From the Aurora Beacon News:

Aurorans push city's needs in Springfield
• Third Lobby Day: Locals meet with legislators to talk up their wish list
By ANDRE SALLES
SPRINGFIELD -- The 31 soldiers from Aurora listened attentively as their drill sergeant, Dan Shomon, gave them their marching orders.
"You're going to hear a lot of waffling from your legislators today," he said. "It's your job to hold their feet to the fire."
With a quick clap of the hands, Shomon rallied his troops and marched them single-file from the Sangamo Club in downtown Springfield to the capitol building a few blocks away.
And so began Wednesday's third annual Aurora Lobby Day, a chance for locals to meet their state legislators and talk to them about the city's initiatives.
The hope, of course, is that by meeting with senators and representatives, Aurora will be remembered when it comes time to appropriate state money for certain projects.
Lobby Day was organized by Shomon and Mayor Tom Weisner as a way of tackling several meetings with legislators at once, and getting more Aurorans to Springfield to talk up the city's case. Attendees this year included several members of Weisner's staff, representatives of all three Aurora area chambers of commerce, the Aurora Economic Development Commission, union reps and others.
The capital bill was a main topic of the day.
With House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego, the group discussed the capital bill, in which Aurora officials would like to see money for the planned Eola Road interchange at Interstate 88 and for the new police station on Indian Trail. The last capital bill was passed in 1999.
"I don't think it's about passing it, because we're ready to vote for it," Cross said. "It's about the scope, size and revenue now. It's about getting the four leaders and the governor into a room and trying to figure out whether they're going to do this or not."
They also discussed the potential sale of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad to Canadian National Railway Company. That sale could see the number of freight trains running through the East Side of Aurora triple. City officials oppose the deal.
The delegation later met with State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias before breaking off into smaller groups to talk to other legislators.
Weisner and some of his core staff took meetings with House Speaker Michael Madigan, Illinois Commerce Commission Director Tim Anderson, and Victor Roverson, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
No deals were struck, and no problems solved Wednesday. But the idea of Lobby Day, Weisner said, is a more long-term one, which has reaped benefits in the past two years. Weisner pointed to the River Edge Initiative, passed in 2006. Aurora is one of three pilot cities for this program, which will see millions funneled to brownfield projects along the river -- if a capital bill is passed.
"I think this has built an awareness of what matters to us," Weisner said. "It's built Aurora's identity down here."