City of Evanston Blog
Articles Posted in: October 2009
Mayor Tisdahl Goes to Springfield
Mayor Tisdahl and I continued our tour yesterday of seats of government with a visit to Springfield. After our four hour car ride, we went right to work. The purpose of the trip is really two fold. First, the Mayor wants to re-introduce Evanston to leaders of the General Assembly who may not have heard much from the City of Evanston in recent years. Many here think of Evanston as only a beautiful city with mansions on the lake. The…
H1N1 Vaccine Update
The City received its first 10,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine yesterday. To find out more about how the City will be distributing it, check out our H1N1 information page.…
Community Budget Workshops
Planning for a series of community budget workshops is in full swing. It all starts next Saturday, November 7. For complete information, see our budget website.…
Green Building Ordinance Passed
Biggest news out of the City Council meeting night was the adoption of a green building ordinance. A Chicago Tribune blog site does a good job detailing the action. The ordinance impacts only large newly constructed projects. A citizens committee will continue working on how the ordinance should impact renovations to existing larger buildings.…
World Polio Day
Evanston-based Rotary International is marking World Polio Day today with activities and events around the world. See video above and press release from RI for details.…
Day 2 in Washington
Day 2 in Washington was once again focused on advocating on behalf of the City's Neighborhood Stabilization Grant. We started the day at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is the agency which is offering the grant. The Mayor looked up an old friend, Dan Lurie, who is a Senior Advisor to a HUD Deputy Secretary. Dan grew up here in Evanston and his family still lives here. We met with Dan and two colleagues. While under Federal…
Mayor Tisdahl Goes to Washington
Mayor Tisdahl and I began a day and a half trip to Washington, DC early this morning with a flight from O'Hare. It is still a little unsettling for me after all the years I flew red eyes from California to Washington to be able to get here in less than two hours. We had three main meetings today. First we met with staff from the Environmental Protection Agency primarily to talk about funding for water infrastructure projects. We learned…
Test Video of City Council Meeting on YouTube
Staff is working bringing all City Council meetings to the Internet. We have placed the Council's budget meeting from Monday night on our new YouTube channel. What do you think?…
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Halloween Safety Tips
See this release (PDF) from the Evanston Police Department on Halloween safety tips. I love this graphic!!!…
Libraries Serve as Workforce Development Tool
An interesting article from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) about the role of public libraries in helping people caught in the recession. Look at any Evanston Public Library any week day and you will see the findings of this article are very true here.…
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Special City Council Meeting Monday Night
Monday night the City Council is having a special meeting to discuss budget. The packet for the meeting can be found here (PDF). What the midyear budget report says is that we are looking at a $4 million deficit in the current fiscal year. I am going to propose covering the deficit with $2 million from reserves and $2 million of general spending reductions. I am not proposing any layoffs or furloughs, but will be instituting next week several spending…
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Daily Northwestern Video on Town Gown Relations
N-U Said: Town-gown relations from Daily Northwestern on Vimeo.…
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Walk Against Violence
At last night's Council meeting, Alderman Jean-Baptiste asked that we publicize a walk against violence being held at ETHS on Friday. …
Council Actions on 10/12/09
1. Approved community budget workshop schedule. First meeting Saturday November 7 all day, followed by evening meetings November 12, 17 and 30. More info to come. 2. Approved Federal, State, Regional Government Affairs Agenda. 3. Began discussion of Council Goal concerning safety. 4. Approved 4 hour free parking in Maple Avenue garage downtown to assist merchants impacted by streetscape improvements and free holiday parking in all downtown garages. 5. Held for further discussion at October 26 meeting proposed green building ordinance…
Newsy Items on the October 12th City Council Agenda
1. Final review of proposed community budget workshop schedule. 2. Discussion of Council Goal concerning Federal, State, Regional Government Affairs Agenda. 3. Discussion of Council Goal concerning safety. 4. Review of City's annual financial report and acturial report of Fire and Police pension obligations (PDF). 5. Consideration of 4 hour free parking in Maple Avenue garage downtown to assist merchants impacted by streetscape improvements and consideration of free holiday parking in all downtown garages. 6. Further discussion on proposed green…
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Video from Schapiro Reception
We are getting the City's new You Tube Channel up and running. Here is video from the Schapiro event yesterday:…
Evanston Ranked 4th Best Sports City in U.S.
The Sporting News has ranked Evanston the 4th Best Sports City in America. A little shocked.... Well I was too. As you look at the rankings on the Sporting News website, you will see that we share the ranking with another local community. It reads "Chicago-Evanston." I may be new to the area, but I have never seen this pairing in a ranking like this before. We will take it.…
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Evanston Reception for NU President Schapiro
About 100 Evanston community leaders attended a reception yesterday afternoon for Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro at Boo Coo hosted by Mayor Tisdahl and the City Council. A good time was had by all. In case you are wondering, President Schapiro is motioning to indicate the number of fire engines NU has purchased in the last two months for the City of Evanston.…
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Recycling Bins
The City has been working on replacing the small orange recycle bins we have been using for curbside recycling with larger roller blue bins. As this change is happening, the City is collecting the orange bins left at the curb once the blue bins have been delivered. If a resident would like to keep their orange bin for in-home recycling once the blue bin is delivered, then they should no longer use them at the curb. Some residents who have…
Big Weekend in Evanston
Three big City events in Evanston this weekend: Saturday - Green Living Festival and Fire Department Open Houses (PDF) Sunday - Bike the Ridge…