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Now on Twitter!
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Follow Commissioner Goslin on Twitter to find out what he's been reading in the news and for live updates during County and Forest Preserve Board Meetings.
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Now on Facebook!
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Connect with Commissioner Goslin on Facebook and let him know what's on your mind!.
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Sales Tax Repeal Update:
Last week, the Illinois legislature approved a bill which reduces the veto override requirement at the County Board from four-fifths to three-fifths. The bill now waits for the Governor's signature before it can be enacted.
The impending change in the veto override requirement would
reduce the number of commissioners needed to override a veto from 14 to 11. This legislation will make it easier for the County Board to reduce the sales tax increase, a measure which has twice been vetoed by President Stroger, with the latest attempt failing to override the veto by only one vote.
I have sponsored two amendments for a full and partial repeal of the sales tax increase--these amendments will remain in the Finance Committee until the final passage of the new veto override requirement by the state. If passed, the sales tax repeal would be in effect beginning July 1, 2010.
As budget hearings continue next week, the goal will be to reduce expenditures to a level that takes into account reduced tax receipts following the anticipated rollback of the Cook County sales tax.
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H1N1 Flu Vaccine
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The Cook County Department of Public
Health (CCDPH) has opened regional appointment-only vaccination sites
in suburban Cook County. So far, the vaccines are being offered to certain groups based on their
susceptibility to the virus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention have determined those groups to be:
- all pregnant women
- caretakers and household contacts of children younger than 6 months
- health care and emergency medical services employees
- people age 6
months to 24
- people with underlying medical conditions such as
asthma and diabetes
To make an appointment for your H1N1
vaccination, you can call any of the CCDPH District Public Health
Offices. The North District line has been receiving a very high number of calls--if you are on hold for longer than five minutes, or cannot get through, please call any of the other numbers listed below to make your appointment:
North District: 847-818-2860
West District: 708-786-4000
Southwest District: 708-974-6160
South District: 708-210-4500
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Sale of Oak Forest Hospital Land to FPD
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The sale of the Lake Parcel and
the Crawford Parcel of Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County to the Cook County Forest Preserve District was approved at yesterday's County Board Meeting for the public purposes of preserving the
existing burial areas, protecting and preserving historic sites, and protecting and preserving
the flora, fauna and scenic beauties.
Access to and uses of this land will require
ongoing planning and cooperation and will impact Cook County, Oak Forest
Hospital, and the Forest Preserve District. A joint
planning effort will be undertaken by the County and the District to incorporate historic preservation, investigations,
environmental restoration, and planning for the District's proposed
use of the Property and the impacts of such use on the Oak Forest Hospital
Campus. The County will set aside $150,000 from the sale of the land to pay half the cost of such efforts, with the District providing a matching amount from their budget.
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Fantus Health Center Celebrates 50th Anniversary
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Fantus Health Center, one of the 16 health centers in the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, celebrated its 50th anniversary last week. The clinic is named after Dr. Bernard Fantus, who created the first blood bank in the United States on July 10, 1937 at Cook County Hospital. He was serving as the Director of Pharmacology and Therapeutics when his experiments led to the development of the preservation of blood for up to ten days. Today more than 85 million units of blood donations are collected and stored globally every year which provides life saving aid for surgery and many other medical conditions.
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Let's
have a conversation! As always, feel free to
reply to this newsletter, send me an email or give me a call about any
Cook County issue.
Sincerely,
Gregg Goslin, Commissioner
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