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Hastert's $2 million
profit from land deals
In
December 2005, just five months after he secured $207 million in
federal funds for the Prairie Parkway, House Speaker Dennis Hastert
sold 138 acres of land near the highway route, netting him a $2 million
profit on land held for three years or less. See additional
details in Prairie Parkway News
Coverage and in a Report prepared by the
Sunlight Foundation, a Washington DC based
Congressional watchdog organization.
Another
watchdog group on 2006 called for a Department of Justice
investigation of Hastert's land dealings and highway "earmarks." See
the details at the Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington website.
Five
Townships Vote 'No' on Prairie Parkway
Voters in three
Kendall County townships - Fox, Lisbon, and Seward - voted against
the the proposed Prairie Parkway in the February 5 primary
election. These three rural townships would be most affected
by
the
proposed 37-mile freeway from I-80 to I-88. 72 percent of
Lisbon
voters, 65 percent of Fox voters and 58 percent of
Seward voters said they oppose the construction of the proposed $1
billion freeway. The advisory referenda send a clear message
to
Illinois legislators.
In April 2007 voters
in two Kane County townships to the north strongly rejected the Prairie
Parkway. In Big Rock Township the vote was 88 percent against
the
proposed freeway and in Kaneville Township 81 percent voted their
opposition.
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47+ Coalition Seeks Sensible
Highway Solutions
Citizens Against the Sprawlway has joined 10 other groups in the 47+
Coalition to promote improvements to Illinois 47 and the
local
highway infrastructure.
The coalition has urged IDOT to reopen its Prairie Parkway study to
include Illinois 47, the first step to tapping up to $207 million in
federal funds for expanding Illinois 47 instead of building the Prairie
Parkway.
In its Fall 2006
issue, Chicago Wilderness magazine published a special report on the
environmental threat of new highways, focusing on the Prairie Parkway.
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