We pay, they play. Again.
The Illinois Senate join the Illinois House in selling out the taxpayers today by approving the billion-dollar give-away to the 1%. Read the story here. CALL GOVERNOR QUINN’S OFFICE @ 312-814-2121 OR 217-782-0244 – EMAIL HIS OFFICE @http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/Pages/ContacttheGovernor.aspx.
Here are the State Senators who voted to throw a billion dollars to the 1% over the next five years:
(more…)
Today the Illinois State House voted to give the billionaires at the Chicago Board of Trade and the money- hemoraging Sears Corporation and a few other greedy corporations a total of $218 million a year in tax breaks. Read the story.
Here is the Roll Call of Shame. If your state rep’s name in on this list, they voted to sell you out again. (A “P” indicates the rep was “Present”). Sign an online petition telling the Legislature to STOP giving hand-outs to companies that are extorting concessions and billions from the cash-starved state. And all this at a time when the state owes hundreds of millions of dollars to our nonprofit agencies who care for the infirm and needy.
Y Acevedo
Y Arroyo
Y Bellock
Y Berrios
Y Biss
Y Bost
Y Bradley
Y Brady
Y Brauer
Y Brown
Y Burke,Daniel
P Burke,Kelly (more…)
EVANSTON NEIGHBORS FOR PEACE presented
“Connecting the Dots-Privatization is the Symptom, Not the Cure” on November 12, 2011. here is Tom’s presentation with audio (about 20 minutes):
Watch this 11 minute video to get the basics on the upcoming threats of privatization in Illinois. From Chicago IndyMedia. Sign the online petition – “Say NO! to privatization!” Read the story at OnTheCommons.org.
A beautiful short film by Louie Schwartzberg from TEDxSF.
It’s part of why we need to cherish, nourish and defend the commons.
From David Morris, co-founder and vice president of Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self Reliance, writing for OnTheCommons.org:
In the next few days we may decide the future of the Post Office. The signs are not auspicious. President Obama has agreed to a plan to cut Saturday delivery. The Post Service’s management wants to close 2500 post offices immediately and up to 16,000 by 2020. Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) has introduced a bill that could end free door-to-door delivery.
Republicans have been railing at the government post office for many years. But for most of us, it is a “wondrous American creation”.
“Six days a week it delivers an average of 563 million pieces of mail—40 percent of the entire world’s volume”, observes BusinessWeek. “For the price of a 44¢ stamp (the lowest postal rate in the world), you can mail a letter anywhere within the nation’s borders. The service will carry it by pack mule to the Havasupai Indian reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Mailmen on snowmobiles take it to the wilds of Alaska. If your recipient can no longer be found, the USPS will return it at no extra charge. It may be the greatest bargain on earth.”
For all you Constitutionalists in the audience, the Founding Fathers considered the Post Office so important they included its creation on the short list of powers they bestowed on Congress, along with national defense, taxation, coining money, and regulating commerce.
From the folks at Privatizationbeast.org - fighting the take over of public libraries in California. Yes – the Privatizers have their greedy eyes on our public libraries!
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| Rally to Save Our Post Offices |
The P.O.S.T. Coalition will be holding major Mass Rally to save our post offices!
Tuesday September 27, 2011
4:30-6:00 pm
Thompson Center (Randolph and Clark), Chicago
SAVE YOUR POST OFFICE!
14 post offices on Chicago’s West and South Sides are being threatened with closure.
Show your support at a RALLY
More information – http://www.saveamericaspostalservice.org/about.html
While not strictly related to protecting the public space or public services, we wanted to point out that, in Illinois, money talks and bad policy rules. In this case the gambling industry is doing the talking by showering our legislators with over $9 MILLION in campaign contributions over the past 8 1/2 years, according to a report, “Payout,” by Common Cause Illinois. Go to Common Cause Illinois’ web site.
The annual reports f0r Chicago Tax increment Finance Districts are out.In order to find out how much they cost the taxpayers, one would have download all the PDF reports, open them up one by one and drop numbers into a spreadsheet. That’s what our intrepid volunteer researcher, Trevor Clarke did. The results are outrageous.
There are 164 TIF districts in the city of Chicago and in 2010 they siphoned an astounding $706 MILLION in property taxes away from the units of government that rely on them for operation. Not bad for a recession – this is an all-time high, an increase of 36% over 2009′s total.
Didn’t we read about a $700 million hole in the city’s budget? The city is laying off policemen, fire fighters, and teachers.
So here’s the money you need, Mr. Mayor, to close the gap and preserve public services. A copy of our findings is available for download for free here.
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