Pulse: Strip club, strip mall knock-downs lead to Noak invite
January 27, 2013 10:56PM
Romeoville Mayor John Noak
Article Extras
Updated: March 1, 2013 6:31AM
What do you get when you tear down a strip club and an aging strip mall? You get invited to be on the keynote panel for the International Conference of Shopping Center’s Midwest Idea Exchange event March 13 in Chicago.
Romeoville Mayor John Noak, who is locked in a three-way battle for re-election, was excited about the invitation.
“It’s a pretty big deal,” he said.
He attributes the invite to the village’s demolition and planned redevelopment of the Crazy Rock strip club and Spartans’ Square strip mall sites along Route 53.
“This is a great reflection on what the community has been able to do,” he added.
Noak can use all the good publicity he can get. He’s running against former Chicago Bear Steve McMichael and former Mayor Fred Dewald in the April 9 election.
Chamber-made controversy
Some people say Lockport Ald. Kelly Turner is using the Lockport Chamber of Commerce’s financial crisis to help his campaign for mayor. But Turner is undeterred by the accusations. He said he’s going to continue to work to get to the bottom of the chamber’s deficit and to protect the city, which provides an office and utilities for the chamber. The chamber paid for its own telephone, which was disconnected.
“It’s unheard of for a chamber of commerce to be in debt $117,000,” said Turner, who is running for mayor against chamber board member Steven Streit. “Especially when they have a free office. ... How do you have a chamber of commerce with no phone number?”
Police patter
When Joliet Cmdr. Al Roechner said some suspected drug dealers were suspiciously “shifting and moving” during a traffic stop last week, The Herald-News asked if he was translating from the typical cop-speak.
“I don’t think I’ve ever used ‘furtive movements’ in my life outside of a police report,” Roechner said.
Quote of the Week
“We knew there was a risk to only break even, but we kind of got the Murphy’s Law scenario.” — Mary Kay Campbell, former, and possibly future, executive director of the Lockport Chamber of Commerce, on the failure of the first Logjam rock concert to make money. Campbell is volunteering her services until the chamber resolves a $117,000 deficit.
Reporters Cindy Wojdyla Cain and Brian Stanley contributed to Pulse.
