Cook County Board President Visits The Citizen

Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, recently stopped by the Citizen Newspaper offices in Chatham and sat down to discuss the many initiatives that she is currently spearheading as she heads into her third term as the top executive in Cook County.
Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, recently stopped by the Citizen Newspaper offices in Chatham and sat down to discuss the many initiatives that she is currently spearheading as she heads into her third term as the top executive in Cook County.

Cook County Board President Visits The Citizen

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, recently came to the Citizen Newspaper’s offices in Chatham and sat down with a reporter to discuss the many initiatives that she is currently spearheading as she heads into her third term as the top executive in Cook County.

Three major efforts that Preckwinkle is currently working on are the comprehensive Policy Roadmap for her third term, the redevelopment of Cook County Hospital, and the South Suburban Economic Growth Initiative.

The Policy Roadmap is a countywide planning process that calls for participation from all residents, industries, civic partners, and stakeholders in Cook County to provide their direct input on what they want to see over the next five years.

“The goal of the plan is to look at our work and our vision for fostering safe, healthy, and thriving communities, that’s our motto,” said Preckwinkle. “We have tried to go all around the county to get as broad of an input as we can and we hope to have a document completed by the end of the summer that everyone can then comment on.”

The document will lay out the measurable goals, objectives, and strategies for the Offices Under the President of Cook County. Preckwinkle said she is grateful for all of the citizen participation they have received.

Another major project that is currently underway is the redevelopment of the Cook County Hospital that has been closed since 2002. Preckwinkle served as Alderman of Chicago’s 4th ward for 19 years before taking office as Board President and during that time she fought to preserve many historical buildings from demolition. Her strong advocacy of the legacy of the century-old building that was once Cook County Hospital is no different.

“I’m really grateful that the building was not torn down, it was saved. It’s going to be turned into two hotels, a short-term stay hotel, a long-term stay hotel, and then lots of office space for our medical staff and there will be retail on the ground floor,” said Preckwinkle.

There is no County money going into the redevelopment project but Cook County has signed a 99-year lease with developers for the office space that is being created in the building to house their medical staff.

The final initiative that Preckwinkle discussed during her visit to the Citizen was the South Suburban Economic Growth Initiative. The South Suburbs of Chicago are the most economically challenged part of our county, according to Preckwinkle, and because of that, the region is getting some added attention from the Offices Under the President.

“We are trying to lift up the most challenged region, the South Suburbs, to benefit everybody,” said Preckwinkle. “If we can meet some of the challenges of our South Suburbs it’ll be good for our region as a whole. We are focusing a lot of our economic development resources and our transportation resources in the south suburbs.”

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.