City of Evanston Blog
Articles Posted in: July 2010
Chicago Structural Advantages and Professional Services
I came across this interesting entry in a blog called "The Urbanophile" that shares the author's thoughts on future economic development strategies for the greater Chicago area. I think this makes a lot of sense especially for Evanston. Thoughts?…
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Update on Civic Center Roof Repair Project
With the first change order for the project on Monday's City Council Agenda I asked project manager Stefanie Levine for a status report: "Roofing work continues on schedule at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center. The contractor is currently in the process of performing work on the building’s north wing. Work on the south wing will follow later this summer once the north wing is complete. Currently the contractor is nearly a third complete with tearing off the old slate…
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Newsy Items on Monday City Council Agenda
All links are Adobe Acrobat PDF 1. Final Action on the Township of Evanston Budget. 2. Presentation of new City efforts to get more volunteers helping the City of Evanston. 3. Consideration of March 1, 2010 Police and Fire Pension Actuarial Report. 4. Consideration of first change order for the roof replacement project at the Civic Center. 5. Consideration of extension of electric franchise with Commonwealth Edison. Agenda Full Agenda Packet…
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New City Bond Rating - AAA
The City received a new bond rating from Fitch Rating today of “AAA”, Fitch’s highest rating, in advance of the capital improvement bonds we will be selling soon. The City’s previous rating was “AAA” Fitch's press release has all the details. I will point out the section “Key Rating Driver”: “--The city's ability to restore financial equilibrium while adequately addressing its severely under-funded pension system especially given the general malaise of the current economic climate.”…
Tribune Article on Vehicle Stickers
The Tribune today ran an interesting article about what area cities and villages are doing to track down residents who have not purchased their city vehicle sticker. The article talks about six dozen Illinois cities purchasing vehicle registration data from the Illinois Secretary of State office to cross reference registered vehicles against those with city vehicle stickers. The City of Evanston is one of the cities in Illinois that does this and has used this state information for ten years…
Summer Reading Outpost Opens at Evanston Plaza
Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste reads a story today at the grand opening of the Evanston Public Library's Summer Reading Outpost at the Evanston Plaza Shopping Center. The outpost will be open through August.…
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Evanston Plays Part in "Transformers 3"
Here is a photo (a little hard to make out) of an "Evanston Taxi" destroyed during filming of "Transfomers 3" this weekend in downtown Chicago. Thanks to Alderman Ann Rainey for pointing this out from a posting from Joe P. on her message board.…
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Blog Update
The City's new website presents a problem for me with the blog. I have often used the blog as a way to post "news" about what is going on in the City government and the community. We now have a specific module on the website for news. This takes away that portion of what I blogged about before, leaves me to re-evaluate how I use the blog and direct it toward more longer posts with perhaps different insights on what…
New Website and Firefox
The new City website has been getting great reviews. However, one problem we have encountered and are still working on is how the website is rendered in Firefox a web browser. There is one particular page (with the City Council agendas) that does not render at all. We know of the problem and are working on it. Update 07/20/10: All fixed.…
Lehman Walker
The City received unexpected news this week with the announcement that Community and Economic Development Director Lehman Walker would be returning to University Center, Missouri where he had served many years as the Community Development Director to become its City Manager. Lehman has been such a great addition to the City's team since joining us late last year. I remember greeting him on his first day saying to take his time to get to know his new department because on…
Special City Council Meeting Monday
The City Council is holding a special meeting Monday at 7 PM in the Council Chambers as part of a year long review of components of our Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. The discussion Monday evening will focus on City special events (what do we do, are there other events we should be doing? who are our partners? should we identify new partners? etc.) and the City's youth programs. With the FY 2010/11 budget, the City consolidated responsibility for…
Andys Frozen Custard Ribbon Cutting and Giveway
First Ward Alderman Judy Fiske presided over the ribbon cutting for the new Andy's Frozen Custard in Downtown Evanston. Along with the ribbon cutting Andy's is also giving away free sundaes all day today. The sundaes are not just mini-sized, but full sized sundaes with whatever topping you like. Very classy for Andy to do this. There was already a long line at 11 AM this morning. Patrons are being asked to make a donation to the Evanston YWCA for…
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Newsy Items on Monday City Council Agenda
All links are Adobe Acrobat (PDF): 1. Further discussion of the Township of Evanston's budget. 2. Consideration of amendments to the City's State and Federal Legislative Priorities. 3. Consideration of new electric franchise agreement with Commonwealth Edison to provide electrical service in Evanston until July 14, 2015. Full Agenda Agenda Packet…
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Impact to City Water Usage During Wettest June in 108 Years
There was an article in the newspaper a few days ago mentioning that June, 2010 was the wettest June in the Chicago area in 108 years. It made me wonder how this impacted Evanston water usage. In June, 2010 227,275 gallons of water were pumped from our treatment plant to Evanston customers. This is down from 2009's 258,895 gallons or a 14% decrease. The 2010 number represents a 17% decrease from 2008 usage and a 26% decrease from June 2007…
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Emerson Street YMCA Featured in New York Times
There is a great article in the Thursday July 8 edition of the New York Times on the recent commemorations of the former Emerson Street YMCA (on the Times website tonight). Also check out the photo gallery that accompanies the story.…
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500
The City's Public Works Department collected over 500 pounds of recycling from the 4th of July parade.…
442
The City of Evanston Police Department has issued 442 citations for illegal use of cellular phones while driving since the City's ban went into effect in March.…
Fire at YMCA
A fire occurred this evening at the YMCA, 1000 Grove Street. The following details are from talking to EFD and YMCA staff on the scene. They were all busy responding to the emergency, so some times and details may ultimately be corrected: Upon arrival we learned that locations throughout downtown Evanston were experiencing power outages beginning in the late afternoon. The YMCA had experienced outage(s) from about 4:30 PM. At approximately 8:00 PM a fire started in a ComEd transformer room at…