Council Chastises Plan Commissioners' Actions

By Joe Linstroth

The City Council held a special meeting on May 19 to discuss the rift among members of the Plan Commission that led to a walkout by three commissioners at their meeting last week.

"This is not the behavior I would expect from a board or commission," said Third Ward Alderman Melissa Wynne.

"I think we have a very serious situation," said Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward.  If a developer came to her about building in Evanston, she added, "I would caution them." The nine-member commission, which currently has one seat vacant, has split over issues of height and density in its discussions of both the draft downtown plan and the 708 Church St. tower proposal.

Recent Plan Commission meetings have been marked by tense exchanges between members, including a request by one commissioner sent to City officials that another be removed for alleged inappropriate comments - an act, said Alderman Edmund Moran Jr., 6th Ward, that was "unprecedented" in his years on the Council. 

"There is clearly something wrong, relationally, between various members of the Plan Commission," he said. 

The rift came to a head on May 14, when Commissioners David Galloway, Charles Staley and vice chair Stuart Opdycke walked out, negating the quorum necessary to continue the meeting.  The walk-out, Mr. Staley told the RoundTable, was the commissioners' only option to prevent a vote on reducing the height limits in the draft downtown plan from 42 stories to 25 - a move, he said, that was pushed through by the commissioners who favored the height reduction in order to take advantage of their 4-3 majority due to the absence of Mr. Woods, who has leaned toward higher height restrictions in past meetings. 

Commissioner Johanna Nyden, who proposed the motion that led to the walkout, told the RoundTable it was an effort to move the commission forward in its discussions of the draft downtown plan, which they have been working on since last fall.  She said she would have made the motion even if Mr. Woods had been present. 

Some Council members on Monday thanked the commissioners for what Second Ward Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste said was "apparently a thankless job." Most aldermen, however, expressed little sympathy for either side.

"You win some and lose some, but you don't walk out before a vote's been taken," Ald. Wynne said. 

"To get up and take your ball and go home, it's ridiculous," said Alderman Steven Bernstein, 4th Ward.

"From my perspective, I would not be looking for the Plan Commission to take a vote without one member being there, particularly with an issue that is so important to the City," said Ald. Moran. 

"When you have a contentious issue, and when the chair is not there and you force a vote, it's disrespectful," said Ninth Ward Alderman Anjana Hansen. 

Some aldermen downplayed the impact the final Plan Commission vote would have on the Council's view of the recommendations put forth by the Commission.  "Four-four, four-three, is fine and we'll take it from there," said Ald. Wynne. 

"You do us a disservice if you believe the vote is what counts," said Ald. Bernstein.  "What we're concerned about is your advocacy, your feelings. ...You follow the standards, you follow the law, leave the politics to us." 

It seems political considerations grew more difficult for the commissioners to ignore, however, with the decision earlier this month by the Planning and Development Committee, which consists of all nine aldermen, to table a vote on the Fountain Square tower project until the finalization of the downtown plan. The contentious height limitations in the draft downtown plan called for at last week's Plan Commission meeting, if passed by the City Council, would have effectively killed the proposed 38-story tower.

"We have a real unique and controversial project in front of us," said Ald. Jean-Baptiste. 

"Emotions have run so high and those emotions have impeded the good judgment [the Plan Commission] showed in the past.

"This particular issue, 708 [Church St. proposal], has created some animosity, some mistrust," he said.  

While the aldermen flirted with the idea of disbanding the entire commission, the meeting ended with the Council's opting to let the commissioners work out their differences.

"If you think you can play nice, then continue to play," said Ald. Bernstein.

"We have too much talent that's sitting there to let this go," said Ald. Wynne.

The decision to retain the commissioners was due, in part, to what Mayor Lorraine Morton said was a "heck of a problem" convincing qualified volunteers to serve on City boards and commissions - an obstacle, she said, that will grow now that this dispute among plan commissioners has become public.

Aldermen also said that members of the commission should resign if they feel that the trust within the group is unsalvageable. 

"If you don't think you can get along," said Ald. Hansen, "you are a doing a disservice to our community because no work will get done." 

Commissioner Coleen Burrus and associate commissioner Lawrence Widmayer both told the panel they think the Plan Commission can resolve their differences.

"I think this is a wake-up call," Mr. Widmayer told the Council members.  

"We have to start pulling together as a City," said Ald. Bernstein. "This is the most important commission in the City and it has to do better."  

Amidst the Babble, the Tower Is Tabled

By Mary Helt Gavin

The proposal for a 38-story mixed-use tower at 708 Church St. has been tabled until after the City has adopted its downtown plan. The decision on May 7 by the Planning and Development Committee could put the vote back as far as July, since City staff estimate the Plan Commission will need until June to complete the downtown plan and forward it to the City Council's Planning and Development Committee.

James Klutznick, one of the developers of the proposed tower, said on May 8 his team had not yet decided what they would do next. "We're assessing what transpired last night and will determine our course of action," Mr. Klutznick told the RoundTable.

The vote followed 90 minutes of public comment, most of which came from persons who urged aldermen to reject the tower proposal.

Aldermen at Odds
The initial discussion between Alderman Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, and Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, defined for the most part the ensuing debate.

Ald. Wynne moved that the committee reject the tower proposal. "My reasons are the same as many of the points raised by so many of the speakers. Fundamentally I don't believe the public benefits give us a reason for exploding the zoning ordinance. [The tower] could ruin the downtown that we have so carefully created. We've lost a little bit of our charm but we've added vibrancy."

The proposed tower, Ald. Wynne added, is "so massively out of scale it ruins what we have. I don't think the economic benefits are there, and the public benefits are questionable." She also said she was concerned about the loss of revenue from the businesses that would have to move and the negative impact the construction would have on existing businesses.

"This is our opportunity, but this is not the project. ... I appreciate the developer, but this is not the right project for downtown."

Ald. Moran held the opposing view. He said, "As Alderman Wynne has pointed out, in the last 10 years there's been a lot of revitalizing of a downtown that was flat on its back - a lot of it because of what Mr. Klutznick's father did at Old Orchard, that [debilitated] the retail and mercantile aspect of downtown Evanston. Mr. Klutznick is trying to help bring it back."

Downtown Evanston, Ald. Moran said, is like an organism, "one that either moves forward or slides back. The building that's being proposed is significant and important in downtown Evanston and all of Evanston. It will bring in $20 million in property tax increment between 2010 and 2018, plus generate about $1 million in sales tax revenues. We could use this money to rehab the Hahn building; we could use it to purchase and demolish the Fountain Square building, to re-create Fountain Square, to create a civic performing arts center."

Referring to comments by some residents that the developers' contribution to the affordable-housing fund was not a public benefit because it was mandated by City ordinance, Ald. Moran said he viewed the mandatory contributions to the affordable-housing fund as a public benefit. "The fact that the ordinance requires it is a statement of public values."

He also said aldermen did not have the "luxury of looking at things individually," such as "whether or not you like this building. ... If you do that, you lose sight of how we will be able to bring the City forward." He said aldermen also had to consider the $120 million in taxes the building would generate over its lifetime and that these tax revenues would help the City to address the unfunded liability of $140 million to the police and fire pension funds. He emphasized the need for an economic engine for the City to be able to fund its services, particularly human services and the branch libraries.

"The approval of this plan will give a unified vision of the block: a 38-story building, the Hahn building and possibly the removal of the Fountain Square building," Ald. Moran said. He said the "wedding-cake" model of downtown, with the tallest building in the heart of downtown, had been proposed for quite some time, and added that he felt someone would develop the Fountain Square block, with its low-rise buildings.

Addressing the argument that the building would destroy the character of Evanston, Ald. Moran suggested the character of Evanston can be found in "the lakefront, Northwestern University, the parks system, the beautiful architecture and the transit system."

Although no formal vote was taken on Ald. Wynne's motion to reject the tower proposal, three other aldermen - Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward; Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward; and Anjana Hansen, 9th Ward - said they would also vote to reject the tower proposal. Ald. Tisdahl said, "This is not the capstone project that Evanston wants. Condo owners are not the pot of gold that will solve our financial problem."

Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, who chaired the meeting, did not voice her opinion on the project; neither did Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, nor Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward. When Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward, spoke about the proposal, he said he appreciated the efforts of the developers and wondered if the motion should be tabled.

The Motion to Table
Ald. Moran made the motion to table the vote on the tower proposal until after the downtown plan is adopted, an idea that had been suggested by several residents in public comment over the past few months. The one-vote margin to table the tower proposal reflected the slim margin (4-3) by which the tower proposal came from the Plan Commission to the Planning and Development Committee on its way to City Council.

A motion to table is not debatable but needs a majority to pass. Those who voted in favor of tabling the motion were Alds.. Wollin, Jean-Baptiste, Bernstein, Moran and Rainey.

Ald. Bernstein's support of the motion to table, which kept the tower proposal alive for another day, came as a surprise to many of the 40+ persons in the audience - there were audible gasps and groans audible at his vote - in part perhaps because one reason he had just given for not supporting the tower was the community's perception that the process had been tainted.

"I, too, will be voting against the project," he said. "The height of the building was never a concern ... but I think this building was snake-bitten from the first."

City Council held a closed-session meeting on March 27, 2007, at which the developers presented their plans for the tower along with a vision for a renovated Fountain Square, which the Attorney General's office said violated the Open Meetings Act. Referring to that meeting, Ald. Bernstein said, "After results of this closed-door session were reported ... people thought it was a done deal from the start. ... The downtown plan and the Plan Commission were responding to what they thought was the will of the Council. ... We were tainted by this brush."

Another tall building, Ald. Bernstein said, "will not change the character of this community. ... If the Council passes this ... damage will be done to the psyche of this community,"

Gentrification Delivered

Comments from Jeff Smith

I'd like to thank the Committee for settings aside time to consider these map amendments.

I've previously commented on public benefit and process issues, and won't reiterate those. I do want this Committee to consider, in its mapmaking, one issue that perhaps hasn't been stressed enough, gentrification in Evanston.

Yesterday in Indiana I was observing 5 precincts on behalf of the Obama campaign and observed a number of interactions between supporters and non-supporters that, to put it politely, reminded me just how far we still have to go as a society. There are differences that divide us, and that can only be bridged if we make the affirmative effort to reach out to each other and say you are not just welcome, but you are wanted.

General Condition 3 of the downtown planned development standards requires that "Each planned development shall be compatible with and implement," among other things, "neighborhood planning."

There's been a lot of construction in Evanston in the last decade. Census data indicate that during the same period Evanston has lost thousands of its African-American resident population. How or whether these phenomena are related, it's too early to say, but there does appear to be a correlation, and it does not appear unique to Evanston.

I don't know if adding a few thousand more people, stacked on top of each other, to downtown Evanston will slow gentrification in Evanston, or accelerate it, but I suspect it's the latter. I only know that we haven't studied this, we haven't approved specific projects with possible cumulative impacts sufficiently in mind, and that hurtling toward further map changes without thoughtful consideration and public disclosure of where we want to end up forecloses the possibility that our final destination will be the product of anything we have planned, and may be destructive of the diversity we claim to cherish.

Decisions are tradeoffs. Some feel that new construction downtown will generate, ultimately, funds that may help our built environment. But I didn't move here for concrete, I moved here for the people. If paying for a new fountain means we have to drive out some of our neighbors, to me, it is not worth the price.

The Will of the Council?

One subtext of the outcry against the proposed tower in downtown Evanston is that during the downtown charrette held last summer none of the community comments suggested additional height in the downtown area.

Alderman Steve Bernstein said he felt the Plan Commission members who voted in favor of the tower - which was then proposed at 49 stories - were "responding to what they thought was the will of the Council."

Stuart Opdycke, who was vice chair of the Plan Commission when the vote was taken on the tower, told the RoundTable that is not the case. "I don't care, frankly, what the City thinks," Mr. Opdycke said. "I wasn't making my decision [on that]."

Now chair of the Plan Commission, Mr. Opdycke said, "I hope the [708 Church St.] project is not dead. The TIF [tax-increment financing] window is closing. I hope something can come of this - maybe a performing arts center at the old Varsity Theater [still partly preserved behind the façade of the Gap store on Sherman Avenue].

Carroll Resigns; Russell Appointed Interim City Manager

By Mary Helt Gavin

Assistant City Manager Rolanda Russell is the interim City Manager. In an executive City Council meeting held on May 7, Council members appointed Ms. Russell to be manager effective May 12. Ms. Carroll resigned on April 28, and at that time she said her resignation would be effective June 26. But last week was her last week in office.

In a letter to City staff members, which she distributed to City department heads the following day at their regular Tuesday meeting, Ms. Carroll said, "In my resignation letter to Mayor Lorraine H. Morton, I cited declining personal health as my reason for departure from the City.

"I have very much enjoyed my position as City Manager for the past few years and will miss the great City employees, working with elected officials, and the interaction with the public. I believe we have a group of talented staff, and I know they will continue to do their best to provide great service to our community.

"Julia was hard-working and cheerful, and she tried to keep us on track to do the things that cities do ... Being the city manager is an impossible job. We have to make it less impossible for the next city manager." -- Alderman Elizabeth Tisdahl

"I must do what is best for me at this time. I hope that the City employees and the public will respect my right to privacy as I transition from this organization. I am not going to another position, but I will take some time off to get well."

At the Civic Center
The departure of Ms. Carroll leaves the City with interim appointments at the top executive and financial positions, as there has not been a finance director for several months. Steve Drazner, the assistant finance director, has been holding the fort in the finance department since Matthew Grady III tendered his resignation after less than a year in that office.

Several other department heads have left this year or will be leaving by July 1. The total number of City staff members who have left since Ms. Carroll began her tenure is 44, another City official told the RoundTable. Morale has been very low at the Civic Center for quite some time, a recently retired department head told the RoundTable.

Among these are the heads of the following departments: Community Development (James Wolinski); Health and Human Services (Jay Terry); Law (Herbert Hill); Library (Neal Ney); Public Works (David Jennings); Emergency Management (Max Rubin); Human Resources (Judy Witt). Some of these positions have been filled: Health and Human Services, Evonda Thomas; Library, Mary Johns; Public Works, David Jennings. In addition, the Human Relations department has been subsumed into the Human Services department. Further, the positions of Paula Haynes, who served as director of human relations, and Harvey Saver, assistant director of mental health services, will not be filled. City Clerk Mary Morris, whose position is an elected one, has announced her retirement as well.

The Aftershock
Most City staff members and elected officials said they had not seen Ms. Carroll's resignation coming. Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, said he was "pretty taken aback by it. [Her leaving] is a real loss for the City, in my opinion."

Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, told the RoundTable she was stunned at the news.

Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, said, "Julia's leaving is such a shock. Of course I'm concerned for her health and understand, but I thinkher leaving will be a huge loss to the City."

In her role as the City's chief executive, Ms. Carroll eliminated some departments, consolidated others and subsumed several formerly independent departments or divisions to the city manager's office. She proposed sweeping budget cuts, which included last year's closing of the health department, in each of the years she was in office. She also hired a new actuary for the City, who estimated that the City's unfunded liability to the police and fire pension funds was $140 million, compared to prior estimates of $100 million. One of her innovations was the early retirement incentive, of which several department heads availed themselves, causing in part a large exodus of senior staff from the Civic Center. Since she resigned before April 30, Ms. Carroll herself can take advantage of this incentive package.

"Although there is no way to time health issues, this resignation comes at the worst time possible, less than 48 hours before theretirement of longtime assistant city manager Judy Aiello and City Attorney Herb Hill. I wish her a speedy recovery"-- Alderman Ann Rainey

The combination of her management style and the loss of City staff made some of Ms. Carroll's critics question whether she fully understood the nuances and values of the community or whether she was doing the bidding of the City Council. In some cases criticism of Ms. Carroll appeared to arise from disagreements with her course of action; in other cases it appeared closer to a "shoot the messenger" attitude.

While some Council members appeared to be at odds with the City Manager over the past few weeks - Ald. Rainey said her support of Ms. Carroll had waned over the years - others praised her for her hard work and for taking on the City's tough, but somewhat under-addressed, issues.

In an e-mail response to a question from the RoundTable, Ald. Rainey said, "Although there is no way to time health issues, this resignation comes coincidentally at the worst time possible, less than 48 hours before theretirement of longtime assistant city manager Judy Aiello and City Attorney Herb Hill. Having Judy or Herb on staff would have made transition seamless. I wish the City Manager a speedy recovery."

Ald. Moran said, "I think she's done a great job of getting the staff in pretty good shape. She started to engage the Council in important planning processes. We have the Central Street Plan, the Downtown Plan, the West Side plan, the Lakefront Plan, the Arboretum Plan and the strategic plan. ... She was the first person in her position who was willing to tackle the pension problem. I worried she would end up as the murdered messenger."

Alderman Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward, said, "Julia was hard-working and cheerful, and she tried to keep us on track to do the things that cities do - pick up the garbage, keep the streets repaired and keep us safe. She leaves a great legacy of hires - John Burke (public works), Bill Dunkley (zoning), Police Chief Richard Eddington and Fire Chief Alan Berkowsky."

Commenting on the animated and sometimes hostile atmosphere at City meetings - something also noted by the departing Ms. Aiello - Ald. Tisdahl added, "Being the city manager is an impossible job. We have to make it less impossible for the next manager."

Council Bytes

Police Summer Operations
At the May 26 City Council meeting, aldermen approved $189,000 to implement the police department's plan for summer operations, some of which have already begun and which will continue through Sept. 15. These plans include additional police deployment, street youth outreach, parole and probation sweeps and enhanced curfew enforcement. Collaboration with both the Northwestern University police in the areas of their concurrent jurisdiction and the Chicago Police Department along Howard Street will continue, under the summer plan.

In the downtown area, there will be two additional patrol cars on weekends, and the Northwestern Party Car (which ferries students from local bars home to campus) will be staffed jointly by Northwestern and Evanston police officers.

Neighborhood crime will be targeted by the beat officers, in conjunction with a newly formed tactical unit, which will be attached to the Neighborhood Enforcement Team (NET). There will also be a police presence at fairs, youth camps, the Farmers' Market and the July 4 festivities.

In addition to the parole and probation sweeps, the plan calls for joint agency warrant sweeps, curfew initiatives, cigarette stings, panhandling-ordinance enforcement and check for underage drinking, DUI, seat belt use and other road safety issues.

"Most of the adjustments came about because of the change in curfew hours," said Police Chief Richard Eddington. "The rest of the plan is what you'd expect in the summer." He said there will be weekly deployment meetings to allow for adjustments "as the summer unfolds," and there will be an evaluation of the plan at the end of the summer.

Evanston Plaza
Aldermen also approved an amended redevelopment agreement between the City and Joseph Freed, developer of Evanston Plaza (Dempster Street at Dodge Avenue). The amendment allows the developer to share $2 million in sales tax revenues with the City, an increase of $1 million. The developer says the additional revenue will help offset the cost of bringing in Steve and Barry's, purveyors of athletic clothing, as a new anchor for the shopping center.

Northeast Quadrant of Orrington and Davis
Aldermen are poised to grant several concessions to developers Lowe and Golub & Co. in their pursuit of developing 1603-29 Orrington Ave. At the May 27 City Council meeting they will consider a resolution, held in Council on May 12, between the City and Golub under which the City would provide $1.2 million in TIF revenues and other funds to help offset Golub's $3 million cost of relocating the vehicle-access ramp at 1603 Orrington Ave. as part of the proposed residential and retail development there.

An amended planned development agreement, introduced at the May 12 meeting, calls for the redevelopment of 1629 Orrington Ave., the former site of Border's Books & Music, with retail on the bottom and residential on top; the addition of retail in most of what is now the plaza of the bank building at 1603 Orrington Ave. and the addition of new parking spaces along the east side of Orrington Avenue. If passed, the planned development ordinance would expire in 2010.

In other matters, Council members
• approved a change in the zoning code to allow solar collectors with certain height and setback requirements;
• established the Home Grown Artists event as a permanent feature of the Farmers' Market. On six Saturdays during the market season, artists who either live in Evanston or have a studio here will be able to offer their works for sale;
• approved a resolution opposing military intervention in Iran. (See Human Services Committee story.)

Of Piers, Quoins and Pilasters

Downtown Evanston Architecture Walk Premieres

By Mary Mumbrue and Victoria Scott

The Chicago Architecture Foundation's Evanston Downtown Walking Tour debuted Saturday morning. Though it covered only a few square blocks, it uncovered some 140 years of architectural history, exploring both what publicity called Evanston's "main-street charm"
and "skyscraper city."

By the 10 a.m. starting time more than 20 architecture buffs had assembled on the steps of the Evanston Public Library. Participants came from Evanston, from other Chicago suburbs (Oak Park, Schaumburg, Wheeling) and from around the globe (Finland, Italy and the Czech Republic).

They split into three groups, led by volunteer docents who referred to well-studied notecards to provide their lively and engaging narration.

Participants quickly discovered that by looking up - shifting their focus to the facades above many of the "modernized" storefronts - they could catch glimpses of Evanston's architectural past, present and future.

As familiar places became exotic and intriguing in the docents' spotlight, locals realized how little attention they had previously paid to their hometown.

Buildings that Evanstonians know as Einstein Bagels, Gap or Jamba Juice revealed themselves to be examples of diverse architectural styles: Prairie Revival, Victorian, Art Deco, International, Tudor, French, Brutalist and Postmodern.

Early on, the tour took in the 1926 Carlson Building, at nine stories, Evanston's tallest until 1969. Its developer, Victor Carlson, also built the Hotel Orrington and a number of other significant buildings before losing his fortune in the Depression.

Docents touched on the building's construction - its internal steel skeleton and thin limestone skin, or "curtain wall" - as well as design features such as projecting vertical piers and recessed spandrels with Gothic ornamentation.

The walk also encompassed the starkly contrasting Northwestern University Rebecca Crown Administration Building, designed by architect Walter Netsch in 1968 in the Brutalist style inspired by Le Corbusier. Shortly after it was built, its European-style plaza with tall clock tower became the site of student protests.

Docents also devoted time to 21st-century high-rises such as the Optima Towers and Sherman Plaza. The architects of downtown Evanston are among the stars of the field: William Tallmadge; Myron Hunt, who worked with Dwight Perkins and Frank Lloyd Wright, then moved West to do the Rose Bowl and Huntington Library; the firms Perkins and Will, Holabird and Root, Thielbar and Fugard, and Schipporeit-Heinrich; and contemporary luminaries such as David Hovey.

The tour noted ongoing Evanston conflicts, both town/gown and preservationist/ developer. It featured as one example the Hahn building, whose ornamentation includes peacocks, griffin, buffalo, owl and, perhaps, a pronghorn. Though historically preserved, the building is in the Fountain Square block, where a controversial tower is being considered.

One of the tour's nicest surprises came at the end. Everyone admired the multicolored slate roof, first-floor window details and lion faces flanking the doorway of the1927 Chaumont Building across from Raymond Park. Then a resident taking the tour invited two of the groups to come in and see the open interior courtyard on the second level.

The Downtown Evanston tour will be offered at 10 a.m. each second Saturday until October (June 14, July 12, Aug. 9, Sept. 13, Oct. 11) and on the preceding Wednesday from June through August (June 11, July 9, Aug. 6). It is $10 for non-members, $5 for seniors, students and children and free for members of the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

In addition, CAF docents will lead tours of the Evanston Lakeshore Historic District on two Sundays, June 1 and Sept. 7, at 2 p.m. For more information, see architecture.org.

Human Services Committee Addresses War in Iran

By Joe Linstroth

At the May 5 Human Services Committee meeting, aldermen on the committee voted 4-1 to recommend a resolution calling for opposition to U.S. military intervention in Iran.

The Iran Resolution
The resolution was proposed by the North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice, said Dickelle Fonda, a representative of the group and an Evanston resident, in collaboration with the Chicago-based No War on Iran Coalition.

Ms. Fonda said the resolution is only advisory, and while it alone cannot prevent a military attack on Iran, it "makes visible the opposition to such an attack" as well as demonstrates to the country's elected leaders that there will be "serious political consequences" if such an attack were to take place.

The resolution follows the trend of the Evanston City Council's addressing other national issues such as recommending adoption of the Kyoto Protocol and opposing the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq. Berwyn and Urbana are other Illinois cities that have adopted similar resolutions, Ms. Fonda said, and the Chicago City Council will be addressing the issue on May 12.

The resolution was passed 8-1 at the May 12 City Council meeting. Many speakers at that meeting, including some Northwestern University professors, urged the Council to approve the resolution.

Professor William Irons said, "Destabilizing [Iran] would be an even bigger disaster than Iraq or Afghanistan.... We should open channels of communication. There is no reason why the United States and Iran should be enemies."

Robert Adkins urged the Council not to approve the resolution, saying, "You were not elected to put us in a political stance."

‘Fighting' Ordinance
Also up for consideration by the committee was an ordinance on "fighting" proposed by Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington. The ordinance suggests a fine of $100-750 for any person who "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly fight[s] or brawl[s] with another." Chief Eddington said the ordinance would give his officers a tool to remove and arrest the combatants when no one at the scene elects to sign a complaint, thus preventing the fight from re-escalating and having his officers "called right back to the scene 15 minutes later."

Some members of the committee were apprehensive about giving Evanston police officers the power to arrest someone without a complaint.

"I'm concerned that, without a complaining witness, we're violating a person's civil rights," said Fourth Ward Alderman Steven Bernstein.

Chief Eddington told the committee that his officers are "particularly astute at figuring out what happened and to whom.

"The whole point is to maintain order in the neighborhood, not bump up arrests," he said.

The committee directed Chief Eddington to consult further with the City's Law Department before it makes a final recommendation.

Other Matters
• The committee agreed to the concept outline for the Citizens Police Advisory Committee. The committee is to consist of 4 to 9 members with no more than two citizens from any one ward. The committee approved a minor change to the wording in which the members will be appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Human Services Committee. The Council will consider it at their May 27 meeting, Chief Eddington said.
• Committee members, particularly Ald. Bernstein, and Township Assessor Sharon Eckersall continued to wrangle over the Assessor's budget for 2008-09. Ald. Bernstein proposed significant cuts to most items in the budgets.

Ms. Eckersall warned against the cuts, saying her office will be unprepared if a bill in Springfield, which she said is likely to pass, changes property assessments in Cook County from its current three-year cycle to annually.

The Exodus Continues...

Community Development Director James Wolinski Retires

By Joe Linstroth

A lifelong Evanstonian, James Wolinski will conclude his 31-year career with the City, including 19 years spent as community development director, at the end of May.

"To be the community development director in the City I was born in is fantastic," Mr. Wolinski told the RoundTable.

In charge of building development, planning, property standards and zoning, Mr. Wolinski said he was particularly proud of his work on the revitalization of the downtown area and of the Clyde-Callan neighborhood in south Evanston, which suffered from neglect 20 years ago.

More recently, Mr. Wolinski said his department oversaw an increase of more than 200 affordable housing units in Evanston in the last 10 years. "I'll match that record with anyone in the state," he said, but added that Evanston still needs to do more.

He said more than 1,000 condominium units were built in the downtown area in the last 10 years, and his department has collected $1.5 billion in construction permits since 2001.

In terms of safety, he said his department has the strictest code enforcement standards in Cook County.

Mr. Wolinski listed a number of changes and challenges his successor will face, including the implementation of a new permit-tracking software program that will streamline the permit process, as well as the tower proposal for 708 Church St. and the finalization of the downtown plan.

"The tower will be a lynch-pin in terms of how development moves forward in Evanston," Mr. Wolinski told the RoundTable.

With more than 200 recent foreclosures -- the most he has seen in his tenure with the City -- Mr. Wolinski said the department of property standards will face significant challenges in maintaining Evanston's housing stock and preventing neighborhood blight.

The City is going through a slowdown in development, he said, and it will be "interesting to see how it affects Evanston in the near future."

As the City conducts a nationwide search for his successor and looks to replace many others leaving the Civic Center, Mr. Wolinski said the loss of so many long-term City employees will also pose a challenge in the near future. "A lack of institutional history here will be a problem," he said. But he added he is leaving behind a strong, aggressive department that needs no fixing, just a "good leader."

Max Rubin Retires From the City After 40 Years

By Allison Hagey

Emergency management director Max Rubin is leaving the City after 40 years. Over the years, Mr. Rubin has had his hands in many departments at the Civic Center. He began at the City as a front-line supervisor and became a department head two years later. He was Facilities Manager and the director of Public Works, and was the project coordinator for four major projects: the Maple Avenue garage, the Levy Center, the Sherman Plaza garage and the Main Library.

Mr. Rubin says one thing he is proud of in his career as project manager is the construction of the new library 10 years ago. The library was moved to a temporary location near Fountain Square during construction, saving the City considerable funds, he said. Mr. Rubin says working on the project was "fascinating," and that construction utilized the unusual technique of dynamic compaction, a process that involves repeatedly dropping large steel tampers with a crane in order to deeply compact the soil.

Mr. Rubin also says he is proud there were no lawsuits with the four major projects that he oversaw. "When people are out to create something not just for the money, you get a great job," he says.

More recently, Mr. Rubin worked with Emergency Management, broadcasting updated emergency information over the radio statiom 1650 AM and readying the City for the unexpected. He noted that City Manager Julia Carroll was the first to make Emergency Management a full-time position, a challenge Mr. Rubin has taken in stride. He has been called "protector of the City" because of his care of the buildings and his work in emergency preparedness.

After working 40 years for the City, Mr. Rubin has become close to many of the staff at the Civic Center and relates leaving the City to "losing [his] family." However, he says Evanston is "on the right track," and that Ms. Carroll has put the City "on a path to make a reasonable budget." He is also proud of the face of the new downtown, and that downtown Evanston is "vibrant" and has "come a long way."

Mary Morris, City Clerk, Retires

By Mary Helt Gavin

In this time of sound bytes and impersonal cyber-communication, the office of City Clerk Mary Morris seemed a throwback to a slower, friendlier time. People wander into or phone the office asking for help in navigating City government or, sometimes, just the City.

In a recent hour-long interview with the RoundTable, Ms. Morris answered four or five calls - and it was lunch time. Most of the callers in fact need information from other departments, and Ms. Morris graciously switched the callers to the proper department.

"The Clerk's office has always tried to help people and not shuffle them off. ...The attitude here is that no question is stupid. We're here because the salaries are paid by the taxpayers," Ms. Morris said.

One of many senior staff members taking advantage of the City's early retirement incentive, Ms. Morris has been in the Clerk's office since 1989, when she served as deputy City Clerk, and she has served as Clerk since 1997.

The Clerk's office handles most of the records of City government, Ms. Morris said. She and her staff are record-keepers, election watchdogs, processers of the City's myriad documents and ordinances, and secretaries of meetings. "We take minutes of all City meetings and process all ordinances and resolutions. We process code amendments and send them to the codifier, create the year's calendar of meetings and post notices of meetings." Freedom of Information Act requests come through the Clerk's office, she said.

For City elections, the Clerk's office prepares packets for potential candidates. In addition, Ms. Morris said, "We register voters and see that all polling places are accessible." With early voting and online information, there is not as much election work as before, she said.

The Clerk's office no longer sells hunting and fishing licenses, Ms. Morris said, "but people still come in and ask." The office has also suspended the processing of passport applications, something Ms. Morris says she is sorry to see discontinued: "I loved the passports: whole families - mom and dad and kids - taking a trip together."

It is, Ms. Morris, concedes, a more-than-40-hours-per-week job.

While she has opted for early retirement, joining more than 40 other senior staff colleagues, Ms. Morris says she is somewhat worried "about the loss of institutional memory ... We still have people who have been here for a while, but not like [ emergency management director] Max [Rubin] or [corporation counsel] Herb [Hill] or [assistant city manager] Judy [Aiello]." She says she is "concerned about the old Evanston."

As she prepares to leave - her last day is tomorrow - Ms. Morris says she hopes her successor will continue to make public service the direction of the office. "I would like for it to be an office where anybody can come in and be comfortable asking any question about what laws have been passed and what's going on," she said.

Council members have still not been able to agree on a person to serve the remainder of Ms. Morris's term.