State Representative Luis Arroyo

Glad to have attended The Annual Raices Gala and support the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. I had the opportunity to congratulate Jimmy Smits, recipient of the 2019 Ceiba Award.

Today my staff and I were pleased to present the newly remodeled Healy Metra Station at Fullerton And Pulaski. $7.5 million was used to install new stairs, space heaters for cold weather, a new PA System that announces arriving trains, ADA accessibility, and more. As Chairman of Capital, it is important to me that our community have direct access downtown through a comfortable means of transportation. Commissioner Luis Arroyo Jr. was able to secure $50,000 in county funding with the help of President Toni Preckwinkle to create what is now the beautiful Hermosa Park Mosaic Mural underneath the Metra Healy Station. This Mural recognizes our Latino heritage and history that has defined this community, such as the Borinqueneers, Hermosa’s Bungalow homes, Latino Chicago Cubs Players, Schwinn Bicycles, Radio Flyer Wagons, Disney House, and more. Thank you to all that attended today, including Alderman Gilbert Villegas, Lori Lightfoot, Hermosa Neighborhood Association, The Miracle Center- , Jordan & Kamelia from Green Star Movement, @ Hero Street, Mima's Taste of Cuba and Heather Way- Kitzes & Clark with the ChicagoCubs

Join me this Tuesday, September 17 at 11am at the Dedication Ceremony of the newly renovated Healy Metra Station and the Murals adorning the walls of the underpass.

These improvements are long overdue. After years of fighting for it, I was able to secure more than $7 million for the restoration of the Healy Station located on Fullerton and Pulaski. Shortly after construction started, many community organizations and elected officials came together to plan the beautification of the north and south walls of the underpass. We decided to build murals that would honor our heritage, our community and our heroes. I want to thank Cook County Commissioner Luis Arroyo and Cook County Board President Preckwinkle for helping fund the murals.

The Murals depict:

North Mural: (From left to right) We honor all of our veterans, including the Congressional Gold Medal recipients, the 65th Infantry Regiment “The Borinqueneers”, who participated in World War I, World War II and the Korean War.

We also honor Hero Street USA, a 1 1/2 block long street in Silvis, Illinois, known as the one place from where more people (mostly of Hispanic descent) have render service to the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

South Mural: We honor our neighborhood and heritage, starting (from left to right) with the Disney House, which is Walt Disney's Birthplace; the 2016 World Champions Chicago Cubs; our gateway to downtown Chicago; our Hermosa neighborhood and the many heritages forming it; Schwinn Bicycles, founded in 1895 in our neighborhood; our bungalow homes; and Red Flyer makers of the famous little red wagon.

Today, we pay tribute to the 9/11 victims, survivors, first responders, recovery workers, members of our military, volunteers and others who courageously rose in service in response to the attacks. We will

Happy Labor Day from my family to your family! Enjoy the day and celebrate safely!

Last night, I was proud to attend an event for Schaaf-Yang syndrome. Schaaf-Yang syndrome is a rare genetic condition that affects many parts of the body and is similar to Prader-Willi syndrome. Infants with this syndrome can have low muscle tone (hypotonia), feeding difficulties, sleep apnea, developmental delay, intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorder. This past May, I helped pass HR216 in the General Assembly which recognizes November 1st as Schaaf-Yang syndrome awareness day. This will raise awareness, promote inclusion, encourage research, and share hope with those diagnosed.

Today, I was privileged to speak at the CTA board meeting as well as the Metra board meeting. These are two agencies that will be helped tremendously by the recently passed capital bill. I look forward to continuing to work with both of these agencies to help build a better Illinois.

Yesterday, I had the honor and privilege to attend the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Make the Connection Signature Breakfast. This as always was a fantastic event and it was great to be able to see and hear from Governor JB Pritzker as well as Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

It was a pleasure to be able to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony today at UIC for the new Engineering Innovation Building. This will help improve higher education in Illinois and the city of Chicago.

It was a honor and a privilege this morning to be able to attend and speak at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Hanson Park Clinic located near Fullerton and Central. This clinic will provide general health risk assessments, physical examinations, immunizations, screenings, first aid and emergency treatment, health education, counseling, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment, reproductive health services, dental services, pre-natal services, and much more. This clinic will be open in 2020.