Trinity Church, 1211 N. Waller
DELORES McCAIN ASKS:
Dr. Greg Vachon: “What I suggest is two things. The first is to get by this budget crisis by asking the state for more funds. There are things called inter-governmental transfers, the (IGT), and we need those funds to come to the county to get us through this year. We then need to increase our revenues from Medicare and Medicaid. That is what we need to do.”
Elce Redmond, SACCC: “I think one of the ways the county could save money is to cut the patronage jobs that exist within the county itself. A lot of money is being spent on patronage. One of things we’re going to do to ‘fight back’ is on Jan. 29; we’re going to have a big rally at the County Board hearing where we’re going to bring out thousands of people, community residents, union representatives, hospital staff, doctors, nurses and everyone to protest against these cuts.”
Sharon Dugger-Smith: “I’m from the nurses union [and] I would like to say; in order to cut the budget they need to cut all of the waste in terms of salaries, cut management, and cut some of the extra fat that is in there. Stop duplicating equipment; stop ordering too much equipment that is not used. There are many, many ways that we are fighting. We are calling commissioners. We are rallying in support of our Cook County facilities, and we are also going to attack personally.”
Virgil Crawford, West Side Health Authority: “We realize that sometimes we have to endure cuts because there is never enough money to provide all of the necessary services. But we object to the fact that cuts are being made on the back of the most needy. We believe that our commissioners have to become a little bit more astute and look at their own salaries. If cuts are necessary at this point, then we all should bear some of the burden. We plan to fight back by continuing to rally and organize, organize, organize. And when it comes to the ballot, we vote them in – we vote them out.”
Monique Moore: “My suggestion first and foremost will be that they would put people first ahead of profits. And I think that they should start thinking about the poor, the indigent and the elderly. I mean, think about someone other than themselves. I plan to fight back with petitions, with marches and rallies; getting everyone that I know who is a registered voter to stand up. It’s time for us to stop sitting back and talking. It’s time for us to start doing the work. If our forefathers hadn’t done the work, we wouldn’t be here. This is a civil rights issue, and this is a needs issue. I think that everyone who is concerned should ban together, and numbers really matter. There is an election coming up. I think people should step up and hold our elected officials accountable and make sure they think about the community and not just themselves. This is our city – it’s not Daley’s city. It’s not the aldermen’s city. It is a city of individuals and not just one person. There is only one ruler and that is the almighty God, not Daley or his cronies.”
Thelma Henderson: “We are not going to accept no cuts. We are going to fight this thing.”
