"Suburban communities should have more input, not less . . . "
Today, two of DuPage County's state senators -- Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton) and Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) called on Governor Blagojevich to hold hearings on the proposed tollway leasing so citizens in suburban Cook County and western DuPage County get a chance to voice their opinions on the matter.
The senators accused the governor of scheming the tollway lease for short-term political gain.
Let's see if the "powers that be" care what those outside of Chicago think about the plan . . . You'd think he'd want all the support he could get. . .
But maybe it's time the suburbs understood how the rest of the state feels when it's dissed by a Chicago-preferring governor or maybe after fighting all the hours on I-88, I-294 and I-355, Blago figures tempers may be just a little too heated for public comment time.
Ya think?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ryan McLaughlin
May 31, 2006
ROSKAM AND DILLARD CALL FOR SUBURBAN HEARINGS ON
TOLLWAY LEASE
City Democrats Poised to Raid Tollway
CHICAGO – Sixth Congressional District Candidate Senator Peter Roskam and State Senator Kirk Dillard are calling for hearings to be held in the suburban communities who drive on the tollway and pay for the tollway. Recently, City Democrats have scheduled public hearings to discuss this proposal, but have excluded the two largest users - DuPage County and Suburban Cook County. More than 42% of the tollway runs through both counties covering more than 115 miles. On May 15th, Senators Roskam and Dillard alerted suburban communities and taxpayers of another Blagojevich scheme to lease the tollway for short-term political gain.
“It is irresponsible to specifically exclude DuPage County and suburban Cook County from this process. Suburban communities and taxpayers pay the tolls and use the toll roads. In fact, we already pay too much in tolls and another leasing scheme could force suburban motorists to pay twice as much. I believe suburban communities should have more input than less,” said Roskam.
“It is clear that Governor Blagojevich and City Democrats are trying to hide from suburban communities and residents with specifically avoiding input from those who pay and use the tollway,” said Senator Kirk Dillard.
Roskam and Dillard pointed out similar leasing efforts have led to higher tolls for taxpayers and no real benefit to suburban communities. On May 24th, a Congressional hearing before the House Transportation Committee heard testimony from experts who indicated similar concerns over leasing public highways. “Tolls paid by Skyway users will more than double by 2018 and be ‘significantly higher’ than otherwise, and the congested region will not even stand to benefit from lease proceeds, as no money was set aside for transportation projects, “ John Foote, Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
