McHenry County Roads Coalition try to woo legislators with free lunch
Members of the McHenry County Better Roads Coalition today tried a new job on for size: delivery guys.
The group brought 230 boxed lunches from Crystal Lake down to legislators in the state Capitol.
The cuisine? Ham and cheese sandwiches served with a side of guilt.
"Each and every lunch is marked with a senator or representative's name," said Chris Manheim, coalition member and chairman of the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation.
"If they don't stop by our table in the Capitol lobby to pick it up, we'll personally deliver the lunches to their office and have a nice chat."
Besides lunch duty, coalition members spent the day meeting with lawmakers to plea for funding for McHenry County's Roads - which, according to U.S. News and World Report, have the seventh most traffic congestion in the country and the worst in Illinois.
The Springfield trip is the latest effort by the coalition to get help fixing the county's roads. Tops on the list is the Algonquin western bypass, a project that would divert traffic around the congested downtown intersection of routes 31 and 62.
"McHenry County has no interstate access except for its southwest corner. We're a booming county that contributes more than their fair of tax money," group member Chip Eldredge said. "All we're asking is that we be treated fairly.
Plus, Eldredge said, now could be an opportune time to start road improvement projects. "There's a lot of new development coming. Now's a perfect time to fix these roads before it gets even more crowded out here."
Coalition Chairman Bill Dwyer, a former McHenry County Board member, said the grassroots group formed in the past few months in response to the state removing bypass from its five-year improvement plan.
U.S. Sens. Barrack Obama and Dick Durbin, and U.S. Reps. Don Manzullo and Melissa Bean were able to secure $19 million in federal funding for the project in the past eight years, but the state has not responded in kind.
Failure to match the federal grants could cause the county to lose those federal dollars, officials have warned.
Funding for the Algonquin bypass is included in the $13 billion state capital-improvement plan, approved Sept. 20 by the state Senate.
It will land in the House in the next few weeks, where leaders have rejected previous expansion plans.
"We have three goals here today," Dwyer said.
First, they wanted to thank state Sens. Pam Althoff and Frank Watson for including funds for the bypass in the $13 billion state capital-improvement plan.
Second, Dwyer said, now that the bill for the capital improvement plan has passed to the House, "the main thrust is to keep funds for the project in the plan."
Third, he said, is to make sure the governor "doesn't take the plan off the budget again."
The fact that some of the state funding for road money could come from gambling profits is a controversial issue. The coalition views it with a "beggars can't be choosers" mentality.
"This is a grassroots organization," Dwyer said. "We're here to fix McHenry County's roads. If that's paid for by gambling money or not, it doesn't matter. Whatever way the Senate or house passes a capital bill, we'll take."
A tentative meeting in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office is scheduled for late this afternoon.