Feel free to read the short answers from the October 18, 2022 SJR interview, or for those wanting to hear more, read the full answers below.
A DEDICATED PUBLIC SERVANT
In my first year working for the Illinois Senate, I was the only representative from the State of Illinois selected for a very competitive legislative certificate course given by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). In my first Senate session as a Legislative Assistant, I researched topics for bipartisan bills that became law: healthcare, education, energy, criminal justice, environment and infrastructure.
What I love best about my job is constituent services. I love the digging, investigating, making meaningful connections, and solving problems ranging from assisting a first-time veterinarian to get her license to keeping an array of individuals in their rented spaces during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
My wife, Dawn, and I are proud to live in Lincoln Park on the north end for the past eight years. We’ve seen new businesses, nonprofits and faith communities revitalize our area. Our neighbors are confident that our future looks bright and we are an up-and-coming community attractive to young families.
The potential for economic growth is right at the cusp with increased broadband—it will propel all possible advancements in education, health, and small business development. Dawn and I have two adult sons that live and work in Springfield. As they navigate their life I want both of them, and all the young people in my neighborhood, to harness the opportunity to advance in careers made possible by our investment in infrastructure today. My personal motto is: plant shade trees you’ll never sit beneath. I’m confident the next generation coming up will do amazing things with the tools we give them and nurture the seeds of their potential so they will grow into strong successes tomorrow.
Q: A draft of a report, “Heartland HOUSED: Springfield & Sangamon County’s Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness,” was recently released and was guided by a steering committee that included input from the Sangamon County government. It called for nearly a tripling of available housing for area homeless. Do you support the findings of the draft report or what other initiatives would you implement?
Tebrinke’s answer: It’s expensive to be poor in the United States. It is a struggle for many to make ends meet to cover their basic needs for many reasons: overdraft fees from banks, inflated fuel prices from fossil fuel companies, and unreasonable healthcare expenses.
Without help, people attempting to get off the street are faced with a sea of overwhelming daily expenses we take for granted. This fact, coupled with utilities and rent, makes the familiar option of living a transitory lifestyle without a stable place to call home the only choice.
Our local system to address homelessness must provide ongoing supportive services with reliable and sustainable transportation. People with substance abuse problems or mental illness are not being cared for like people with health insurance.
Humanity loses its way when we give up on any group of people. Chronically homelessness people spending months or even years on the street do have value to our community–their humanity has worth. We need to be more effective by coordinating with all the inclusive organizations dedicated to improving the system.
We need to share the progress as transparently and frequently as possible. The public needs to be a part of the effort every step of the way. Centralizing all the services will show where we are lacking and where our talents are overflowing so all areas of need are covered.
When I first started my near decade working for the Springfield Dominican Sisters I interviewed hundreds of partners in their outreach missions. The Matthew Project was one of those organizations, and it truly opened my eyes to the needs of homeless school children in Springfield. They directly helped kids who were living in cars or who didn’t have adequate nutrition.
I’ve sat and talked with terrified young men at Washington Street Mission that don’t know where to turn–but they found a ray of hope in that place to get out of unforgiving winter weather, have a cup of coffee and put on a donated coat. In the years I’ve worked with and for nonprofits the goal is the same: a transformed life.
Collaboration is necessary to make any impact. The community will need to take action without any fanfare and walk with the people in pain, suffering from addiction, or struggling with mental illness to heal whatever pain they can. Recognizing a person’s humanity by simply listening to a person asking for help for just a few moments–treating them like another human being–is the first step we all can take to making them a valuable part of our community. Even sharing a laugh together can give them hope. You might not be able to save all the people in the world, but you can do something for the person right in front of you.
Sadly, more people worry about their property values than people suffering in their community. As community members, we need to take time to find out what caused people without a stable place to call home to be in the situation they are in. We need to work with people that understand the systemic problems that keep people away from the help and resources they need.
Various forms of mental health issues make stable housing difficult, if not impossible for some people in need. Springfield is transforming the police force to have a focus on social services and I would like to see more of this for people who may benefit from mental or behavioral health services.
This Illinois Senate session, the third amendment to HB 4736 included a new Co-Responder Pilot Program for large police forces. This new unit is capable of responding to crime victims and assisting people directly–instead of a traditional police officer. In Springfield the Community Care Coordinator and Homeless Outreach Team Coordinator positions on staff are in a position to give care like a social worker.
We need to do what is possible for families and individuals to get into supportive housing. To reduce chronically homeless populations, and the suffering homeless veteran population, we must commit to listing every human in the area experiencing a variation of homelessness. From that list we can find homes for them one-at-a-time. We need to get those that are capable on the road to maintaining steady employment in order to afford rent and monthly bills.
Increased self-sufficiency can only happen with a support system. Permanent housing or rental assistance of any kind helps to keep a person away from the elements. Housing needs to be available for 765 people experiencing homelessness on any given day in our county. Hundreds of people are waiting for a housing referral at this moment.
Visitors, tourists and the public at large are major stakeholders in our unhoused community because the values of our entire society will be visible in our actions–or inactions.
It is a personal choice to change behavior and commit to making good habits a ritual. We are all connected as one community. We are one community. We must choose to change and keep changing our community for the greater good. Falling back into familiar patterns won’t lead our community to a better future. We must work hard for our community to get ahead. We must carry each other and never become complacent— and most importantly— we need to elect leaders to represent our best values.
Q: Sangamon County Animal Control has come under scrutiny recently leading to the dismissal of director Greg Largent. Some organizations have suggested removing Animal Control from under the leadership of Public Health. Would you support that initiative or what other improvements would you suggest for Animal Control?
Tebrinke’s answer: Our county Animal Control is in a shameful state. I have no hesitation in saying the county board failed us month after month each time the volunteers outlined the issues that lead to preventable deaths. It’s embarrassing how they chose to quietly sit on their hands or outright slander the volunteers who were bravely standing up to improve conditions. Volunteers were rewarded for their selfless advocacy by killing the volunteer program outright while the leaders of our county government scrambled to backpedal and regroup for a solution to make the problem they made go away.
All dogs on the adoption floor can be walked. The passionate volunteers introduce socialization to the dogs over time and walk the dogs. There is so much more room for improvement to make sure each animal is getting enough attention. It’s visibly easy to observe animals are not being walked, even though it’s being reported at county board meetings that they are.
Again, it’s evident the animals are suffering. It’s a woeful mismanagement of volunteers eager to help walk dogs seven days a week.
Any person applying for a volunteer position now must be fingerprinted and forced to sign an agreement violating their first amendment rights to freely express their opinions with management.
Remember, these are the same unpaid volunteers that are returning to volunteer after being publicly slandered by their local government. My opponent sent out a letter saying the “sensational allegations” of mismanagement were false, but then fired the director for mismanagement. The Illinois State Police investigation urged Animal Control to operate within reasonable standards by hiring more professionals to improve conditions.
It should go without saying that disease can spread uncontrollably in a confined space. Upper respiratory disease killed nearly twenty cats in Sangamon County Animal Control in a couple weeks in late 2021. Animals died in part due to neglected trenches inside the drainage system for the facility. Has this structural issue been resolved? We can’t afford to create another deadly virus breeding ground in Animal Control when the county Department of Public Health can stop it before another airborne disease arises inside.
In the past two months the people in charge made examples of two individuals to punish the concept of petitioning an authority with opposing grievances. A staff member was fired and an unpaid volunteer was permanently banned for speaking up for simply pointing out urgent areas of improvement needed for the health and wellbeing of the animals.
At the bare minimum the management needs to focus on the human management, but more importantly the vital physical and mental health of the dogs and cats being held inside. Hiring a qualified person capable of managing all the aspects of the position is a first step to righting the ship and steering it towards becoming a no kill shelter.
The public isn’t aware of funds available that could solve all the issues with Animal Control because it’s not being communicated where the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funding for our local government went. Presumably a portion of it went to broadband infrastructure initiatives, which is incredibly important to the necessary transformation of our community’s development, but the lack of transparency in any of their committee meetings tends to make it appear that an untold amount of public money is going to pet projects to benefit a few well-connected people who negotiated behind closed doors.
Democracy is there to make us whole from many hands, not a funneling system to the hands of a few.
Q: The new multi-modal transportation center and the upcoming remodeling of the county building are “generational changing” projects in downtown Springfield. What is the county’s role in seeing that these facilities are best utilized and how might the county be good stewards of these projects?
Tebrinke’s answer: Any form of public transportation that efficiently moves people to walking spaces will improve our citizens’ health and the economic health of our businesses is an essential investment. The Hub, as it’s being called, will have a somewhat centralized space to get around town and travel on Amtrak and/or SMTD transportation.
Making an accessible and welcoming space is important. We need to make sure the travelers most vulnerable to injury can easily and seamlessly move from one place to another as safely as possible. ADA-compliant platforms and features will make it possible for everyone to get to where they need to be with dignity.
Performances by licensed artists are always a nice unexpected treat when you hear them play music as you move from station to station in major metropolitan cities. Giving a blessing and encouragement to allow licensed artists permission to perform would be a great way to showcase the diversity and talent of the folks in our community.
Making a welcoming space with musicians and performance artists in the open public space inside the transportation Hub’s county square space would give enrichment to the space and community in general in a genuine was.
Aaron Tebrinke