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UCM sets a new agenda Norma Mendoza, nmendoza@theintelligencer.com 11/17/2003 |
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The United Congregations of Metro East passed out voter
registration forms to some 600 people at UCM's second public meeting Sunday
at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in They have promised to
kick off "Rolling Thunder," a campaign in 49 cities across the
country whereby people of faith reclaim and rename their power as citizens.
With voter registration as a key component of the campaign, UCM and groups
like it promise that like Rolling Thunder that signals a storm, they are
gathering strength and momentum to support the issues that improve the
quality of life for all. A roll call of
congregations represented in the meeting showed that all 26 member churches
of UCM were represented, including St. Cecilia Catholic Church and The congregations want
to know why illegal drugs are rampant in neighborhoods and why so many people
are without jobs and why more disadvantaged and minority workers aren't hired
on the many construction jobs in the area and why the Jennison Wright
hazardous waste site, one of the worst in the country, hasn't been cleaned
up. "We may not have
all the answers, but we believe that when we invest in people to make them
stronger, we will move the Metro East in the right direction and start
breaking the cycles of poverty and injustice," said UCM President Noncy
Dooling. UCM first called on
Blair Forlaw of the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council to use Job Access
Reverse Commute funds to transport construction apprentice students from "You bet!"
Forlaw promised. Further, she said East-West will work to create a similar
training center in UCM called on state Sen.
William Haine to assist UCM in getting a seat on the Illinois Department of
Transportation Community Steering Committee to oversee the minority and
female hiring for the construction projects. Haine promised to
honor the request as well as to support UCM's quest to see 35 percent
minority contractors hired to work on the relocation of Route 3 and the
restoration of the Haine went further and
was applauded when he told those gathered that he is with them 100 percent in
their quest to restore city neighborhoods. "I live in the
neighborhood where I grew up and where my Irish immigrant grandfather built a
house just around the corner," Haine said. "My wife and I have
seven children and we raised them all in this neighborhood and we don't plan
to leave." Although the mayors of
Schaeffer told the
group that he favors the National Housing Trust Fund bill (HB 1102), which
will finance the building of 1.5 million affordable homes for working
families in the next 10 years. "I endorse and
support the bill as put forth by Costello and Gov. Blagojevich,"
Schaeffer said to loud applause. Marie Herndon of UCM
told the crowd that she has been a safety and health specialist and that she
is angry and disturbed about the Jennison-Wright site in "I am angry that
there is an environmental injustice done to this community," Herndon said.
"Why is this site not cleaned up and redeveloped so that it can become
livable and viable again? Why don't our elected and EPA officials care enough
when they hear our cries for environmental justice? "We invited
Region V EPA Administrator Tom Skinner to this meeting. Why is he not here to
tell us of the plans to clean up this site? Because he and the others have no
plans. But, we have a plan to support those officials who will truly seek
environmental justice and return our communities to livable conditions."
Herndon said there are
more than 100 contaminated industrial sites in the region called brownfields
and called for reinstatement of the Superfund's "polluter pays"
fees. "The general
public is paying 79 percent of the costs of the program, or $1.1 billion to
clean up the toxic mess created by chemical and petroleum companies,"
Herndon said. "By the late 1990s, EPA was cleaning up an average of 87
sites per year. The Bush administration has dramatically decreased the pace
of cleanup to less than 10 completed in a year. This administration opposes
the reinstatement of Superfund's 'polluter pays' fees. This is contrary to
Presidents Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton, who all collected or supported
reinstatement of the fees after they expired in 1995. Superfund had a surplus
of $3.6 billion. At the end of 2004, the trust fund will be essentially
gone." Herndon said this is
just the opening round of the fight to clean up the brownfields and led the
congregations in a thrice repeated demand to "Restore our Region!" Madison County Board
Chairman Alan Dunstan and UCM is vocal in its
opposition to urban sprawl and to the proposed Gateway Connector, the
proposed extension of Route 158 from Rev. Sharon Smith of She continued,
"We need sewers and sidewalks and our streets repaired before we build
new ones in housing developments along the Gateway Connector. Don't build new
highways like the Gateway Connector. If we want to keep development, quality
housing, commercial and retail businesses in the River Corridor from The crowd chanted,
"Fix it First! Stop the Connector." UCM also supports civil rights
for immigrants. "This is a very
troubling time for our country," Carmen Roker of "That is what has
made this country great--our ability to integrate diverse peoples into our
democracy. Rolling Thunder is an opportunity to involve all people in
creating a truly great The crowd joined Roker
in chanting "We are one people." The meeting ended with
the entire assembly standing and pledging to work together to bring about a
resurgence of the entire Metro-East region and to hold elected officials to
the commitments they made Sunday. |
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ŠEdwardsville Intelligencer 2003 |