Meyers Elected Park Board President

Members vote in Kaplan as vice president; staff rescues Park Avenue boat beach.

Scott Meyers was unanimously elected president of the board of commissioners for the Park District of Highland Park by his fellow members at their annual meeting Thursday night at West Ridge Center.  Newly minted Commissioner Brian Kaplan was chosen vice president to replace Meyers. The former board leader, Elaine Waxman, declined a nomination for another term as president.  At its regularly scheduled meeting before the annual gathering, the board passed its annual budget. Executive director Liza McElroy also reported on successful efforts to repair damage to the Park Avenue boat beach resulting from the week’s torrential rain. The work was done to insure opening as scheduled on Saturday. Gavel handed to Meyers When the annual meeting …

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Highlands and Ravines

Finally, the Yard Signs Come Down

Ed Brill reflects on what the newly elected officials will bring in tackling issues in Highland Park.

It's time to take down the yard signs. At last. Congratulations to mayor-elect Nancy Rotering, councilmen-elect Paul Frank, David Naftzger and Tony Blumberg; Park District commissioners-elect Lori Flores Weisskopf, Brian Kaplan and Scott Meyers; new members of School District 112 and 113 boards; and to those that opposed the District 113 referendum. Your wins in Tuesday's election were hard-earned and demonstrate the best of democracy in action. As I said yesterday, I've found myself more invested in this race than any previous hometown election. I found many kindred spirits in the forums and coffees, people who wanted a better Highland Park. It was certainly a tough set of races, and now is the time for the winners to prove that they were…

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David Greenberg

1:33 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

Richard, a lot of people perceived it as being dishonest. That card send by CARE came out near the end of the "election season" well after the issue of taxes continuing for another 20 years came up, and there was still nothing on that card about the taxes continuing for another 20 years - just the "without a tax rate increase" tag line. Regardless of any actual intent, the perception was that of …   more ›

Park District Candidate Q&A: Brian Kaplan

Long involvement in agency's recreational activities evolves into a run for four-year seat on board.

Background: I graduated from Indiana University with a degree in business. I then graduated from IIT Kent College of Law with a juris doctorate. I have been practicing law as a litigator for the past 21 years.    Highland Park Patch: How long have you lived in Highland Park?  Brian Kaplan: My family moved to Highland Park in 1969. I lived here until I graduated from law school in 1988. I lived in the city for five years and moved back with my family in 1993.  HP Patch: What was your first experience with the Park District board? Kaplan: In early 2003, I approached the park board, along with some other parents, about a spring-summer baseball program. This entailed multiple meetings with the board as well as members of the staff. HP Patch: …

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Highlands and Ravines

Shining a Light on Park District Candidates

A former board president is among the 7 contenders making up the interesting field.

Election Day is now less than two weeks away, which means it is time to finish deciding on which candidates to vote for in the five Highland Park citywide races. One contest I've paid little attention to is the Park District of Highland Park Board, where voters will fill two four-year-term vacancies and one six-year term. Today I sat down to find out more about these candidates and their positions, and I liked a lot of what I learned.  There are five candidates for the four-year terms and two candidates for the six-year term. Some are incumbents of sorts, having been appointed as commissioners last fall, months after the pension spiking issues came to light. Others are simply passionate community members who want to help steer the Park …

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forest barbieri

4:52 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2011

Part 2 Now the good news! Our Executive Director, Liza Mcelroy seems most competent and we have a dedicated & responsible core staff within the Park District . So, we have good core people, programs, land and facilities. Next, we have a 130% reserve of $26,000,000 2011/12. First we need a responsible financial look at reserves and budgets. I believe we will find we need about 8 - 10 Million max …   more ›

IT'S OFFICIAL: Werhane Running for Park District Board

After resigning amid the pension spiking scandal, the former park district president has decided to run again.

Just before Lorry Werhane Jr. resigned as president of the park board in October, he said he was considering running again for one of the three board seats that will be elected in April. Now, it's official: Werhane is one of seven candidates for the park district board of Highland Park. The 59-year-old served on the park board for 20 years until this summer, when it was revealed that the board had signed off on huge bonuses to park district employees that nearly doubled some of their salaries and spiked their pensions five years ago. The news broke at the end of July; Werhane, who was on the board when the contracts were approved, resigned in October. Werhane joins four other candidates vying for the two available four-year term seats. …

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