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 took a step back Monday on a proposed plan to convert a vacant downtown office building into a temporary shelter to house migrants, asking whether the site was the right fit. The council, down to five members due to illness, reluctantly declined to give explicit directions to city…
Lee Street Beach proved popular spot to view Monday’s eclipse By Bob Seidenberg It’s still too early in the year for swimming at the city’s Lee Street Beach. But it turned out to be an ideal place to catch the United State’s first solar eclipse since 2017 and the last until August 2044. “We wanted…
By Bob Seidenberg The Envision Evanston 2045 process is off to a fast start, garnering more than 900 responses from residents about what they’d like to see in the city’s major revision of its zoning code and comprehensive plan. In an update to the Evanston City Council at their March 25 meeting, Sarah Flax, the…
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 Restaurants could start selling alcohol as early as 7 a.m. seven days a week, under a change to go in front of the City Council’s Administration & Public Works Committee at their Marc 25 meeting. The change only applies to alcohol sold in restaurants during the period when their patrons are offered…
By Bob Seidenberg Local landscapers maintained that cost was a major barrier transitioning to electric-powered leaf blowers after a city ordinance went into April 1, 2023, banning the use of gas-powered or propane-powered devices because of their noise and harmful effects environmentally. Nearly a year later, the city is moving forward on a bulk purchase…
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…
