PETER M. MURPHY IAPD General Counsel

GOV. RYAN HAS APPROVED a number of measures that affect Illinois park districts and forest preserves. The first is House bill 922, now Public Act 92-475. This legislation expands the opportunity for Cook County park districts when complying with the mandatory Truth in Taxation hearing requirements. Previous authority required that park districts hold hearings on the first Monday in December, which did not coincide with any of their regular meeting dates. Public Act 92-475 provides that the Truth in Taxation hearing, which is required as a prerequisite to passing a district tax levy, may be held in conjunction with the first regularly scheduled December meeting of the park district.

In other action, the governor signed into law House bill 915 (Public Act 92-103) which clarifies the type of referenda language that may be placed on a forest preserve district ballot question. In the past, Illinois law restricted the ballot language to only a request for a rate increase and did not allow for an explanation as to how the new monies would be specifically used. A broadening of the explanation on how monies may be utilized will give voters more information so that they can cast an educated vote. In the past, forest preserves have felt this lack of information—although communicated in other forms—has lead to a defeat of initiatives which would otherwise be supported.

Senate bill 915, introduced by Sen. George Shadid (D-Peoria) and Rep. Ricca Slone (D-Peoria), gives permissive authority to a park district to transfer land to the state of Illinois under limited circumstances. These circumstances are as follows: the conveyance must provide that ownership of the property reverts to the park district if the grantee knowingly allows all or any part of the property to be used for purposes other than park or recreational purposes. Provides that property given, sold, or leased to the state (i) must be 50 acres or more in size, (ii) may not be located within the territorial limits of a municipality, and (iii) may not be the site of an environmental liability or hazard. This authority is not mandated and can only be executed after the approval of a park district board.

Senate bill 755 (Public Act 92-230) was signed by the governor on August 2 to clarify that special recreation associations can own property in their own right rather than it being held by an administrative agency that was part of the SRA. This important clarification will permit SRAs to have independent collective ownership of shared property and facilities.

THE VETO SESSION should be an active one as a number of issues from the spring session still need to be resolved. The IAPD/IPRA Joint Legislative Committee continues to push for the passage of House bill 2054 (Illinois Land Preservation Initiative) and House bill 3016 (now referenced as HB 293) which would authorize the Illinois secretary of state to issue a park district youth license plate. All revenues generated from the sale of the plate would go directly to support park district programming for youth.

Please stress to your senators the importance of acting on these two pieces of legislation. Both bills have passed the House, but need approval by the Senate. In addition, we will continue to work for funding initiatives such as House bill 1886 (Kids Share).

IDEAS FOR FUTURE INITIATIVES are welcome from IAPD members. Often during the legislative session, issues arise that affect the operation of park districts, forest preserves and conservation districts. Do not hesitate to contact me at IAPD with your suggestions for future legislative initiatives.

GOV. RYAN AWARDED $3.2 MILLION in grants for 22 community bicycle path projects, providing an additional 56 miles of trails throughout Illinois. More than 832 miles of trails have been funded as part of the Illinois Bicycle Path Grant Program, which Gov. Ryan helped establish in 1989 while serving as Lt. Governor.

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The grants to the Cook County Forest Preserve District, Freeport Park District and McHenry County Conservation District will fund links to the Grand Illinois Trail, the 475-mile network of trails connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River across northern Illinois.

Seven projects have received additional federal transportation enhancement funding through the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The Department of Natural Resources, which administers the state bicycle path grant program, received 49 applications seeking $7 million in funding.

Any local government with statutory authority to acquire and develop land for public recreation may apply for the grants, which are funded from a percentage of motor vehicle tide transfer fees. The grants provide up to 50 percent of an approved project's total cost. Grants to develop bike paths are limited to $200,000. There is no cap for trail land acquisition projects.

Applications for Fiscal Year 2003 bike path grants will be accepted from Jan. 1 through March 1,2002. Additional information about the program is available from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources,

Division of Grant Administration, 524 S. Second St., Springfield, IL 62701-1787, or by calling 217.782.7481, or check the IDNR Web site at http://dnr.state.il.us/finast.htm.

Addison Park District
$124,200 to develop 0.63 miles of the 23.5-mile Salt Creek Greenway Trail.

Champaign Park District
$195,000 to develop 1.48 miles of trail that will connect the University of Illinois Bike Route System to the Windsor Road Bike Trail.

Chicago Park District
$200,000 to develop the Lincoln Park Bikeway Path from Buena St. to Wilson St. in Chicago.

Cook County Forest Preserve District
$200,000 to develop the Thorn Creek CSX Bicycle Trail, a two-mile trail along the recently acquired CSX railroad right-of-way.

Elmhurst Park District
$200,000 to develop 2.3 miles of the Salt Creek Greenway Trail.

Flagg-Rochelle Community Park District
$54,600 to acquire 5.8 miles of bike path on the west side of Rochelle.

Freeport Park District
$87,600 for development work on the Jane Addams Trail in Freeport. The trail extends 14.5 miles along a former ICG railroad right-of-way.

Kane County Forest Preservation District
$93,000 to redevelop the Blackhawk section of the Fox River Trail near South Elgin.

Lan Oak Park District
$197,000 to acquire approximately three miles or abandoned railroad right-of-way from Norfolk Southern Corporation near Lansing.

McHenry County Conservation District
$65,000 to acquire 3.34 miles of trail alignment in northern McHenry County. The trail, when developed, will connect the Boone County Conservation District's Long Prairie Trail.

Sangamon County Highway Department
$130,200 to develop one mile of bike path along East Lake Drive at Lake Springfield. The proposed path will connect to three miles of bike lanes to be constructed along Rochester Road between Springfield and Rochester, connecting the Rochester Community Park Trail, the Lost Bridge Trail and the Bunn Park trail.

	MAYOR DALEY RECEIVES CATALYST AWARD, TOUTS THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF PARKS Mayor Richard M. Daley received the Catalyst Award from the Urban Parks Institute at the Project for Public Spaces at the organizations annual conference "Great Parks/Great Cities" in New York in late-July. The award is given to a person or organization that has successfully evolved a park or other public space to meet the needs of today's users, by involving the community, building stewardship and making a park the setting for diverse community activities. According to the judges: "Mayor Daley has made an incredible commitment to improving all sorts of parks and open spaces throughout Chicago in a way that no other mayor has." Mayor Daley presented the keynote address, "Economic Benefits of Parks," on the conference's closing day. A transcript of his remarks can be found at the Project for Public Spaces site, http://urbanparks.pps.org/topics/whats_new/daley_speech.	" I believe very strongly that the cities that pay attention—really pay attention—to quality of life will be the cities that thrive in the 21st century. Part of this is psychological. Cities are vibrant and exciting, but they also can be overwhelming and intimidating. Trees, flowers, a small park, even a sidewalk bench can soften the rough edges of a city, calm your nerves and make you feel a little more in control of things. Parks play an equally important role in residential areas. They are essential building blocks of strong neighborhoods." — Mayor Richard M. Daley, from a keynote speech delivered July 31, 2001 at the "Great Parks/Great Cities" Conference

NATIONAL FRONT

Illinois park districts and forest preserves have a great opportunity to once again show national leadership as CARA advocates. The reintroduction of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) H.R. 701 into the U.S. House of Representatives gives every IAPD member another chance to contact their member of the Illinois congressional delegation and ask that they co-sponsor and support H.R. 701 on final passage.

On July 25, the House Resources Committee voted 29-12 to report out for passage H.R. 701. The $3.2 billion per year bipartisan bill would authorize the creation of a Conservation and Reinvestment Act Fund using revenues from off-shore leases and annual royalties to fund conservation and recreation initiatives nationwide.

Out of the necessary 290 co-sponsors—which represents two-thirds of the House—the bill currently has 239 co-sponsors. Gathering co-sponsors is the most demonstrative way to show CARA's support.

CARA currently has 74 out of a needed 100 Republican cosponsors, including some very powerful Republican chairmen and crucial moderates (Boehlert-NY, Gilchrest -MD and others). The leadership won't seriously consider CARA this year or schedule a floor vote until CARA has the overwhelming support of Republicans.

The proposal annually would provide $900 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, with $450 million allocated for state and local matching grants. The Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program would be annually funded at $125 million.

Other components of the bill provide $450 million annually for payment-in-lieu of taxes for local governments in states with large amounts of non taxable federal land; $1billion for coastal states for restoration projects; $350 million for restoration of wildlife habitat; $150 million for state historic preservation actions; and $10 million for conservation of marine heritage; among others.

The bill is expected to be considered by the House this fall. A similar bill (UPARR) passed the House last year (315-102), but was not acted on by the Senate.

Playground Safety

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ) has introduced legislation to provide $1 million dollar grants to states that pass laws following safety guidelines outlined by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) handbook for Public Playground Safety. Pallones legislation, the Safe Playgrounds Act of 2001, is a response to the fact that there is no federal legislation to require playgrounds to be safe.

The Safe Playgrounds Act of 2001 would have states individually pass laws requiring that public playgrounds conform to the guidelines in the handbook. That law must be passed within five years of the date of the enactment of the Safe Playgrounds Act.

Upon passage of this legislation and subject to the availability of appropriations, CPSC would then provide a grant in the amount of $1,000,000 to any state that has passed that law. See the bill on the NPPSWebsite at www.uni.edu/play.

IAPD Legal Symposium November 8, 2001 Hamburger University, Oak Brook

Point and Click www.FirstGov.gov At the first click of a mouse, visitors to FirstGov.gov have access to every online resource offered by the U.S. Government and can be linked to all state and local regimes. Search more than 27 million government Web pages for information ranging from science and technology to business and the economy. A special feature called "Facts For You" contains federal statistics, reports, and data by subject, including agriculture and food, public safety and justice, environment and energy travel and transportation, and health, among others.

National Park Service Awards $28.8 Million

National Park Service (NPS) director Fran Mainella announced $28,817,310 for Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (UPARR) grants to 95 cities and urban counties in 31 states and the District of Columbia to help rehabilitate critically needed public recreation facilities. The grants will provide capital funding to renovate or redesign existing close-to-home recreation areas and facilities that are located in economically distressed urban areas.

The 70 percent matching UPARR grants are used to renovate existing recreation areas and facilities. This years grant projects include replacing unsafe playground equipment with new play structures that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); rehabilitating basketball courts; renovating outdoor swimming pools and bathhouses; and bringing facilities up to ADA standards.

From 1978 through 2000, UPARR awarded nearly $230 million for 1,295 grants to 400 local jurisdictions in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Of these, 548 were rehabilitation grants, 191 innovation grants, and 556 were planning grants.

For a list of funded projects, see http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/uparr/grants/index.html.

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