City of Evanston Blog
Day 2 in Springfield
The Mayor and I started Thursday with a meeting with the Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director of the Illinois Municipal League (IML). This organization represents the Cities, Towns and Villages of Illinois in Springfield. We spent our breakfast reviewing the history of local government advocacy in Springfield and ideas for the future. Cities play a unique role in advocacy in Springfield since we represent the same citizens that the legislators do in the General Assembly and we have no direct money to contribute to political campaigns. This helps cities since we advocate for policy initiatives, but also hurts cities since money is so much a part of the election process everywhere. In California, the League of Cities sponsored a seperate political action committee. This helped to raise money for legislators supportive of local government causes. The IML does a good job despite these challenges.
We then headed back to the Capitol where we met with Senator Susan Garrett who represents the district north of Evanston. Later in the day we met with Jerry Stermer, Governor Quinn's Chief of Staff. Stermer is an Evanston resident when not down in Springfield. Mayor Tisdahl shared a number of issues with Stermer and he suggested additional folks we should be talking with. He carries a lot about Evanston and peppered us with many questions on Evanston issues.
Next we had an appointment with Doug Scott, the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. We were referred to Scott by Senator Dick Durbin to discuss our water needs . We discussed our current and future applications for funding through the IEPA revolving loan fund and several grant programs we have applied for. He was also interested in our sustainability activities and Climate Action Plan. We had planned to end our day with a visit with Senate President John Cullerton with a 4 PM meeting. The Senate was still in session and by 4:30 PM, it was unclear when they would be finished. We left our cards and words of thanks for his support and the support of Senator Schoenberg of Evanston efforts.
So what did we learn on our trip to Springfield? First, Evanston is absolutely misunderstood in Springfield. Despite the best efforts of Representative Hamos and Senator Schoenberg to bring resources to Evanston, their colleagues mostly think we are just an affluent community by the lake which is home to Northwestern University. We have work to do to better identify ourselves as the diverse community we are not only to the General Assembly, but to the appointed leadership of Illinois state government.
Second, seniority counts in Springfield. The City will miss Representative Hamos as she moves on to other opportunities, but we remain fortunate to have Senator Schoenberg representing Evanston. The Senator is in the leadership in the Senate and his clout remains important to advancing Evanston's interests. We need to work even closer with him in the future.
Finally, Evanston needs to have a specific agenda of needs from the State of Illinois and work to advance it at every opportunity in order to bring needed resources home. Good trip. The Mayor was a tremendous advocate for the City in every meeting.
Leave a comment