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Dear neighbors,
As we near the end of session (scheduled to be done May 31st), we have
some significant accomplishments but much left to address. Most
notably, both the Senate and House passed a significant capital plan
this week. The capital plan is funded by the following revenues that
support bonds to accomplish the capital project:
Vehicle Title/Transfer Fees $114.5 million
Driver's License Fees 40.6 million
Vehicle Registration Fee 176 million
Sales Tax on Candy/Beauty Aids/Beverages 150 million
Liquor Tax Increase 113.7 million
Lottery Improvements 150 million
Video Gaming 375 million
TOTAL $1.119 billion
These revenues will support a $28.9 billion capital program to fund the following:
Road
Programs
-
Multiyear Road
Program
$11,698 million
-
New Road
Projects
$3,000
million
-
New Local
Trans Projects (formula)
$500
million
Education
-
School
Construction
$3,000
million
-
School
Maintenance Matching Grants
$200
million
-
Public
Universities
$718
million
-
Community
Colleges
$353
million
-
Private
Universities
$300
million
Environmental/Energy/Tech
-
Environmenta/Water
$175
million
-
LUST Fund
$75
million
-
Technology
$317
million
-
Parks
$300
million
-
Libraries
$100
million
-
Museums
$100
million
-
Clean
Sewer/Water Program
$906
million
Transportation
-
Public Transit
$4,660
million
-
Amtrak
$150
million
-
CREATE
$600
million
-
Airports
$380
million
State
Facilities
-
State
Facilities
$750
million
Economic
Development/New Initiatives
-
Healthcare
Facilities - FQHCs
$50
million
In this plan are significant dollars that will benefit our community,
including funding for the CTA, school renovation dollars, parks and
healthcare facilities. $1.6 billion remains unallocated and we will
pass another bill next week itemizing this spending.
We are beginning to take up significant ethics reform legislation now
as well. When session is over I will provide a complete overview of
what we pass regarding ethics improvements. I held an ethics town hall
meeting in April and understand how deeply concerned the public is
about the "culture of corruption" in state government. I firmly
believe this is the best opportunity we will ever have to pass
meaningful, comprehensive reform, and am pushing to get that
accomplished.
Regarding our operating budget, this week we are passing base budgets
that fund only legally required services. These budgets require no new
revenues and include significant cuts to state operations. Next week
we will work to finalize the budget -- it remains uncertain if we will
have a tax increase to avoid major cuts to education, health care, and
human services.
While I am in Springfield, I wanted to send you an update about events
that my office has hosted or will be hosting in the community. In this
e-mail, you will find notes from the recent public safety meeting that
I held in Uptown with Representative Greg Harris, results from the
recent Edgewater Day of Service that I coordinated with Representative
Harry Osterman and Alderman Mary Ann Smith, an announcement for an
event that I will be holding at Sullivan High School in Rogers Park,
and an announcement for the upcoming Women's Resource Fair that
Representative Osterman is hosting.
Finally, I want to solicit your input for this summer. I hope to be
back from Springfield and done for the session on June 1. While I am
back from Springfield, I hope to attend as many block club meetings, CAPS
meetings, and special events in the area as I can. Please send your
summer events to my chief of staff, Jen Walling at
jen@heathersteans.com, and she will work with you to let you know if I
will be available.
I also hope to hold a series of outdoor service office hours this
summer. If there is a particular time or place that you would like to
see my service office be accessible, please e-mail me at
hsteans@senatedem.ilga.gov.
Sincerely,
Heather Steans
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| Rogers Park Summer Resource Fair |
| Have a safe summer in Rogers Park!
A FREE Community and Family Summer Resource Fair
When: Monday, June 8, 2009
Volunteer Night from 4PM to 7PM
Safety Walk from 7PM to 8PM
Where: Sullivan High School Cafeteria
6631 N. Bosworth. Enter on Greenview.
Free Parking.
What: Learn about summer opportunities in Rogers Park, including volunteer opportunities for adults and teens, summer programs for kids and teens, and summer events for all!
FREE FOOD AND GAMES!
Hosts: State Senator Heather Steans, State Representative Harry Osterman, Alderman Joe Moore, Alderman Patrick O'Connor, Sullivan High School, Rogers Park Community Council, Howard Area Community Center, and the 24th District Chicago Police
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Edgewater Day of Service
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Thank you to Day of Service Volunteers!
On Saturday, May 9, 75 volunteers participated in the second Edgewater
day of service, helping with several projects in the community. I
joined the volunteers by painting the el station at Granville with my
son.
On May 9, volunteers accomplished the following things:
-
painted the viaducts under the el at Granville and Thorndale,
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picked up litter from Foster to Lawrence from Kenmore to Marine Drive,
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built a new fence for Hayt elementary school,
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planted flowers on Ridge Avenue, and
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picked up litter, cleaned, and weeded the Swift elementary school grounds.
I would like to especially thank Rae Ann Cecrle who coordinated the el
viaduct painting, Ernie Constantino from Alderman Smith's office who
coordinated the Ridge planting, Jared Desecki from Rep. Osterman's
office who led the Swift volunteers, Terry Clerkin from the LRBC Block
Club and Dan Webb who led the fence building, and PC Gooden-Smiley who
coordinated the litter pick up. Additionally, a big thank you to the
Edgewater Chamber of Commerce, Edgewater Beautiful, Edgewater Community
Council, Epworth Church, Northside Democracy for America, and the
Rotary Club who all recruited volunteers.
These offices expect to do another day like this soon; right now we are
looking at Columbus Day in October to have a very large event, but are
happy to organize groups of volunteers in the mean time to help clean
and green our community and assist area non-profits. If you would like
to get involved, contact Jen Walling at jen@heathersteans.com
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Uptown Public Safety Meeting
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On Monday, May 11, 2009, Representative Greg Harris and I hosted a
third town hall meeting on public safety. More than 80 individuals
signed in at this meeting. This was a meeting to update residents on
the work that is being done by many organizations and individuals to
work against crime in Uptown.
At this meeting, Alderman Smith's office unveiled their new website
www.actionuptown.com to help with local organizing efforts and Alderman
Shiller's office identified their successful efforts to replace a bad
management company at a building in the area.
Commanders Lucy Moy (20th District) and Kathleen Boehmer (23rd
District) discussed crime trends in the area and answered many
questions that residents had about police procedure.
Joy Repella from the Cook County State's Attorney's office discussed
the re-opening of the North Side Community Prosecution office and its
ability to prosecute local crimes identified by the community.
Five local residents and organizations discussed their work as well.
Judy Gall from Alternatives, Inc. discussed her committee?s efforts to bring more youth programming to the Uptown Area.
Ed Kuske, a local resident discussed his efforts with local block
clubs, CAPS beats, and other neighborhood organizations discussed his
efforts to break local gang and drug activity by holding regular
neighborhood watches.
Richard Thale of Uptown Chicago Commission discussed the work that UCC
is doing on the public safety front including efforts to stop the sale
of particular problem liquors, increase communication in the community
through texting and social networking, and UCC's efforts to advocate
for more police cameras, positive loitering, and court advocacy.
Gloria Carter from the Organization of the North East discussed local
programs that are making an impact such as Cease Fire and emphasized
the need for youth job creation.
Jay Bomberg from Uptown United discussed the efforts of his
organization and Uptown Business Partners to get more business partners
involved in safety. One of these was a recent event at the Aragon with
a dozen safety vendors to keep businesses updated on what they can do
to protect their business and be a good Uptown neighbor.
I am grateful for the public participation at this event. There are
several items from the meeting that Representative Harris and I are
working to follow up on. Representative Harris identified these items
in a recent e-mail that we will be following up on:
-
Changing laws so that trials were required to be held in courthouses closer to where the crime occurred
-
Getting public access to the Clerk of the Court computer system which tracks the status of prosecutions
-
Requesting that the Park District and the Chicago Department of Human
Services appear at the next meeting to talk about their operations and
safety initiatives.
Additionally, my office is happy to help with any residents or groups
that want to organize neighborhood watches or other neighborhood public
safety initiatives. Thanks again to all who participated in this event.
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Women's Resource Fair
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You're Invited!
State Representative Harry Osterman and Loyola University will be
hosting the inaugural 2009 Northside Women's Resource Fair. The goal of
this event is to provide women from Rogers Park, Edgewater, and
Andersonville neighborhoods with a forum to network with each other and
with local agencies, as well as access and discuss information about a
wide range of women's issues, including women's health, business,
education, parenting, and more.
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sullivan Center
Loyola University Chicago
6339 N. Sheridan Rd.
Chicago, IL 60660
Visit http://www.luc.edu/gannon/Womens_Resource_Fair.shtml for more information.
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Interns and Volunteers
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Thank you to our Summer Interns and Volunteers!
My office is excited to have the support of a large number of interns
and volunteers from the community. Several more interns and volunteers
from local high schools and colleges will be starting in mid-June.
Justin Proctor is an Executive MBA student at Purdue University,
currently residing in the Ravenswood area. Mr. Proctor hopes to enter into politics
after completion of his degree.
Derick Anderson is a Geography student at Northeastern Illinois
University who lives in the Uptown Community. Derick has worked in
Uptown as a community organizer for nearly a year. Derick plans to
attend graduate school in Urban Planning and Policy.
Charlene Zomaya is a recent MacMurray College graduate with a BS in
History. She has lived in Edgewater all her life, and plans to pursue
a career in public service. Charlene also plays basketball, and golf
regularly. She speaks fluent Assyrian.
Cameron Coleman is a recent graduate from Arizona State University in
African American Studies. Cameron speaks fluent Spanish and would like
to teach bilingual education. He lives in the Rogers Park neighborhood.
Lee McQueen has a Master of Library Science from SUNY-Buffalo and a BA
in Political Science from Xavier University and has been both a
librarian and a bookstore owner. She is an active community volunteer
with the Edgewater Historical Society and volunteers her writing skills
to my office several hours a week.
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