Elgin Firefighters Memorial graffiti sparks outrage

Vandals also hit Pioneer Family statue

Elgin Public Works employees Dave Christensen,
left, and Liz Price work to remove graffiti from the
Elgin Firefighters Memorial early Friday evening
as co-worker Katie Thrun steps out of the picture
to grab gear from the van. (Ted Schnell • BocaJump)

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Friday, June 29, 2012

“Nice,” was the comment of a passerby, her voice dripping with sarcasm Friday afternoon as she stopped for a moment to see what a photographer was taking a picture of on Elgin’s downtown riverfront.

Elgin tax, fee changes win thumbs-up from bond-rating agencies

Two of the “Big Three” bond-rating agencies have
endorsed Elgin’s 2012 budget and the restructuring
of the city’s revenue streams to make them more
diverse. (Illustration/Ted Schnell • BocaJump)

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Saturday, June 16, 2012

A long-anticipated comprehensive evaluation of Elgin’s finances in 2011 refutes criticisms of the city’s handling of its economic crisis heading into 2012, and while skeptics may try to dismiss the report’s assessment, two of the world’s financial powerhouses have not.

Council awaits Gilliam’s return to review finance report

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Saturday, June 16, 2012

City officials will wait until June 27 to review the comprehensive annual financial report on Elgin’s 2011 finances, a report City Hall believes will dispel critics’ claims about the city’s budget, which saw the addition of new taxes and fees and an increase in the city’s sale tax.

Sustainable Elgin looks to dam for power

Elgin is considering the feasibility of adding a small
hydroelectric power plant on the eastern end of the
Kimball Street dam, in the general area of that fence.
(Ted Schnell • BocaJump)

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Thursday, May 17, 2012

For some it may seem like a dream beyond the city’s financial grasp, especially after Elgin started 2012 with layoffs, budget cuts, several new taxes and fees, and continued questions about the economic stability of the region.

Area firefighters salute their fallen

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Saturday, May 12, 2012

With an American flag suspended between two aerial ladders leaning up toward the sky above them, residents and family members gathered with firefighters and paramedics from around the area Saturday to honor emergency crews who died in the line of duty in the past year.

Hundreds gather to honor slain Marine

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Friday, April 13, 2012

Hundreds of people, many bearing American flags of different sizes, lined up along two downtown Elgin streets on Friday afternoon to show their respect for a slain Elgin Marine and support for his family as his remains returned home from overseas.

3 years of pain starts at Route 20-McLean

Intersection reconstruction to run through 2014

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | March 5, 2012

For the next three months, construction crews will be working hard at Route 20 and McLean Boulevard essentially just to get ready for a massive, $40.6 million project, whose construction is expected to run through 2014.

McLean/Route 20 work begins next week

Traffic changes on Walnut, South and Lillian

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | March 2, 2012

City officials ramped into high gear this week after receiving short notice that the state next week will shut down the eastbound ramp from McLean Boulevard onto Route 20 for as long as 90 days as a massive, three-year, $40.6 million reconstruction of the intersection gets into gear.

Center City area also facing road projects this season

This is a rendering for the city of Elgin of the
Riverside Drive Promenade as envisioned
by Hitchcock Design Group.

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | March 2, 2012

Expect Elgin’s Center City to be a busy place as the weather turns warmer — there are a handful of road construction projects on the way, both directly downtown and in the immediate area.

Featuring prominently in the work will be the $10 million Riverside Drive Promenade project, which includes demolishing the Riverside Drive parking deck and transforming that section of riverfront into the Riverside Drive Promenade. City engineer Joe Evers said Thursday work on the project should get under way in June or July and extend into 2013.

OCTAVE errs on chamber accusation

Defends other criticisms of business license

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Jan. 19, 2012

Insinuations that the Elgin Chamber of Commerce somehow concealed about 130 member businesses from the city administration when it began its business license program are false, BocaJump learned Wednesday afternoon.

The special interest group Elgin OCTAVE has been pressuring the City Council to dump the business license and publicly has offered a litany of criticisms of the program. But on Tuesday morning, Chuck Keysor, one of OCTAVE’s founders, wrote in an email to supporters and other interested parties that a Freedom of Information Act request he filed with the city revealed documents indicating “the chamber of commerce provided the original list of Elgin businesses to the city, around which the business license program was built. But amazingly, that list was missing about 130 of the chamber's own members! And not only were they not on the first list; they are still not on the newest list received two weeks ago!

“Are you shocked and disturbed yet?!”

Keysor stands behind other chamber criticisms

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Jan. 19, 2012

While acknowledging he ultimately was wrong about who supplied the city with a list of businesses used to initiate Elgin’s business license, OCTAVE spokesman Chuck Keysor said the group continues to stand by other criticisms it has leveled about the issue.

 “… I still stand by the list of all the other issues I raised a few minutes ago,” he wrote, referring to an email he sent in which Keysor outlined an array of issues with the business license program, all of which have been aired publicly before the City Council and in emails to OCTAVE supporters and others following the group.

VIDEO: Elgin Snow Command ready for winter

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Dec. 7, 2011

When snow hits, whether it’s a light dusting that’s enough to make the roads slick or a monster storm like February’s blizzard, which left 18 inches or more of snow in its wake, people expect to be able to drive to work, go to the doctor’s office or head to the grocery store.

Prigge speaks out against racism allegations, innuendo

Councilman breaks council silence to defend police

John Prigge

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Oct. 28, 2011

Councilman John Prigge said Thursday he simply had had enough when he decided Wednesday night to break the Elgin City Council’s silence over “unfounded accusations and innuendo” about racism in the Elgin Police Department.

Stressing that he had been speaking on his own behalf Wednesday night and not on behalf of the council, Prigge said Thursday he had been biting his tongue each time the issue was raised publicly during recent City Council meetings.

The allegations erupted over the summer when Elgin police Lt. Sean Rafferty was suspended for five days without pay. The suspension order censured Rafferty over a 14-year-old photograph and over an incident in 2009 or 2010 when a “race-based joke” was sent as a text message to a black fellow officer. Rafferty is white.

Elgin seeks grant for Slade boat ramp

Looming budget woes cast shadow on project

A look at the approach to the Slade Avenue Park
boat ramp reveals cracked, crumbling asphalt.
(Ted Schnell • BocaJump)

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump
A drive west down Slade Avenue in Elgin ends at a park laid out along the edge of the Fox River on the city’s East Side.

There is an area for parking to the right, and the driver brings his car to just a crawl as a couple of bicyclists slip out from a wooded trail to the left. They’re headed north on the Fox River Trail, a bike path that meanders through the area, following a shoreline made lush and verdant by this summer’s rains.

Illinois Supreme Court ruling renews hope for Riverside Drive Promenade

Published July 12, 2011

A court ruling Monday may free up funding for the Riverside Drive Promenade project. (Hitchcock Design Group)

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump
The first thing you might notice while walking along the old Riverside Drive parking deck that juts out over the eastern shore of the Fox River in downtown Elgin is the element of decay.

Weeds have grown upward from cracks in the pavement. A concrete barrier bars vehicles from most of the deck’s former southbound lane, because the deck’s underpinnings have weakened with time and may not support a vehicle’s weight.

Tech shifts how city gets the word out

Published June 24, 2011

Getting the word out today involves more than a press
release, says Elgin City Manager Sean Stegall, who says
the city must look at multiple information platforms,
such as the Internet, as well as traditional media.
(Image by Stock.xchng vi)

First of two
By Ted Schnell • BocaJump
The explosive growth of new media over the past 15 years has seen a correspondingly dramatic shift in the way people gather and share information – even how they communicate individually with each other.

“You can never communicate enough,” City Manager Sean Stegall said Wednesday afternoon.

More media vie for city ad dollars

Published June 24, 2011

Information is gathered today in far many more ways
than when it was delivered on your front porch.
(Image by Stock.xchng vi)

Second of two
By Ted Schnell • BocaJump
The dominance of traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television once meant there were relatively few choices for “getting the word out” about anything.

For cities, government agencies, civic groups and businesses, press releases typically were the way to go, sometimes sparking enough interest that an editor would assign a reporter and photographer or cameraman to cover the story.

Elgin 911 call directed to Indiana

Published Arpil 12, 2011

By Ted Schnell • BocaJump

Elgin police and a sheriff's office in Indiana are looking into a potential glitch that misdirected an Elgin 911 call early Tuesday to a dispatch center in Crown Point, Ind.

The call was made about 12:45 a.m. Tuesday by an Elgin man reporting that he heard what he believed to have been five or more shotgun blasts in the area of his southwest-side home.

Elgin plans for largest roundabout

Published Jan. 19, 2011
By Ted Schnell • BocaJump
The city is moving ahead with plans to build Elgin's largest roundabout to ease East-Side traffic congestion at Summit Street and Dundee Avenue, despite criticism raised before the City Council on Jan. 12.
Some questioned the safety of the project and its impact on surrounding businesses when the council met that evening.

City Manager Sean Stegall said last week that the Illinois Department of Transportation first fingered the intersection for improvements in 2001-02, when a more traditional approach was outlined.