Illinois Representative-Elect Hosts Listening Tour In South Suburbs

A listening tour was recently hosted by Representative-Elect Debbie Meyers-Martin at the Richton Park Library to hear from members of the 38th District which she will soon represent. Photo Caption: Provided by Debbie Meyers-Martin
A listening tour was recently hosted by Representative-Elect Debbie Meyers-Martin at the Richton Park Library to hear from members of the 38th District which she will soon represent. Photo Caption: Provided by Debbie Meyers-Martin

Illinois Representative-Elect Hosts Listening Tour In South Suburbs

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Democratic Nominee for State Representative of the 38th House District of Illinois, Debbie Meyers-Martin, recently hosted a listening tour gathering at the Richton Park Library to connect with constituents and hear their concerns and desires for their communities.

Meyers-Martin is currently running unopposed and after the Nov. 6 election, she will take office as the Illinois State Representative of the 38th House District.

For 10 months, Meyers-Martin has been traveling around the 38th District, which includes all or portions of Homewood, Richton Park, Olympia Fields, Matteson, Frankfort, Country Club Hills, Harvey, Markham, Hazel Crest, Flossmoor, Mokena, Tinley Park, Oak Forest and Park Forest, to host listening tour events which are essentially a community forum.

“I thought that it would be a good idea to give the residents of this district the opportunity to speak to me directly about their concerns, their issues, suggestions, and recommendations.

Sometimes as an elected official you feel that you know what the needs of the community are but you cannot determine the entire scope of those needs until you actually give people a voice and that certainly is my role as a legislator, to give a voice to those people that live in my district,” said Meyers-Martin.

Some of the voices that were heard at the listening tour gatherings were those of residents, community leaders, local clergy members, and civic leaders. Based on their stories and suggestions that were shared at the events, Meyers-Martin was able to gauge what the 38th district is in need of and set a priority list.

“I would say, if I had to name the top three priorities, it would be economic development, education, and healthcare,” said Meyers-Martin.

From the listening tour, Meyers-Martin said that she has discovered that there are a lot of concerns about health care, the quality of health care, and the availability of healthcare.

Another important area Meyers-Martin will focus on is economic development. She said that there is a crucial need for business creation but even more than that, she sees a need to create new types of businesses that the 38th district has never been home to before.

“In the 21st century, retail is not what it once was so we certainly need to be creative as we look at those economic development elements,” said Meyers-Martin.

The third major institution that Meyers- Martin will address as a result of the listening tours is education. She said that she knows education is normally a number one concern in most communities and the 38th district is no different.

“People want to make sure educational funding is fair and that we are not penalizing children because of the zip code that they live in and we certainly need to focus on the fact that there is an over-reliance on property taxes to fund education, especially in the Southland, and that really does need to change,” said Meyers- Martin.

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