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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Friday, December 20, 2013 Evan Thompson
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Evergreen Village project on hold the site of repeated flooding during the past six years. Officials have been trying to relocate the residents and restore the area to open space. Paul Miller, county planning, zoning and building director, said the county received $5.6 million in grants from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency for the project. Before officials can move forward with the relocation and restoration plans, they need to buy the property, which includes a 33-acre farm field and about six acres of railroad rights of way near it. Officials had appraised the
By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – County officials are putting efforts to relocate Evergreen Village Mobile Home Park residents on hold while they negotiate a purchase price for the land plagued by flooding. County officials made an offer to purchase the park at 955 E. State St. from owner Frank Santoro this year but he is not satisfied with the appraisal of the property. The roughly 19-acre mobile home park is home to about 130 mobile home units and sits on a flood plain next to the Kishwaukee River. It has been
main mobile home park site at a value lower than what it was worth in 2007, said Santoro, who has owned the park since 1978. He said he rejected both the appraisal and the county’s purchase offer because of the lower amount and because county officials refused to show him any figures, which officials dispute. “I got kind of hot about that … it’s taxpayer money you’re trying to buy my property with, and I need to know what the figures are,” Santoro said. Santoro said he knows the property is worth more because he pays higher property taxes for it than in the past and the rent has risen over
the years to match market value of the mobile home units. Currently, the average rent is $340 a month; in 2007, the rent was about $280, he said. Last year, the park accumulated about $467,200 in rent, which goes toward maintaining operations, he said. He said he netted about $256,000. Miller said officials had appraised the mobile home park at its 2008 value, which was before the flooding in September of that year. Miller said Santoro received a copy of the appraisal. “The whole point of these
See EVERGREEN, page A8
Shaw Media file photo
The front of Evergreen Village Mobile Home Park in Sycamore on Jan. 9. The project to relocate residents of the park has been put on hold while purchase price negotiations continue.
CREATING AN EFFICIENT HALL
Target breach affects up to 40M cards By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and BREE FOWLER The Associated Press
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Community service officer Pam Faivre (right) checks a purse as a line forms outside the courtroom Monday on the second floor of the DeKalb Municipal Building.
Police move means new priorities for security, building use By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Someone who visits the DeKalb Municipal Building to pay a water bill has to walk through an empty lobby, take the stairs or elevator to the second floor and follow the signs to the correct office. It’s not the best customer-service experience, and it’s one of the things DeKalb leaders would like to change. Although the City Council has discussed the need for renovations for years, the need has become painfully obvious since the police department moved, leaving about 12,000 square feet of empty space on the first floor. A study last summer addressed the required upgrades to the infrastructure of the building, as well as how city departments are using space. City leaders are considering various segments of the community while planning for the
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
The front desk at the DeKalb Municipal Building is seen Monday. renovations, but Mayor John Rey said the aldermen agree that the first priority is customer service. “Our first concern is efficient, welcoming delivery of service,” Rey said. “The second is security.”
Security is the primary concern for Public Works Director T.J. Moore. With the police gone, the building isn’t staffed overnight, meaning it’s being locked for the first time since it opened in 1967. “With no one on the first
floor, we have people coming to the second floor unescorted to conduct their business,” Moore said. That business might be paying a water bill or a parking ticket, and Moore said the finance department is willing to move to the first floor to make access easier. “Most of the people that come here during business hours are here for finance-related items. Moving that department to the first floor is not an ideal scenario, but it will provide more security and better customer service,” Moore said. He said the staff in that department is moving this winter. Fifth Ward Alderman Ron Naylor said discussions also have centered on consolidating all the city staff in one building. “A common theme seems to be that everyone wants to see the
Target’s data-security nightmare threatens to drive off holiday shoppers during the company’s busiest time of year. The nation’s second-largest discounter acknowledged Thursday that data connected to about 40 million credit and debit card accounts was stolen as part of a breach that began over the Thanksgiving weekend. The theft marks the second-largest credit card breach in U.S. history, exceeded only by a scam that began in 2005 involving retailer TJX Cos. and affected at least 45.7 million card users. Target’s disclosure came a day after reports that the company was investigating a breach. Customers who made purchases by swiping their cards at its U.S. stores between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 may have had their accounts exposed. The stolen data included customer names, credit and debit card numbers, card expiration dates and the embedded code on the magnetic strip on back of the card, Target said. There was no indication that the threeor four-digit security numbers visible on the back of the card were affected. The data breach did not affect online purchases, the company said. Target has not disclosed exactly how the breach occurred but said it has fixed the problem. Large companies spend millions of dollars each year on credit-card security measures. Given the company’s heavy security, the theft may have been an inside job, said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with Gartner Research. “The fact this breach can happen with all of their security in place is really alarming,” Litan said. Jason Oxman, CEO of the Electronics Transaction Association, which represents the payments technology industry, said past data breaches have been “heavily organized and sophisticated.” Last year, global credit and debit card fraud losses reached $11.27 billion, up 11. 4 percent over the previous year, according to The Nilson Report, which tracks global payments. And while credit and debit card fraud has been on the rise, it’s because the overall payment industry has expanded. In fact, Nilson’s publisher David Robertson said credit and debit card fraud still accounts for less than 6 cents of every $100 spent. Target, which has almost 1,800 stores in the U.S. and 124 in Canada, said it immediately told authorities and financial institutions once it became aware of the breach Dec. 15. The company is teaming with a third-party forensics firm to investigate and prevent future problems. The credit card breach poses a serious problem and threatens to scare away
See RENOVATION, page A8 See TARGET, page A6
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