BRIEFLY

Edited by Donald Sevener

NEXT: PUTTING MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS

Kids count in Edgar speech

"I' ve talked about kids in probably every speech I've made," Gov. Jim Edgar said in remarks made shortly after his budget address. Well, he's never talked like this,

In his March 5 budget address, Gov. Edgar spent considerable time stressing the need to help "our youngest of citizens'" before laying out his $1.2 billion plan to do so. "Children must be our top priority," he said.

With the state's backlog of old bills now paid, Edgar says he envisions a new preventive approach to the needs of disadvantaged youngsters.

"Studies of the brain have proven that the intellectual potential and emotional well-being of a child are dramatically impacted before birth and in the first three years of life. ... And if we don't respond, too many of our kids are going to be doomed to failure before they set one foot inside of a classroom."

Child advocates praised his thoughts, but not his actions. "The governor clearly helped the people of Illinois understand the importance of early childhood in his speech," says Jerome Stermer, president of Voices for Illinois Children, a Chicago-based child advocacy group.

However, Stermer adds, Edgar missed some "real opportunities to put some reality behind the [speech that] we thought was so good."

Stermer says that less than one-tenth of the money Edgar proposed for early childhood initiatives is new money.

In Edgar's defense, Stermer says the startling new studies of the brain are so recent, Edgar's "staff probably didn't have time to put together proposals.

"We are confident that in working with the General Assembly and the administration we can raise the bar and do even more."

Now that Edgar has presented his budget plan, lawmakers begin their annual struggle with the numbers. As for the early childhood program proposals, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Republican Senate President James "Pate" Philip gave their immediate support. Those proposals include:

* More than $220 million for initiatives to prevent infant deaths and low birth weight and to teach parenting skills, particularly to young parents.

* $55 million for early intervention programs focused on kids with disabilities.

* An $11 million increase for preschool programs.

* A $70 million increase for day care, designed to help cope with the expected surge of mothers moving off welfare.

"I am convinced that most parents want to be good parents, but many of them need our help," Edgar says. "And we must help. As a matter of humanity, and because the cost to us in human terms and in tax dollars will be far greater if we don't act than if we do."

Edgar's proposed $1.2 billion investment in children came as part of his total $34.6 billion budget for fiscal 1998, which concentrates on education while avoiding the sticky issue of school finance reform.

Other items in the proposed budget:

* A $230 million increase for elementary and secondary education; $116 million for higher education.

* A $78.2 million increase for corrections; $95 million earmarked for a new 500-bed super maximum prison.

* $1 billion in state and federal funds for road projects, a decrease of $150 million.

* $21 million for conservation programs, including money to reduce erosion, clean up lakes and develop Site M, a 200-acre conservation and recreation area in Cass County.

* $15.8 million, which also includes federal funds, for the state's AIDS drug assistance program.

Jennifer Davis

Meigs: No turbulence

Just in case someone out there is suffering Meigs withdrawal, here's the scoop: Everything's just fine.

January's big story over the clash between governor and mayor, legislature and courts, business interests and park enthusiasts — all history.

Once the politicians pulled out, everything returned to normal; granted there were small landing fee hikes and about $300,000 in minor repairs and fix-ups. (See Illinois Issues, January 1997, page 5 and February 1997, page 9.)

State planes now pay $40 on average in landing fees — up from free.

Despite the fees, the number of landings by state planes has also returned to normal. In the last 18 days of February, 61 state planes flew into Meigs, up from 31 during the same period last year. Meigs reopened February 10. Jennifer Davis

8 / April 1997 Illinois Issues

BUREAUCRATIC BROTHERHOOD

Cooperation among state agencies lands
award in renovation of landmark building

Asking four state agencies to work together to fix up an old building would be like inviting four legislative leaders to work together to fix campaign finance — a recipe for stalemate. But the rebirth of the Old Main Administrative Building at the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville is testament to the potential for bureaucratic brotherhood, a spirit of cooperation that produced an award-winning restoration of the 144-year-old structure. The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois recently bestowed its Richard H. Driehaus Bricks and Mortar Award on the project. "Often the first impulse is to demolish an old building rather than rehabilitate it, but the rebirth of the Old Main Administrative Building shows what can be done when you have vision and commitment," says Nancy Wagner, the council's acting executive director.

Old Main Administration Building of the Illinois School for the Deaf, winner of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois' Richard H. Driehaus Bricks and Mortar Award.

The architect for the project credited "open-mindedness and cooperation" among the various state agencies for smoothing the way for the restoration of Old Main, which is the oldest continuously used, state-owned building still serving its original purpose. Involved in the renovation were the School for the Deaf, the state Department of Rehabilitation Services, the Capital Development Board and the Historic Preservation Agency.

The building houses administrative offices for the school for the deaf, a private nursery school, a museum and a few guest rooms for visitors and college students who stay overnight.

Old Main is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, meaning that the restoration required painstaking attention to detail. Work on the exterior included reconstruction of porches and verandas, reconstruction of the open, roofed gallery that had been removed in previous years and renovation of all the building's 197 original windows. All rooms inside were refinished, and the main lobby was restored to its turn-of-the-century grandeur.

The renovation, which cost about $4 million, began in 1991 and concluded in 1994, according to Jess Chapman, a spokesman for the school.

The Illinois School for the Deaf enrolls 304 students.

Donald Sevener

Remap redoubt

The Chicago and state bar associations wasted no time filing separate lawsuits challenging the Republican-drawn state Supreme Court map. A Chicago judge just as quickly blocked implementation of the new redistricting measure, but had yet to rule on the merits at press time.

The measure, which sets up new boundaries for election of justices to the state's high court, was hurriedly passed by Republicans just before they gave up their majority in the Illinois House. The measure, which could shift the court from a Democratic to a Republican majority, was signed last month by Gov. Jim Edgar.

Both lawyer associations question the constitutionality of the new map, which subdivides Cook County into three districts. The state Constitution calls for the election of three justices at large from Cook County, which gives Chicago Democrats the edge.

But Todd A. Smith, president-elect of the Illinois State Bar Association, says the Supreme Court has already ruled that Cook County cannot be subdivided for appellate court districts. "It's the same district, the First District, that's involved [in the bar association suit], so I can't imagine" a different ruling, he says.

Republicans contend the old map violates the U.S. Constitution by diluting suburban voting strength. They have filed their own lawsuit, which is pending in federal court.

Republicans justify the new map on the grounds that it reflects population shifts to Chicago's suburbs more accurately than the old boundaries, drawn 30 years ago. (See Illinois Issues, January 1997, page 11, and February 1997, page 8.)

"All justices of the Supreme Court should be elected in the same manner from districts that have substantially equal populations," Edgar said. "That has not been the case. It will be now."

Jennifer Davis Illinois Issues April 1997 / 9

BRIEFLY
Prisons, parks, sewers: State is back in the building business

After two years of virtually nothing in the way of new state-funded construction, the $610 million in bonds recently approved by the legislature for capital projects looks like a building bonanza.

New construction was put on hold for two years after partisan disputes in the legislature provoked minority Democrats to withhold support of new bonding authority. Legislative leaders and the governor recently broke the logjam and approved appropriations for work to begin.

Here's a look-see at some of the proposals for parks, prisons and public buildings:

Corrections: About $270 million total.

* $73 million for a medium-security prison in Pinckneyville.

* About $8.5 million in upgrades and new construction at Dwight Correctional Center, including money to upgrade the locking system, finish the medical unit, build a warehouse and expand the education building.

* About $7.4 million for Vienna Correctional Center, including about $1 million to construct a fence around the minimum-security prison. The remaining funds go toward upgrading the locking, air-conditioning, steam distribu- tion and mechanical systems.

Natural Resources: About $23 million total.

* $2.5 million to develop the lake at the Cass County Site M conservation and recreation area.

* About $2 million for Starved Rock State Park in northern Illinois to construct a visitor center, rehabilitate the trails and sewer system and reconstruct the seawall.

* About $1.6 million to build a sewage treatment facility at Moraine View State Park near Bloomington.

State buildings: $32 million total.

* The Department of Revenue received about $1.4 million total, including $100,000 to replace rotting timbers in the agency's atrium. The remainder will link the fire alarm and security systems and upgrade the building's backup power supply.

* The Secretary of State got about $10.2 million total, including $2.1 million to rehabilitate the sewer system at the Capitol complex.

The remainder of the $610 million is slated for various higher education, historic preservation and state agency projects.

For the coming fiscal year, Gov. Jim Edgar has proposed another $440 million in new bond projects, including $126 million for higher education construction and $5 million to rebuild the Chicago Symphony's and Lyric Opera's facilities.

Jennifer Davis

10 / April 1997 Illinois Issues

Drug study: Treatment works

A national study of substance abuse has concluded that drug abuse treatment reduces crime. According to Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities, a Chicago-based advocacy group more commonly known as TASC, the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study, documented a 64 percent drop in arrests for any crime among those who had undergone treatment for substance abuse. There was an 82 percent drop in arrests for shoplifting and a 72 percent decline in arrests for selling drugs after treatment, the study found. The five-year study, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and conducted by the Research Triangle Institute and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, tracked 5,388 clients who 50% received treatment at federally funded centers in 16 states. Donald Sevener

Illinois Issues April 1997 / 11