Vacant Geneva lot seeking developer

It's been a vacant lot for as long as I can remember - and that's about 40 years. And folks who have lived in the Tri-Cities far longer than that tell me the same thing.

Thus, it falls into the category of at least "somewhat mysterious."

The lot at the southwest corner of State and Fourth streets in Geneva, right next to the ultra-popular Bien Trucha restaurant, has a "for sale" sign posted, but that's about it.

Dr. Tracey Clifford of Batavia has owned that parcel and one directly behind the bank at the former Pure Oil site since 2004.

"Then the market crashed and it has been difficult ever since," Clifford said.

She bought the empty parcel with a fairly significant vision in mind.

"My original intention was for a three-story building with offices on the top levels and restaurants and shops on the lower level," Clifford said.

Clifford figures her entire investment amount at about $1.2 million.

"I may never get that interest back on this investment," she said.

Between five and seven inquiries about the property occur each year, she added. And even though the empty site tells us nothing has happened to develop it, Clifford said at least two potential buyers over the years made it to the final acquisition steps before backing out.

City spokesperson Kevin Stahr says the city recognizes "the development potential of this downtown site" and has often reached out to Clifford to see if there is anything it can do to help move some sort of building process along.

Naturally, outside observers might first think Bien Trucha should expand into that area. The place is certainly popular enough, but it's likely that the owner doesn't want to tinker with something that's not remotely broken.

Like any other downtown parcel, there are some developments that would work well and others not so much. Some might even suggest that the city acquire it, keep it vacant, plant some trees and put in a park bench or two around a historic sculpture.

Any effort to do something with that corner would be a welcome change from its current status. Clifford knows that better than anyone, considering time is money in a case like this.

Overcoming some fears:

When researchers ask people about their greatest fears in life, public speaking almost always comes out at or near the top of that feedback.

The do-over.me organization and theater director Bill Russell want to help fight back that fear and others, like social anxiety and improving the skills needed to "generate ideas on the spot."

They are hosting an introduction of the IMPROV classes at 6:45 p.m. Monday, March 6, at Abby's Breakfast & Lunch in St. Charles. Cost is $10 for the introductory session and those interested can sign up and pay on the do-over.me website.

Russell is an actor, teacher and director with more than 30 years of experience in Chicago theater. He teaches at Comedy Shrine Theater, in addition to do-over.me sessions.

Sound of excellence:

We hear the sirens often, but as long as we aren't in the ambulance, we don't give that type of emergency service much thought.

But here's something to think about: Tri-City Ambulance has received a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services.

What does that mean? It means the folks providing this service are doing a lot of high-quality work.

Tri-City Ambulance is one of only 178 ambulance services in the country to complete this voluntary process, and only the third in the state to get the CAAS recognition.

In service since 1982, Tri-City Ambulance has served the Tri-Cities and also Batavia and Countryside Fire Protection, and Geneva Township. Each community has access to eight advanced life support ambulances.

Fraud alert:

A reader who asked to remain anonymous sent me a long story about his recent troubles when someone used one of his credit cards to book a flight from Chicago to Miami.

He endured a long process of trying to determine how his card number became available and who could help him. He was hoping someone could arrest the person who booked the seat. He didn't have any luck.

I write about card security and fraudster tricks for a media company in New York City, so you'd think I would never fall for a scheme.

Wrong. And, thus, here comes your public service announcement: Get religious about checking your payment card statements, and use extreme caution when ordering things online or, for that matter, even working on your computer.

Not long ago, when on deadline for a story, my computer froze with all sorts of warnings about a fraudulent site. It warned that if I ignored this message, supposedly from "Apple Support," my computer might crash.

I had dealt with Apple Support at various times and found the service to be extremely helpful. Being in a bit of a panic on deadline, and thinking maybe this was a new service Apple was offering, I took the bait and called the number listed.

The guy said he was from Apple and talked as if he knew a lot about my computer and the site I was on. Foolishly, I let him "in" to put some sort of protection on the computer - for a price.

After getting off deadline and thinking clearer, I called Apple Support on a different number I had and, sure enough, they said they would never alert a customer through any sort of pop-up. They ran a scan of my computer and found no malware, so that was good.

It was maybe just an aggressive computer security vendor saying they work with Apple to convince customers they need this extra security - the type that Apple provides free in most cases.

So, the moral of the story is to be as alert as possible. The fraudsters are relentless and have millions of tricks up their sleeves.

dheun@sbcglobal.net