May 6, 2008 6:30 pm US/Central
Blagojevich Wants $150 Million To Fight Violence
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Gov. Blagojevich delivered his annual State of the State address Feb. 20 in Springfield.
CBS
Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he has a plan to stop the violence in Chicago. He wants to spend $150 million on programs to keep kids busy and out of trouble.
But as CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports, the question remains: How will he pay for it?
"It's hard out here. They expect people not to sell drugs and do all that, but don't nobody want to call nobody for a job," said West Side resident Lamont Dixon.
The plea for jobs from young men and women echoes across the city. Blagojevich on Tuesday, standing in a room packed with celery and community leaders, seemed to offer a plan to answer that plea.
"I know for a fact and I think all of you agree with me that if we give kids a chance to do something constructive they're not going to do destructive things," Blagojevich said.
A push for summer jobs for youth is what the governor announced. He called it the Community Investment Works Program and proposed spending $150 million to create 20,000 jobs for teens, after school programs and grants to get rid of vacant buildings in high crime areas.
The governor got big applause from the heads of the organizations who would get the money and run the programs, but from the mayor, there were questions.
"At least he's proposing it, but where you gonna get the money?" Mayor Richard M. Daley asked. "You have to get the money for this."
Reporters had the same question for the governor, and were forced to shout it to the governor before he escaped through a side door.
"This is all linked to a capital bill" was all the response given by the governor.
But that capital bill still has to be approved by state legislators.
Community organizer Tio Hardiman, who watched the state cancel funding for his gangs prevention program, CeaseFire, last year, is not convinced lawmakers will pass a bill to fund jobs this year.
Hardiman and others believe state law makers will never reach an agreement on how to fund the program. The governor wants to lease the state lottery in order to raise the money, and some state representatives have already said they don't like that idea.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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