Good Tuesday morning, Evanston.
Evanston City Council members approved the appointment of Ann Arbor Assistant City Administrator John Fournier as the next City Manager at the Monday, May 23, City Council meeting, bringing to a close a bruising process to find a new city leader.
The vote was 9-1, meeting the seven-vote minimum needed under council rules to appoint a City Manager. Council members stood and audience members applauded following the vote.
Under the approved employment agreement, Fournier, 38, will receive a base salary of $248,000 prorated from his start date, which is to be no later than July 18.
An Evanston Public Library branch in the Weissbourd-Holmes Family Focus building would be “ideal” and complement the other services intended to be housed in the building once it is renovated, the head of the organization told the Evanston Public Library Board last week.
As much as 50% of the Family Focus building is currently underutilized, Dara Munson, Family Focus President and Chief Executive Officer, told library trustees at their May 18 meeting.
The library is among the community-based organizations working with Family Focus to explore future uses of the agency’s building in the Fifth Ward at 2010 Dewey Ave.
At This Time: Monday at 8:44 a.m. Bud Tinch directs traffic at the corner of Main Street and Judson Avenue, next to Lincoln Elementary School. “This is a busy intersection,” he said. “Sometimes drivers can’t see. Sometimes kids can’t see.” The city now pays for most crossing guards. The City Council voted Monday night to stop funding the cost of guards for District 202 and all private schools. The schools will pay. The city will share guard costs with District 65 but decrease payments every year until 2027. (Photo by Richard Cahan)
COVID-19 by the numbers: 19 new cases were reported Sunday, May 22, the last day the city updated totals. The seven-day average is 49 cases per day.
Meet the photographers who picture Evanston for the RoundTable
“I’m from the Evanston RoundTable and I’d like to take your picture. That’s what I tell people. It usually works.”
That’s RoundTable photographer Richard Cahan, explaining how he convinces Evanstonians to pause long enough to be featured in At This Time, his unique daily photo essay on the life of our community.
We’re very proud of the progress we’ve made expanding and enhancing the content of the RoundTable over the past two years – especially our photography.
With our Spring Membership Drive in full swing, we thought you’d like to know more about Richard Cahan and colleague Joerg Metzner, two of the photographers who have been bringing you some of the RoundTable’s best images.
As a nonprofit newsroom, the RoundTable depends on the community’s support to bring you the great work of contributors such as Richard and Joerg. If you have not yet become a member of the RoundTable, won’t you join us today?
Elsewhere on the RoundTable website
Two District 65 PTA presidents honored with Phyllis Ganser award. Kate Lister and Yoli Maya Yeh Joseph were honored Monday with Phyllis Ganser Outstanding PTA Volunteer of the Year Awards for the support they gave students and parents. Lister leads the Haven Middle School PTA and Joseph is president of the Oakton Elementary PTA and the District 65 PTA Council.
Vintage Garage brings dozens of vendors to Evanston parking garage. More than 70 vendors piled into the Maple Avenue parking garage Sunday, May 22, to sell vintage toys, cashmere sweaters, midcentury furniture, retro lighters and everything in between. The vendors are a part of a Chicago-based flea market called Vintage Garage.
Getting to know Derrick Gragg. In this edition of People You Should Know, Derrick Gragg, Vice President for Athletics & Recreation at Northwestern University, is interviewed by Wildcats super-fan Ira Mitchell, co-chair of the board of directors at the Center for Independent Futures.
Evanston Garden Fair returns after pandemic hiatus. This last weekend saw the return of the annual Evanston Garden Fair, which took a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Almost all the plants were grown by members of the Lincolnwood Garden Club of Evanston.
The week in photos: May 9-16. This week’s spring photography is all purple and green, with falling lilac pedals and a “green alley.”
Celebrate the opening of the Gibbs-Morrison Teen Center with a ribbon-cutting today. Over the past few months, the Gibbs-Morrison Cultural Center at 1823 Church St. has gone through a transformation with a new Teen Center added for high school students.
City seeks community input on next police chief. Some community members participated in a May 18 town hall on what qualities they’d like to see in Evanston’s next police chief. Recognizing that the Black and Latino communities have a unique and critical perspective and in order to create a safe space for productive conversation, the city will host two additional town halls this evening.
Film review: Elegant escape to ‘Downton Abbey’ offers movie therapy at its best. Downton Abbey: A New Era is set in the 1920s, when silent films were quickly being replaced by talking films. Prior to embarking on a trip to the Cote d’Azur, the family is convinced by a Hollywood producer to let him film a silent movie at Downton. The movie within the movie (so meta!) is quirky and fun, laced with drama, romance and historical interest.
Join our team: The Evanston RoundTable is growing! Check out our jobs page for opportunities as a reporter.
Around the web
NU COVID-19 positivity rate dips before Dillo Day weekend. Northwestern’s positivity rate declined more than two percentage points to 7.11% with less than three-fourths the number of new positives. However, testing numbers also declined by almost 300 tests.
Kits 2 Commits: Sports commitments for the Class of 2022. Here’s a look where some graduating ETHS student-athletes are headed next year.
NU for Ukraine encourages students to register for first class offered on Ukrainian history. In a Sunday Instagram post, Northwestern for Ukraine encouraged students to sign up for the first NU class offered about Ukrainian history.
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