State Rep. Daniel Didech, D-Buffalo Grove, said he is looking to his constituents to help set his legislative agenda for 2021, especially concerning local issues.
“Many of the best ideas for legislation come from the community and Springfield needs fresh ideas now more than ever,” Didech said in a news release seeking constituent input. “This past year has brought unprecedented and new challenges for the people of Illinois due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so I want to hear directly from our community on how state government can be more effective for them as we work to rebuild.”
Didech said, more broadly, his top priorities for the year are to pass a balanced state budget, reauthorize voting reforms as well as work with the Sierra Club and other local leaders to create environmentally sustainable options for the state-owned land acquired for the now defunct Route 53 highway extension.
Closer to home, he explained, the elected leader also hopes to further equity issues with some Mundelein property owners and support the village of Buffalo Grove in its quest to turn a medicinal marijuana dispensary into a recreational marijuana facility to provide more tax dollars locally.
He said he is also looking for residents to bring forth their ideas.
“My job is to be the voice of my constituents in Springfield and introduce legislation that will have a positive impact on my constituents and improve their lives,” Didech told Pioneer Press. “The best way to effectuate that is to work with my constituents.”
Didech has served for almost two years as the state representative for the 59th District, which includes all or parts of Buffalo Grove, Gurnee, Lincolnshire, Mundelein, Northbrook, Park City, Vernon Hills, Waukegan and Wheeling.
In the release, he said he is asking the people of his district to email him at info@repdidech.com with ideas, comments, questions, thoughts or concerns. Other ways to connect with him include via Facebook at www.Facebook.com/RepDidech or by calling his district office at 847-478-9909.
“It’s going to be a very challenging year. Our state budget is not in great shape and the pandemic has made it worse,” said Didech who is among a group of members looking to elect a new speaker of the house. “My top priority is to pass a balanced budget that doesn’t raise taxes on middle class families.”
Another high priority for Didech in January, he said, is to reauthorize voting reforms from last November in time for the local election in April. He said he wants to make sure county clerks can have ballot drop-off boxes, extended early voting hours and curbside voting for seniors and people with disabilities.
With all of the business closures and restrictions on restaurants during the pandemic, he said he knows unemployment has been an issue among his constituents.
“The state’s system is overwhelmed but we’ve been successful in helping people navigate the unemployment system,” Didech said, referring to the Ill. Department of Employment Security. “We’ve helped over 300 people, making sure they get the benefits they’re entitled to.”
There are other issues he is also working on, he said, including legislation he introduced last summer. According to Didech’s website, House Bill 5815 assists property owners and community associations in removing unlawful and racist restrictive covenants from property deeds.
He said he filed this bill after being contacted by members of the West Shore Park Corporation in Mundelein who want to remove language in their property deeds that prohibits them from transferring or leasing their homes to “any person of the African or Negro, Japanese, Chinese, Jewish or Hebrew races, or their descendants.”
“As an HOA board member in a community with racist and discriminatory covenants, I am sickened every time I have to share them with a new or prospective owner,” said Nicole Sullivan of the West Shore Park Corporation in Mundelein.
The covenants, she said, predate the homeowner’s association.
“As a homeowner, these covenants are a stain on the property that I own and love. They go against my core beliefs in equality. They are illegal, yet, there is no legal route that I can take to eliminate the language,” Sullivan said. “Their ‘enforceability’ is not in question, their existence in modern, binding, legal property documents are the issue.”
Sullivan said the language has led to a great deal of inequity and segregation.
“It’s not enforceable,” Didech said, “but it’s a memory of a time we’re trying to put behind us.”
He’s also been working with the village of Buffalo Grove to allow a medical marijuana dispensary, which recently moved from one location in town to another to allow for more parking and traffic, to sell recreational cannabis.
He said there is a vocal minority against the issue but the vast majority of residents, he said, support it.
“We would like to work cooperatively with the governor and our legislators to get Cresco’s Buffalo Grove facility open as soon as possible,” said Village Manager Dane Bragg.
In addition, Didech hopes to spearhead a task force of leaders from Lake County, local village governments and environmental groups to determine what to do with the state-owned land acquired for the long-discussed Route 53 corridor.
Last year, Illinois Tollway officials decided they would no longer pursue extension of the highway from Lake Cook Road through Lake County into Grayslake.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has acquired 1,100 acres of property intended for the Route 53 extension, according to Jack Darin, director of the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club, and the Sierra Club is now looking to preserve that open space.
“We have the opportunity to permanently protect this corridor as new public open space that will make Lake County more resilient to flooding and other impacts of climate change, and connect existing preserves for recreation and wildlife habitat,” Darrin said.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.
