To: Mayor of Charleston, President Donald Trump, The Illinois State House, The Illinois State Senate, Governor J.B. Pritzker, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Saying No to Local PORK
Before substantial funds are released for local and/or state governments to spend in local counties, there should be a ballot presented to the people of that county for the funds to be accepted and spent on said projects. The general public should have the right to say no to PORK being spent in their backyard.
Why is this important?
The intersection East of Charleston Illinois where IL Rt-16 and East Harrison Avenue cross is currently under a proposal to spend in excess of 3 million (before properties are purchased) to renovate the intersection. They say it is for "safety" reasons; however, it is really to benefit a local attorney who is scheming to enhance his land development plans. The city of Charleston even hired his survey company to plot out the intersection options. Once these were presented to the community in an open presentation, while attending the viewing, I heard nothing from the community people who were for spending so much money and doing anything to such extremes. No forum was presented to voice objections in an open forum. Objections were to be submitted to the state highway department where they could secretly be made to disappear. Things are silent while the abuse continues behind the scenes. I am sure there are experts on higher levels that have coached the community on just how to stage the acceptance of such PORK projects. We are sick of this kind of waste and it needs to stop. There is no such thing as FREE money. We as a community want to say NO to it.