[Peace-discuss] local issues

[Marti Wilkinson]

The current Illinois Constitution also protects the pensions of state and
college employees. Considering the direction that our economy is taking it
would be prudent to not mess with it.

Champaign Garden Hills - The city and school board want to create a "magnet"
school in the area and part of the proposal involves expanding the current
building. The school and the park are on the same parcel of land - I don't
know how familiar people are with GH, but the park itself doesn't offer much
in the way of activities. It is however a good location to walk the dog. So
I would venture to say that any expansion that includes room for community
events may be a good compromise. My father is facing open heart surgery so I
wasn't able to attend the last GH neighborhood association meeting.

The treatment of Linda Abernathy is an issue in of itself. The city
government of Champaign has a different structure than Urbana and compared
to similar sized communities the township is vastly underfunded. How members
of the city council have treated Linda has shown a great deal of
unprofessional behavior and it reflects poorly on the current council.

I would also like to point out that the current makeup of the council board
is comprised of individuals who have never had to face some of the issues
that township recipients deal with on a day by day basis.  Can you imagine
what would happen if Marci Dodds and her family were forced to buy groceries
with the Link card? One of the basic social constructions of priviledge is
the tendency to be blind to the realities faced by less fortunate
individuals.  It's easy to have a 'pull up by the bootstraps' perspective
when one is equipped with a pair of shoes. What Linda sees in her office on
a day by day basis is far different than the reality of what the mayor and
council members encounter. I think its important to note that the township
and the city are housed in different buildings so there is an element of
physical segregation that adds to the social and cultural divisions as well.


Marti

On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 11:33 AM, Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>wrote:

> The labor unions - including the Illinois AFL-CIO, SEIU, and the IEA,
> are calling for a no vote on the Constitutional Convention. They like
> the anti-discrimination provisions of the 1970 Constitution, and don't
> want to see those issues re-opened.
>
> Note that the periodic vote on a convention is a constitutional
> requirement; its presence on the ballot isn't an indication of a
> groundswell of support.
>
> On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Karen Medina <kmedina at illinois.edu>
> wrote:
> > Dear Peace Discuss,
> >
> > I'm just wondering about various takes on:
> > * The Illinois Constitutional Convention.
> > * The Champaign School Board wanting to use the Park District land to
> expand
> > Garden Hills school
> > * The Champaign City Council's treatment of Linda Abernathy.
> >
> > Sorry that 2 of them are Champaign topics. But they do impact Urbana in
> the long
> > run.
> >
> > -karen medina
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Peace-discuss mailing list
> > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Robert Naiman
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>
> Ambassador Pickering on Iran Talks and Multinational Enrichment
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=kGZFrFxVg8A
> _______________________________________________
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>
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