Community Corner
Frankfort To Lobby For Separation From Chicago In Restore IL Plan
The village of Frankfort is lobbying the governor's office for some adjustments to be made in the Restore Illinois plan.
FRANKFORT, IL — Mayor Jim Holland and the village of Frankfort are lobbying Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office to adjust the Restore Illinois plan and place Frankfort in a different region than Chicago's region.
Holland told Patch the village is working with the Will County Governmental League and the Illinois Municipal League to "convince the governor to make a few minor modifications to his Restore Illinois plan that would enable Frankfort businesses to safely reopen sooner."
According to the Restore Illinois plan released by the state, Frankfort and the rest of Will County are in the northeast region, which includes Cook County and the city of Chicago. Data from the Illinois Department of Public Health shows that there is a total of 87,937 cases of the coronavirus in Illinois, as of May 14.
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There are 34,341 cases in the city of Chicago, followed by 24,116 cases in the rest of Cook County, for a total of 58,457 cases. With those case numbers, Chicago and Cook County make up about 66.4 percent of cases in the entire state. Will County is fourth in number of cases by county, with 4,090 cases and 231 deaths, as of May 14.
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"Our small gift shops and boutiques are very capable of maintaining appropriate social distancing and taking other steps to operate reasonably safely," Holland said.
According to a report from ABC7, three businesses in the downtown Frankfort area have closed permanently due to the coronavirus pandemic. Patch has reached out to the Frankfort Historic Business Association for more information about those businesses.
"Through our lobbying organizations, we will ask the governor to adjust his plan to place Frankfort in a different region than Chicago’s region and to use the Federal Center For Disease Control guidelines of 14 days instead of 28 days to move between phases," Holland said.
Nearby neighbor New Lenox is also lobbying the governor's office and the Will County Health Department to have Will County separated from Cook County in the regions of the Restore Illinois plan.
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