Economic Development

     This is perhaps the single most important issue facing Illinois. In the years that I have lived in east-central Illinois, I have seen far too many of our young people, our best and brightest, leave this area find good jobs. By good jobs, I mean jobs that will support a family in a manner which will allow the family unit to stay intact and strong.

     By and large, our schools do an outstanding job of educating our young people in rural Illinois.. Many school districts in the 109th district score much higher than the state and national averages on standardized tests and college preparedness tests like the A.C.T.. Many school districts have won awards for their efforts. The fact that so many of our young people go on to college further demonstrates the quality of our schools.

     The problem is, we are educating our young people and they are often leaving this area. When they return home after earning a degree, there are not enough good jobs for them to stay here and raise a family. Some have called it the “brain drain”. No matter what you call it, we must find a way to retain our population base by keeping our best and our brightest right here, in eastern Illinois, where we know life is good. As a school superintendent, I have seen the “brain drain” in action too many times. I have heard my colleagues discuss the negative effects of the declining enrollments in their school districts. We cannot blame the young people for leaving to pursue their dreams. We must improve the job opportunities here to make this area a part of their dream! Your representative should have specific plans on how to address this issue. Here is an outline of my plan:

     We must work together to develop an infrastructure here in eastern Illinois that will support a 21st century economy and attract investment. We must work to upgrade our transportation, communication and technology infrastructure so that we can be competitive when we court business and industry. I have served on economic development committees and understand that business and industry make large investments in communities and deserve proper consideration in terms of support for a modern infrastructure. There are just too many communities competing for these good jobs for us to “sit back” and wait or hope that development will occur.

     We need to follow up on the success of groups like PEDCO in the northern part of this district throughout the 109th. They have done an outstanding job of developing good jobs for their area. It is vital that we support priority funding for the I-70 corridor which runs through the 109th. The free trade zone near Lawrenceville should be fully marketed and utilized to attract industry. There are many other examples of economic development tools which can be wielded by good representation in Springfield.

     The 109th district has several locations which will welcome new business and industrial growth. We must promote growth while retaining our existing business and industry and preserving the way of life that makes this area a great place to raise a family. This is all quite a challenge. But, it is a challenge we can meet if we work together.

     Most importantly, we must develop and support business and industrial projects that utilize raw materials we produce here in eastern Illinois. We must add value to Illinois natural resources! The development of an ethanol production facility in Crawford County is a good example of creating good new jobs while supporting one of our strongest production capabilities: agriculture. Illinois agriculture, oil and coal must have priority support.

     There are several statewide issues that also must be addressed in order for Illinois to continue to compete on a national basis for business and industrial development. We need to understand the effects that unemployment laws and worker’s compensation rules and regulations have in regard to attracting and retaining jobs here in Illinois. Most importantly, we need to reverse the recent trend started by Governor Blagojevcih of imposing unfair fees on Illinois Business and Industry. We cannot afford Illinois to be a State that is known as unfriendly toward business and economic development.

     We must realize that companies in Illinois and the United States are competing against the rest of the world. When we support laws which put employers at a competitive disadvantage, we are not looking out for the best interest of our citizens and the families that they support. Those who support the current climate in which our business entities must compete will have fewer and fewer clients to represent as we will continue to experience loss of jobs in this state.
Please let me know what your thoughts are regarding Economic Development for our district by e-mailing me at: reddyunit1@aol.com or writing to me at Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433