Stadelman advances measures to fight urban blight

Cities and counties would have a streamlined process to address vacant homes under two new measures sponsored by State Senator Steve Stadelman. Senate bills 2052 and 2097 implement recommendations made by the Illinois Community Revitalization Task Force, a panel created to help reduce blighted properties and revitalize communities throughout Illinois.

“Blighted properties don’t just affect one or two neighbors, they can have a ripple effect on an entire block,” Stadelman said. “Getting our cities and counties the tools they need to fight this problem is the first step to rehabilitating our neighborhoods."

Stadelman partnered with Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara and the Illinois Housing Development Authority to work on a legislative fix.

“Sen. Stadelman recognizes the impact that foreclosures have had in Rockford, and I appreciate all of his work in Springfield to help mitigate this issue, which has made it difficult for many of our homeowners to recover from the economic downtown,” McNamara said. “My administration has taken aggressive action to strengthen our neighborhoods, including working with the city council to develop a vacant property registry and a land bank. Both these will reduce the impact of blighted and abandoned homes. And we will continue advocating for state-wide legislative tools that can help us in this work.” 

Audra Hamernik, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, said local governments need more tools for dealing with vacant properties.

“When confronted with abandoned and deteriorating homes, it is often local governments that bear the cost of maintaining, administering and demolishing these properties,” Hamernik said. “This urban blight is siphoning off critical resources from other programs vital to these communities. I applaud Senator Stadelman’s leadership in identifying real solutions as to how the state can better advocate for neighborhood revitalization, ensuring Illinois’ cities and towns become safer and more stable.”

Senate Bill 2052 allows municipalities to transfer government-owned properties to a county or intergovernmental agency without triggering the formal statutory process that is imposed on non-home rule municipalities including Rockford. Senate Bill 2097 gives counties authority to purchase blighted properties to renovate them for resale and keep the profits of the sale in order to renovate more homes.

Both measures passed out of committee this week and now head the Senate floor for a vote. To help advance the bills from committee, Shawn Connors (pictured below) of the Rockford Fire Department came to Springfield to speak about the dangers abandoned properties pose for first responders.

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Steve Stadelman

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Congratulations to Advanced Machine & Engineering Co. for installing a 704-kilowatt solar array on its roof on Latham Street on Rockford's northwest side, making AME the region's largest commercial solar installation. AME applied to ComEd for a solar rebate and will receive a total of $176,240. The rebate is possible through legislation I supported three years ago.

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Congratulations to Kerry Leigh, Kimberly Wheeler Johnsen and everyone at the Natural Land Institute for a successful annual dinner and especially to Steve and June Klieber of McHenry County, who received the 2019 George and Barbara Fell Award for exceptional conservation efforts in northern Illinois. I was in Springfield and unable to attend, but my chief of staff presented the Kliebers with a Certificate of Recognition from the Illinois Senate as an extra commendation for their years of volunteer service.

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Kimberly Wheeler Johnsen Thank you so much Senator Steve Stadelman for this wonderful recognition for the Keiblers. We missed you, but very glad Mark Bonne and your wife, Patty, could attend and present the certificate. Thank you for all you do for our State of Illinois.

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Stadelman proposal to help Rockford balance budget, hold line on property taxes
A legislative measure sponsored by State Senator Steve Stadelman that allows Rockford to raise license fees on video gaming machines passed a key hurdle this week. Senate Bill 1558 would allow municipalities without home-rule powers to charge up to $250 for a video gaming license over the current per-machine limit of $25 a year.

“These video gaming machines rake in thousands of dollars a month,” Stadelman said. “I think it is only right that Rockford be allowed to raise the license fees in order to balance their budget without raising property taxes.”  

Senate Bill 1558 was brought to Stadelman by Rockford Mayor Thomas McNamara due to Rockford’s status as a non-home rule municipality, meaning the city needs state approval to raise the fees unlike Peoria, Springfield and other downstate communities. In Peoria and Springfield, the license fee is $500 per year.

McNamara said, “I am incredibly thankful to our local ILBA Rockford Chapter for working with the City to institute what is a higher fee per machine, that without home rule we are unable to institute ourselves. This development would not be where it is today without the leadership of Senator Stadelman in Springfield.”

Having passed the Senate Executive Committee, the bill now goes before the full Senate for a vote.

Stadelman among local leaders to endorse merits of green energy bill

State Senator Steve Stadelman, State Rep. Maurice West and Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara expressed their their support this week for the Illinois Clean Jobs Act, which would increase use of renewable energy in Illinois to 100 percent by 2050. The legislation proposes ways to promote development of renewable energy sources, reduce carbon emissions and provide jobs in the green energy field.

“Renewable energy accounts for about 4 to 8 percent as far as our energy portfolio right now,” Stadelman said at news conference this week. “It’s supposed to be 25 percent by the year 2025. So this is clearly ambitious to be 100 percent by the year 2050, but I think that’s the direction that we ultimately need to go -- and the sooner we get there, certainly the best.”  

Stadelman emphasized the job growth associated with expansion of renewable energy. Solar energy installer and wind energy technician are already the nation's fastest growing employment classifications, Stadelman noted, and neither requires a college degree.

“That’s our future,” he said. “These are the types of jobs that we have to be working for and making sure our workers are trained for in every county of this state. Illinois needs to lead the way when it comes to transitioning ourselves into this new clean energy economy.

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SPRINGFIELD – Cities and counties would have a streamlined process to address vacant homes under two new measures sponsored by State Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford).

Senate bills 2052 and 2097 implement recommendations made by the Illinois Community Revitalization Task Force, a panel created to help reduce blighted properties and revitalize communities throughout Illinois.

“Blighted properties don’t just affect one or two neighbors, they can have a ripple effect on an entire block,” Stadelman said. “Getting our cities and counties the tools they need to fight this problem is the first step to rehabilitating our neighborhoods.

Stadelman partnered with Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara and the Illinois Housing Development Authority to work on a legislative fix that helps communities.

“Sen. Stadelman recognizes the impact that foreclosures have had in Rockford, and I appreciate all of his work in Springfield to help mitigate this issue, which has made it difficult for many of our homeowners to recover from the economic downtown,” McNamara said.

“My administration has taken aggressive action to strengthen our neighborhoods, including working with the city council to develop a vacant property registry and a land bank. Both these will reduce the impact of blighted and abandoned homes. And we will continue advocating for state-wide legislative tools that can help us in this work.”

Audra Hamernik, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, said local governments need more tools for dealing with vacant properties.

“When confronted with abandoned and deteriorating homes, it is often local governments that bear the cost of maintaining, administering and demolishing these properties,” Hamernik said. “This urban blight is siphoning off critical resources from other programs vital to these communities. I applaud Senator Stadelman’s leadership in identifying real solutions as to how the state can better advocate for neighborhood revitalization, ensuring Illinois’ cities and towns become safer and more stable.”

Senate Bill 2052 allows municipalities to transfer government-owned properties to a county or intergovernmental agency without triggering the formal statutory process that is imposed on non-home rule municipalities.

Senate Bill 2097 gives counties authority to purchase blighted properties to renovate them for resale to revitalize neighborhoods. The legislation also allows counties to keep the profits of the sale in order to renovate more homes.

Both measures passed out of committee this week and now head the Senate floor for a vote.

SPRINGFIELD – A legislative measure sponsored by State Senator Steve Stadelman that allows Rockford to raise license fees on video gaming machines passed a key hurdle yesterday.

“These video gaming machines rake in thousands of dollars a month,” Stadelman (D-Rockford) said. “I think it is only right that Rockford be allowed to raise the license fees in order to balance their budget without raising property taxes.”

Senate Bill 1558 was brought to Stadelman by Rockford Mayor Thomas McNamara due to Rockford’s status as a non-home rule municipality, meaning the city needs state approval to raise the fees unlike other downstate cities like Peoria or Springfield.

“I am incredibly thankful to our local ILBA Rockford Chapter for working with the City to institute what is a higher fee per machine, that without home rule we are unable to institute ourselves,” McNamara said. “This development would not be where it is today without the leadership of Senator Stadelman in Springfield.”

Currently, non-home rule cities cannot charge more than $25 annually for a video gaming machine license. SB 1558 would raise that limit to $250 for Rockford. In Peoria and Springfield, the license fee is $500 per year.

Having passed the Senate Executive Committee, the bill now goes before the whole Senate for a vote.