ADAPT Action Blog
The words of Activists at the ADAPT Action.
Galen Smith
ADAPT Twin Cities
Yesterday we got blown off by the AMA. Today we WON!
Around 10am we stormed into the State of Illinois office building where the Governor's Chicago office is located. I was near the front of the group and held one of the doors open while people rushed in. It was amazing to see how many people we have. Every time I thought we were at the end of the line more people would come around the corner. As we went in we blocked all of the escalators and elevators in the building. Later we found out that there were already several people from the Chicago ADAPT chapter up at the Governor's office on the 16th floor of the building. This building held offices like the DMV, some social services, a few retail stores and an El train station. This meant that we had a lot of opportunities to interact with the public. We had a mix of reactions. Several people were so anxious to get to their destination that they stepped on ADAPTers in order to get there or screamed at us about how they were being inconvenienced. There were also stories about people who were excited about what we were doing.
A friend told me about a man who came to go to the post office which we had blocked and shut down. When he heard about what we were doing he sat with some ADAPTers for about an hour and talked about how he had been trying to get his mother out of a nursing home for years. He called the Governor's office and told his story and asked the governor to meet with us.
I met a woman who is a journalism student at Columbia College who came to the building to go to the DMV. When she saw what we were doing she decided that it would be great to write an article about. She planned on publishing it in her school's paper and trying to get it in the paper at University of Illinois Chicago.
Late in the afternoon we got the word that it was time to step up the pressure on the Governor by taking the doors of the building. We blocked all of the doors as well as the El train station. Taking this extra step gave the negotiators upstairs the power that we needed to get what we wanted from the Governor.
At about 4:30pm we were told to unblock the door and come to the center of the building for an announcement. Our negotiators brought the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff and an official from the Department of Human Services (is this right Tim?). These officials told us (and the TV cameras) that Lincoln Development Center, a former institution, would not be reopened under this Governor's administration. They also told us that ADAPT would be at the table for talks a plan for Illinois' Money Follows the Person project and that the Governor would meet with Chicago ADAPT before October 17 th.
How do you spell power?
A-D-A-P-T
The people united will never be defeated!