On Oct. 15 and 16, Evanstonians voted for their favorite ideas to celebrate the City’s sesquicentennial in 2013.
Their top 30 choices are as follows:
• Create year-round indoor/outdoor farmer’s market.
• Provide free wireless Internet access throughout Evanston.
• Make Evanston a truly bike-oriented city.
• Create a pedestrian/bikeway on Old Mayfair rail spur.
• Make Evanston an award-winning walkable city.
• Create urban farms in neglected space.
• Build a vocational/technical school with regional employment opportunities.
• Become one of the greenest cities in the United States.
• Promote responsible water use and conservation.
• Offer free community gardens, greenhouses and composting sites.
• Establish a comprehensive low-income health and wellness clinic.
• Consolidate City and Township governments.
• Provide universal preschool.
• Consolidate school districts 65 and 202.
• Keep the lakefront commercial-free.
• Expand residential urban gardening and composting.
• Allow free beach access for Evanston residents.
• Make District 65 and District 202 top school districts in the United States.
• Plant 2,013 trees.
• Develop self-sufficient and sustainable energy resources.
• Become a carbon-neutral city.
• Extend bike/walking paths between Evanston and Chicago.
• Increase energy efficiency in buildings.
• Establish branch libraries throughout Evanston.
• Establish a dental clinic for low-income families.
• Develop a co-op technical school for under-served youth.
• Institute Evanston community day of service.
• Bury all overhead utility cables and wires.
• Install permeable pavement throughout Evanston.
• Create a youth career and leadership center.