Pilot project aims to help neighborhoods blighted by foreclosures

By Ashley Griffin

During his State of the State address on Wednesday, Gov. Pat Quinn proposed a new initiative to restore vacant foreclosed properties in the Chicago area. On Friday, he was joined by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and six Cook County mayors to announce the Illinois Building Blocks Pilot Program.

The program aims to stabilize neighborhoods, protect property values, preserve the existing local tax base and increase affordable housing stock in six communities in Cook County: Berwyn, Chicago Heights, Maywood, Park Forest, Riverdale and South Holland.

“The Illinois Building Blocks Pilot Program is a strategic effort to help stabilize communities struggling with the foreclosure crisis,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “By turning vacant properties into affordable housing, we’re assisting existing homeowners, strengthening hard-hit neighborhoods and boosting affordable homeownership options for working families.”

According the latest report from Realty Trac, a California-based company that monitors housing sales, Chicago leads the United States in the number of foreclosed homes.

 “With the highest inventory of foreclosed homes in the nation, the Chicago region requires a focused foreclosure response like the Illinois Building Blocks Pilot Program,” Mary Kenney, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, said in a written statement. “This program represents a multifaceted approach and is an important part of Gov. Quinn’s overall housing strategy to address the economic, public safety and quality-of-life issues caused by abandoned and foreclosed properties.”

“Abandoned properties burden communities by creating blight, attracting crime and reducing the local tax rolls,” the statement from Quinn’s office said. “On average, homes located the same block as a foreclosed property can drop $8,000 to $10,000 in value.”

With $40 million allocated from the 2009 Illinois Jobs Now! program and $10 million from Cook County, the pilot project  aims to help 500 current homeowners in the area avoid foreclosure. It includes a second component that provides $5 million in assistance for homeowners to purchase vacant properties, along with grants of $10,000 for 500 homebuyers to help with down payments and closing costs.

“I am excited to partner with Gov. Quinn and the state of Illinois in this joint effort to stem the tide of the foreclosure crisis in our underserved communities and revitalize Cook County’s neighborhoods,” Preckwinkle said. “We must continue to focus on a regional economic development strategy that more effectively leverages our resources to spur economic growth, and the Building Blocks program is a step in the right direction.”

Although the program has received some support, some lawmakers wonder if the state can afford such a program in cash-stricken times.

“Every one of these probably sound good … they all look and sound good, but to come in and say, “I want you to spend another $500 million dollars …’” House Minority leader, Tom Cross said Wednesday during a news conference to criticize Quinn's proposals to spend money on new initiatives. “In about two or three weeks, he’s going to come in and say, “I want you to borrow four or five billion dollars to pay bills. How does that jibe? It doesn’t jibe. So they all sound good and they look good and they are appealing, but can we afford them? And I think we all know the answer to that.”

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Quinn pitches tax cuts to spur economy

By Ashley Griffin 

As Gov. Pat Quinn presented his take on the status of the state today, lawmakers and business leaders said they were listening specifically for the governor’s plan to grow Illinois’ economy.

Quinn gave them the Illinois Jobs Agenda for 2012, which consists of three-targeted tax cuts for the state’s working families, employers and veterans.

“We owe it to the next generation to continue our progress of the past three years,” Quinn said in his speech. “To create jobs and grow our economy, we must continue to invest in Illinois and help everyday people.”

The plan aims to permanently abolish the natural gas utility tax in Illinois; establish a child tax credit for parents, which would provide a $100 direct tax credit for the average family of four; and create a tax credit for companies that hire unemployed veterans.

The governor’s budget office estimates that abolishing the natural gas utility tax will provide $164 million in savings for families, the child tax credit will provide $130 million in savings for parents raising children and the tax credit to hire veterans will provide $5 million to $10 million in savings for employers. The total cost would be about $300 million. Quinn’s budget spokesperson, Kelly Kraft, said the governor would lay out how he plans to pay for the agenda when he delivers his budget address later this month.

“The governor and the General Assembly have been good in the past couple of sessions in giving us the kind of tools we need, but we have to be able to put more disposable income into the hands of our working families, and we have to put our veterans back to work. They’re good incentives that will help both business and families and create jobs,” said Warren Ribley, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

But some lawmakers are skeptical of the plan.

“We don’t have any money. All these sound good, but we can't afford them,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross. “That’s what is disturbing … the failure to acknowledge the gravity of the situation.”

“He imposes a 67 percent tax increase, extracting one week’s pay out of every family and business, and yet he turns around and tries to pretend to provide some sort of relief without having any meaningful reform,” said Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican from Bloomington. “I am sure I can support all of them because they are needed, but he’s not hitting the core of what we need to hit, and that is eliminating the deficit and the debt in order to bring jobs back to Illinois,”

Members of the business community supported some of Quinn’s ideas. “He touched on some new areas that we were surprised by, most particularly the idea of reducing the cost of doing business in Illinois by repealing the utility tax. … That should be a real job benefit to a lot of companies that are heavy users of natural gas,” said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “All in all, the Illinois Chamber was very pleased.”

However, some said they did not hear everything they were hoping for. “Certainly he set a tone that was positive. Talking about jobs is always a good thing,” said Todd Maisch, vice president of government affairs for the state Chamber of Commerce. He said he was disappointed that Quinn did not bring up reforms to the way the state judicial system handles medical malpractice suits, something that has long been on the wish list of many business organizations.

Maisch added that that some of the reforms Quinn counted as victories still need work. “I would say probably the most troubling was the notion that workers comp and unemployment insurance are reforms that are done. We have not scratched the surface. Those need to get back on the agenda and in a hurry.”

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Quinn proposes new spending in upbeat State of the State address

By Jamey Dunn

 Gov. Pat Quinn focused on the positive as he gave his State of the State address today.

He highlighted recently passed legislation such as education reform and the Illinois Dream Act.

He touched on some of his favorite stories of Illinois success, such as job growth at a Chicago Ford plant and the state’s large volume of agriculture exports.

“We have invested in our state, making it a better place to do business. And we have invested in the people of Illinois, helping our working families and improving education. The results are in from major export growth and the largest public works construction program in state history to solid gains in education. We’re back on course. Illinois is moving forward,” Quinn said in his speech.

“I felt like I was listening to the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, and he was walking down the street saying, ‘Boy, my clothes are beautiful,’”  said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno.  “And the rest of the state — the citizens — are saying, ‘He’s naked!’ It’s like he totally doesn’t get it that the focus here needs to be on the problem we all agree is out there.”

But Senate President John Cullerton said Tuesday that the state has made progress in the last few years, and Quinn should celebrate it in his speech.  “I commend the governor for highlighting the many accomplishments that we have made over the last few years,” Cullerton said in a written statement released today.

“I think he did the right thing by stating the real positives that we have here in Illinois, and we have many positives,” said Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.  “But we also have a big tab right now that we have to pay.”

Quinn pitched several initiatives, but the response from lawmakers and other Illinois officials was “show me the money” that will pay for new programs.

“I’m sure they’re all excellent proposals. … It all boils down to revenue, money, balanced budget. Where is that going to come from?” said Sen. John Sullivan, a Rushville Democrat. “We want to work with the governor. If he has some ideas on how we can come up with that revenue, we’re willing to take a look at it, but you know it’s just going to be extremely difficult in this situation.”

Palatine Republican Sen. Matt Murphy said: “He spent a significant amount of time in his speech talking about new spending. It’s just detached from reality.”

Quinn proposed a series of tax cuts that he said would help to spur economic growth and create new jobs. He said he wants to make "major investments" in classroom resources, such as new technology, early education and the Monetary Assistance Program. Both preschool funding and MAP grants have been cut in recent years. He said he wants to make investments in the state’s water systems, such as new water mains and sewage treatment plants. Quinn solidified the goals of doubling Illinois exports by 2014 and having 60 percent of residents holding a certificate of post high school education by 2025.

Quinn’s budget office estimates that the tax cut plan would cost about $300 million. The budget office did not supply cost estimates for other parts of Quinn’s plan. “Today, our focus is on the vision for our state. …The governor looks forward to working with legislators on these investments, as well as investments in college scholarships, early childhood education, affordable housing, clean water for communities, and 21st century schools that will continue moving Illinois forward,” Kelly Kraft, Quinn’s budget spokesperson, said in a written statement.

Republicans gave a figure of $500 million as a ballpark cost of all the proposals Quinn made. They complained that Quinn did not address the state’s growing backlog of unpaid bills, which a recent report says would reach $35 billion in five years if no action were taken. “He didn’t refer to the backlog at all, really. It’s there. I see it everyday,” Topinka said. “You certainly don’t solve this problem by creating new programs, even though they do generate a lot of feel-goods. … If I had a calculator in my hand, it would have blown up. There’s no way to pay for all these things.”

Quinn has proposed borrowing to pay down the backlog, and Cullerton said Tuesday that he would support a bipartisan borrowing plan. But Murphy said, “The borrowing is dead on arrival.”

Warren Ribley, director of the Department of Economic Opportunity said Quinn’s proposals would help spur job growth. “I think the goal of having 60 percent of our population with an accredited degree by 2025 will certainly provide a strong foundation for growing jobs and moving the economy forward. … We have to continue to invest in infrastructure. I work with business every single day, and the two things that they tell me that we need are strong investments in your infrastructure and strong investments in your education. So it’s very consistent with what I hear.”

Rilbey said that today’s speech was an “opportunity to lay out a vision,” and Quinn would address how he proposes to pay for his proposals when he presents his budget later this month. Cullerton said he was willing to wait for the budget address to get the details on spending. “As he advances new initiatives to create jobs and improve the economy, I look forward to hearing how we can fund these important priorities within a balanced budget,” Cullerton said in a prepared statement.

However, Republicans were less patient. “He’s had three years,” House Minority Leader Tom Cross said. “And these issues just get worse and worse and worse.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they were pleased that Quinn called for Medicaid and pension reform this year. “Fixing the pension problem will not be easy, but we have no choice,” Quinn said. “I was encouraged to hear him about pension reform and Medicaid reform. I hope he will show the courage he talked about in tackling those issues in the coming weeks,” Murphy said. “They are the two 800-pound gorillas that are sitting in two different corners of the room that we have to address,” said Sullivan. “It’s not going to be an easy task. Is the will here to do it? I don’t know.”

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Lawmakers anticipate Quinn's State of the State address

By Jamey Dunn

With Gov Pat Quinn due to make his State of the State address Wednesday, Illinois legislators hope his speech will touch on a variety of issues.

Quinn is scheduled to give his speech before a joint session of the House and Senate at noon on Wednesday, and he says he plans to focus on economic development.

“The best way to be strong is to build and grow your economy. There’s no other way to have a better budget than to make sure that we have a dynamic economy that’s creating jobs for middle class hardworking people in Illinois. And that’s what I’m going to talk about tomorrow,” Quinn said today at a Chicago news conference. “Economic growth and jobs are our number one priority now, today, tomorrow and forever in Illinois. As long as I am governor, we’re always going to stress economic growth and jobs.”

Senate President John Cullerton said that while the state still faces problems, he is hoping for a speech that is not all doom and gloom. “I’d like to hear the governor talk about what great progress we’ve made in Illinois in the last year,” Cullerton said. “We really have a great state. We have had to face some really serious problems, like most states in the nation. We’ve passed a lot of reforms to our budget process. We’ve passed caps on our spending. Last year we passed a balanced budget. … We still have some real challenges to face. But the state is really a very positive business-climate state.”

Rep. Roger Eddy, a Hutsonville Republican, agrees with Quinn that economic development is a top priority. “I hope he relays the fact that Illinois needs to make this state’s climate attractive to business. The way out of the problem we face fiscally is to make Illinois attractive to businesses.”

 What Eddy says he does not want to hear from Quinn is talk about “spending more money.” “My hope would be that he continues to realize the difficult position we’re in, and he has some plans.” Eddy said he think Quinn needs to acknowledge the issues brought up in a recent report from the Civic Federation that says the state’s backlog of unpaid bills will total $35 billion within five years if not action is taken.

Cullerton said he would support a plan to borrow to pay down the state’s overdue bills, but only if it had bipartisan support. “We should finance those payments over time. Pay people off right away, not borrow money from our vendors but from our lenders,” Cullerton said. “That would help the economy. That would make people who do business with the state feel more comfortable in doing so.” Quinn has favored such a proposal in the past.

The Civic Federation report also highlights growing Medicaid and pension costs. Both are issues Quinn said he plans to talk about Wednesday. “There’s some very interesting ideas in there,” he said of the report, but he said the document “was a little light” on proposals for economic development. While he plans to talk about some aspects of the budget, Quinn said: “Tomorrow is not the budget address. That’s three weeks from tomorrow.” He is scheduled to present his budget on March 22: “It’ll be, I think, a very provocative document. It will challenge the members of the General Assembly to show political courage to do important things that have to be done.”

Quinn told reporters he will propose some sort of tax relief in his address, but he would not give details on what the relief would be or what people or groups it might apply to. “The answer is yes, but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow.”

Eddy said that while such speeches are the time to lay out the broad strokes of policy changes, he hopes that Quinn does not make any drastic announcements that he later fails to follow up on. Eddy pointed to Quinn’s proposed elimination of the Regional Offices of Education in last year’s budget address. Quinn later used his veto pen to remove the funding for regional superintendents, and they went without pay for months. Quinn did not designate an entity to take up the duties of the Regional Offices of Education. The legislature, somewhat begrudgingly, passed a bill to pay the superintendents.

Many lawmakers, including Eddy, were frustrated at cleaning up what they saw as a mess that Quinn created. “Maybe the last year and his recognition of the fact that just saying it doesn’t make it so will be a good lesson for him,” said Eddy, who is a school superintendent in Hutsonville.

 Rep. Lou Lang, a Democrat from Skokie, said he hopes Quinn will talk about the budget and the backlog of unpaid bills. “I think the governor will acknowledge that we have some serious budgetary issues and try to indicate that we’ll continue our program from last year of cutting where we can, balancing the budget, trying to find revenue without taxation and trying to pay of our bills. I think that’s our first and foremost responsibility, and I’m expecting to hear that tomorrow.”

Lang added: “We have to find revenue. I don’t think the governor will discuss, for instance, the gaming bill, but the negotiations continue on that.” Lang sponsored a bill to increase the number of casinos in the state and allow slot machines at horse racing tracks. The bill passed both legislative chambers, but Quinn publicly opposed it. Lawmakers never sent the legislation to Quinn, who said he planned to rewrite it if it landed on his desk. Interested parties have gone back to the drawing board to try and negotiate a new bill that lawmakers would approve and Quinn would sign.

Lang said that he hopes Quinn indicates a desire to work more actively with the legislature on crafting the budget. The budget process was largely driven by the House last year. “Moving forward together, we can’t fix all the problems we have in one year, but we can continue to make the progress that the people of our state deserve.”

For a look back at Quinn's first year as elected governor, see Illinois Issues January 2012. 

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Quinn wants dropout age raised to 18

By Jamey Dunn

Following a call to action that President Barack Obama made in his State of the Union Address, Gov. Pat Quinn today proposed raising the dropout age for Illinois high school students.

 “When students don’t walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I'm proposing that every state -- every state -- requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18,” Obama said in his address before Congress on Tuesday.

In Illinois, students can drop out at 17. According the National Conference of State Legislatures, 29 states allow students to drop out of school before they turn 18. Quinn plans to propose a bill during his State of the State address next week to change the age in Illinois, and he hopes to see it passed within the year. “Every child in Illinois deserves a quality education that will serve them throughout their lives,” Quinn said in a prepared statement. “The best way to ensure that our children have the chance to achieve and succeed is to make sure they stay in school long enough to earn their diploma.”

Illinois high school students could drop out at age 16 until lawmakers voted to increase the age to 17 in 2005. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, the statewide dropout rate in 2004 was 4 percent, and the rate today is 2.7 percent.

“I would anticipate if it was raised to 18, we would see another decrease in the dropout rate,” said Matt Vanover, spokesperson for the ISBE. Vanover said that moving the age up from 16 made a difference. “You get the driver’s license, and all of sudden you think, 'I don’t need school, and I don’t want to stick around for two years,’” he said. “Two years is an eternity in a teenager’s mind.” He said that the closer that students get to being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the more likely they are to stick it out and graduate.

Vanover said that without a high school diploma, young adults have little chance at finding a job that can support a family. “Anything that we can do to ensure that students are going to be in school, we’re going to be for it. We know that if you do drop out, the chances to succeed in life just plummet.”

Charles McBarron, spokesperson for the Illinois Education Association, said that the teachers union supports the concept of raising the dropout age. However, he said that may not be enough to ensure that students get a solid education. “It probably requires more than just keeping them in the building. We have to find way of engaging them.”

Rep. Roger Eddy, a Hutsonville Republican, agreed. “If it was as easy as Obama said, it would be wonderful,” said Eddy, who is a school superintendent in Hutsonville. “To accomplish something with it, we’re going to really have to look at what we do to provide students with a meaningful experiences.”

Eddy said that vocational courses or workplace readiness programs might connect with students who are not succeeding in a traditional academic setting. “To serve the needs of all students, we do have to understand that some students aren’t going to college.” He said that in some areas where dropout rates are highest, students may face challenges that schools cannot easily overcome, such as homelessness or violence.

Eddy added that levels of truancy enforcement vary throughout the state, and an increase in the dropout age would require consistent enforcement to be effective. “It’s really hard for the school to be the police, too.”

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