Pipe Smoke

Your LakeCountyEye sends apologies to operatives inconvenienced by the blanket of smoke that covered the county yesterday. As readers of this blog are hazily aware ...

Q the Eye/08.27.11

beneath the LakeCountyEye compound are a honeycomb of tunnels dug for a variety of purposes. One purpose in particular is to provide a home (at a nominal fee) for excess waste from the Zion nuclear plant. Operatives who know anything about radioactivity know that nuclear waste has a tendency to spontaneously combust for no reason at all. This time, unfortunately, the escape hatches all had to be opened, which explains the blanket of smoke. And your LakeCountyEye's profuse apologies.

The conflagration minor contretemps had the unfortunate consequence of delaying the construction of the tunnel being built beneath Hunt Club Rd near Millburn -- aka the strangler -- Rd. The tunnel is listed on the books as a project of the Village of Old Mill Creek (Pop. 178); its stated purpose is to permit equestrian access from one side of Hunt Club Rd to, erm, another side of Hunt Club Rd.

Sharp-eyed operatives will observe that Hunt Club is a county road, and outside the jurisdiction of any municipal construction project. Your LakeCountyEye can assure that the whole project is above-board and legal -- the Lake County Board green-lighted the project with a variance and also threw in $40,000 of taxpayer funds to help defray costs:

Agreement Between the County of Lake and the Village of Old Mill Creek for the Construction and Maintenance of a Multi-Use Trail Underpass Along Hunt Club Road (County Highway 29), Approximately 200 Feet South of Mill Creek in Old Mill Creek, Illinois

More info is to be found at the County Board's website:

Hunt Club Road Improvement, Underpass: Village of Old Mill Creek Agreement

The delay in construction is significant because the project not only has closed down Hunt Club Road, but is delaying other nearby county road projects. The tunnel must be completed by September 26. Otherwise the Village of Old Mill Creek is to be fined $14,300 for each additional day.

Fortunately, the Village was able to explain about all of the trouble they are having digging their tunnel, and the nice people on the Lake County Board extended that deadline to October 10:

Amendment #1 to Agreement Between the County of Lake and the Village of Old Mill Creek for the Construction and Maintenance of a Multi-Use Trail Underpass Along Hunt Club Road (County Highway 29), Approximately 200 Feet South of Mill Creek in Old Mill Creek, Illinois

More amended info is to be found at the County Board's website:

Hunt Club Road Multi-Use Trail Underpass: Village of Old Mill Creek Agreement Amendment and Appropriation

Operatives are encouraged to drive over to the site of the construction project ...

There may be an opportunity waiting to grab a shovel and help the workers -- or at least school them on the proper way to dig a tunnel, on time and under budget!

Route 53 Where Are You?

The news hit your LakeCountyEye like an incumbent office-holder driving with SR-22 insurance: Don't expect to be scoopin' the Route 53 extension any time during your lifetime. According to the Pioneer Press, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has no money to spend on the project:

Lake County loses Route 53 extension bid

If Route 53 is now literally a highway to oblivion, what is your LakeCountyEye to do for hilarious material? (With the exception of Island Lake) the jokes don't write themselves in Lake County. Operatives will observe that the Route 53 Extension comprises a significant chunk of your LakeCountyEye's comedic output:

Without Route 53 to kick around any more, does that mean your LakeCountyEye will have to blog about politicians or something? This is enough to drive your LakeCountyEye to Nippersink.

But enough with the jokes, this is serious.

Note to operatives: get on the horn, toot-sweet, and call the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. Tell them to catch a clue and re-route the Route 53 extension through Old Mill Creek. Your LakeCountyEye guarantees the funding will show up -- from somewhere, like magic -- to send Route 53 somewhere else. Like through Long Grove or Lindenhurst something. Somewhere not in Old Mill Creek.

Grease the Wheels

Q: What is the difference between the Millburn Bypass and a coronary bypass?
A: You need to have a heart to complete a coronary bypass.

Ha ha j/k. Lake County is being driven to distraction over the Lake County Division of Transportation's decision to route the Millburn bypass through Lindenhurst's suburbs and not through Old Mill Creek's farm fields:

A Gift Horse

Your LakeCountyEye has now discovered that Tempel "Tim" Smith -- along with various companies filing from Box 399, Wadsworth -- have contributed some $25,000 to Lake County and other Illinois politicians. Suzi Schmidt -- the prime mover behind the Millburn Strangler -- benefited from $2200 of Smith's largess:

Contributions List

Smith, no doubt looking out for the interests of the residents of Old Mill Creek (Pop 178) where he is the mayor, illustrates the power of civic-minded benevolence. Operatives worried about a US Highway dividing their neighborhood could do worse than follow Smith's example:

Reception for State Senate Candidate Suzi Schmidt

For those operatives more worried about a US Highway dividing their family estate, cf. above.

A Gift Horse

When not monitoring the Lake Villa police scanner, your LakeCountyEye spends a muggy summer night reading excerpts from old Daily Herald stories from 2005:

There's one intersection Lake County Board Chairman Suzi Schmidt avoids. It drives her nuts when she gets sidetracked and ends up trapped behind a line of traffic. If anyone should remember to stay away from Grass Lake Road and Route 45, it's Schmidt. She nicknamed it "The Millburn Strangler" a decade ago. The dubious moniker stuck, and became part of local lore. Even today, residents slowly snake though the crossing, especially during rush hours. The speed limit drops and two stop lights stand a quarter-mile apart. Homes and antique shops of the Millburn Historic District sit on either side of the intersection. But thanks to $2 million in federal funds, a new bypass is coming that will ease congestion by taking drivers around the historic district. Local politicians and U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean met near the area Tuesday to chat about ending the congestion. "That intersection has been a problem for as long as I can remember," Schmidt said. "It's horrible." In recent years, traffic has worsened with the addition of two new subdivisions and a new Millburn Elementary District 24 school, she said.
'Millburn Strangler' to be untangled.

Well, that horrible intersection is soon to be a thing of the past. A bypass soon to be built, will send drivers point-blank instead through those two inconvenient subdivisions and elementary school. As readers of this blog are jawdroppingly aware:

Q the Eye/08.14.11

Former County Chair Suzi Schmidt is seeing her wish become reality, as Route 45 is to be re-routed away from the historic antique shops. However, instead of being built through empty farmland, the Route 45 bypass is scheduled to divide suburban Lindenhurst much like Sherman divided Atlanta in 1864.

The news marks the end of a years long struggle between interests situated in Old Mill Creek to the east of Route 45, and Lindenhurst to the west. For operatives wishing to know what needs to be done to be on the winning side of this sort of inter-urban contretemps, your LakeCountyEye is happy to oblige:

To begin, send those campaign donations to your Springfield representatives. Route 45 is a US Highway, and your rep in Springfield is well suited to lobby your rep in Washington:

Reception for Suzi Schmidt with Judy Baar Topinka and Dan Rutherford

Next, pay a visit to city hall. It never hurts to enlist the mayor of your town:

Village of Old Mill Creek

Finally, if your mayor is related to one of Lake County's prominent land owners -- game-set-match!

Tempel Farms

Just follow to the letter these step-by-step recommendations and you and your neighbors will be sleeping with assurance again each night. Your LakeCountyEye guarantees that noisy, smelly, dangerous US highway will find itself, as if by magic, rerouted through someone else's backyard.