75 cents
Breaking news at Daily-Chronicle.com
Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
GLIDDEN CAMPUS FLORIST
PREP CROSS COUNTRY • SPORTS, B1
Business owner promotes fair trade
Hard work pays off for DeKalb seventh-grader
Local, A3
Christina Ryzhov
Breakfast cafe plans DeKalb location
IRONGATE SUBDIVISION
Years to go Planning process continues for housing development
Eggsclusive Cafe promises unique dining experience By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
A dead-end road just to the north of DeKalb High School is seen Monday. ShoDeen Construction plans to build the Irongate housing development on the 458 acres of land located north of Dresser Road between North Annie Glidden Road and First Street. By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com DeKALB – It will be at least two years before a house is built in the massive Irongate subdivision that DeKalb leaders approved last week. Developer Dave Patzelt of ShoDeen Construction estimates he will spend six to eight months preparing engineering reports for DeKalb City Council members to consider. After that, ShoDeen leaders will work to add the 458 acres to the DeKalb Sanitary District and decide which housing section within Irongate to build first.
“We’re not purposefully trying to delay anything,” Patzelt said. “Although this is a significant milestone, there’s more engineering and preliminary work that needs to be done. Eventually, it goes back to council.” ShoDeen Construction officials have spent five years with city leaders discussing the massive subdivision, which will sit north of DeKalb High School, 501 W. Dresser Road, between Annie Glidden Road and First Street. City Council members voted, 6-2, Oct. 28 to approve preliminary plans, with 3rd Ward Alderwoman Kristen Lash and 1st Ward Alderman David Jacobson opposing it.
The final approval process should be shorter, as much of the planning and concepts are covered in the annexation agreement, interim City Manager Rudy Espiritu said. City leaders will look at the final plans for each phase to make sure they conform with the annexation agreement. “In a lot of ways, this annexation has the final plans already, but it’s making sure everything does comply now that we’re doing the intimate details,” Espiritu said. Once crews begin building homes in
See IRONGATE, page A2
Irongate details n Size: 458 acres n Location: North of Dresser Road between
North Annie Glidden Road and First Street n Single-family homes: 1,119
n Senior dwelling units: 350 n Town homes: 123
DeKALB – Alex Henigan is excited to be expanding his Eggsclusive Cafe restaurant to Sycamore Road in DeKalb in 2014. Henigan, one of the co-owners of Eggsclusive Cafe at 265 W. Peace Road in Sycamore, is planning to open a new restaurant at 2211 Sycamore Road by March or April. The 4,500-square-foot building will be in the area where Small’s Furniture City once stood before the building was demolished earlier this year. The Sycamore restaurant specializes in breakfast and lunch, and is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. “It’s going to be a very unique breakfast experience, I’ll tell you that,” Henigan said. Eggsclusive Cafe aspires to be more modern and upscale compared with other Midwestern breakfast houses, he said. “We’re exceptionally excited about the DeKalb location,” he said. “We’ve been conceptualizing about making this accessible to the rest of the county because we’re on the north side of Sycamore.” The cafe’s owners also are planning to open another location in December near the
“We opened in 2008, which was the worst. We came to work every day and ... modified what we had to do to stay alive.” Alex Henigan Co-owner of Eggsclusive Cafe on the challenges of opening a restaurant during the recession
See BREAKFAST, page A3
Ill. unions hold strong despite blows By SARA BURNETT
Voice your opinion
The Associated Press CHICAGO – Across the middle of the country, organized labor has taken one hit after another in places that were once union strongholds: Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana, where workers lost bargaining power and saw their ranks shrink, leaving them weaker than almost any time in the past century. The notable exception is Illinois. Here, it’s almost as though the Great Recession and the Republican resurgence of 2010 never happened. Public employees still have their defined-benefit pensions.
Are you represented by a labor union? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
Unions still negotiate and collect dues. And little public blame has been heaped on labor for the state’s financial problems. But the ability of Illinois unions to withstand the pressures that broke down their colleagues elsewhere is back on display this week as lawmakers try for the umpteenth time to confront the nearly $100 billion shortfall in the
public-employee pension system, the largest in the nation. The Legislature is under pressure to consider slashing pension benefits or requiring employees to contribute more to their own retirement funds or to retire at a later age. It’s the kind of overhaul most states did several years ago to ease the crushing weight of growing obligations to retirees, combined with declining revenue. Or, lawmakers might do what they’ve done multiple times before: nothing. The outcome could determine whether Illinois’ dismal finances get a long-delayed fix or whether one of labor’s
toughest redoubts reaffirms its power by holding off any major changes in benefits. “Whether you like that outcome or not, you have to say, ‘That’s an organization that has some political strength, and that uses it,’ ” said Robert Bruno, a professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois. Much of labor’s success here, no doubt, derives from the fact that President Barack Obama’s home state is a citadel for Democrats who have long enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with unions.
See UNIONS, page A2
AP file photo
Henry Bayer (left), executive director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, is confronted by an Illinois secretary of state police officer (right) Feb. 2, 2012, as members of the union protest in front of the governor’s office at the state Capitol in Springfield. The ability of Illinois unions to withstand the pressures could be tested during a veto session that begins today as lawmakers try to confront the nearly $100 billion shortfall in the public-employee pension system, the largest in the nation.
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
A2 A2-4 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
Weather A2, A5 A7 B1-3, B6-7
Advice Comics Classified
B4 B5 B8-12
High:
59
Low:
52
Bothered by painful varicose veins? Attend a FREE Vein Screening.
Fri., Nov. 8th (8:30 am – 4 pm) ? Sat., Nov. 9th (8 am – Noon) Space is limited! Call now to schedule your screening!
815-656-4861 No doctor referral required 2 Most insurance accepted
2127 Midlands Court, Suite 102 G Sycamore, IL 60178 815-656-4861 G www.GilvydisVein.com