Two Evanston buildings with long histories and passionate followings are scheduled to return to the spotlight on Monday, when Evanston City Council members are slated to discuss the next steps for the Civic Center and the Harley Clarke mansion, sites long in the public eye. Plans for the Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., and…
By Bob Seidenberg Yolande Wilburn, the new executive director of the Evanston Public Library system, has spent much her career managing library systems up and down the state of California. But her path to Evanston’s top job started much closer to home. “At the Chicago Public Library, when it was in [what is now] the…
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston officials are exploring moving city offices from the Morton Civic Center to a downtown site while they consider their next options for the building. Officials confirmed this week that they have engaged the commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle to facilitate lease negotiations for office space in downtown Evanston. Officials…
City to seek more feedback from local health care providers By Bob Seidenberg A proposal to set an Evanston minimum wage won’t be acted upon until at least next month, as multiple City Council members reported Dec. 11 that large health care employers in their wards are raising concerns. Council Member Devon Reid (8th Ward)…
By Bob Seidenberg Independence Park is located a few blocks west of Green Bay Road, in the heart of the Central Street neighborhood. It is perhaps the city’s only park that runs right up to the edge of a major shopping district. It has also been 26 years since the 1.4 acre park has seen…
Update: After the RoundTable posted the story below about a beaver sighting at Northwestern University’s lagoon on Nov. 12, another resident reported in an email that he had seen a beaver at the lagoon earlier, on April 10. Kyle Campbell, a local environmentalist and Third Ward resident, said he was out for a unicycle ride…
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members have applied the brakes for now on a proposal that would require large non-property-tax-paying owners – most notably Northwestern University – to pay a fire service/utility fee for the service they now receive for free. During their session on Monday, Nov. 27, council members failed to give a…
By Bob Seidenberg/rseiden914@gmail.com Northwest Evanston resident Mary Nisi need not remove her beehives, but they should be set farther back on her property – and farther away from the pool of her neighbor, who charged that the bees have dive-bombed her property, stinging guests. In a 4-0 vote Tuesday, members of Evanston’s Human Services Committee…
By Bob Seidenberg Property tax increases are never popular, but past City Council decisions to keep the taxes flat or exceptionally low, failing to keep pace with inflation, may not be in the city’s best interest in the long run. At Tuesday’s Finance and Budget Committee meeting, committee members took a deep dive into Evanston’s…
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members are technically part-time positions under the city’s council-manager form of government, but starting next year they may have a full-time salaried administrator whose job will be to assist them. The new post did not come without opposition, however. In the City Council’s budget discussion Monday, Council Member Clare…
