May 24, 2004
Visitors at the front gate of Lincoln Developmental Center in central Illinois
are greeted with a patch of lovely white peonies and midnight blue irises.
Towering elms shade the vast lawns, all 103 undulating acres of them. Only the
grass poking through the now-crackled parking lots and the boarded-up windows
closing off light and life to the campus' 19 brick buildings suggest that the
heyday of this exorbitant state institution finally is where it should
be--firmly in the past.
The campus was closed in 2002 by then-Gov. George Ryan after a rash of abuse
and neglect reports and deaths of mentally and developmentally disabled
residents who were living there.
There were hints that Illinois finally was taking baby steps in the direction
other states had long ago moved--toward caring for more of its 180,000 disabled
residents in neighborhoods rather than in monstrous, money-chomping and
isolated institutions.
On his way to the governor's office, though, Rod Blagojevich made a stupid
political promise: He would reopen Lincoln. A small and vocal group of Lincoln
parents and workers wanted this $35 million-a-year behemoth reopened, and
candidate Blagojevich was eager to please.
Blagojevich's careless pledge, later sealed by a political tit-for-tat with a
local state senator, undermines the very message the governor is preaching in
Springfield these days about responsible budgeting, changing the way Illinois
does business and providing better care for the state's most vulnerable
citizens.
Illinois has more than 3,000 disabled residents living in institutions.
Michigan has fewer than 150. Decades of research shows that integrating those
with disabilities into regular family homes or small community group homes
yields better and more cost-efficient care.
It costs an average $115,000 a year to care for a disabled resident at a place
like Lincoln. It costs half that much to provide 24-hour care to a severely
disabled individual living in a neighborhood home.
Blagojevich has a whopping $345 million budgeted this year to preserve just
nine facilities (and the thousands of union jobs they provide.)
He is struggling to save $30 million to $60 million by changing the way
community-based social service providers are paid. He's defending difficult but
correct decisions to close unneeded prisons in Vandalia and St. Charles and the
mental health center in Tinley Park. Yet he's spending $1 million to maintain
Lincoln's grounds and another $7 million to develop the property into a new
version of the same old thing. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of empty beds at
existing large institutions around the state.
Blagojevich has asserted that the state is not in the business of providing
jobs. It is not the state's role to prop up the economic fortunes of struggling
towns.
It is the state's duty, however, to spend its money wisely and provide help and
care for those in need. Period.
Governor, admit that you made a stinker of a mistake on Lincoln. It's time to
start applying the principles you use to justify other budget decisions by
investing more in community-based care and leaving this outdated and
unaffordable place to yesteryear.
Copyright © 2004,Chicago Tribune