30 April 2008
Volume XI Number 9

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Traffic Guy

The Traffic Guy Hears ...

... that, beginning Monday of this week, the Emerson Street bridge over the canal will be closed for repairs. The project, brought to you by IDOT, will probably last through October. Eastbound Traffic will be detoured via McCormick to Dempster then east to Dodge and back north to Emerson. Westbound traffic will turn south on Dodge to Dempster to McCormick then back north to Emerson. This is pretty much the detour used now by big trucks over 18 tons, since the state several months ago listed the Emerson bridge as one needing repairs. The City says "detour" signs will be posted, and changeable message boards will alert traffic. The pedestrian detour is by way of Churdh Street. TG is sure members of the community will be so grateful for the boost to the infrastructure they will not complain about the detours and concomitant congestion. The contractor on the $4.1 million project is Albin Carlson & Company.
... Speaking of infrastructure repairs, check out the viaduct at Dempster.
... that the City is going to make fence improvements at Penny and Snyder parks. Speaking of beautification, we'll also get another 475 trees in parks and parkways.
... that we'll be getting some new art. Smart art, for one - a piece by Robert Smart for fire station #5 and a piece called "Here and Now" by artist Indira Frietas Johnson, to be installed at Raymond Park.
... that this barge was seen recently cruising the canal checking for downed trees.
... that last week early-morning bikers and walkers were surprised to see a car in the lake at Greenwood Street. It was pretty soaked but not wholysubmerged. A police officer told a RT reporter it looked like the car had been stolen for a joyride and then "dumped
in the lake."
... that one of the great things about our sister-city collaboration with Belize City is how our City staff has used their skills to help Belizeans transform their City. Many are also aware of ways to recycle things that are no longer usable here. Fire Division Chief Sam Hunter has spearheaded this effort from the beginning, and recently the City of Evanston presented the City of Belize with its first parking meters. Bruce and Radiant Sanchez came to Evanston to pick up the 750 meters, as well as nine dialysis machines (five working, four for parts) and 16 beds. None of the shipping costs - including airfare for Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez - was paid for by the City.
hawk ... that this Cooper's hawk was seen near Emerson Street recently. Hawks, like other wildlife here, take TG's breath away.
... that two brave Evanston police officers, Brian Brandenburg and Ronald Bloomberg, rescued 65-year-old Mary Gibson from a fire at her house on Wesley Avenue last week. The City reports that vehicles were dispatched at approximately 3:30 p.m., and shortly beforehand the two officers "arrived on the scene and rescued the woman from a flashover. With Officer Bloomberg at the front door, Officer Brandenburg crawled into the house, located the injured woman and brought her to the door. The two officers carried her down the stairs and then down the block to safety just before the fire increased in severity." With the help of some mutual aid companies from neighboring communities, firefighters extinguished the blaze of the two-story home in about 45 minutes. One firefighter, Captain Wagner, fell down a flight of stairs hidden by the smoke." As of last week the cause of the fire was still "under investigation."
... from our readers: TG: The morning after your April 16 article on abandoned cars in the Maple Avenue garage appeared, the police came to our house to inform us that our car - reported stolen from the garage last June - was found (in the garage). About a month ago our insurance agent, who had settled our claim, had to clear up a summons to appear in court for an unpaid parking ticket (in the Maple Avenue garage) - no feedback from the police. Lots of unanswered questions. - Virginia and Seymour La Rock
From TG: TG can't really take any credit for that but sure looks forward to hearing the answers to those questions.
On the other hand, sometimes TG goofs. Read on.
TG: The photo on page 21 of the 4/16/08 EvanstonRoundTable of a truck stuck under a viaduct has a caption that identifies its location as Green Bay and Ridge. The Traffic Guy's column identifies the location as Lincoln and Ridge. Both are incorrect, as neither of those viaducts have columns separating lanes of traffic as shown in the photo. The actual location was at Lincoln and Green Bay. I got stuck in the resulting traffic jam. The truck was there for over two hours and all eastbound traffic on Lincoln was detoured.
From TG: Thanks for the info; TG hates to make mistakes and regrets the error.

The Traffic Guy thinks ...

. Belize Mayor Lorraine Morton, left, and Fire Division Chief Samuel Hunter, right, hold one of the 750 parking meters the City recently donated to Belize City. Bruce Sanchez, center, accepted the donations.
Photo by Allison Hagey.
.. that TG would have liked it if we could give all our parking meters to Belize City. Evanston really needs to find a way to address its habit of balancing the budget on parking fines. We say we support the downtown and other merchants, and then we make it difficult or unpleasant for folks to patronize them.
... that after that winter, things are sure feeling green. Don't forget to act and think green this summer. We're all going on a carbon diet.

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Carroll Resigns; Russell Appointed Interim City Manager

Posted May 8, 2008 || Assistant City Manager Rolanda Russell is the interim City Manager, effective this past Monday. In an executive City Council meeting held on May 7, Council members appointed Ms. Russell to be manager effective May 12. Ms. Carroll's resignation letter stated her resignation was effective June 26; however, she decided to leave earlier. Because she resigned before April 30 of this year, she will be able to take advantage of the City's early retirement incentive, which she crafted and which has been one of the catalysts for the mass exodus of senior-level management from the Civic Center.

Council members have still not been able to agree on a person to serve the remainder of City Clerk Mary Morris's term. Ms. Morris's last day in office will be May 15. One person suggested by the Mayor was rejected by the City Council, sources told the RoundTable.

Tower Tabled

Posted May 8, 2008 || The proposal for a 38-story mixed-use tower at 708 Church Street has been tabled until after the City has adopted its downtown plan. That could put the vote back as far as July, since City staff estimate the Plan Commission will need until June to complete the downtown plan and forward it to the City Council's Planning and Development Committee.

A motion to reject the proposed tower had been made by Third Ward Alderman Melissa Wynne, and aldermen were announcing their support of that motion when Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, moved to table that motion until after the adoption of the downtown plan. A motion to table is not debatable but needs a majority to pass. Those who voted in favor of tabling the motion were Aldermen Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward; Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward, Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward; Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, and Ald. Moran.

Although no formal vote was taken on Ald. Wynne's motion to reject the tower proposal, four aldermen - Bernstein, Wynne, Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward, and Anjana Hansen, 9th Ward - said they would also vote to reject the tower proposal.

The motion to table a vote on the tower proposal until after the downtown plan is adopted - a move suggested by several residents in public comment over the past few months - came at a special Planning and Development Committee meeting on May 7. The one-vote margin reflected the slim margin (4-3) by which the tower proposal came from the Plan Commission to the Planning and Development Committee on its way to City Council.

Ald. Bernstein's support of the motion to table came as a surprise to many of the 40+ persons in the audience - there were audible gasps and groans audible at his vote - perhaps because he had previously expressed his lack of support of
the tower due to the community's perception of a tainted process.

"I, too, will be voting against the project," he said. "The height of the building was never a concern ... but I think this building was snake-bitten from the first."

City Council held a closed-session meeting last year at which the developers presented their plans for the tower along with a vision for a renovated Fountain Square, which the Attorney General's office said violated the Open Meetings Act. Referring to that meeting, Ald. Bernstein said, "After results of this closed-door session were reported ... people thought it was a done deal from the start. ... The downtown plan and the Plan Commission were responding to what they thought was the will of the Council. ... We were tainted by this brush."

Another tall building, Ald. Bernstein said, "will not change the character of this community. ... If the Council passes this ... damage will be done to the psyche of this community,"

City Manager Resigns

City Manager Julia Carroll tendered her resignation on April 28 in an executive session after the regular City Council meeting. In a letter to Council members, she cited health reasons for her departure, effective June 27. Ms. Carroll came to Evanston in January 2005 from Naperville, where she served as assisant city manager.

In a letter to City staff members, which she distributed to City department heads at their regular Tuesday meeting, Ms. Carroll said, "In my resignation letter to Mayor Lorraine H. Morton, I cited declining personal health as my reason for departure from the City.

I have very much enjoyed my position as City Manager for the past few years and will miss the great city employees, working with elected officials, and the interaction with the public. I believe we have a group of talented staff and I know they will continue to do their best to provide great service to our community.

I must do what is best for me at this time. I hope that the city employees and the public will respect my right to privacy as I transition from this organization. I am not going to another position, but I will take some time off to get well."

Plans began almost immediately afterward for the transition. Had April 30 not been the last day for Assistant City Manager Judith Aiello, she would likely have been the Council's choice for acting City Manager - having served in that position three times previously. For Ms. Aiello, though, there is no going back. Asked whether she would return, she told a reporter with a grin, "No. First of all, I don't want to."

Another assistant City Manager, Yolanda Russell, could be the Council's choice as they look for the transition plan in the next few weeks.

At the Civic Center
The imminent departure of Ms. Carroll leaves the City without executive or financial leadership, as there has not been a finance director for several months. Steve Drazner, the assistant finance director, has been holding the fort in the finance department since Matthew Grady III tendered his resignation after less than a year in that office.

Several other department heads have left this year or will be leaving by July 1: Community Development (James Wolinski); Health and Human Services (Jay Terry - new director, Evonda Thomas); Law (Herbert Hill); Public Works (David Jennings - new director, John Burke); Emergency Management (Max Rubin); Human Resources (Judy Witt). In addition, the Human Relations department has been subsumed into the Human Services department. Further, the positions of Paula Haynes, who served as director of human relations and Harvey Saver, assistant director of mental health services, will not be filled. City Clerk Mary Morris, whose position is an elected one, has announced her retirement as well. The RoundTable estimates that 30 persons have left City employ in the last three years, but one aldermen said the number is as high as 40. Morale has been very low at the Civic Center for quite some time, a recently retired department head told the RoundTable.

The Aftershock
Most City staff members and elected officials said they had not seen Ms. Carroll's resignation coming. Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, said he was "pretty taken aback by it. [Her leaving] is a real loss for the City, in my opinion."

Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, told the RoundTable she was stunned at the news.

Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, said, "Julia's leaving is such a shock! Of course I'm concerned for her health and understand, but I think her leaving will be a huge loss to the City."

In her role as the City's chief executive, Ms. Carroll eliminated some departments, consolidated others and subsumed several formerly independent departments or divisions to the city manager's office. She proposed sweeping budget cuts, which included last year's closing of the health department, in each of the years she was in office. In addition, she hired a new actuary for the City, who estimated that the City's unfunded liability to the police and fire pension funds was $140 million, compared to prior estimates of $100 million.

The combination of her management style and the loss of City staff made some of Ms. Carroll's critics question whether she fully understood the nuances and values of the community or whether she was doing the bidding of the City Council. In some cases criticism of Ms. Carroll appeared to arise from disagreements with her course of action; in other cases it appeared closer to a "shoot the messenger" attitude.

While some Council members appeared to be at odds with the City Manager over the past few weeks - Ald. Rainey said her support of Ms. Carroll had waned over the years -others praised her for her hard work and for taking on the City's tough but somewhat under-addressed issues.

In an e-mail response to a question from the RoundTable, Ald. Rainey said, "Although there is no way to time health issues, this resignation comes coincidently at the worst time possible, less than 48 hours before the retirement of long time assistant city manager Judy Aiello and City Attorney Herb Hill. Having Judy or Herb on staff would have made transition seamless. I wish the City Manager a speedy recovery."

Ald. Moran said, "I think she's done a great job of getting the staff in pretty could shape. She started to engage the Council in important planning processes. We have the Central Street Plan, the Downtown Plan, the West Side plan, the Lakefront Plan, the Arboretum Plan and the strategic plan. ... She was the first person in her position willing to tackle the pension problem. I worried she would end up as the murdered messenger."

Alderman Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward, said, "Julia was hard-working and cheerful, and she tired to keep us on track to do the things that cities do - pick up the garbage, keep the streets repaired and keep us safe. She leaves a great legacy of hires - John Burke (public works), Bill Dunkley (zoning), Police Chief Richard Eddington and Fire Chief Alan Berkowsky."

Commenting on the animated and sometimes hostile atmosphere at City meetings - something also noted by the departing Ms. Aiello - Ald. Tisdahl added, "Being the city manager is an impossible job. We have to make it less impossible for the next manager.

Three Honored by Evanston Chamber

Evanston Chamber Awards Father Robert Oldershaw, center, Assistant City Manager Judith Aiello, left, and publisher Mary Helt Gavin were recognized at the annual Chamber of Commerce meeting and gala on April 17 at the Woman's Club of Evanston.

Ms. Gavin, publisher of the 10-year-old Evanston RoundTable, received the Small Businessperson of the Year award. She said she felt she had joined "one of Evanston's most elite and prestigious clubs. We may not all know each other, but we have in common the challenge of operating a small business to offer high-quality products and services to the people of this city that we all love." MORE...

Climate for Change

By Mary Helt Gavin

Turning on its head the adage that says people only talk about the weather, members of the Network for Evanston's Future have partnered with the City of Evanston to develop a climate action plan. The plan will be presented to the public on May 4 in Evanston's greenest building - the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, 303 Dodge Ave. (See story on page 5.)

Still in draft form, the plan contains benchmarks of the community's carbon footprint - the amount of greenhouse gases released into the air from daily life in Evanston. It will also provide suggestions about how individuals, households, businesses and larger institutions can incorporate sustainable activities into their daily routines, said Carolyn Collopy, the City's sustainability coordinator.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Inertia at the federal level in dealing with global climate change has spurred state and local action. In October 2006, Council authorized Mayor Lorraine Morton to sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which pledged the community of Evanston will meet the Kyoto Protocol on Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2012. MORE...