Yes. But only so that eyesore can be demolished and a park put in its place!! I totally disagree with warren and his hate mongering, blame everyone attitude.

G:
So why reward His bad behavior with taxpayer dollars?

Unless you are going through it, you will never know. We are going through it as well and are beside ourselves everytime it decides to rain. His home is a low spot. And if you followed his story from 2001, you'd be more understanding. They should buy his home just like they bought the other homes kiddie corner from him and turned it into a retention pond. So easy to judge - for shame.

Taxpayer dollars, let's talk about taxpayer dollars Jim WIlson. How about that new police headquarters? How many millions is that costing us? Seems pretty extravagant to me. They should buy the property, regardless of whose house it is and what their behavior has been, because the Village caused the problem and this is an extreme situation. Period.

Warren, you have every right to do as you have done. The person or persons that stole your sign should be ashamed of themselves. The Village has had more than enough time to correct this problem, yet they have failed to do so. I agree with you Vivki that the Village should buy his house, as they are part of the cause for his problem, They also need to make sure to find who stole your sign and prosecute them. Come on Palatine, get with the program and do your JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

His home isn't in a low spot, at least no lower than many of his neighbors who have never flooded. He has created some of the problems himself by not allowing adequate drainage in his property. The village has tried to work with him on numerous occasions and he is unwilling to negotiate. Do you live in the neighborhood and receive his hatemail newsletters? He points fingers at everything and everyone, God forbid you park a car an inch over the sidewalk. And yet he allows his home to fall into disrepair and posts billboards that make our entire neighborhood look bad. I agree his sign should not have been stolen, but his neighbors have been through enough - I am not surprised someone got this angry.

Vicki why bring up the new police station as a reason to support poor Warren? The police station has been designed to serve residents for the next 50-100 years. FYI- back in the 60's the Palatine Police Station was nothing more then a three car garage. Their big upgrade was to move into the basement of my old high school for the next 30 years. If you look at all the facilites of the other NW suburbs I am glad the Village Board had the insight to build a facilty that won't be outdated in ten years. The Palatine Police do a great job and deserve their new home.
As for Warren the Village has made studies and offeres per my recollection. There is a neighbor of mine whose driveway is below street level and every major rain storm his driveway and garage turn into a swimming pool. This house has experienced everything and more of what Warren has gone thru and he has dealt with solving his flooding problems without turning his house into a war zone. Warren could fix the problems if he would have accepted the Villages help and made an effort to do something constructive instead of destructive. That house's value is nothing more then a teardown because of what Warren has done and failed to do. I have been a resident and taxpayer in this town for almost 50 years and I for one am proud of how this Village has improved over the last ten years. Your should have lived here in the 1960's and you might appreciate the improvments.

I would ask if the size of the building they work in determine if they can do their job? The facts are the facts regarding the sewer and draining lines. Poor planning on the Village's part has caused the problem. I experience flooding at my home as well, and the Village has refused to do anything about it. I also have a neighbor that stores business junk at his home, and the Village has done nothing to stop it, despite repeated complaints. Who is runing things at the Village?????

Can someone clear up for me why this is this villages fault? (I mean this seriously; I want to understand this better)

All I have seen so far is a reference to a *federally* mandated disconnection of the storm and sanitary sewers.

If the disconnection of the two resulted in routing one or the other into lines that were not rated to handle the increased load, this would cause flooding. It really isn't that hard to understand.

Charles - please don't be condescending to me. I asked why a federally mandated change is Palatine's fault.

Shouldn't Mr Kostka be taking the problem up with the federal agencies that mandated the change?

Scott, I didn't say it was Palatines fault that the change was mandated by the feds. What you must understand is that no matter what the feds say must change, it is still Palatines responsibility to make sure they don't create a problem in their compliance with the feds changes. This only makes sense, don't you agree? If they make a change to comply, it is their responsibility to make sure they don't create other problems in the aftermath.

Not sure I can agree - unless the village can 'opt out' with what the feds mandate I'm not sure you can say "it is Palatine's responsibility..."

As I've watched this unfold over the years I've often wondered why Warren simply didn't take the village to court. Let a judge decide who is right and who is wrong. Doesn't that make sense?

Am I missing something? Why wasn't this settled in court years ago?

The Village collects permit fees for any home/property modifications made. These fees can be outrageous but are done in the name of safety and 'meeting code'. If this local government has the authority to TAKE money from people in the name of 'protecting its residents' they had better be doing a good job of ensuring this. Therefore, if indeed according to an engineer's opinion there was negligence on the part of the Village, Mr. Kostka should be compensated. If not, then NADA. Either the Village contributed to the mess, or it didn't. --Mr. Kostka should be spending his signage money in court to prove his case instead of just making it a Hollywood spectacle. I don't like to involve the courts, but this is clearly a case of why we do have them.

Unless folks have a civil engineering degree and have studied this particular property, taking all of the changes made into account-- how could they possibly have an opinion either way??? Fellow neighbors, don't use sentiment and emotion to rule your allegiances, use facts, please.

I guess the only way this matter will be resolved is if it goes to court. I am not saying the man is right, but I am not saying the Village is right either. There may be fault on both sides. I for one will be doing my own research to find out more about this.

This is a prime example of someone who prides himself on being right over all else. It's like the person who doesn't try to avoid an accident and allows damage to life and property only to make sure the other driver knows he is at fault! Warren has put himself, his family, and his neighbors through needless hardship only so he can be right about it. Well great - he gets to be right, and live a lousy life for the past 25+ years in the same hell hole. What kind of legacy are you leaving in the world Warren? Will Palatine be a better place because of you? Will people remember you for being a force for good, for change in the world? Or only as someone who has a score to settle and looks at life as a battle. Get off it, and start a crusade over something that really matters. Bring your passion for water to Africa and build wells for people who have none. Something, anything other than these bitter rants.

My 2 cents, let the house fall down, then condemn the place.

End of the day the Village residents will be paying for all of this!

Let the place fall apart condemn it, tear it down. Sell the land to a developer and re-coup some money.

Sounds mean but Warren Kostka should have done something about this years ago.

The one thing we are not short on is Lawyers!

This is what is wrong with society today. From what I can tell here, the Village will claim NO responsibility for this mess, let alone Warren. If they both claimed responsibility, maybe a settlement could be reached. From what I have read so far, no-one has mentioned what the Village has offered, if anything to Warren. This information could certainly pursuade me more on way than the other.

"2 wrongs don't make a right" Both parties are partly right and partly wrong. Historically government makes mistakes and people also.

After watching the board meeting and the vote. I think Mr Kosta will never get the current village board to purchase his property. If anyone but he owned it the village would buy it. His negative attitude toward staff and trustees has backed him into a flooded corner so now his last card is to get the public outcry from neighbors to persuade the village to purchase his home.

In hindsight Mr Kosta you should have treated people like you would want to be treated. If you play with fire you will get burned. Luckily you have plenty of water for the fire.

Look, if Warren were as correct as he lets on, he would hire an attorney and have the Village in court. Two problems with that: it costs money and it's probably almost impossible to prove that the Village is at fault (maybe because the Village is not at fault?).

For the benefit of Warren's neighbors, the Village should get serious about code enforcement. Engineering work without a permit. Signage that violates village ordinance. Failure to maintain his property in an inhabitable state (by his own admission).

Many houses were built years ago before storm water management was a consideration. It's very likely that this house and neighborhood have always flooded. In spite of Warren's bad behavior, he still retains the same remedies available to any of us. His problem will be proving where the fault lies (last time I checked Mother Nature wasn't available for law suits). In the meantime, he can continue to libel and slander many of our elected officials to no avail.

Keep in mind that some politicians are just that....politicians. They work hard at doing absolutely nothing. They will spend more time and money just so they don't have to do anything. Sometimes it is better to just do the right thing. I am not saying who is right or wrong in this case, but 20 years of fighting....come on. I ask again, if anyone knows, what has the Village offered to do, if anything about this property?

His property is disgusting-sandbags/partially mowed lawn/driveway dug up and put into piles next to it/black plastic "fencing" by lot line/compost <?> smelly pile by the sidewalk/branches cut entirely off everygreen tree leaving only the trunk w/a sign on it..that is what HE created and NEIGHBORS endure...you get more flies w/honey Warren!! Clean up YOUR mess and maybe someone will listen!!

After reviewing the council meeting, I am more prone to leaning on the side of having the drain installed on the property. This is something the Village should have mandated years ago, and their failure to do that has caused additional damae to the house. The Village now does have a responsibility to either purchase the home or assist in the repair of the home as it was partly their neiglence that lead to the additional damage.

Let's not lose sight of what Charles said farther up in this thread: "...The person or persons that stole your sign should be ashamed of themselves." "...They also need to make sure to find who stole your sign and prosecute them. Come on Palatine, get with the program and do your JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Regardless of what Mr. Kostka has done to his property, this attack in inexcusable!