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Posts tagged ‘Kane County’
47 Plus Coalition: Federal Government Withdraws Prairie Parkway Approval, Ending Federal Funding for the Highway Project
by n0madic, posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 at 1:18 pmfrom a 47 Plus Coalition press releaase
The federal government has rescinded its approval of the proposed Prairie Parkway which would connect I-80 and I-88 in Kane, Kendall, and Grundy counties under an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by opponents of the highway project.
The action eliminates federal funding for the project, and the Illinois Department of Transportation will now shift federal funds previously allocated to the Prairie Parkway to improvements to Illinois 47 and US 34.
After an 11-year fight, we have finally scuttled this highway which would have destroyed thousands of acres of prime farmland, threatened the Fox River and its tributaries, and forever changed the area’s small community way of life,” said Jan Strasma, Chairman, Citizens Against the Sprawlway (CATS), the grassroots organization long opposing the highway.
Note: The Prairie Parkway opponents will celebrate the end of the project at the 11th Annual “Stop the Beltway’ Picnic which begins at 4 pm Sunday at the Marvel Davis farm, 47W066 Jericho Rd, near Big Rock, about 5 miles west of Illinois 47.
Heroes on the Streets of Kane County
by Ellen McClennan, posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 8:05 amDogged. Indefatigable. Diligent. Determined. Steadfast. And oh my gosh, just plain heroic. The four-dozen or so Kane County residents who circulated petitions to stop special interest money from buying favors from our politicians are my heroes. They were headed by Kaye Gamble, and were part of the national Move to Amend effort.
For days on end, they endured 90 to 100 degree heat. They asked the same question, “Are you a Kane County registered voter?” hundreds and hundreds of times. And when people were willing to stop and talk with them, they explained the same thing over and over and over again. With enthusiasm and patience. They listened and they responded with accurate information.
When people stopped to hear what the petition was about, most people signed it. But sometimes it was difficult to get peoples’ attention. Some passers- by believed the group was trying to register voters or take an opinion survey and didn’t want to get involved. But when people did stop to hear the issue, just about everybody signed the petitions, Gamble said. Some were so enthusiastic they brought their spouses, friends, and voting age children over to sign. All were thankful of the group’s efforts.
Group Working to Make Democracy Safe for Middle Class Again
by Ellen McClennan, posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 8:00 am“We’ve never seen this many petitions!” Suzanne Fahnestock, Kane County Director of Elections said with a broad smile as she accepted the tall pile of petitions presented by Kaye Gamble, coordinator of the Kane County Move to Amend effort.
The group of about fifty Kane County citizens spent untold hours standing in record-breaking summer heat collecting signatures in a petition drive to place an advisory question on the ballot this November. Nearly fifteen thousand citizens signed those petitions.
The petition requests this question be placed on the Kane County November ballot– “Should the United States constitution be amended to limit the use of corporate, special interest, and private money in any political activity, including influencing the election of any candidate for public office?”
Gamble’s group is part of the national Move to Amend effort to amend the constitution in order to nullify the 2010 Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This ruling created Super PACs and Hybrid Super PACs, overturning decades of limits to political contributions and opening up unlimited floods of undisclosed corporate, private, special interest and foreign money into politicians’ election campaigns.
PDA IL: John Laesch on austerity measures in Illinois
by n0madic, posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2012 at 9:51 amfrom PDA-IL
John Laesch of Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice (NIJWJ.org) speaks about austerity measures in Illinois.
Aurora, My Home Town
by Mike Barr, posted on Saturday, July 14th, 2012 at 8:46 pmWhither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?*
Aurora, you once had such promise that it was thought by some that you would be the center of a great rail hub and lead the state. But alas, Chicago earned the broad shoulders and you are but a flickering secondary light now.
My home town’s downtown has been in decline for half a century and there seems to be no end in sight. Many will say that I am wrong. They may be right.
There are some businesses left downtown but they are mostly due to the industry of Aurora’s Hispanic community and I salute them. There is not one major retail store left. Carson’s left twenty years ago or more and now it’s building stands empty. A rather sad symbol of a time long past.
Reasons to protest the NATO Summit
by VideoNewsService, posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 at 11:15 amNATO protest organizer Andy Thayer gives reasons to protest the NATO summit at Elgin Community College on April 12, 2012. The summit will be held in Chicago, May 20-21, 2012.
Teachers and Citizens Demand a Seat at the Pension Funding Table
by Ellen McClennan, posted on Sunday, May 6th, 2012 at 10:06 pmA group of about forty people from Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice gathered in the noon day sun outside Illinois Senator Mike Noland‘s office in Elgin on Friday, May 4th. The people wanted Senator Noland to hear their concerns about the lack of revenue and funding for Illinois teachers’ pensions. Senator Noland is one of four legislators appointed by Quinn to a task force to solve this issue. While earlier State Senator Mike Noland (D-Elgin) had informed the group he would not be present to respond to their rally, he unexpectedly showed up
John Laesch, from NIJWJ, announced the rally was about the group’s concern regarding the State’s lack of funding for teachers’ pensions, but Noland didn’t seem to understand until the end of the rally that the citizens standing before him had not been sent by the Illinois Education Association (IEA) and were instead concerned citizens and workers—about half of whom happened to be teachers.
“This is a workers’ issue. And we are concerned that our legislators have not funded our teachers’ pensions. We have a revenue problem here. This is a concern to all taxpayers and to all people who work for a living,” said Laesch.
Norman Goldman at the Kane Co. Dems’ Truman Dinner
by n0madic, posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2012 at 7:36 pmATMI Precast Rally and March
by VideoNewsService, posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2012 at 4:49 pm, Aurora, illinois, February 12, 2012
