Mayor’s race produces contrasts around zoning, Northwestern
By Bob Seidenberg
rseiden914@gmail.com
Evanston residents will go to the polls Tuesday to vote in a municipal election that holds significance not only for the next four years of the new council members terms but likely well into the city’s future.
Members of the next council will make decisions on the first revisions to the city’s comprehensive general plan and zoning code in more than 25 years.
More than likely they also will be faced with what steps to take to address a structural budget deficit — without the windfall of $43.1 million in federal Covid recovery funds that greeted the current council at the start of their term.
In the Mayor’s race, incumbent Daniel Biss is squaring off against Jeff Boarini.
Biss, a two-term state legislator
Biss received 7,787 or 73.37% of the votes in his initial run for mayor in 2021, defeating first-time candidates Lori Keenan and Sebastian Nalls. He easily surpassed the 50% he needed to avoid a runoff.
He’s expected to have a tougher time reaching numbers like that this election, which represents the first time residents can express their views their views at the ballot box to his tie-breaking votes on the city’s first permanent homeless shelter, and Northwestern University’s request to stage to concerts at Ryan Field as part of their stadium rebuild.
Transparency at center of Boarini’s campaign
Boarini, a 34-year year resident, whose career was in corporate media production, has made transparency a cornerstone of his campaign, calling into question officials’ handling of the Ryan Field negotiations, as well as their leasing of 909 Davis as the city’s temporary home.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office had found the city in violation of the Open Meetings Act when it authorized in closeD session an exclusive agreement with a real estate firm to move city offices to the 909 Davis building.
ZONING A KEY ISSUE
During the campaign, Biss has not backed down from his support of a provision in the Envision Evanston 2045 project that would change single family zoning in most neighborhoods to allow multi-unit developments.
He’s used as an example his own townhouse, which sits just around the corner from single family homes.
“I do not see my role here as dictating a specific outcome,” he said at the March 8 League of Women Voters of Evanston (LWVE) forum. Rather, “I think diversity of housing stock and single family zoning diversity in all neighborhoods is a pivotal goal for our community.”
To the same question, Boarini said he wasn’t in favor of blanket “up-zoning, or one-size-fits-all zoning.”
As in any zoning, he said, “I think it needs to start with what’s there, and see if we going to add residences that they can fit with the neighborhood.”
Difference in whether to challenge university’s tax protection
At the same forum, the candidates were asked whether an argument could be made that Northwestern’s tax exemption may not extend to the new Ryan Field, with much of it designed for non-educational purposes, such as concerts.
Biss agreed that from a common sense perspective the idea that a football stadium with concerts is eligible for a property tax exemption is “patently absurd.”
However, he said, the legal advice that he has received has indicated that the University has a strong property tax protection in that regard.
“And frankly before I was mayor, the city spent millions and millions of dollars on a speculative legal effort that turned up nothing whatsoever,” providing no support for that statement.
Boarini said the city should investigate the question. He acknowledged that action would pose “a significant legal challenge for us to go into this, so we best get good legal advice.”
At the same time, “it’s clear financially and certainly the belief among citizens that Northwestern is not paying its fair share, regardless of what they just agreed to on the Ryan Field deal.” He cited contributions by Harvard and Yale University to their home communities.
During the discussion, the candidates were asked how they would approach their relationships with individual council members or perceived council alliances, in order to serve best the entire city.
Boarini referred to his team-building expertise acquired in the corporate world and keeping “front and center with council members or perceived they serve their wards individually but they serve this community collectively.”
An obligation to be even-handed: Biss
Biss suggested there was something he was leaving out, though — that he was in a romantic relationship with Clare Kelly, the council member from the First Ward and running for reelection, “which in my opinion, is an obvious conflict of interest, and one that’s interesting for a candidate who talks primarily about transparency to not mention in a 90-second answer to a question about how to work with and relate to members of the city council.
“A lot of relationship building, a lot of give and take, a lot of adjudicating goes into resolving competing priorities and priorities that different council members in different wards have,” he said, “and I think that it’s really critical that those relationships be professional and even-handed, so the mayor has the distance necessary to be the adjucator that we require.”
Boarini didn’t immediately respond to his opponent’s suggestion of conflict of interest at the forum with the moderator moving to the next question.
He maintained in a presentation to voters at Optima Views condominium two days later that his campaign had checked municipal code and found nothing that would preclude him and Kelly serving on the council simultaneously, Evanston Now reported.
“I can assure you that the only reason that we are doing this is for better government,” the Evanston Now article reported Boarini saying.
City Clerk
City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza is seeking a second term of office is facing a write-in challenge from Vanessa Johnson-McCoy.
The city clerk serves as keeper of records, THE designated Freedom of Information officer for the city, as well as Evanston’s local election officer.
Along with the mayor, it is a citywide position, with a salary boosted to $81,000 for next term.
Mendoza, a one-time community organizer and the first Latina elected official in the history of Evanston carries a raft of endorsements from Democratic Party leaders, including Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Cook County Commissioner Josina Morita., the Latino Leadership Council, the Chicago Federation of Labor, Sierra Club, and others.
She listed the digitization of public records and the city’s restoration of vital records services as important moves forward in her first term.
Johnson-McCoy is owner of her own business, VAJM Consulting LLC, and a sales agent with Coldwell Banker. She applied to run as a write-in for the office, after attending a Nov. 1 memorial service for Delores Holmes, the long-time director of the parent support group Family Focus and Fifth Ward Alderperson from 2005 to 2017.
Johnson-McCoy’s first job out of college was with Hyatt Hotels, receiving training in the group’s management program, which placed a high standard for customer service and exceeding the customer’s expectations — qualities she says she intends to bring to the Clerk’s office if elected.
She has been endorsed by former Council members Robin Rue Simmons, 5th, and Peter Braithwaite, 2nd, current councilmember Krissie Harris, 2nd, former Evanston City Clerk Rodney Greene and others.
“I am dedicated to ensuring that our city reflects the diverse voices of all our residents,” she said on her website, vjm4cityclerk.com. “My platform focuses on Accessibility, Accountability and an unwavering commitment to inclusion within our city boards, commissions, and committees.”
First Ward:
IN THE CITY’S FIRST WARD, WHICH ENCOMPASSES MUCH OF THE DOWNTOWN, residential areas around the university and a portion of the lake area, first-time candidate Stephen Hackney, a retired partner from the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, is challenging incumbent Clare Kelly in the city’s First Ward in a race that could have major bearing on the next council’s direction.
Kelly, a retired Spanish teacher at Evanston Township High School, is a longtime community activist, who has made financial accountability a top priority on the council.
Her accomplishments include council adoption of a first time public safety pensions policy that puts the long underfunded fire and police pensions on a 100% track for 2040, the year mandated by the state.
“When I was elected, I formed a desperately-needed Finance and Budget Committee to address some of the serious issues of our city,” she said at an early election forum sponsored by the Southeast Evanston Association (SEA). “One of those was the enormous, growing public safety pension debt, and I’m really happy with my work, leading on that historic resolution to fully fund these pensions and reverse that ever growing debt and improve our city’s bond rating.”
But Hackney argued at the same forum that the council’s work is incomplete, maintaining Kelly is part of a city council that has sidestepped “the hard financial calls.
“Her stated view on the record is that we can save the Noyes Community Center, and we can increase pension funding by 50% and that we can do all this without raising taxes,” he said. “And I’m telling you that that is exactly the type of magical thinking that put District 65 in a ditch and it has to stop.”
Kelly spoke of her work, pushing the city to be forthcoming about excess reserves which could be used to address costs without the need of property taxes. “These are funds that are over and above our reserve policy,” she said. “So we have about ten different funds that we keep reserve funds in. Some cities, by policy, actually spend down their excess reserves on needed costs before leveraging yet more debt on residential.”
The bottom line:
Kelly, a longtime community activist, undeniably has carved out a niche as the council’s leading independent in her first term. Her impact goes beyond voting and includes her willingness to challenge city staff as well as the mayor, who lacks her history of involvement on local issues. Hackney, who is backed by the mayor, is a member of the Connections for the Homeless board, which has been a strong advocate of widening housing choices in single family neighborhoods as part of the revised Envision Evanston 2045 plan. He maintains he would be a consensus builder if elected, and not on the down side of 7-2 votes as Kelly often is, he suggested, giving the ward a more effective representative. He’s the only member of the field to challenge Donald Trump in a lawsuit
Second Ward:
IN THE CITY’S NORTH/CENTRAL SECOND WARD, incumbent council member Kristian “Krissie” Harris squares off against Darlene Cannon, a lifelong ward resident as well as a community organizer and activist, and Jacqueline Mendoza, a first time candidate (and also sister of City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza).
Some background:
Mayor Daniel Biss originally appointed Harris, a 5th generation resident of the city, to fill the Second Ward position in September 2022 after longtime seat holder Peter Braithwaite had announced he would be leaving the council to accept a job with Northwestern. A manager of student life and campus inclusion at Oakton Community College, she beat Cannon and others vying to be selected by Biss for the post.
She then defeated Cannon 754 to 546 votes in a special election in 2023 to fill the remainder of Braithwaite’s term. On the council, Harris was one of six council members voting in support of a request by Connections for the Homeless for special use zoning to operate a permanent homeless shelter. She was one of four council members voting in support of the university request to stage concerts at Ryan Field (more than 60 when you add the outdoor ones) as part of its stadium rebuild.
“I think finances are the biggest issue,” she said at the March 8 League of Women Voters forum, responding to a question about the next council’s biggest challenge. “Trying to advocate what we do for the city with the resources that we have right now and understanding that right now we are facing a national challenge that is going to limit the funds…money is going to be the key. But I believe that Evanston is made up of people that will make it work.”
Cannon lost by only 71 votes in a strong challenge to Braithwaite in 2021. Her past service includes chairing the city’s Equity and Empowerment Commission. (The group withdrew a resolution in December 2023 calling for a cease fire in Gaza with many attendees at a meeting objecting to how it made no reference to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. She called on the city to develop a plan of action to prevent future harm, responding to the city’s Black employees after they issued a joint statement, charging disproportionate work conditions. She also took up the cause of residents on Wesley Avenue last year after they were displaced from their long-time homes because of property conditions. During Covid, she organized a food drive, dispensing items to needy residents.
“I believe the top challenge for residents in Evanston is affordability,” she said at the March 8 League of Women Voters election forum. “Evanston is a very expensive place to live at and if we continue to raise our taxes each year we will be displacing a lot of families who have been here for a long time, I mean, generations.’
Fiscal responsibility, equitable housing and climate justice are just a few core tenets of my campaign,” she said on her website, darlenefor2.org.
Mendoza serves in a community engagement role with the city’s ParkS, Recreation and Community Services Department. That experience has equipped her with the skills to listen to community concerns and translate them into actionable solutions,” she wrote on her website,Mendozafor2nd.com.
The city’s continuing affordability is key, she said at the LWVE forum. “When we look at the situation we’re in with the schools right now, especially District 65, that’s going to have an impact on property owners and on renters — increasing property taxes does increase rent too.”
Bottom line:
How will Mendoza’s entry into the race affect the final outcome?
The Second Ward, while losing Black population between 2010 and 2020 (3,219 people to 2,499) has seen a steady gain in the Hispanic/Latino population, with 1,681 members now making the ward their home.
Third Ward (some of this was covered in our analysis of endorsements which ran on evanstonscribe last week.)In the central east Third Ward, whose eastern border is the lake, candidates Gennifer Geer, Shawn Iles and John Kennedy are vying to succeed Melissa Wynne, a mainstay on the council, whose service dates back to 1998. Iles serves as the overnight shelter director for the Interfaith Action of Evanston, which works closely with Connections for the Homeless on expanding services for the city’s homeless population. His website notes that he’s the only one of the candidates who can boast prior public service, serving for ten years on the city’s Library Board.
Kennedy, a life-long Tech/software- entrepreneur executive, is a past president of the Youth Job Center, an agency which has played a key role historically finding jobs for Evanston youths.
Of the three, Kennedy has by far the most experience with city issues. He helped sponsor an advisory referendum in 2007 which more 80% supported, calling for the city to remain in its longtime home at the civic center.In recent years, he has turned to financial issues, identifying 94 items, totaling $10.2 million, in the city’s 2024 budget that could be challenged. (Some of them were duplicate items, City Manager Luke Stowe maintained in a response, and were identified in other places in the document.) He personally contributed an alternative design of an access ramp for the city’s dog beach, which he maintained could be built at a fraction of the $700,000 price.
Iles was among the Library Board members who navigated the library through tight budgets, and transition to a realignment of of library services — closing north and south branches, and opening the Robert Crown Branch library.
In making the painful moves, library board members above any other city group, adhered to a strong DEI plan that called for bringing services to where the greatest need is.
”Shawn put our public libraries on firm financial footing,” former EPL trustee and Third Ward resident Margaret Lurie, is quoted on his website.
His website notes that he’s the only candidate in the race with prior public service.
Geer, who bills herself as “a new voice for Evanston,” on her website, serves as treasurer for the Democratic Party of Evanston. In her campaign, she has strongly emphasized the environmental resilience and climate action, and a thriving cityscape in her environment.
Responding to business owners along Main Street, still recovering from a street and sewer streetscape project that ran several years beyond city officials projection, her ideas include adding more reflective flags to cross walks, creating more east-west bike paths and implementing loading zones for delivery vehicles, all issues in the area after the streetscape project.
She also has pledged virtual ward office hours, with residents placing responsiveness as an important attribute in the alderperson who succeeds Wynne.
Bottom line:
Geer, as the most youthful of the candidates, is waging an energetic campaign, using social media to woo voters..
Kennedy has the greater visibility on city issues in the past, but how does that translate to a ward race.
The Library Board is known for its collaboration, keeping most disputes contained. How will Iles perform in an advocacy role for the ward?
Fourth Ward:
Jonathan Nieuwsma seemed to have no opposition for a second four-year term until earlier this year when Margaret “Meg’’ Welch filed to run a write-in campaign against him. Nieuwsma won in the primary in 2021, knocking off incumbent Donald Wilson, a leading voice on the former council. He then won easily victory in the General Election, defeating Diane Goldring.
Welch, a Program Leader and Program Expert with the Disability Quality Branch of the Social Security Administration, said she had considered filing during the petition period but held off to ensure she would not be in conflict with the Hatch Act, which includes some restrictions on federal employees engaging in partisan political activity.
Nieuwsma played a leading advocating role in moving Connections for the Homeless request in 2023 to operate the city’s first permanent homeless shelter at the Margarita Inn at 1566 Oak, that stirred strong opposition from some neighbors.
On a work assignment in California at the time, Welch took the time to participate in public comment at the council meeting where the issue was discussed.
Welch noted that “I supported establishing a homeless shelter in Evanston for a lot of years. I was not convinced that the Margarita Inn was the solution, or that the Connections for the Homeless model and how they were doing it, was going to protect the residents or the neighbors.”
She said she was surprised initially there wasn’t anyone to challenge Nieuwsma. She described the council member as “a pretty reliable go-along-to-get-along vote for what is teed up by the city staff and mayor, and I don’t see him really representing the residents in his ward.”
In his first term as alderperson, Nieuwsma had had a prominent role but would obviously characterize it different.
He chose as his campaign platform “Four Es for the Fourth Ward,” listing them as Environmental Sustainability, Engagement, Equity, Economic Development.
“I’ve done this by seeking out and listening to various perspectives; independently exercising my own judgement, collaborating effectively with my colleagues on the Council, with City staff, and with other community stakeholders.”
Among his successes was his chairmanship of the city’s Redistricting Committee, achieving consensus on the first new ward map since 2003, avoiding the intradistrict squabbles that have marked the exercise in the past.
As a former president of Citizens Greener Evanston (now Climate Action Evanston), he was the point person on the council’s recent adoption of a Healthy Building Ordinance. His backers include Mayor Daniel Biss.
With an engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana, he’s combined his environmental interest with that background, and has shifted fo us to renewable energy, working on solar and wind projects through the country, he says on his website, jonathan4evanston.com.
On her website, writeinwelchfor4.com, Welch lists transparency at the top of her list. Nieuwsma and fellow council members were flagged for a violation of the Open Meetings Act in 2023, concerning private discussions they held with a consultant on move of their civic operations to a downtown site.
“Evanston residents are rightfully concerned that ‘good ideas’ are imposed on Evanston residents by circumventing both genuine public input and open meetings,” Welch wrote on her site. “I will call for the City Council to be faithful to the residents and the law on legislative process.”
Similarly, she is on the opposite side of the table on zoning, where he urged passage of the Envision Evanston 2045 plan last year. The proposal that coupled revisions to the city’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code included a provision to open up single family neighborhoods to duplex, in an effort to spur affordable housing.
“The proposed zoning is unnecessary to create more affordable housing,” she argued. “It will encourage costly new construction on now modestly valued properties which can result in displacement of our low-to-middle class residents. It is not an initiative that arose organically from the residents and will change the landscape of our neighborhoods.”
She stressed that “in this era of cuts to federal funding for affordable housing, we need to get the details of a plan worked out for creating zoning that will encourage new development. It’s more important now than ever.”
At the LWVE forum, she called for greater budget discipline. “I note that my opponent voted in favor of purchasing an additional community center ($2.6 million in January 2024 for the former Little Beans Cafe at 430 Asbury Ave., “that was not in the budget and appeared rather suddenly on the council agenda. And while I certainly support IT?, I know initially it was planned for inclusive sort of recreational activities, I question if those couldn’t have been included in our already existing community centers.”
Bottom line:
Welch has impressive credentials – a doctorate in philosophy and ethics from Loyola University Chicago – and would pose a strong challenge to Nieuwsma if her name were on the ballot.
A write-in campaign is a tall hill to climb. Lionel Jean-Baptiste, now a Cook County judge, was the last candidate to wage a successful one in 2005, and he had strong name recognition going for him.
Fifth Ward:
Carlis Sutton, a retired Evanston middle school teacher and small property owner, is challenging incumbent Bobby Burns in the city’s Fifth Ward.
Burns won election to the office in 2021, receiving 552 votes or nearly 66% of the vote to 278 votes or 33.13% for Carolyn Murray.
Burns, who lists himself as a political consultant and business owner, has stressed his availability to constituents, holding a monthly ward meeting and participation in other groups, including the city’s Five-Fifths TIF Advisory Committee as well as the city’s Minority, Women, Disadvantage and Evanston Business Enterprises committee.
He’s highlighted the city’s structural budget as the biggest issue before council members in the next term. As a memBER of the city’s Finance and Budget Committee, he recently won backing from committee members on a pilot zero based budget experiment using one city department.
“I would like to see our Public Works Department be the first department,” he said at the League of Women Voters forum.
Typically, city budgets are built on past expenditures by departments, projecting forward.
Sutton, as a small landlord, lists housing as a top priority.
“It’s unfortunate of all the suburbs north of Chicago, Evanston has the least available smaller units available,” he said, also at the LWVE forum.
He maintained that there have not been enough meetings to discuss the comprehensive plan and zoning changes, with council members originally pushing for action.
“And last but most important,” he said, “is apathy in the Fifth Ward.” The west side ward holds the city’s greatest percentage of Black residents — 2,900 in 2020 compared to 2,577 whites and 1,520 Hispanics, according to the 2020 Census.
However, the Black population stood at 3,231 as recent as the 2010 Census.
Sutton went to bat for residents on Wesley when they were told they would have to move, claiming unsafe conditions. The move, in effect, put almost 40 families out of the Fifth Ward forever, he said. “I only found two people that were in there that actually wanted to move.”
At 82, he’s the oldest candidate in the field. He still owns the home at 1813-1815 Darrow Avenue which his grandmother moved to in 1850.
His main concern, he said, “is seeing all the development going up and the displacement of a lot of people in this community that I knew,” he said.
“Certain people came to me and asked me to run,” he said. “I told them I won’t go circulate no petitions. And they did it,” he said, forcing his hand. “They came to me and said we have the required signatures to put me on the ballot.”
“I’ll do it,” he said.
Bottom line:
Turnout is a big key. Incumbents have run the last few elections, receiving 500 plus votes.
Sixth Ward:
Candance Chow, former District 65 Board President and Finance Chair, is challenging incumbent Tom Suffredin, seeking a third term of office.
The two have waged a heated campaign. Chow has tried to brand Suffredin as a Springfield lobbyist and HAS hit at his attendance record.
She cites a 25-year record of involvement in community issues on her part.
Suffredin, an attorney and lobbyist, has been an advocate for equitable city services and has expressed concerns about the city’s financial sustainability, emphasizing the need for prudent budgeting.
“Fiscal responsibility is essential to address our structural deficit while minimizing the burden on taxpayers,” he said, responding to an Evanston RoundTable questionnaire on candidates’ positions.
In response to the same questionnaire, Chow, who holds an MBA from Kellogg, maintained she will work ‘’to identify ways to better use our assets including alternative revenue sources. I will collaborate with the business community and my colleagues to reduce onerous red tape for businesses while partnering with Northwestern to turn our current business districts into business incubators with expert support and technical assistance.”
Suffredin expressed concern about Chow’s judgment, hiring former District 65 Superintendent Devon Horton in a closed-door process, maintaining the move has contributed to the district’s financial ruin.
Chow has fought that suggestion, maintaining that when she left the board, the district had a nearly $60 million surplus.
Suffredin was one of four council members to vote against Northwestern’s request to stage concerts as part of the Ryan Field rebuild, maintaining the city should have gotten much more in package of benefits the university promised.
He also voted against the city’s sudden $2.6 million buy of the Little Beans Cafe site, an expenditure that wasn’t in the city’s budget.
Bottom line:
Suffredin, whose father is former Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, defeated handily Katherine Trippi, his opponent in the 2021 election by a 1,577 to 949 vote count. Chow has run an aggressive race and turnout for the school election is an unknown factor.
Seventh Ward:
No matter which candidate wins, the city’s northeast Seventh Ward will realize a first Tuesday — the election of its first African-American councilmember.
First time candidates Parielle Davis and Kerry Mundy bring impressive credentials — Davis, a software engineer, attorney and community activist, represented residents in the area in their efforts to oppose the rezoning Ryan Field for large scale commercial events, including concerts, raising concerns about noise, traffic and community disruption.
Mundy, meanwhile, has served as chairperson of the Evanston Public Safety/Civil Service Commission, whose responsibility includes screening potential police hires. A self taught retail equities trader, his resume speaks of stints at the federal level, including consulting for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security.
Mundy has lined up endorsements from current Seventh Ward Councilmember Eleanor Revelle, as well as former Mayor and Seventh Ward Alderperson Elizabeth Tisdahl and Jane Grover, also a former Alderperson from that ward.
Davis’s backers include Mary Rosinski, a community activist and former candidate who lost to Revelle in 2021.
On a questionnaire from the Central Street Neighbors Association, the candidates were asked if the Ryan Field rebuild should have been handled differently.
“The Ryan Field rezoning process was handled poorly,” responded Davis. “The city failed to advocate for residents, negotiating a poor deal without leveraging expert negotiators who could have secured better terms. The Land Use Commission’s recommendations were ignored, as was signIficant community input. Additionally some City Council members were excluded in the process, and once the issue was discovered , votes should have been paused until full transparency was restored.”
Mundy: “One of my highest priorities will be to reset the relationship between NU and our community, particularly the blocks surrounding the station that are so dominantly impacted. As I have said early and often, I believe this relationship needs to be based on a foundation of mutual neighborly respect that understands that property owners & residents have a vested interest in what happens in their backyard.
At the same time, NU is a constituent and pillar of Evanston. I have also said that Evanston is better for having NU, and NU is better for being in Evanston.”
BOTTOM LINE:
Davis’s candidacy has drawn a lot of interest.
Eighth Ward: Reid versus Rodgers:
IN THE CITY’s SOUTHEAST EIGHTH WARD, which includes the Howard Street business district, incumbent Devon Reid and Matt Rodgers, former chair of the city’s Land Use Commission, have been laying out their credentials seemingly without the bombast of charges that have marked races in some of the city’s other wards.
One area where they have marked out change though is the Evanston Envision 2045 process.
Reid supports allowing up to four dwelling units in areas historically zoned for single-family homes, he said in responding to the RoundTable questionnaire as welL as in a phone interview.
“I think Eighth Warders want to see a city that is more affordable, that is more accessible to more folks.
“Evanston’s history of exclusionary zoning has contributed to our affordability crisis; by permitting modest upzoning in targeted areas, especially near transit hubs, we can increase the housing supply and promote diverse, mixed-income neighborhoods.”
Rodgers, an operational director for A church in Chicago and A self- employed graphic designer, said that his former role as chair of the Land Use Commission convinced him that both the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance are in need of more work.
“Evanston should not permit four-flats throughout the city,” he wrote in response to the same question. “The impact on single-family housing would be too great under the current plan. We should look at common sense increases in density along our commercial/business corridors.”
Bottom line:
Reid was the lone council member who strived to produce alternate revenue ideas in the 2023 budget discussion when officials were scrambling to reduce a deficit. Some of his proposals were incorporated by staff in the 2024 budget.
As the city’s former City Clerk, he frequently offers advice at meetings on parliamentary procedure.
The city’s Land Use Commission is perhaps the city’s most rigorous citizen group, involving hours of hearings reviewing applicants proposals.
