By Bob Seidenberg and Mary Gavin Evanston Economic Development Committee members backed allocating some of the city’s remaining federal pandemic recovery funds to a number of key business initiatives at their April 24 meeting, including $500,000 for the Maple/Church/Davis plaza area where the city is scheduled to move Civic Center offices this summer. Officials face…
By Bob Seidenberg Yolande Wilburn, the Evanston Public Library’s new executive director, told library trustees that one question came up repeatedly in conversations with patrons and in surveys. Members of the Library’s Racial Equity Task Force, in a lot of their brainstorming, grappled with the issue too, she said. “People kept saying, ‘What our are…
$22 million cost estimate spurs discussion By Bob Seidenberg Some Evanston Preservation Commission members raised concerns at a recent meeting that a feasibility study recommending a $22 million renovation of the more than 130-year-old Noyes Cultural Arts Center is a repeat of a pattern that has placed other city buildings of historical significance – namely,…
By Bob Seidenberg At a meeting this week, some members of the city’s Finance and Budget Committee raised concerns about the high costs of administering the federal COVID-19 recovery program and pushed for a fuller accounting. Council Member Clare Kelly (1st Ward), who has been pushing staff for figures on the program, confirmed with officials at…
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members have delayed until May consideration of a plan to aid the city’s unhoused population, including addressing an encampment at the Howard Street viaduct on the city’s far south side. After concerns from colleagues, Council Member Devon Reid (8th Ward) on Monday ultimately moved that his $500,000 request be…
Reserve truck facing major repairs has ‘put us in a bad place,’ says fire chief By Bob Seidenberg Evanston Fire Department officials received City Council support Monday to move ahead with plans to purchase a $2.3 million new ladder truck, a key piece in the department’s arsenal in fighting aerial fires and making emergency rescues….
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council on Monday approved a plan to make a bulk purchase of electric leaf blowers, batteries, chargers and other equipment to help local landscapers who have had difficulty making the transition away from gas leaf blowers banned by the city since last year. Council members voted 8-0 to allocate $180,000…
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members reapproved a contract Monday for a real estate firm to broker a move out of the Morton Civic Center, complying with a blistering opinion from the state Attorney General’s office that ruled the city violated the Open Meetings Act by signing the original agreement in closed session. The…
By Bob Seidenberg One by one, the fire companies at Evanston’s five stations took turns notifying radio dispatch they were signing out of service. Locked in a monthslong impasse with the city, 89 Evanston firefighters walked off the job for 53 hours from 6 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, 1974, until 11 a.m., Saturday, March…
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members voted against suspending enforcement of a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers Monday, a pause some landscapers had sought to allow more time for the transition to electric devices. Council members were sympathetic to concerns raised from mostly Hispanic members of the local landscaping community to temporarily suspend enforcement…
