Representatives Julie Hamos, Elaine Nekritz and I are convening a hearing on Tuesday, September 25 so that community organizations, educators and concerned citizens can offer testimony on how recent budget cuts will impact their lives. The Budget Hearing Tuesday will be held from 4 to 6 pm at the Northbrook Village Hall, located at 1225 Cedar Lane in Northbrook.

The budget cuts are going to affect real people with real needs. The municipalities and organizations that provide children, senior citizens and families with needed assistance may now lose their funding. Organizations will lose their ability to complete important projects necessary to maintain and improve the quality of life for area families. The hearing will provide a forum for the people and groups endangered by these cuts to share their concerns and explain how devastating the loss of this funding will be.

My hearing is to give community organizations affected by the governor's budget cuts a chance to voice their concerns and to build support for an override of the budget vetoes. I support the override vote which should occur the first week in October.

Reductions in the FY08 state budget include more than $130 million for health care, $103 million for human services, $102 million for education and $31 million for public safety. A list of vital cuts to projects from my district include:

$150,000 - Adult Community Transition (ACT) Program of Anixter Center for Individuals with Disabilities
$100,000 - Enriched Lifestyles for Adults Program of the North Suburban Special Recreation Association
$100,000 - Keshet Co-Op Program for Individuals with Disabilities
$200,000 - Highland Park Community Family Center for Social Services
$ 65,000 - Wheelchair Accessible Van for West Deerfield Township Paratransit
$ 35,000 - Highwood Recreation Center Programming

Interested residents are encouraged to attend, and written testimony will be accepted. Those wishing to give oral testimony, or for more information, should call 847- 433-9100. Written testimony may be faxed to 847-433- 9111 or e-mailed to me at KarenMay58@aol.com.

Each year the Alliance for the Great Lakes sponsors a Beach Clean-Up Day for 44 Lake Michigan beaches in Illinois. This year, I adopted two beaches in our district. At Glencoe Beach, Cosette Winter organized the wonderful volunteers from the Deerfield High School Earthworks Club. At Lake Bluff Beach the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts spearheaded the cleanup along with community volunteers. Thanks to these great teams of youth who participated in this important environmental project.

Participants not only pick up trash on the beach, but weigh and sort the garbage and report their findings to the Alliance for the Great Lakes. The Alliance maintains a data base of the garbage found (such as thousands of beverage containers) in order to help focus where education and communication to beach users can have the greatest impact.

We'll be adopting the beaches again next year. Please contact my office or visit the Alliance website for further information. Their website is www.greatlakes.org .

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) announced its plan to begin resurfacing the Edens starting September 28. Work will occur this Fall and then resume next Spring.

Often constituents call me questioning why highway lanes are closed when construction workers are not present. IDOT will do much of the concrete pouring on Friday nights and Saturdays. On Sundays, the lanes will be closed because the concrete must cure. Workers will not necessarily be present when the concrete is curing.

Reversible lanes will be changed as needed during construction. We should be mindful that it can take about 45 minutes to change the direction of the reversibles. The best way to commute will be to take Metra. Check out its schedules at Metra schedules.