‘$2 Billion Brownie’ to Tempt Lawmakers at Bake Sale for School Funding
It won’t be decorated with gold
flakes or presented on a Swarovski-studded platter, but the $2 billion brownie
available at this Thursday’s “Billion Dollar Bake Sale” at the State Capitol
will be loaded with more than chocolatey goodness: students, parents and
educators will be “selling” the brownie and other high-priced pastries to send
lawmakers the message that education takes a serious investment, not pocket
change.
In
addition to brownies with $2 billion price tags – equivalent to the cost of
fully funding the per-pupil spending amount recommended by the state’s Education
Funding Advisory Board – hungry legislators will be able to “buy” cookies for
$498 million, the state’s share of special education needs. Students from
schools across the state will deliver these and other treats to lawmakers’
offices.
A+ Illinois, a coalition
advocating for comprehensive, statewide school funding reform, is organizing the
bake sale as part of its ongoing campaign to urge elected officials to reach
consensus on a budget that will support public schools not only for FY08, but
for the long term.
The
“Billion Dollar Bake Sale” will be held in the State Capitol Rotunda on
Thursday, July 19, and feature a news conference at 11 a.m., as the Illinois
Senate convenes a set of daily hearings on such issues as education spending,
special education costs, and improving student achievement through quality and
accountability standards.
For more information concerning A+ Illinois’ efforts and
recommendations, please contact Clare Fauke, A+ Illinois communications coordinator, at
312.863.6012. Learn more about A+ Illinois on the campaign's Web site
.
Playbook for Redeveloping Joliet ’s 4 th and 5 th District’s now Available
Joliet makes headlines year after year as one of the
nation’s fastest-growing cities. While many working families are flocking to
Joliet’s expanding West Side – due in part to Will County’s booming distribution
and logistics industry – neighborhoods on the city’s East Side, Joliet’s
historic core, have yet to fully recover from major industrial and retail losses
and a stagnant housing market. The good news is these communities, home to some
81,000 residents, are close to having a comprehensive reinvestment plan, now
available in draft form on the City of Joliet ’s Web site
.
The draft Joliet Quality of Life Plan is the result of a
community-led process advised by a team of consultants and nonprofit planners,
including MPC’s Community Building Initiative
. Unwilling to stand by and watch their neighborhoods decline, concerned
citizens
in
Joliet
’s
4 th
and
5 th districts formed the Quality of
Life Task Force. In partnership with the
City
of
Joliet, the task force invited MPC to develop recommendations for housing and
retail opportunities on the
city’s East
Side; the
Center for Neighborhood Technology to examine transportation and industrial
development; Teska Associates, Inc., to provide recreation and land use counsel;
and Partec Consulting Group to offer expertise on education and social
services.
The draft Quality of Life Plan provides detailed
recommendations in each of these areas, and offers valuable data about Joliet’s
downtown and East Side communities, including supply and demand trends. For
example, East Side residents spend $600 million each year outside their
neighborhood for key consumer needs, demonstrating enormous purchasing power and
retail development opportunity in the community. Overwhelmingly, the consultant
team agreed that the plan’s success depends on a successful ongoing partnership
between the community and the city, perhaps by creating a community development
corporation for Joliet ’s East
Side.
For more information on the Joliet Quality of Life Plan Executive Summary,
contact Joanna
Trotter, manager of MPC’s Community Building Initiative, at 312.863.6008.
Meet the MPC Staff:
MPC’s Michael McLaughlin Brings D.C. Experience to
Local Transportation Issues
After spending more than 10 years in the nation’s
capitol as a top transportation advisor to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and
chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Bill Lipinski (D-Ill.), Michael McLaughlin
, a
native
of
LaGrange,
Ill., returned to the
Chicago
region in February to join MPC as
Transportation Director. McLaughlin is no stranger to regional and state
transportation issues: in 2002, he coordinated the Transportation Transition
Team for then-Governor-Elect Rod R. Blagojevich, and he’s well-steeped in
transit funding and planning policy, Amtrak and aviation issues, and freight
rail concerns.
McLaughlin’s appreciation for the
people of metropolitan
Chicago
and a desire to “see how the
non-governmental process” informs transportation policymaking led to his return
to the region. “Learning new things and coming up with innovative ways to solve
transportation problems” is what McLaughlin says he enjoys most about his
current role with MPC.
McLaughlin earned
his bachelor’s degree in political science and history
from
the
University
of Iowa , and a master’s degree in public
affairs
at
Indiana University. His
favorite Metra stop: “Easy. That’s
the
LaG
range
Road stop where I get on and off
the train every day. The stop and the nearby restaurants, outdoor cafes, and
shops are a great example of harmony between transit and the community,” he
says, adding that he bikes to the station most
days.
For tips, information and background on Chicago-area
transportation issues, contact Michael McLaughlin, MPC transportation director, at
312.863.6022.
Learn more by contacting Mandy Burrell, MPC
communications associate, at 312.863.6018, or by visiting MPC's Web site.