.com

Irving Garden Parent Volunteers needed

We need your help to turn the garden beds this weekend. Bring a shovel over to the Irving gardens and turn  the soil in one or a few garden beds if you can spare 30 minutes or so this weekend.

Also, We are looking for parent volunteers to help with classroom planting for the following times:

May 13 9:15-10am Ms Payton
May 14 9:15-10am Mr. N Sak
May 15 830-915 Ms Kaunellis class
May 15 10:00-1-:45 Ms. Williams
May 16 1045-1115 Mr Eng class
May 16 1:00-1:45 Ms. Solomon

 

We would give you the tools and seed/seedlings.  It is very fun and rewarding. Especially with the little ones. Please email me at reshmadesai30@gmail.com and the teacher listed above know if you can help.

Note from Nurse Jamie
The Children’s Clinic Dental staff will be returning to Irving School to complete their work on the student’s who were not seen last month. The dates of the second session are May 29th, May 30th and May 31st. All remaining students will receive their dental exams, dental cleanings and sealants at this time. The Children’s Clinic staff reports that 161 students at Irving will be provided dental care which is the highest number the clinic has ever serviced. Thank you for your patience.  Also, for current fifth graders, this dental exam can be turned in for the state required sixth grade dental exam.

 

—
Jamie Peterson-Strokosch,RN, BSN
School Nurse for Washington Irving Elementary School
Oak Park School District 97