|
|
Posted: Monday, 02 November 2009 12:27PM
Group to fight closing of embattled Tinley Park center
|
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (STNG) -- A coalition of families of Howe center residents, a labor union, and politicians on Monday announced a petition drive aimed at keeping open the embattled Tinley Park developmental center.
The Committee to Save Howe Developmental Center says it already has collected more than 5,000 signatures from people who oppose the closing ordered by Gov. Pat Quinn.
The committee comprises the Howe Family and Friends Association, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., three state senators and 11 state representatives from the region, two Cook County commissioners, the mayors and other elected officials of more than a dozen Southland communities, and AFSCME Council 31, the union that represents Howe employees.
Quinn announced Aug. 28 he planned to close the struggling Howe and relocate its 251 disabled residents by spring of next year. His order comes about a year after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich also recommended closing the facility, and more than two years after nonprofit advocacy group Equip for Equality also called for its closure.
The Illinois Department of Public Health and the federal Centers for Medicaid Services in April 2007 decertified Howe after investigations found abuse and neglect at the facility contributed to the deaths of 31 residents in four years. Decertification meant the facility was unable to bill Medicaid and lost $26 million in federal funding each year. The state has spent about $150 million since then to keep Howe operating.
Howe's closure will eliminate the jobs of 694 — 630 of whom belong to AFSCME Council 31.
|
Sun-Times Media Wire Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
|
|
E-Mail Story
Print Story
