CDO Still Losing Money--Getting Ridiculous

UPDATE--click here:

Unified School Board member Mark Hujik told the Kenosha News that the districts invested in bonds rated AA and AAA that would pay out at face value by December 2013. But upon closer examination, the school districts bought into much riskier credit default swaps that Wall Street has had to write down in value because many investors dumped the investments and there are no buyers, financial experts said.

This suggests that nobody was qualified or understood these investments, but apparently, we don't have the right to question according to a certain Board member's VOP. Sad and costly.

Click here.

As the value of the CDO continues to fall, it appears Kenosha Unified and the other four districts that bought into the plan didn't invest in bonds as they had thought, but instead purchased credit default swaps.

"We believe our role was essentially an adviser and placement agent," he added. "We may have helped, but these school districts represented themselves as sophisticated investors, that they understood what they were buying. I don't know what they were told because I wasn't there. I don't know what was orally represented. They are not bonds. I can tell you that is in the written documents they got at closing and these papers were vetted at all levels of management."

Eric Olson's recent VOP says we are OK. I sure hope he's right.

Home prices post record 15.3% drop

Home prices post record 15.3% drop
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index has fallen for 21 straight months. Click here.

Village says not so significant. Click here.

Creating New School District--Caledonia Study Results

Clcik here.

Cheaper to stay in Unified, Caledonia residents told.

Reinforces thoughts of leaving would create more expense. Perhaps there are ways to do so and contract out services? Overall, doesn't look like feasible with current regulatory environment. Just my opinion anonymous.

Carol Beach Area to Undergo Hazardous Waste Testing--UPDATE

from Kenosha News (Click here). New info (Clcik here). Could be worse (Click here).

The Corps is meeting with the owners of the properties between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Southwest Library to discuss what will happen at a 6:30 p.m. session that day open to the owners and the public, said Marie DeVito, Carol Beach Homeowners Association president.

DeVito said the property owners plan to meet privately at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 28, at the library for a follow-up discussion.

Village Manager Position in Downers Grove, IL

Click here, then on link under Village Manager

80th Street options don't thrill village residents

From yesterday's and today's Kenosha News articles:

Plans showed 80th Street being extended since at least 1957, officials have said.

Village officials wouldn’t reveal the options before the meeting. WHY?

“The board hasn’t grasped the idea of what we’re trying to preserve here,” she said. “Maybe that’s the goal for the meeting.”

Still, no final decisions were made at Thursday's special board meeting held Thursday night, which covered three options for connections on 79th Street and 55th Avenue. Click here.

Neighbors told the board they did not want the extension because they didn't want the increased traffic and speed along 80th Street, but Village Board members said plans for the project are really already in place because dead end roads are a safety issue. SO THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP GIVING VARIANCES FOR "TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT" CUL-DE-SACS?

Neighbors opposed all of the options and queried the board on how willing they were to put up a gate that would only allow emergency vehicles through on 55th Avenue at the newly created 80th Street, but board members said they would not support a gate. THEY SUPPORTED A GATED CROSSING AT THE BIKE TRAIL.

After two and a half hours of somewhat heated exchanges, the group of about 40 neighbors decided they would consider the alternatives and give the Village Board an answer on Monday.

Here's a Familair Scene--Intersection Concerns

Residents living along a dead-end road — and hoping to keep it that way — have convinced village officials to discuss concerns about plans to connect it to a main street. The Pleasant Prairie Village Board will have a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Village Hall, 9915 39th Ave., with those residents to review details on why the roadway, 55th Avenue, is to intersect with an extension of 80th Street. The meeting is open to the public.

Village officials (who?) also argued that snow-plowing and garbage vehicles would not have to turn around in the 55th Avenue dead-end if there were an intersection with 80th Street. (Not a probelm if they put in one of their famous 'temporary' cul-de-sacs!).

A dozen residents of the neighborhood told the board Monday that opening 55th Avenue would ruin the neighborhood feel, create traffic that likely will exceed the speed limit, and place children — who don’t have sidewalks to ride and play on — in danger. (Exact same arguments we used to prevent bike trail crossing). I'm sure the Boards reaction was "HoHum, here we go again".

“The hazards exceed the benefits” (Same for bike trail users).

“It would add 35 seconds” saying that it was not a significant delay. (Again, same used).

The board’s reaction to the residents’ concerns might make a difference come election time (watch it!), others suggested a grassy area at the end of 55th Avenue where it would connect with 80th Street be restricted to emergency vehicle use. (Again, sound familiar to bike trail crossing?)

Village President John Steinbrink said possible options to address the concerns would be outlined at the Thursday meeting. He noted that residents had a lot of wrong information. (Who's fault is that!) In the end, the Village will use another area against them and/or say that it was always designed that way, and sorry, we can't help you. They'll piss off everyone else if they do anything different. So sad that they feel that their progress is more important than keeping neighborhoods the way they were. Like I said before, if it was their neighborhoods, then they'd actually do something about it (NIMBY). Propose a main road for new downtown through area across 39th by Village Hall and you-know-who would have a fit!

Village Amendments for Curb and Gutter and First Lift of Asphalt--UPDATE

Click here. Seems prices expected to rise significantly June 30th.

Seems that a number of developers are asking to pave their roads early. Hope Village takes necessary precautions to prevent what happened in Prairie Trails West Addition 1. Let's hope these Developers don't bring new meaning to the word 'asphalt'.

Click here and click on 06-16-08 VB Agenda.pdf file

I. Consider the request of Michael Dilworth for an amendment to the Development Agreement for The Settlement at Bain Station Crossing Subdivision to install curb and gutter and the first lift of asphalt prior to 50% of the homes being completed within the development.

J. Consider the request of Mark Bourque for an amendment to the Development Agreement for Ashbury Creek Subdivision to install curb and gutter and the first lift of asphalt prior to 50% of the homes being completed within the development.

K. Consider the request of Quinton Ackerman for an amendment to the Development Agreement for the Kings Cove Subdivision to install curb and gutter and the first lift of asphalt prior to 50% of the homes being completed within the development.

L. Consider the request of Doug Stanich for an amendment to the Development Agreement for the Westfield Heights Subdivision to install curb and gutter and the first lift of asphalt prior to 50% of the homes being completed within the development.

More on CDO--Seems Nobody is Sure About Anything

Click here.

From Kenosha News:

LAUREL - To the four Kenosha Unified School Board members who support an independent study of a controversial district investment program. Gilbert Ostman, Pam Stevens, Rebecca Stevens and JoAnn Taube all say they would welcome an objective assessment of the collateralized debt obligation investment program, which, depending on your source, is either comfortably profitable or awash in red ink. Since no one really seems to know for sure - and since the stakes are so high - it's clear to us that an independent audit is not only desireable, it's essential.

DART - To the three School Board members not quite so eager to embrace an outside assessment of the investments. To varying degrees, Marc Hujik, Eric Olson and board president (correction to KNews; Board President is Pam Stevens) Dave Fountain objected to the possibility of an independent review. Why? If the program is sound, let's get answers to the many troubling questions it has generated. And if the program is in trouble, let's find out now, while there still might be time for corrective action. To do nothing while the apprehension continues to build strikes us as the worst possible option.

Prairie Trails East--More Extensions

Item for Monday's Village Board meeting. He's already asked for one extension. How many are they going to give him? Oh well, hope it never happens as nobody wants the bike trail crossed with a road.

H. Consider the request of Ted Pickus, agent for Prairie Trails LLC for a one (1) year extension of the Preliminary Plat of Prairie Trails East and a one (1) year extension to comply with the conditions of the Final Plat for the first stage of the Prairie Trails East Subdivision.

More on CDO KUSD Debacle

Click here.

I like how KUSD keeps reiterating that no one was concerned before. Clyde Allen wanted more information, along with others, because few understood these investments. I'd like to hear the Village Boards response to the report after their finance guys presentation. So what do they think since they asked for this review? Let's get it out on the table.

School Commission Update II

Click here.

New story Click Here--Finance adviser recommends Unified hire impartial agency (didn't someone already recommend this?).

Here's a great line--"I don't recall Pleasant Prairie or anyone complaining when the value was at 134 percent," said School Board member Eric Olson. "But people want to make trouble now even though it's a seven-year (investment) to take care of our long-term debt.

So we have no right to be concerned when their unwise choice could cost us millions of dollars? Vote this guy out!

A follow-up report related to the creation of a new school district was also shared on June 5 by Village legal counsel in response to residents’ requests to investigate the possibility. “The report demonstrated that separation from Kenosha Unified would be a daunting process,” added Pollocoff. “Essentially, a group of citizens would be responsible for moving the process along, and it would require support from 20% of those who could potentially be registered to vote within the district.” There appeared to be no support from the School Commission for further investigation of the matter. Residents who had initially requested the information were not present for the presentation and have not indicated any further interest to Village representatives. The Commission voted to receive and file the report and to forward copies to the Village Board and Kenosha Unified for their review.

I guess it is up to the citizens if they want to get anything done according to Village. What was the original requesters response to CDO report?

What Happened to the Tornado Sirens?--Update

Last night, the siren went off near my house and we headed to the basement. After a minute or so, the sirens went off and stayed off even though the Weather Channel and radio stations were reporting Kenosha County (Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie) were under a tornado warning until 9:30 PM. Why weren't our sirens still going? I talked with people in Kenosha and they said the sirens continued all throughout warning. What gives?

I spoke with Chief of Fire & Rescue Paul G. Guilbert, Jr. and he stated that the sirens are activated by County Emergency when: 1) NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) notifies them (detects possible rotation--like you see on Weather Channel); or 2) a Police, Fire , or trained spotter sees a funnel cloud or tornado. The siren will go off for about three, one minute cycles and that's it; no continuous cycling. Then you are dependent on radio and TV for updates for when emergency is over (he suggested a NOAA Weather Radio in case power goes off; I told him I had recently won a NOAA Emergency Radio that has a hand crank from The Weather Channel emergency preparedness contest). There is NO all clear signal (holdover from the 1950's Civil Defense Days) but you may hear more than once if multiple sightings (like in January--three times/three cycles). I told him that we can also hear the Illinois sirens and that it can sometimes be confusing as to which ones are going off. He did state that high winds can also affect people's ability to hear sirens and that some people did call because their sirens did not go off.

Breaking free from Unified could be an uphill battle for Pleasant Prairie

Click here.

Village Board Trustee Steve Kumorkiewicz--He said costs for seceding probably would be prohibitive, considering Pleasant Prairie would have to purchase Unified school buildings and assume a part of the district's debt, among other costs. He said there were no estimates how much that would be.

Haven't we already paid for these buildings? Weren't people asking to find out what exactly it would take to do this? Wasn't that the whole point of these meetings???

District losing money on investment

Click here.

A controversial investment to help fund retiree benefits has cost the Kenosha Unified School District $214,000 more than it has earned since 2006, according to an analysis by an independent consultant for the Pleasant Prairie School Commission.

Tiahnybok to Challenge Steinbrink for Assembly

Click here.

Should be interesting.

Link is active (Click here).

Water Bills, Assessments, Carol Beach

Click here and here for links to Carol Beach article and Village website news, respectively. I'm sure it will generate lots of comments.

My assessment dropped 2.2%. How about the rest of you? Mr. Vita was kind enough to send me assessments for our entire subdivision.

Someone has commented about high sewer and water bills. What I know is that we have to pay for our water and sewer services from City of Kenosha in part because of Great Lakes Water agreement. Kenosha charges us more for water than anyone else in the area (how much is due to PP, I don't know). We also pay sewer fees that appear to subsidize Kenosha residents. Not fair but not sure what can be done about it either. Perhaps we can get water from Illinois if they get Lake access at a cheaper rate??? Highly doubtful, but I'm thankful we have an abundant clean source of water.

Assessments

Click here.

Assessments are based on sales of similar properties.

"In that case we'd point out the sales that occurred in their vicinity and say that Pleasant Prairie isn't acting like other states in the country" where the housing market has collapsed, he said.

Well, a house just sold in my area for 17% less than it's assessed value. Others have also sold for less than assessed value (-15 to -2%). Only one or two for assessed value or above and one of those had illegal improvements that the new homeowners got nailed on. So I guess we'll see real big drops next time around. All depends on what happens in next two years. Not that it really matters as you pay either way.

Village Board Meeting Monday, June 2nd

I won't be able to make meeting (my birthday and daughter's Band and Choir concert).

A. Consider Resolution #08-22 - Resolution Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of $2,940,000 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2008C.

B. Consider Resolution #08-23 - Resolution Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of $950,000 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2008D.

C. Consider Resolution #08-24 - Resolution Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of $500,000 General Obligation Promissory Notes, Series 2008C.

D. Consider Resolution #08-25 - Resolution Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of $7,550,000 Taxable General Obligation Promissory Notes, Series 2008D.