McHenry County Blog

As all the neighborhood folks know, there is no need to attend the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning meeting tonight to fight T-Mobile’s attempt to put a huge tower in the middle of Ken Bird Park.

At Tuesday’s Crystal Lake City Council meeting, Mayor Aaron Shepley said that his conversations with company representatives had mollified them.

And, no, that was not the word he used.

I would assume that Shepley outlined locations where towers would be more likely to be approved.

I wonder if this is what he had in mind.

As you can see from the ground under the yard sign, the fight went on for a long time.

My hope is that the people involved will not be what my government professor Aaron Wildavsky called “meteors”–shine brightly on one issue and then burn out.

As all the neighborhood folks know, there is no need to attend the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning meeting tonight to fight T-Mobile’s attempt to put a huge tower in the middle of Ken Bird Park.

At Tuesday’s Crystal Lake City Council meeting, Mayor Aaron Shepley said that his conversations with company representatives had mollified them.

And, no, that was not the word he used.

I would assume that Shepley outlined locations where towers would be more likely to be approved.

I wonder if this is what he had in mind.

As you can see from the ground under the yard sign, the fight went on for a long time.

My hope is that the people involved will not be what my government professor Aaron Wildavsky called “meteors”–shine brightly on one issue and then burn out.

The nationwide campaign to elect Dick Tracy McHenry County Seal moves to the magazine Motorama.

Tracy, after all, traveled to the moon.

So, as Allan Showalter, proprietor of Heck of Guy blog puts it,

“Tracy’s Space Coup, propelled by magnetic fields, is the focus of the Motormania cover story this month, allowing the County Seal candidate to simultaneously reach out to the NASCAR and pro-space exploration voter factions.”

This reminds me of the final exam I had at Oberlin College in 1962. Oberlin College Professor Aaron Wildavski’s open book American government 24-hours exam proposed a question about how students would capture the green cheese concession on the moon.

I created all sorts of interest groups supporting my campaign to gain government approval to market the green cheese.

It was probably the most fun I ever had on a final exam. Got an A-, I think.

Have we left out any constituencies in our campaign to convince the McHenry County Board to name Dick Tracy County Seal?

The nationwide campaign to elect Dick Tracy McHenry County Seal moves to the magazine Motorama.

Tracy, after all, traveled to the moon.

So, as Allan Showalter, proprietor of Heck of Guy blog puts it,

“Tracy’s Space Coup, propelled by magnetic fields, is the focus of the Motormania cover story this month, allowing the County Seal candidate to simultaneously reach out to the NASCAR and pro-space exploration voter factions.”

This reminds me of the final exam I had at Oberlin College in 1962. Oberlin College Professor Aaron Wildavski’s open book American government 24-hours exam proposed a question about how students would capture the green cheese concession on the moon.

I created all sorts of interest groups supporting my campaign to gain government approval to market the green cheese.

It was probably the most fun I ever had on a final exam. Got an A-, I think.

Have we left out any constituencies in our campaign to convince the McHenry County Board to name Dick Tracy County Seal?

Reminiscencing about my first government course as a sophomore year at Oberlin College, I dipped into political theory and ran into a summary of a 1989 book by Robert Dahl.

I had studied his 1961 book, “Who Governs?” in 1961. It reported how power operates in New Haven.

I read it during my course in American Government, given by Professor Aaron Wildavsky. (What a privilege it was to have him. He, some of you may remember, wrote, “The Politics of the Budgetary Process,” an easy introduction to budgeting, which uses lots of sports analogies like “end run.”)

There was a summary of Dahl’s 1989 book that I thought some might find of interest:

In another landmark book, Democracy and Its Critics (1989), Dahl makes his view about democracy clear. No modern country meets the ideal of democracy, which is a theoretical utopia. To reach the ideal requires meeting 5 criteria:

1. Effective Participation
2. Voting Equality at the Decisive Stage
3. Enlightened Understanding
4. Control of the Agenda
5. Inclusiveness

Instead, he calls politically advanced countries “polyarchies.” Polyarchies have

• elected officials,
• free and fair elections,
• inclusive suffrage,
• rights to run for office,
• freedom of expression,
• alternative information and
• associational autonomy.

Those institutions are a major advance in that they create multiple centers of political power.

Apply that to McHenry County and see how we stack up.

We have elected officials.

Most, although by no means all, think we have free and fair elections. We have suffrage for those who are citizens. (I was recently sent this HBO dvd entitled, “HACKING DEMOCRACY,” which he believes has more than a little relevance to McHenry County. He has charged me to “Pass it on,” so if anyone would like to view it, let me know.)

Petition requirements are not too onerous to prohibit anyone who seriously wants to run for office from doing so.

There is freedom of expression at most public meetings, although the Prairie Grove Grade School district did succeed in chilling the hallway outside of its secret meeting the one day I attended.

The decision by the Northwest Herald to inform residents of news or withhold it has diminished democracy in McHenry County in the past.

The Chicago Tribune established a Crystal Lake office in the late 1980’s that changed things for the better. Until the internet started cutting in on the Tribune’s advertising, it provided what Dahl calls “alternative information.” That was healthy for the body politic. Steve Stanek’s coverage of the county board was excellent for the Tribune.

The Daily Herald’s entry along the south and east edges of McHenry County starting in the early 1990’s also helped coverage, especially of county and courthouse affairs.

And I would like to suggest that even McHenry County Blog and other internet sources of local news and opinion have the potential of making county politics more democratic.

Now, when the Northwest Herald thinks something is not worth the time of day, information can reach the light of a computer screen.

I assume Dahl means that people can get together in interest groups by his final criteron: “associational autonomy.” We certainly can do that without fear.

So, I would say the future for democracy is good in McHenry County.

McHenry County College certainly flunked the “inclusiveness” ideal, though in its consideration of the baseball stadium. Crystal Lake, on the other hand, did a splendid job on inclusiveness.

Reminiscencing about my first government course as a sophomore year at Oberlin College, I dipped into political theory and ran into a summary of a 1989 book by Robert Dahl.

I had studied his 1961 book, “Who Governs?” in 1961. It reported how power operates in New Haven.

I read it during my course in American Government, given by Professor Aaron Wildavsky. (What a privilege it was to have him. He, some of you may remember, wrote, “The Politics of the Budgetary Process,” an easy introduction to budgeting, which uses lots of sports analogies like “end run.”)

There was a summary of Dahl’s 1989 book that I thought some might find of interest:

In another landmark book, Democracy and Its Critics (1989), Dahl makes his view about democracy clear. No modern country meets the ideal of democracy, which is a theoretical utopia. To reach the ideal requires meeting 5 criteria:

1. Effective Participation
2. Voting Equality at the Decisive Stage
3. Enlightened Understanding
4. Control of the Agenda
5. Inclusiveness

Instead, he calls politically advanced countries “polyarchies.” Polyarchies have

• elected officials,
• free and fair elections,
• inclusive suffrage,
• rights to run for office,
• freedom of expression,
• alternative information and
• associational autonomy.

Those institutions are a major advance in that they create multiple centers of political power.

Apply that to McHenry County and see how we stack up.

We have elected officials.

Most, although by no means all, think we have free and fair elections. We have suffrage for those who are citizens. (I was recently sent this HBO dvd entitled, “HACKING DEMOCRACY,” which he believes has more than a little relevance to McHenry County. He has charged me to “Pass it on,” so if anyone would like to view it, let me know.)

Petition requirements are not too onerous to prohibit anyone who seriously wants to run for office from doing so.

There is freedom of expression at most public meetings, although the Prairie Grove Grade School district did succeed in chilling the hallway outside of its secret meeting the one day I attended.

The decision by the Northwest Herald to inform residents of news or withhold it has diminished democracy in McHenry County in the past.

The Chicago Tribune established a Crystal Lake office in the late 1980’s that changed things for the better. Until the internet started cutting in on the Tribune’s advertising, it provided what Dahl calls “alternative information.” That was healthy for the body politic. Steve Stanek’s coverage of the county board was excellent for the Tribune.

The Daily Herald’s entry along the south and east edges of McHenry County starting in the early 1990’s also helped coverage, especially of county and courthouse affairs.

And I would like to suggest that even McHenry County Blog and other internet sources of local news and opinion have the potential of making county politics more democratic.

Now, when the Northwest Herald thinks something is not worth the time of day, information can reach the light of a computer screen.

I assume Dahl means that people can get together in interest groups by his final criteron: “associational autonomy.” We certainly can do that without fear.

So, I would say the future for democracy is good in McHenry County.

McHenry County College certainly flunked the “inclusiveness” ideal, though in its consideration of the baseball stadium. Crystal Lake, on the other hand, did a splendid job on inclusiveness.

In response to a Freedom of Information request McHenry County College has provided me with a list of what it seems to consider McHenry County’s “power elite.”

In 1956 C. Wright Mills published a book called “The Power Elite.” It suggested that political, economic and military leaders were joined at the hip (not his words) and controlled pretty much everything.

Aaron Wildavsky, my government professor at Oberlin College really shaped my way of looking at the public arena.

Wildavsky assigned us to read Floyd Hunter’s power elite-based “Community Power Structure,” a case study of Atlanta, and Robert Dahl’s “Who Governs?”, which looks at New Haven.

Wildavsky pooh-poohed the power elite theory, arguing that different people were influential on different issues at different times. He even wrote a case study on Oberlin, Ohio–”Leadership in a Small Town”–which I see is still in print. I bought the first edition. It didn’t take off then.

The book characterized those involved in the governmental process, based on what he saw in Oberlin.

One I thought particularly apt.

He called people who got really, really involved in one issue and, then, disappeared from the political scene “meteors.”

They burn quite brightly for a short time, then disappear.

I don’t know whether there are any meteors in the MCC baseball stadium fight, but I certainly have met people that never contacted me when I was state representative.

Some people denigrate such individuals for their prior and subsequent non-involvement in the political process. Some call them NIMBY’s, using a derogatory inflection. (NIMBY is short for “Not in my back yard.”)

In my political career, I’ve found that most people really just want to be left alone. The politicians can do anything they want…up to a point.

The problem for politicians is that they do not know where that line is.

The most recent example is, of course, MCC’s attempt to push through a baseball stadium without answering any questions from the public.

(Think also of the gravel pit that village fathers are trying to shove down the throats of Fox Trails subdivision. MCC should be thankful that none of the opponents to its baseball stadium are as skilled as the opponents to the Swiss-owner Meyer proposal in Cary. Their satire is the most biting I have ever seen in local government.)

Not answering questions understates MCC’s approach.

It was worse than that.

The college deliberately hid information needed for even an active constituent to be able to figure out whether a baseball stadium was a feasible idea.

The college did not hold one public meeting to explain the baseball stadium until Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commissioner Vincent Esposito advised college officials to do so.

Here was his advice,

“Have public meetings.

“Answer their questions, so you don’t have an angry mob.”

Indeed, MCC continues to refuse to release the $70,000 feasibility study by Mark Houser of Equity One that was used to justify the stadium proposal made by his good buddy and apparent business associate Pete Heitman

I see I have gotten distracted going down an Oberlin College memory lane and missed my main subject.

Guess you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to learn who McHenry County College thinks is the “power elite” in McHenry County.

Here’s a theoretical construct by G. William Domhoff. Just found it, so I haven’t had time to read it, let alone evaluate it. It’s long.

This intriguing concept is at its beginning:

“…local power structures are land-based growth coalitions. They seek to intensify land use. They are opposed by the neighborhoods they invade or pollute, and by environmentalists.”

Does that sound like what is going on in Crystal Lake’s watershed or what?

= = = = =
Meteor picture from NASA. Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commissioner Vincent Esposito is the man gesturing.

In response to a Freedom of Information request McHenry County College has provided me with a list of what it seems to consider McHenry County’s “power elite.”

In 1956 C. Wright Mills published a book called “The Power Elite.” It suggested that political, economic and military leaders were joined at the hip (not his words) and controlled pretty much everything.

Aaron Wildavsky, my government professor at Oberlin College really shaped my way of looking at the public arena.

Wildavsky assigned us to read Floyd Hunter’s power elite-based “Community Power Structure,” a case study of Atlanta, and Robert Dahl’s “Who Governs?”, which looks at New Haven.

Wildavsky pooh-poohed the power elite theory, arguing that different people were influential on different issues at different times. He even wrote a case study on Oberlin, Ohio–”Leadership in a Small Town”–which I see is still in print. I bought the first edition. It didn’t take off then.

The book characterized those involved in the governmental process, based on what he saw in Oberlin.

One I thought particularly apt.

He called people who got really, really involved in one issue and, then, disappeared from the political scene “meteors.”

They burn quite brightly for a short time, then disappear.

I don’t know whether there are any meteors in the MCC baseball stadium fight, but I certainly have met people that never contacted me when I was state representative.

Some people denigrate such individuals for their prior and subsequent non-involvement in the political process. Some call them NIMBY’s, using a derogatory inflection. (NIMBY is short for “Not in my back yard.”)

In my political career, I’ve found that most people really just want to be left alone. The politicians can do anything they want…up to a point.

The problem for politicians is that they do not know where that line is.

The most recent example is, of course, MCC’s attempt to push through a baseball stadium without answering any questions from the public.

(Think also of the gravel pit that village fathers are trying to shove down the throats of Fox Trails subdivision. MCC should be thankful that none of the opponents to its baseball stadium are as skilled as the opponents to the Swiss-owner Meyer proposal in Cary. Their satire is the most biting I have ever seen in local government.)

Not answering questions understates MCC’s approach.

It was worse than that.

The college deliberately hid information needed for even an active constituent to be able to figure out whether a baseball stadium was a feasible idea.

The college did not hold one public meeting to explain the baseball stadium until Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commissioner Vincent Esposito advised college officials to do so.

Here was his advice,

“Have public meetings.

“Answer their questions, so you don’t have an angry mob.”

Indeed, MCC continues to refuse to release the $70,000 feasibility study by Mark Houser of Equity One that was used to justify the stadium proposal made by his good buddy and apparent business associate Pete Heitman

I see I have gotten distracted going down an Oberlin College memory lane and missed my main subject.

Guess you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to learn who McHenry County College thinks is the “power elite” in McHenry County.

Here’s a theoretical construct by G. William Domhoff. Just found it, so I haven’t had time to read it, let alone evaluate it. It’s long.

This intriguing concept is at its beginning:

“…local power structures are land-based growth coalitions. They seek to intensify land use. They are opposed by the neighborhoods they invade or pollute, and by environmentalists.”

Does that sound like what is going on in Crystal Lake’s watershed or what?

= = = = =
Meteor picture from NASA. Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commissioner Vincent Esposito is the man gesturing.