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Remembering the Victims of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina

‘"The brave men are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them and yet go out and meet it,"’ said Father Simpson, quoting the Greek historian Thucydides. "Bravery is neither fearless nor brash; it is the decision to go forward." He added, "We hold sacred the lives of those who died in the nation’s worst disasters. This day we set aside a few moments for remembrance."

Rabbi Klein said, "When we get down to it, we as a society are truly one. We will be there for each other. When people were leaving there were people like you who were willing to help build back. ... There are those who want to celebrate our losses, but we can turn around and celebrate our victories."

"Watch out for one another, and watch out for yourselves," Acting Chief Nilsson told the police officers and  firefighters, "so we can protect those who are running away when we are running toward.

"There are new challenges, and we have new equipment for when it [a major disaster] comes – not if it comes."

Chief Berkowsky said, "It is important not to let our guard down. We have to be prepared for an event that could tap our resources." He also spoke of the fire fighters who went to New York and to New Orleans to help in the aftermath of those disasters.

Tom Janetske of the City’s emergency management team, together with Fire Captain Jim DuPont rang the ceremonial bell that traditionally tolls the death of a firefighter. Because of the rain that morning, the ceremony took place in fire station #1 on Emerson Street rather that in Fireman’s Park. A memorial wreath, brought to the lectern at the ceremony, was to be placed at the park later that day, said Chief Berkowsky.

In separate interviews, both Chief Berkowsky and Acting Chief Nilsson told the RoundTable they believed Evanston was prepared for a major disaster.

Acting Chief Nilsson said, "With the City department and with our mutual aid system, yes, we are in pretty good shape. This has caused us to develop more skills and more training, and we’ve worked together more."

Said Chief Berkowsky, "We now have so many procedures in place, we know that we can react. We have a mobile decontamination unit that we share with 16 other departments. ... The good thins is that we know, too, that aid would be reciprocal. Just as we helped out in New Orleans, we know we would receive help here."

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Panel Selects Five Finalists for New Public Art Piece

"The Sea of Ear Ring ‘06" by Takashi Soga of Utica, N.Y., is another finalist for the public art piece at Sherman Plaza

Artists from all over the world responded to the Evanston Arts Council's request for proposals for the public art piece. The piece will be installed in a 14-by-9-foot area at the intersection of Sherman Avenue and Davis Street, across from Fountain Square, said Jeff Corey, Cultural Arts/Arts Council director.

Responses came from outside the City of Evanston and from beyond the borders of the country.

Submissions by 155 artists came from 33 states and 11 countries and territories including Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Poland, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden and the United States, said Mr. Corey.

After three rounds of review, a panel chose the five finalists based on these criteria: "aesthetic and conceptual merit, how well the work would integrate with the site, durability and maintenance concerns, and the track record of the artist for the completion of a project of this type," said Mr. Corey.

Indira Frietas Johnson's "Conversations: Here and Now" was the only one of the chosen pieces by an Evanston artist. Ms. Johnson said she constructed her piece in hopes of creating something "... that would be representative of the whole community, not just the downtown area."

The piece is composed of a circle of chairs surrounding an empty space that is to be "filled with the voices of the community as they are sitting in the chairs or walking through the space," she said.

If chosen, Ms. Johnson says, her piece will not only represent her own desires for the City but the piece but also will embody the diversity of the community through the "voices" and other symbols captured on the chairs.

Ms. Johnson says she plans to hold three public meetings where she will invite everyone to share their hopes for Evanston and to give her ideas about what they would like to see represented in the work, whether by an emblem of themselves or of their culture, she said.

Other finalists include "Cascade" by David Black of Columbus, Ohio, and " Tower of Light" by Robert McColgan of Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland.

G. Byron Peck of Washington, D.C. submitted an untitled piece that would fill the four corners of the space with brick and multi-colored mosaic columns with a mosaic bench in the center. "The Sea of Ear Ring ‘06" by Takashi Soga of Utica, N.Y., is composed of red painted stainless steel and would tower 15 feet above the ground.

The City of Evanston's Percent for the Arts program funds the commission for the artist and the new public art piece. "It [the program] allocates up to 1 percent of the budget for new municipal construction projects [such as the Sherman Plaza garage] for the acquisition of works of public art," said Mr. Corey.

Scale models of the sculpture proposals will be on display in the Main Library during arts week, Oct. 6-15. A public forum is also being planned for Oct. 11 at which Mr. Corey says he is "hoping that all five finalists will be available to answer questions about the proposal and respond to public feedback."

A winner will then be selected at some point this fall, "most likely in late October or November," he added. The project is to be installed in 2007, but the exact date will not be set until a finalist has been picked and a schedule has been worked out with the artist, said Mr. Corey.

"This project is a major commission for the City of Evanston," said Jeff Corey, " and the Public Art Committee looks forward to selecting a landmark work that Evanstonians will regard proudly for generations to come."

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New Evanston Developments to Use Geothermal Energy

One of the sites, Church Street Village, will be a 40-unit townhome complex. "For a multi-unit development to use all green power, it is the first of a kind," said Mr. Larson.

After Cyrus Homes, builder of the Church Street Village, was introduced to the geothermal concept by Indie Energy, the company quickly took interest and began planning. "We were excited to be using the future of heating and cooling," said Walter Kihm Jr., chair of Cyrus Homes.

The units are being marketed to Evanston schoolteachers, police officers and fire fighters, said Mr. Kihm. Some units are expected to be available in the late spring or early summer of 2007, he added.

Two smaller developments in Evanston will also be using geothermal heating and cooling: Boocoo, a community center located at the corner of Church Street and Dodge Avenue, and an eight-unit condo complex at 2500 Green Bay Road.

At Boocoo, the cost savings of geothermal energy will allow the community center to put money into their mission, said Mr. Larson.

Geothermal heating and cooling utilizes the earth's consistent core temperature. Coils are run deep into the earth to cycle fluid that absorbs or returns heat, depending on the season. Air then passes through the coils and circulates through the space.

In winter the coils extract heat from the earth, and a condenser is used to raise the temperature. In summer the process is reversed: Hot air is drawn from the house and passed through coils that return the heat to the earth.

A geothermal heating and cooling system is capable of making all the same temperature changes as a traditional HVAC system - and does so without gusts of air. It is a more gradual and consistent process, said Mr. Larson.

Waterfurnace, a manufacturer of geothermal systems, states on their website that the environmental impact for the average home using geothermal heating and cooling is equivalent to planting 750 trees or removing two cars from the road.   

A geothermal heating and cooling system will pay for itself in three to five years for residences, and in less time for commercial buildings, said Mr. Larson.

As efficient as geothermal is, the installation is the central drawback. Because of the drilling, which can go up to 400 feet into the earth, geothermal costs nearly double the price of traditional units to install, said Mr. Larson.

"It is definitely proven technology and it has been around for 50 years. It is the initial cost that is the main deterrent for geothermal heating and cooling." said Len Sciarra, local architect and co-chairman of the City's Environment Board.

"These developments are setting a great example for people to use alternative energies," said Dolores Holmes, alderman of the Fifth Ward, where Boocoo and Church Street Village are being built.

Judge Dismisses Fiske Lawsuit

By Mary Helt Gavin

On Aug. 23 federal judge Joan Gottschall dismissed the federal claims brought by Judy Fiske and Jeanne Kamps Lindwall against Cheryl Wollin, Northwestern University and five members of the canvassing board of the City of Evanston. The judge declined to exercise jurisdiction over the remaining Illinois law claims and dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety.

Ms. Fiske and Ms. Lindwall had accused Ms. Wollin and the University of violating federal civil rights by violating their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. They alleged, among other things, that Northwestern had induced students to vote in the April 2005 election by having certain students and employees act as deputy registrars to register students to vote and by providing a party on election night with free pizza, soft drinks and entertainment to any student who showed a voting stub.

The plaintiffs also alleged a conspiracy between Ms. Wollin and the University to deprive Ms. Fiske and Ms. Kamps of equal protection of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Judge Gottschall dismissed the federal claims because the complaint did not allege essential elements of a federal civil rights claim, specificially that it failed to allege that Northwestern and Ms. Wollin acted under color of state law and failed to allege that the "alleged conspiracy between Northwestern and Wollin" was race- or class-based.

Jeff Smith, one of Ms. Wollin's attorneys, said the decision "validates our expressed belief that this suit was always without merit. It is unfortunate that the individuals and institutions smeared by the baseless lawsuit did not have a chance to clear their name, but this expeditious termination of the litigation is the fairest and most economic  result for the voters and for the City."

Alan Cubbage, vice-president for University relations at Northwestern said, "When the lawsuit was originally filed, Northwestern said that it had no merit and was a blatant attempt to disenfranchise Northwestern students from voting in local elections. The ruling dismissing the case confirms this."

Because the court declined to exercise jurisdiction over the state law claims, it did not reach the merits of those claims, including whether a university's offering a pizza party to students who vote constitutes a violation of state law. Illlinois law prohibits offering consideration to anyone to vote in an election.

As for the next step, "We're examining the opinion and considering all of our options," Richard Means, attorney for Ms. Fiske and Ms. Lindwall, told the RoundTable. "We could go back to the state court on one or both counts - or just prepare for the next election. We'll know in a few days."

Council Approves Impact-Fee Consultant

By Bill Smith

The City Council last week approved spending $60,000 on a consultant to come up with detailed plans for imposing impact fees on new development projects.

The fiscal consulting firm TischlerBise will prepare reports detailing how the City can recover costs for the additional burden new developments place on parks and recreation and library services as well as water services and roads.

City staff estimates the impact fees could raise between $1 million and $15 million for the City over the next 10 years.

The staff says the additional money could be used to update park facilities more often, improve the Library's book collection, recover capital costs of expanding the City's water plant and improve the quality of its road network.

Those programs were identified based on a preliminary report by the same consultant. A staff memo says that impact fees can only be used for capital improvements and not for hiring additional staff.

For that reason impact fees for fire and police services are not being included in the study, since those two departments have primarily staffing rather than capital needs.

TIF Revenues Top Budget Forecast

By Bill Smith

Tax revenue this year from the Downtown II (Research Park) tax-increment financing (TIF) district centered on Maple Avenue north of Church Street will top the City's budget forecast by nearly a million dollars.

The district, which includes the Century Theater complex, the Optima Views and Optima Horizons condo high-rises and the Hilton Garden Inn, is now assessed at $133.7 million, compared to $1.8 million when the district was created two decades ago.

The Cook County Clerk's office last week reported that incremental tax revenue to the City from this TIF district this year will total $10.1 million, a 29-percent increase from last year and 10 percent more than the City had forecast.

The City has used revenue from this TIF to build the new Levy Senior Center on Dodge Avenue, replacing the old senior center located in the district, and to build the new Maple Avenue parking garage.

The Downtown II TIF is scheduled to expire in 2008. After that most of the increased revenue will start going to Evanston's school districts.

The County Clerk's figures show that the Washington National TIF, formed 12 years ago, topped the City's revenue forecast by nearly 23 percent.

That district includes the area bounded by Church Street, Chicago Avenue, Davis Street and Benson Avenue, plus the former Marshall Field's and Varsity Theater buildings and Fountain Square.

The Washington National TIF, created in 1994, was named for the now-defunct insurance company whose headquarters building once occupied the corner of Church Strret and Chicago Avenue. It now is home to the Park Evanston rental apartment high-rise and the Whole Foods market.

The Washington National TIF will generate $1.8 million in incremental tax revenue for the City this year. That is less than a fifth of what the Downtown II district provided, but the yield from the Washington National district is expected to grow dramatically once the Sherman Plaza condo and retail development is fully occupied later this year. Its valuation, now $48 million, has nearly doubled since its creation.

Revenue from the Washington National district has been used to construct the City's new Sherman Plaza parking garage. The City has said it anticipates using additional revenue from that TIF to improve Fountain Square.

The Southwest (Sam's Club) and Southwest II (Howard-Hartrey) TIFs showed little change in tax revenue this year. Combined, they will yield a total of $1.9 million in incremental tax revenue to the city. Their valuation has increased by about 400 percent since they were established in the early 1990s.

The City's two newest TIF districts, Howard-Ridge and West Evanston, have seen little new development so far and will generate just $128,000 in incremental tax revenue to the City this year.

Islamic Group Hopes to Settle in Evanston

By Bill Smith

The Bangladesh Islamic community of Greater Chicago hopes to purchase and renovate this unfinished church.

The Bangladesh Islamic Community of Greater Chicago hopes to buy and renovate the unfinished Christ Temple Church at 2045 Brown Ave.

"We're not going to change in any way the structure that's there right now that would require new zoning," Osman Ahmed, a leader of the group, told neighborhood residents at a 5th Ward meeting last month.

But Mr. Ahmed said the group "will have to invest money into the building to make it habitable and usable, so we can get an occupancy permit."

He said peak occupancy of the building will probably be about 50 to 100 people during services on Friday and Sunday.

Lynne Heidt, a realtor representing the church, said the property includes 11 parking spaces but that City regulations require it to provide parking for 40 cars.

At one time the church leased 29 spaces from the City in the nearby public lot across from the City's Ecology Center on Bridge Street, but that lease has expired and City officials have refused to renew it. Doug Gaynor, the City's parks, recreation and forestry director, said in an interview that City policy now is to not lease public parking lots to any private organization.

"The spaces are available to anyone to use on a first-come-first-served basis," Mr. Gaynor said.

He noted that the City recently refused to lease parking spaces at James Park in south Evanston to the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, which had parking for 24 cars but under City rules needed 54 spaces to accommodate its planned expansion. The City Council this spring approved the JRC project, waiving the requirement for the additional parking.

At the meeting Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, said the Islamic group may be able to work out lease agreements for parking with other organizations in the community, including Over the Rainbow, which operates the Hill Arboretum Apartments just across the street.

The Rev. Kenneth Cherry of Christ Temple said his church "has struggled with this property and now wants to follow the wishes of the community to see it completed."

He said that with the Islamic group's efforts, "I guarantee you, not only will you be pleased with what it will look like, but you'll also be satisfied with what they will bring to the community."

Mr. Ahmed said members of the Islamic group are mostly immigrants from the South Asian nation of Bangladesh. They now live on Chicago's north side as well as in North Shore suburbs including Evanston, so Evanston offers a central location for the group.

He said the group hopes to provide services to the community. There is plenty of potential, he said: "We have medical doctors in our group, so we could offer free clinics. We have plenty of professionals, so we could have community education and computer training. But we need to understand from you what sort of services and needs you have.

"At the same time we have some expectations from you. We want to be well accepted and integrated into the community."

West-Side Planning Meetings Yield Some Unanimity

By Bill Smith

West-side residents woild like to see this Onyx transfer station leave the neighborhood

About 50 west-side residents gathered for a planning meeting last Thursday night were nearly unanimous on one goal - getting rid of the Onyx waste transfer station along the old Mayfair railroad right-of-way.

Neighbors said the Onyx property blights the area with its heavy truck traffic and the smell of garbage waiting to be hauled away as well as the debris that is carried by the wind onto neighboring properties.

Most speakers said the company should leave Evanston completely, although some suggested there might be appropriate industrial land for it in southwest Evanston off Oakton Street, and at least one person suggested the jobs the company provides could be a reason to keep it in town.

Residents also seemed to agree that the railroad right-of-way should be turned into a green-space connecting parkland along the corridor. Most favored removing what is left of the berm that elevated the tracks, although if that proved too expensive, there was some support for just cutting through the berm at intersecting streets to improve east-west connections through the area.

At the session held at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Center at 1655 Foster St., planners from City consultant JJR, LLC had neighbors gather around four tables and view sets of photos of different designs for residential and mixed-use buildings and streetscape treatments.

The residents were handed stickers to attach to the photos -- four green ones for designs they liked best, and two red stickers for the designs they liked least.

By the end of the meeting, the stickers suggested that the neighbors like low-rise attached-townhouse, apartments and mixed-use structures of three or possibly four stories with parking concealed behind or inside the buildings. Photos of five- and six-story buildings were judged too high-density for the area.

A photo of a one-story commercial building in a sea of parking ended up covered with red dots.

The photos did not show traditional detached single-family homes, and some neighbors expressed concern about lighting and security issues when shown a closely spaced detached-townhouse design.

Planners said they did not show any examples of mid-rise or high-rise designs because in preliminary meetings with residents of the area they had been told residents did not want the west side to have the density seen in new construction in downtown Evanston.

Residents favored most of the photos of street furniture they were shown - including bike racks and bus shelters in architectural bronze shades, but brought out the red dots for folk-art-painted oil drums used as trash receptacles.

They favored extensive green space along streetscapes, but some voiced concerns that the rights-of-way might not be wide enough to provide that.

The residents also seemed to like permeable paving surfaces that would reduce water runoff, but voiced concerns about snow removal and whether they would settle unevenly over time, creating access obstacles for the elderly and handicapped.

Thursday's meeting focused on the Church Street corridor from McDaniel to Darrow avenues and the Dodge Avenue corridor from Church to Greenwood streets.

Residents who also attended a session the previous night dealing with the area bounded by Simpson Street, Jackson Avenue, Church Street and Darrow Avenue said the earlier session was much more acrimonious.

That session was hosted by a different city consulting firm, Farr Associates. Residents said that instead of sitting around tables discussing photo arrays, during the earlier session residents sitting in auditorium-style seating were given printouts with each page showing two photos - and asked to rate which one they liked better.

The observers said City officials also seemed to do a better job at the start of the second meeting explaining the goals of the planning process.

The next community planning meetings are scheduled for Sept. 13 for the area bounded by Simpson, Jackson, Church and Darrow and for Sept. 21 for the Church-Dodge corridor.