“Legislature’s Decisions Have Local Impact” @ Huffington Post

Posted on May 31, 2012

Dick Simpson — May 31, 2012: “This column originally appeared in the ‘Chicago Journal.’

The last weeks of the state legislative session hold dire consequences for our neighborhoods. As usual, more decisions are being made in backroom deals than by meaningful debate and votes in public.

Legislative decisions that will affect us include university budgets, pensions, and Medicaid cutbacks in addition to shredding the social safety net, closing mental health facilities, cutting funding for the homeless and shutting prisons.

We are all familiar with Illinois’ problems. State government has a structural debt up to $13 billion. It has unpaid bills of more than $5 billion, causing service providers like the Counseling Center of Lakeview and the Hull House Association to close. It has a future gap in pension funds amounting to $83 billion dollars…………………………………………..”

Read more at Huffington Post.