Waukegan and North Chicago Seek Enterprize Zones

By Ralph Zahorik
STAFF WRITER

NORTH CHICAGO — North Chicago is joining Waukegan in a campaign to persuade the state to establish an enterprise zone in the two cities.
Enterprise zones are special districts where businesses are offered state tax credits and other state and local incentives to encourage development and expansion.
Businesses in enterprise zones, under certain conditions, don't pay state utility taxes. Building materials purchased for construction work in an enterprise zone also are exempt from the state's 6.25 percent sales tax.
There currently are 93 zones throughout state and one more is expected to be designated next year. There are none in Lake County.

Most of North Chicago from Lake Michigan west to Green Bay Road would be included in the proposed new district. In Waukegan, the zone would include the east side of the city from Grand Avenue south to the North Chicago border.
A designated enterprise zone could spark economic development in North Chicago's 40-acre Sheridan Crossing site along Sheridan Road north of Martin Luther King Drive and in other areas of the city, said Rob May, city economic development director.

Under the law, businesses get a $500 credit on Illinois income taxes for each job created in the zone for which an eligible worker is hired .
The North Chicago City Council voted unanimously to approve spending up to $16,500 to hire the S.B. Friedman Co. to prepare an application to submit to the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Waukegan's proposed share is $44,000. The Waukegan City Council is expected to vote on the proposal on Monday.
A public hearing and vote on an intergovernmental agreement between Waukegan and North Chicago was set for Dec. 27 at a place to be determined. Deadline for submitting an application is Dec. 30.

Collective News

Until further notice, the collective will not be taking any orders at all. After we reformat the collective and make important changes, we will probably not return to selling patches, pins, or t-shirts.

Thanks for all the orders which have kept us busy and able to print free literature.

Arthure Brumfield Denied Lien Waiver

By Ralph Zahorik
STAFF WRITER
WAUKEGAN — A request from Arthur Brumfield to waive a lien the city placed on his lot at 634 Kinnard St. on the South Side was rejected unanimously.
The city demolished Brumfield's run-down house on the site last August after several years of negotiations with Brumfield, an unemployed man, failed to produce an agreement.
"If we're giving a waiver on one property, we'll have to do it for everybody," said Figueroa, Judiciary Committee chairman. "We can't play favorites," agreed 8th Ward Ald. Richard Larsen.

Liens are placed on property when owners fail to comply with city laws on weed cutting, debris removal, board-ups and other requirements and the city itself does the work, he said.

Chris Blanks, a friend of Brumfield's, told aldermen the community should have been given an opportunity to help Brumfield before his home was torn down.
"It's an injustice and abuse of government power," he said. Brumfield asked $3 million for his property because "that's its value to him," he said.

The Red Alert Collective completely stands behind Brumsfield, a frequent guest at Waukegan Food Not Bombs and friendly member of the community. We are also opposed to the lack of strong help given to Brumsfield before his house was demolished.

City Sells More Land for 1 Dollar

By Ralph Zahorik
STAFF WRITER
WAUKEGAN — The City Council voted last week, over the strong objections of 6th Ward Ald. Larry TenPas, to sell a vacant lot at 1022 10th St. to contractor Efrain Robles for a dollar.
Robles owns an adjacent lot at the northeast corner of 10th and Jackson streets and is planning a small development on the site.

"I'm against $1 giveaways," TenPas said. "I consistently vote against $1 giveaways.
TenPas questioned whether the sale was legal. "I never saw a notice of this property for sale," he said. "Other developers didn't know this property was for sale until you made this deal."
TenPas' motion to sell the lot for $6,000, the approximate cost the city spent to demolish a building on the site, plus a dollar, was defeated in a 7-2 vote.
"We gave other major properties away downtown," said 1st Ward Ald. Sam Cunningham. "We've given millions away to developers."

Aldermen voted 9-1 to sell the lot to Robles for $1. Robles operates Robles Construction Co.

Lakehurst Cinema to be Demolished

By Dan Moran
STAFF WRITER
WAUKEGAN — Once touted as having the most movie screens under one roof in the U.S., Lakehurst Cinema appears to be on its last legs after the City Council gave the go-ahead Monday on negotiations to raze the theater and clear space for a hotel.

"Basically, the city has agreed to help us pay for some of the improvements necessary to make a deal to replace the movie theater with a new hotel," said Lothan, adding that a franchise has been approached but the name is being withheld while negotiations proceed.

Director of Governmental Services Ray Vukovich said aldermen essentially gave city attorneys approval to draft a redevelopment agreement with the theater owners. According to Vukovich, the city is being asked to finance the cost of demolition, which he estimated at around $200,000 to $400,000, depending on a bid process.

"Their lawyers will be meeting with our lawyers, and we hope to see it resolved as soon as possible, so everyone knows what the future of that property will be," said Vukovich, adding that the theater's location on the southwest corner of Lakehurst and Waukegan roads "is really starting to look like a nice retail area."

Competition from the growing roster of Lake County multiplexes, including the Gurnee Cinema in 1995, forced General Cinemas to close the theater in autumn 2000. It reopened under the Village Theatres banner in September 2001 and remains in operation today.

Instead, Lothan said he and fellow developer Bruce Fogleson will wait for the redevelopment agreement to be finalized, then take it to the hotel chain. If all goes well, he said a deal could be struck "in a few months."

Approval for Waukegan condo project

By Dan Moran
STAFF WRITER
WAUKEGAN — A Sheridan Road condominium proposal approved in January but delayed over financial issues is expected to move forward after the City Council approved a revised redevelopment agreement Monday.
Officials with Libertyville-based Marquette Enterprise Group say they expect to have a sales trailer on the southwest corner of Sheridan and Washington Street — until recently a city parking lot — by the end of the year.
"The plan is we've got our work cut out for us," said developer John Bergeron after the 8-1 council vote. "We have an agenda that we're going to be following (with) marketing and a whole list of things."
But Bergeron added that "our project is just really going to be taking off, and we're very, very excited."
The council originally voted Jan. 18 to approve a $26 million first phase, $7.

4 million of which would be covered by the city via a tax-increment financing package. The first phase calls for 68 units, ranging in size from around 1,000 square feet to 2,400 square feet. Per-unit costs were estimated at the time at between $175,000 for one-bedroom units to $500,000 for top-floor models.

Bean criticized for free trade pact support

By Ralph Zahorik
STAFF WRITER
WAUKEGAN — U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Barrington, was taken to task this week for her support of the new Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The agreement will hurt the environment, send more U.S. jobs overseas and cost consumers billions, Lake County labor leaders and activists were told by Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, a consumer research and advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader.
Wallach was invited to speak after the labor organization dropped Bean as its "Person of the Year" honoree at the dinner held last Sunday because of Bean's vote for CAFTA. The national AFL-CIO strongly opposed the agreement. Bean was the only Illinois Democrat in Congress who voted for the agreement, which passed the House by just one vote.