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Hot temps prompt LIHEAP fears

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Illinois

Two weeks into the new fiscal year, Illinois lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner still haven’t reached an agreement on the budget. That means funding for the state’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, has been suspended.

“Right now, we’re not anticipating having a cooling program due to the state budget,” said Lakisha Randle, a community service supervisor with Project NOW in Rock Island.

Last year, the agency helped nearly 1,300 people through the program. […]

“It’s sad, because people are calling here and their electricity is completely off. It’s hot outside, you know? I feel bad for people that have children, or if they have asthma or a condition that’s triggered by heat. That’s sad, very sad,” said Randle.

Temps are expected to reach the 90s in Rock Island this weekend.

* Meanwhile, in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood…

One program immediately impacted by the continuing budget battle: the state’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps people struggling to pay their electric and gas bills.

The program has been suspended until at least September, said South Austin Coalition Community Council Executive Director Bob Vondrasek.

The cuts to the program are critical to Austin residents because 35 to 40 percent of people in the community – the most–populated of Chicago’s 77 community areas – need some kind of assistance, Vondrasek said.

Without that assistance, there is a fear that desperate times will push some to desperate measures.

“I’m just afraid to see what will happen when people can’t get their gas turned, their lights turned,” said SACCC lead consultant Theresa Welch.

The program is funded by an extra fee on utility bills and by the federal government.

The Tribune, by the way, looks back today at the city’s deadly 1995 heat wave.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 9:33 am

Comments

When somebody dies (and they will), I wonder if it’s going to be Madigan or Rauner’s fault. Hopefully some TV ads or mailers tell me what to think.

Comment by Tournaround Agenda Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 9:43 am
What did people do before air conditioners?

Comment by As We Go Silly Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 9:54 am
== What did people do before air conditioners? ==

The best they could. And with generally shorter lifespans.

Comment by Linus Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 9:57 am
Just plain wrong. How many have to suffer, die, lose their jobs, homes will be enough for the IL govern ment deciders? Blame really doesn’t matter one bit when peoples lives are pawns here.

Comment by sal-says Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 9:59 am
==What did people do before air conditioners? ==
Many of the old and infirm up and died, you know, to keep the population of people who rely on government services at a manageable level. /s

Comment by SAP Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 9:59 am
Remember - no state general revenue funds used here.

Rauner took hostages then Rauner shot hostages.

Comment by MickJ Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:03 am
Our lobby is a cooling center for East St. Louis. We were packed, and I mean packed with folks yesterday as the heat got to 97. Our security guards tried to save the seats only for elderly and disabled but at some point it gets unenforcable. When people are hot and sweaty they tend to be rather irritable.

Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:04 am
And what would those “desperate measures” be? Another excuse for more shootings.

Comment by Gone, but not forgotten Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:04 am
What did people do before air conditioners?

People lived in places that didn’t need air conditioning. Their homes were designed to be cool during the summer. After WWII when air conditioning became affordable, homes, apartments and low income housing became dependent upon it. Windows became less numerous and less functioning, architects put up hallways which restricted air flow, and building became taller which trapped more heat. Without air conditioning, there would not have been a Sun-Belt Boom to Southern and Southwestern US states.

I am assuming your question is legitimate, not a hateful piece of snark based upon sheer ignorance.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:04 am
In addition to the cooling issue, 50,000 households were removed from the Percentage of Income Payment Plan and are on the path to losing their utility service.

Comment by MickJ Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:06 am
“Rauner”

Comment by downstate commissioner Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:09 am
Thank you Vanilla for the accurate history lesson. Too many do not like looking at history.
Griffim

Comment by Griff Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:32 am
Does Rock Island have summer oooling centers like Chicago and some others do? No /s.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:33 am
Privately or charitably funded cooling centers, that is.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:47 am
A minor addendum to Vanilla Man’s post is that the rise of air-conditioning occurred in tandem with the rise of the automobile and the pavement that accompanies them.

Post-air-conditioning buildings are often set in a sea of concrete or asphalt to allow for automobile parking. Previously, residential buildings had yard for grass and/or trees, both of which mitigate the effects of extreme heat.

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:52 am
Not so sure how accurate VM’s “history lesson” is. A quick Google search says only about half of homes had air conditioning in 1973 and by 1993 the number was roughly 70 percent. A third of homes still don’t have air conditioning, and a good chunk of those are in places where you’d expect it to be desirable. Just to say that people lived in places where they didn’t need it seems completely silly, since we’re talking about Illinois both then and now, and it’s not like people didn’t live in Illinois before they had air conditioning. But hey, just my two cents.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:05 am
I am using the word “places” to denote types of dwellings - not locations.

There are many locations in the US where air conditioning may not be needed, however, they can live in a dwelling which needs it.

Northern Europe doesn’t need air conditioning. Their temperatures don’t require it and their homes are designed not to need it. Yet, they have air conditioning in their cars, because car interiors are often too warm.

I’ve lived in climates where air conditioning is a life saver, and where it was unnecessary. I’ve lived in pre-WWII dwellings where air conditioning was unnecessary and in dwelling where it was necessary for much of the year.

Citizens living in modern housing in Illinois, usually need air conditioning as a matter of life or death. I’ve had staunch anti-air conditioning friends forced to turn on air condition because their dwelling was not designed to not use it.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:21 am
Madigan genuflectors, help me out here.

People are going to die of heat exhaustion because:

1) Not a single turnaround agenda item can be included in the budget deal.

2) Even those that are favored 60-15% in polls and don’t cost a worker/citizen a penny.

3) Because governors “own” budgets.

Am I missing something?

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:26 am
Anonymous @11:05 a.m.:

As others have pointed out, many people, especially the elderly, died from the heat back in the “good old days.” Also, even middle-class homes that lacked a/c had, at the least, the capability to run their ice-makers and fans, have the kids run through the backyard sprinklers, etc. You can’t do that in a city apartment with the power shut off, obviously–especially if you live in a high-crime area where it’s already dangerous to go outside.

As with everything else, middle-class people–even those without a/c–have options that the poor lack. Without LIHEAP, many poor people are in a terrible bind: the power company shuts them off during the warm weather due to unpaid bills, and then when a heat wave inevitably strikes, they have few or no cooling options.

This is a tragedy in the making–and it’s not even a state-funded program, so it should never have been on the line to begin with.

Comment by Crispy Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:32 am
People are going to die of heat exhaustion because:

When it floods, you don’t pull flood assistance.
When a tornado wipes out a community, you don’t pull state programs designed to get it back on its feet.
When a blizzard strikes, you don’t pull the budget for snow removal.

When summer strikes, you don’t pull LIHEAP.

It has nothing to do with politics. The Governor isn’t governing.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:41 am
Some old timers would get a pan of cool water and put their feet in it. One of the problems, though is a lot of elderly people don’t feel the heat like younger people do. They feel they are just fine, but they are not. A lot of them are reluctant to run the air conditioner because they have very little money. This leads to tragic, needless deaths. Rauner’s cuts are going to make things much worse.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:09 pm
VM - when one party has the power to not pull LIHEP and doesn’t exercise it, I think it does have something to do with politics. One party has the power to do all the governing it wants. But-for power is a power.

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:10 pm
Lots of people in Chicago died from the heat 20 years ago. That’s what happens when the power gets turned off.

Comment by Cheryl44 Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:25 pm
If someone dies due to the heat, can they sue the state?

Comment by MAMA Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:28 pm
VM - when one party has the power to not pull LIHEP and doesn’t exercise it, I think it does have something to do with politics…

That is the kind of logic OJ used against Nicole for years.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:50 pm
Since LIHEAP is so unimportant…..Turn off the air in the governor’s mansion, state house, and all legislative offices. Call a mandatory joint session with the guv in attendance…. Attitudes may change. I know….it would only happen AFTER hell freezes over.

Comment by Jasper Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 2:12 pm
If there was no air conditioning in the Governor’s Mansion, you’ll see faces like at the end of “Indiana Jones” when they open the Arc of the Covenant.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 2:41 pm