“This [TIF], in my opinion, is the method for removing the Black community at all costs. … It should not be supported by any member of the City Council.” — Bennett Johnson
Author Archives: Mary Gavin
Posted inCity News
Police Department Announces Two Promotions
Interim Police Chief Aretha Barnes on June 29 promoted two Evanston Police Officers to the rank of sergeant. In Council Chambers of the Civic Center, City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza administered the oath of office to Tosha Wilson and Richard Tyson. Mayor Daniel Biss thanked the officers for their service to the community. Noting the crowd […]
Posted inArt & Life
‘Up From Down Home’: A Family’s Flight to Safety
An edgy confrontation with white co-workers on the way home from his job at a lumber mill in Greenville, Ala., made James “Pop” Simmons wary. A menacing night visit by other white men shortly afterward put him on high alert. But it was the frightening warning from a concerned white neighbor that made Mr. Simmons […]
Posted inArt & Life
A Monarch Emerges
Sigrid Pilgrim discovered a monarch egg on May 30, a dot on a milkweed leaf. She raised the caterpillar and, on June 25, released the female monarch. “It is truly a wonderful miracle, given that all the caterpillar eats is milkweed leaves,” she said.
Posted inArt & Life
A Look at Reparations From Three Faiths
Continuing their covenant to combat racism and confront the truth about their own past histories, two local churches will take the lead at noon on June 20 in a discussion of reparations from the perspectives of Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The covenant between Lake Street Church and Second Baptist Church was forged decades ago to […]
Posted inPublic Square
Reader: Increased Parking Fees Discourages Patrons and Visitors
Yesterday my husband and I decided to eat at Cross Rhodes for the first time since the March 2020 lockdown. We parked at meter 175 on Chicago Avenue. It would take only 70 cents for 20 minutes even though the signs on the meter said $1.50 for one hour and it had a 2-hour time […]
Posted inCity News
The Five-Fifths TIF Aims to Enhance Black Businesses in the Fifth Ward
The June 3 meeting of the Joint Review Board to consider a recommendation on the Five-Fifths tax-increment financing TIF district attracted nearly twice the typical number of interested residents. They raised questions about the possible developments in the proposed TIF district, opening up the possibilities of robust discussions at the July 12 public hearing and […]
Posted inArt & Life
A Musical Round of Vaccines
There is a sly contagion in “Vaccination Round,” an a cappela card of thanks to Anthony Fauci from singer-songwriter Kristin Lems and friends. The five-part round features Ms. Lems (“Astra Zeneca”), Carol Liner (“J. and J.”), Tom Cortese (“Moderna”), Tery Veras (“Pfizer”) and Lauran Miller (“Sputnik”) each singing the name of a Vaccine . The song ends with […]
Posted inArt & Life
Green Day at the Post Office
A friend called a friend who called a friend, and a crew from Nature’s Perspective Landscaping showed up to do some yard work at the Davis Street Post Office. “Jay DeWitt brought it to Patrick Hughes’s attention” – that the Post Office was looking weedy and seedy, said Ben Klitzkie of Nature’s Perspective. “Once I […]
Posted inArt & Life
Photos Around Town
Evanstonians have captured the beauty of late spring. At dawn in late May, Mary Mumbrue found these herons in the still waters of Lake Michigan near the lakefill. Mike Roche found this bright butterfly alighting on a graceful stem at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. And at Lovelace Park, Sigrid Pilgrim wrote, she “found this […]