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<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=2
face="Comic Sans MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Kudos
to Benjamin, et al, for the Tribune editorial supporting the split.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=2
face="Comic Sans MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Randi
Doeker<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=2
face="Comic Sans MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Chicago<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=2
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=2
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>chicagotribune.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:18.0pt'>Preserving treasured land<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>April 2, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:.1in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.6gd'><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>You've encountered the notion
on this page and elsewhere: Other cities have renowned architecture, diverse
economies, good universities, world-class cultural institutions and so on. Most
do not, though, have such long histories of so aggressively protecting their
most treasured public lands. <br>
<br>
High on the list: the 68,000 acres owned by the Forest Preserve District of
Cook County. That emerald necklace wouldn't exist if generations of
conservationists—some of them public officials, many of them ordinary but
devoted citizens—hadn't fought to protect it from influential people who
had their own plans for the land.<br>
<br>
But the Forest Preserve District, a distinct unit of government that turns 95
this year, often has had to survive abuse and neglect from members of the <a
href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics/local-authority/cook-county-board-ORGOV000084.topic"
title="Cook County Board">Cook County Board</a>. Those 17 commissioners by law
oversee the district in addition to their (often equally abusive and
neglectful) oversight of county government.<br>
<br>
Two respected civic groups, the Civic Federation and the Friends of the Forest
Preserves, now propose the creation—at no additional cost—of a
separate board with the sole responsibility of running the Forest Preserve
District. Good idea.<br>
<br>
This is more than a snoozy exercise in promoting good government. The two
groups' 20-page proposal chronicles a chilling litany of threats to the forest
preserves—threats that trace to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Board</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>'s
conflicts of interests. It's unwise to have the same board members responsible
for protecting the preserves from developers <em><i><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>and</span></font></i></em> promoting economic
development in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Cook</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. Since its
creation, the Forest Preserve District has had an intentionally narrow mission:
to acquire, preserve and protect natural lands. <br>
<br>
As former county Commissioner Carl Hansen famously (in conservation circles)
argued during an attempted land grab of "just a little" district
property in the 1990s: Preservation of our diminishing open lands can't be justified
on grounds of economic benefit or most-visitors-per-square-foot. If the goal
were to exploit the dollar potential of spaces our ancestors set aside
permanently, then the district would have to sell every acre it owns.<br>
<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Board members</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> have, though, at times
treated the district as both a land bank and a piggy bank. One example of each:
In 1999 they explicitly violated the district's sacrosanct land policy to sell
a 2.4-acre parcel to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Village</st1:PlaceType>
of <a
href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/illinois/cook-county/rosemont-PLGEO1001005011220000.topic"
title=Rosemont>Rosemont</a> for a convention center expansion. And in 2007,
they concocted a dead-wrong revision of history to justify a $13 million
rip-off. The same <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Board members</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> who supposedly
protect the Forest Preserve District's interests essentially stole district
money to balance the county budget. <br>
<br>
The current proposal for changing governance—that is, for preserving the
forest preserves—isn't the first. Financial scandals so plagued the
district in 2002 that folding it into county government seemed to make sense.<br>
<br>
That idea foundered with the realization that then-County Board President John
Stronger saw a merger as part of an elaborate plan to evade tax caps. One
traditional and cynical scam: <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Board members</st1:PlaceName> and presidents like to boast of not
having raised <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Cook</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> property taxes in
recent years. What they don't admit is that, instead, they've raised revenue
by hiking Forest Preserve District property taxes. Once again, think Forest
Preserve District-as-piggy-bank.<br>
<br>
Creating a separate board to oversee the district makes better sense: That
would eliminate the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Board</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>'s conflicts of
interests. The Civic Committee and Friends of the Forest Preserves suggest
five unpaid commissioners elected countywide. We'd prefer choosing
commissioners from five separate districts. The proposal notes that this
wouldn't involve hiring any employees; the Forest Preserve District, as a
distinct government, already has its own office staff.<br>
<br>
A separate board paying closer attention to the preserves might have avoided
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Board</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>'s mismanagement and also expanded
the district's holdings. Creating that new board is a job for state
legislators; their predecessors created the district in 1913. <br>
<br>
The sooner they do so, the better for the forest preserves and the citizens
who should be able to enjoy them in perpetuity.<o:p></o:p></st1:place></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:.1in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.6gd'><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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