Elbows Sharp at Lincolnwood Mayoral Debate

Questions about TIFs, Shore Galleries and the future of the Purple Hotel led to some spirited exchanges Thursday night among the three candidates vying to become the mayor of Lincolnwood.

In a debate sponsored and moderated by Skokie Patch, editor George Slefo hosted a packed Lincolnwood Village Hall. Incumbent Mayor Gerald “Jerry” Turry, former Mayor Peter Moy and former Village Clerk and Library Board President Georgia Talaganis rarely held back in a discussion that lasted just over an hour.

A main issue of contention was whether to designate the Lincoln and Devon Avenue intersection as the fourth TIF district in the village.

Turry was strongly in favor of designating the area as a TIF.

“What would you rather happen on Lincoln Avenue if it is left as it is now without a TIF to drive it to make it more attractive to development,” he said. “Deterioration leads to stagnation.”

But Moy was very much against the idea.

“Where does the money come from? It is going to come from the taxpayers who don’t live in the TIF [district]. That is the problem,” Moy said.

Instead, Moy advocated for a quarter percent hike in the village’s sales tax, which he believes would raise $500,000 to $700,000 in additional annual revenue.

Talaganis took a more cautious approach and wanted to see a report about the proposal that’s expected to be delivered next month.

“The proposed area one on Devon has no developers waiting to do anything with the properties there,” she said.

The hot button issue of Shore Galleries having a gun range in the village that would have been close to three schools and three parks – an idea that was eventually turned down 4-1 by the village board and is now in litigation – led to a pointed exchange between Talaganis, Turry and Moy over whether the incumbent went out of his way to aid one of his supporters.   

Talaganis referred to excess noise the gun range would have generated. “I don’t think the problem was just the noise, the problem was friends helping friends,” she said in a direct reference to Turry. “This is the issue of using and influencing your position in the wrong way.”

Turry has received the support of the owner of Shore Galleries in his re-election bid.

But Turry responded that all he did was sit in on open meetings as the process unfolded.  

“I made no kind of movement to influence anyone and I walked out without saying a word to anyone for all of those meetings,” he said. “I took the side of fairness.”

All three candidates are still in favor of seeing if developer Jake Weiss can get the fabled - but now closed - Purple Hotel property going once again. Yet, how much time Weiss should be allowed to find a major hotel chain to commit to the property remained a question.

Moy said he was initially for demolition but he is willing to wait and see if Weiss can be successful in landing tenants to the property at the corner of Touhy and Lincoln avenues.

“This plan can move forward but monitor closely the progress of that plan,” he said.

Talaganis wants to see stringent deadlines put in place.

“We can’t let (Weiss) take too much time with this development,” she said.

Turry is more bullish about the prospect of Weiss making the Purple Hotel the destination location it was generations ago. 

“We have a chance here ... to bring in sales tax revenue, property tax revenue and a hotel tax along with all kinds of synergy that will bring back the jewel of this village for 30 years before it went another direction.”

After the debate, Talaganis was pleased with the way the evening unfolded.  

“There are things that are going on that people don’t realize and I had to bring them out into the open,” she said.

But Turry said he was disappointed in Talaganis.

“I thought she was a sweet person and fair minded. To attack me personally, I don’t even think that was her talking. I think that came from somebody else.”

With the campaign now in the final stretch, Talaganis stated she is confident in her prospects. Turry, who reversed an earlier decision to step down from the mayor’s seat, said he is confident in the voters to make the right choice.

Meanwhile, Moy – who is seeking to get the office back that he held from 2000 to 2005, was humble of his prospects.

“I think the village is split,” he said. “I don’t have a feel as to which way it is going to go.”

Editor's note: You can catch the entire debate on Comcast channel 6 or AT&T channel 99. You can also click on the YouTube video posted above this article.

--

Skokie Patch on Facebook _