Chicago Tribune (10.30.03) - Thursday, October 30, 2003
Concerned about increasing HIV infections among gay and
bisexual men and in minority communities, Chicago officials
said Wednesday they will seek a more than 25 percent increase
in Mayor Richard Daley's proposed AIDS budget. Daley's city
budget of $3.7 million for AIDS prevention and care next year
represents a $100,000 increase from 2003. But that funding is
down from a high of $3.9 million spent in 1997, said
Alderperson Thomas Tunney, who is seeking an amendment pushing
for a $1 million increase. Ten City Council members so far
have agreed to seek a higher figure, but Daley gave no
indication he would budge.
"Half the people who I grew up with in the early 1980s who
were gay or bisexual are dead," said Tunney. Now "there is a
'fatigue' about safe sex, condom use. We cannot rest with this
disease running rampant through our community, through our
city."
This year Chicago is receiving $43 million in federal funds to
fight HIV/AIDS. The city is waiting to see if a requested
$600,000 increase for next year will be granted, said Chicago
Health Commissioner Dr. John Wilhelm. The city's finances are
so constrained that it appears the $100,000 in increased AIDS
funding will represent the only item in the Health
Department's spending plan that will grow next year, said
Wilhelm.
Overall, new AIDS cases in Chicago have remained relatively
stable, at about 1,000 a year. But syphilis cases have been on
the rise, signaling unprotected sex and the potential for an
increase in HIV infections.