www.cambr.org

Chicago Area Mountain Bikers

NEWS OF THE WEEK


Take Action Now to Save $11 million for Forest Preserves

February 05, 2007

Dear Friend,

The Cook County Board of Commissioners is planning to raid $11 million from the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Why are Cook County Departments being asked to cut their budgets by 17%, while the Forest Preserve District is being slashed by 25%?

Call, email, fax, or write your Commissioner now, they will take action on this item on Wednesday at the next Forest Preserve Board meeting. You can also join Friends by attending this meeting at 10 am on Wednesday, February 7, at 118 N Clark St, 5th floor.
Let them know how this egregious action would affect you and the preserve that you use (Commissioner Contact Info).

Talking points:

1. The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a separate governmental agency established by state law. It is not a department of Cook County. It has its own tax levy that County residents pay as a separate line item on their property tax bill. This money is not free money for the County to use to solve their crisis created by years of
mismanagement.

2. The proposal to take $11 million from the Forest Preserve District would slash 25% percent from the Forest Preserve budget – a mere 2 percent of the sucking hole that is the $500 million budget shortfall in the County’s budget. This obviously will not solve the County’s problems.

3. The previous County administration had a stranglehold on the Forest Preserve hiring process. By controlling it through the County – which is supposed to be a separate government – it prevented the District from filling vacant positions, thereby creating a 25 percent vacancy rate and the current “surplus.” It is an understatement to say the Forest Preserves could use a few more people to help maintain, police, and operate them.

4. To their great credit, beginning in 2002 the Commissioners were able to reorganize the District when it had a $15 million budget deficit. They cut jobs from
almost 1,200 to fewer than 500. They reorganized duplicative departments. They privatized the District's golf courses. These same measures should be implemented by the County to fill the budget gap.

5. Nowhere in the District’s mission does it direct the Commissioners to provide debt relief to the County by robbing District funds. To do so would be a colossal disregard of their fiduciary responsibility as Forest Preserve Commissioners.

6. After years of hard work and better management, the District has finally reached a point of fiscal health. They are off life support and now years of deferred maintenance must be made up. So what does the board propose to do to reward sound management – strip the District of its funds!! What kind of incentive will that give to department heads in the County to manage their budgets well? It’s perverse and it is wrong.

We are entirely sympathetic with the enormous hardship that the County is
placing upon so many – the result of years of mismanagement and bad decisions. But you don’t solve a fiscal problem at home by robbing the bank down the street.

Benjamin Cox
Executive Director
Friends of the Forest Preserves
312-356-9990
benjamin@fotfp.org

Alice Brandon Friends of the Forest Preserves
email: alice@fotfp.org phone: 312-356-9990 web: http://www.fotfp.org

Contact your officials
You may write President Todd Stroger
and all of the Commissioners
at their downtown address:118 N. Clark St., Room 567Chicago, IL
President Stroger
at(312) 603-6400
commissioner district offices
1st District 5943 W. Madison St.Earlean Collins (D) Chicago, IL 60644phone: (312) 603-4566 phone: (773) 626-2184fax: (312) 603-3696 fax: (773) 626-2407
2nd District 3333 W. Arthington, Suite 140Robert Steele (D) Chicago, IL 60624phone: (312) 603-3019 phone: (773) 722-0140fax: (312) 603-4055 fax: (773) 722-0145rsteele@cookcountygov.com
3rd District –no district office–Jerry “Iceman” Butler (D)phone: (312) 603-6391fax: (312) 603-5671
4th District –district office info currently8445 S. Cottage Grove Ave. unavailable–William Beavers (D)phone: (312) 603-2067fax: (312) 443-4397
5th District 2515 Veterans Dr.Deborah Sims (D) Posen, IL 60469phone: (312) 603-6381 phone: (708) 371-4251fax: (312) 603-2583 fax: (708) 371-4376
6th District Country Square PlazaJoan Patricia Murphy (D) 5405 W. 127th St.phone: (312) 603-4216 Crestwood, IL 60445fax: (312) 603-3693 phone: (708) 389-2125jpmurphy@cookcountygov.com fax: (708) 389-2240
7th District 2456 W. 38th St.Joseph Mario Moreno (D) Chicago, IL 60632phone: (312) 603-5443 phone: (773) 927-7154fax: (312) 603-3759 fax: (773) 927-7166jmoreno@cookcountygov.com
8th District 2615 W. Division St.Roberto Maldonado (D) Chicago, IL 60622phone: (312) 603-6386 phone: (773) 395-0143fax: (312) 603-9531 fax: (773) 395-0146koskandy@cookcountygov.com www.robertomaldonado.com
9th District 6650 N. Northwest Hwy.Peter N. Silvestri (R) Chicago, IL 60631phone: (312) 603-4393 phone: (773) 774-8554fax: (312) 603-1154 fax: (773) 774-2901cookcty9@aol.com www.petersilvestri.com
10th District 1057 W. Belmont Ave.Mike Quigley (D) Chicago, IL 60657phone: (312) 603-4210 phone: (773) 935-1010fax: (312) 603-3695 fax: (773) 935-3155commquigley@aol.com www.mikequigley.com
11th District –no district office–John P. Daley (D)phone: (312) 603-4400fax: (312) 603-6688jdaley@cookcountygov.com
12th District 4239 N. Lincoln Ave.Forrest Claypool (D) Chicago, IL 60618phone: (312) 603-6380 phone: (773) 832-4642fax: (312) 603-1265 fax (773) 832-4663commissioner@forrestclaypool.com www.forrestclaypool.com
13th District 820 Davis St., Suite 104Larry Suffredin (D) Evanston, IL 60201phone: (312) 603-6383 phone: (847) 864-1209fax: (312) 603-3622 fax: (847) 864-1445lsuffredin@cookcountygov.com www.suffredin.org
14th District 3801 W. Lake Ave.Gregg Goslin (R) Glenview, IL 60025phone: (312) 603-4932 phone: (847) 729-9300fax: (312) 603-3686 fax: (847) 729-2279commissionergoslin@cookcountygov.comwww.commissionergoslin.com 110 W. Northwest Hwy.Palatine, IL 60067phone: (847) 776-1509fax: (847) 729-2279
15th District –district office info currentlyTim Schneider unavailable–phone: (312) 603-6388(312) 603-4678
16th District 10001 W. Roosevelt Rd.Anthony J. Peraica (R) Westchester, IL 60154phone: (312) 603-6384 phone: (708) 345-5808fax: (312) 603-4744 fax: (708) 345-5838peraicalaw@aol.comaperaica@cookcountygov.com 6257 S. Archer Rd.www.peraica.com Summit, IL 60501phone: (708) 728-1616
17th District 780 Lee, Suite 109Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman (R) Des Plaines, IL 60016phone: (312) 603-4215 phone: (847) 759-8216fax: (312) 603-2014 fax: (847) 759-8479eadgorman@cookcountygov.comwww.lizgorman.com 16033 S. 94th Ave.Orland Hills, IL 60477phone: (708) 349-1336fax: (708) 349-1627
If you have kudos or concerns, please send them to yourCook County representative on the Board of ForestPreserve Commissioners. They enjoy hearing from you!
Thank
you,
.. working and protecting the trails and preserves .. educating the trail users ...

Ed Bartunek
Chicago Area Mountain Bikers [CAMBr] Executive Director www.cambr.org
International Mountain Bicycling Association [IMBA] State Representative-Chicagoland Area www.imba.com
Forest Preserve District of Cook County - Master Steward-Trails www.fpdcc.com
DesPlaines River Valley / Palos Restoration Projects
Stickney
Parks and Recreation Commission
Cook County Transition Team
Office - 708-749-8488
Mobile - 708-209-6511
Be aware of your surroundings, support the people, organizations and businesses that support our advocacy efforts - always wear your helmet when riding.
This message including all attachments transmitted with it, is for the use of the addressee only. It may contain proprietary, confidential and/or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message or attachment. If you have received this message in error, delete it and all copies from your system immediately.