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Floodplain question misleading
Editor: In the August/September issues of Illinois Issues was a card with the question of the month that concerned government policy in regard to floodplains. I have debated a long time as to whether to write this letter because it is so obvious what answer you want to your question and the way it is worded I am sure you will get that response of support for more flooding of the so-called floodplains.
If you are sincere in returning conditions to pre-settlement days in the river bottoms, then you must also consider restoring all the original wetlands. As an Illinois Natural History Report of 1985 points out, upland counties such as Champaign and Piatt as well as Cook were originally nearly half wetlands, but if they still existed, they would have no doubt greatly reduced the level of the flood this year.
One final point which never is mentioned is that most of the Illinois River is not leveed. From Lockport to the mouth of the Illinois River is not leveed. From Lockport to the mouth of the Illinois River is a distance of 291 miles, a total of 582 miles of riverbank. There are only 130 miles of levees along the 582 miles of Illinois River bank including all the levees protecting wildlife areas as well as urban and agricultural property.
F. John Taylor
President, Illinois Valley Flood
Control Association
Virginia
Cicero more diverse
than map indicated
Editor: The [November 1993] cover was a supposed map of parts of Illinois suburbs. You sure didn't do your homework. I resent the "Welcome to Cicero" sign that says se habla espanol. We are not a Spanish (Hispanic, Mexican) community. We are an International Community.
There are at least 15-20 different ethnic peoples living in Cicero. We have Bohemian, Slovaks, Polish, Ukrainian, Yugoslavian, Arabic, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Lithuanian, German, Italian, just to name a few. Next time do a little more research before you tag a label on a community.
Katherine Simanovsky
Cicero
Funding for education
worth the fight
Editor: I have read an article in your October issue concerning the school funding in the state of Illinois. I was surprised by the fact that Chicago is singled out, by state law, as the only district that cannot start school until it has a balanced budget. The biggest shock for me was the fact that the legislature didn't decide whether the state should ensure equitable funding.
In my country (Bulgaria), the public education is funded by the government, and it is everybody's right to go to school for free.
I appreciate the willingness of the education advocates who traveled to Springfield from all over the state with the intention to bring the failed "education first" amendment back to life, but I am wondering why it is so difficult to do that.
I am sure that the majority of the public schools in the state are doing a great job of educating students, so it is worth to continue the fight for raising the funds for them.
Vania Maslarova
Carbondale
Clarify housing shortage
Editor: As usual, your outstanding State-house bureau chief, Jennifer Halperin, has done a fine story in "Greener pastures? As ethnic diversity and urban ills spill over the city limits, suburbanites find legislators out of touch with their needs."
I think Ms. Halperin gets at and dispels some old standby stereotypes of what the suburbs are and how they look.
I would wish to clarify my comments regarding the town of Cicero and the Hispanic influx into the town. I am concerned that the article would zero in on Hispanics as the only group in this town or others in my district to fill available housing to capacity, or in many cases, over capacity. With the lack of availability of affordable housing in the suburbs and with large families, numerous ethnic groups are hard pressed to hold together. Overcrowding is the natural product, and this can lead to health care problems, drops in services, overcrowded schools and so on. This is my concern, and my feeling that it can lead to slum-like conditions if there is not some letup in the pressure for housing.
Judy Baar Topinka
State Senator, 22nd District
Clarification: The Illinois Attorney General is assigned Illinois State Police officers for protection. A source quoted in December's Illinois Issues story on gun control intimated that Secret Service agents provide this protection.
Readers: Your comments on articles and columns are welcome. Please keep letters brief (250 words); we reserve the right to excerpt them so that as many as space allows can be published. Send your letters to:
Caroline Gherardini, Editor
Illinois Issues
Sangamon State University
Springfield, Illinois 62704-9243
e-mail address on Internet:
gherardi@eagle.sangamon.edu
January 1994/Illinois lssues/7
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