Lake County officials take Route 53 plan to the Web
Taking a page from President Obama's campaign playbook, Lake County officials on Tuesday went high-tech to spread the word about an upcoming referendum on the long-planned Route 53 extension.
County Board Chairwoman Suzi Schmidt, County Administrator Barry Burton and Transportation Director Marty Buehler participated in a roughly 20-minute discussion that was part interview show, part live chat room.
With the talk being broadcast live on the county-owned cable channel and on the official county Web site, the trio fielded questions from county spokeswoman and host Jennie Khoen, as well as queries that had been e-mailed to a special digital address in recent days and during the event.
"We are trying to use video and the Internet to reach all of our citizens more," Khoen said before the discussion began.
The topics all concerned the April 7 ballot question, a nonbinding, advisory referendum that asks if the state should extend Route 53 from Lake-Cook Road to Route 120.
The highway plan, which some experts estimate could cost more than $1 billion, has been on the books for decades but never has been undertaken.
The e-mailed questions asked about the highway's possible impact on the environment, a construction timeline, how it could affect other road projects, the possible location of access ramps and many other related subjects.
When the program wrapped, everyone involved seemed to think it was a success.
"I think it went really well," said county spokesman Joe Chekouras, who fed e-mailed questions to the trio during the broadcast. "We were curious if anybody would be sending questions, and from the number of questions we received in that 20 minutes, it was clear people were watching."
County officials likely will hold similar online chats in the future, Schmidt said, perhaps to discuss budgets or road projects.
"The more information you get out, the better it is," she said.
A digital video of the program can be viewed at the county Web site, lakecountyil.gov. And even though the chat is over, officials still will answer questions e-mailed to route53questions@lakecountyil.gov.