Editorial

Bright Spots

Remembrances of two national disasters are fixed in our minds in late August and early September: the ravages of Hurricane Katrina and the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Media coverage as well as local conversation will doubtless teem with comparisons of the two: Neither job is finished and many people in this country feel a lingering sense of betrayal, although some uplifting stories have been told about the rebuilding efforts.

But basically we are left - in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans - to clean up our collective mess. Conflicting emotions arise when we recall the precipitating factors of the war and the aftermath of the hurricane. Meanwhile, we look for a national place of healing, whether it be Ground Zero, the French Quarter or another place.

The darkness on the national scene heightens some bright spots on the local scene. One is progress on the west side of Evanston: A duplex of affordable townhomes on Dodge Avenue north of Church Street will be completed soon, replacing a building that had troubled the neighborhood. In that same area and on Green Bay Road near Lincoln Street developers are tapping into natural underground energy - using geothermal energy for HVAC systems for residential developments and a community center. What a creative way to get off the fossil-fuel diet.

Perhaps most important for the town, two recent planning sessions for residents of the west side seemed to elicit unanimity in favor of something - in this case, getting rid of the Onyx transfer station.

After the divisiveness and vituperation generated by a proposed affordable-housing development in the area, it is heartening that the community vision can once again be directed forward.

And a little further north and west, the Christ Temple Church building at Simpson Street and Brown Avenue whose struggling construction the community has witnessed for the past few years may become the home of the Bangladesh Islamic Community of Greater Chicago. The congregation has indicated that it wants to be part of the Evanston community. They have said they are willing to pitch in but they want to be accepted by and integrated into the community. That sounds like a fair deal.

And there is great news for the youngest members of the community, which means great news for us all. The Evanston Community Foundation has decided to invest substantial grant-making and fund-raising efforts in the education of children from birth to three years of age. For years early childhood educators and researchers have centered on the first three years of life as the foundation of future success. That knowledge - and the urgency it conveys - have been trickling upward into the consciousness of policy makers for some time. We salute the members of the Evanston Community Foundation for their attention to these young lives which will shape the future.

In Evanston, at least, there are shining stars in a sky that in many ways seems bleak.

Peace - Within and About

By Charles Wilkinson

9/11/2001. I will never forget the moment. I had heard the news on my car radio, called my wife and told her to turn on the television; that something was happening in New York; I wasn't sure what, but it sounded horrendous. By the time I reached my office and got to a TV set myself, I saw the insanity of what was going on, but I couldn't let it in. I wept but I still disbelieved what I was seeing. I drove back to Evanston and walked in on a friend who just the day before had bought a huge 52" set, and I sat in front of it, mesmerized for hours, watching, I believed, the end of things. The moment I am talking about happened shortly after the collapse of the second tower. I could find no words to describe what my eyes were seeing, but I remember saying, almost to myself, "Damn it, this changes everything!"

Little did I realize the weight and the truth of those words five years later our world is torn apart by terrorism and the obscenities of war. We are all breathing differently, and there is no end in sight.

"Peace - within and about" is a tag line I have been using on many of my e-mails since then. I write it as a wish, as a prayer, even though the "about" part drips with a sadness for our world because of the madness and fears we are all experiencing. The phrase, when I think or write it, feels like a tiny band-aid on an open wound. The poet and philosopher in me cling to the concept of world peace like a Linus blanket, even though the realistic me knows world peace these days is more oxymoron than dream.

"Peace within" is another matter. In a world wrapped tight, I fight fear's contagion by believing that some future history will define and explain the meaning of these days and their events; that somehow by then we will have grown as a people, within and about, to be able to value peace over power, to use words rather than weapons. Until that comes to pass, I presume I am not the only one whose insides will be knotted with an unfortunately necessary paranoia on an almost daily basis.

Peace within used to be a gift one gave to self rather easily, even while other wars tore apart the "abouts" of us. But today's world and this war are very different. The events of 9/11/2001 and their aftermath have changed everything. Still, I believe peace within has to hold the beginnings of peace about.

Breasts, Breasts, Everywhere

By Peggy Tarr

I debated about writing about breasts since they are such a titillating (exciting, arousing) subject for many people, but then I decided, since they are so much in our faces, "Why not?"

To present these lumps, of which many a lustful fantasy is made, as objectively as possible, I thought I'd start with the anatomical, zoological descriptions given in dictionaries. Here are definitions from Webster's:

"Breast - (in bipeds, 2-footed) the front part of the body from the neck to the abdomen; chest. Either of the pair of mammae occurring on the chest in humans, esp. the mammae of the female after puberty, which are enlarged and softened by hormonally influenced mammary gland development and fat deposition and which secrete milk after the birth of a child. The breasts of males normally remain rudimentary."

"Mammae - plural of mamma; a structure, characteristic of mammals,that comprises one or more mammary glands with an associated nipple, usually rudimentary unless developed and activated for the secretion of milk in the female after the birth of young.

"Mammary gland - accessory reproductive organs of female mammals that occur on the ventral (belly, abdominal) surface and contain milk-producing lobes with ducts that empty into an external nipple."

Obviously (or not), it is not the male's flat chest that creates all the ruckus. It is the female's pair of pubertal and post-pubertal breasts that is the focus, breasts described as large, small, rounded, shriveled, pendulous, full, sagging, flat, budding, heavy, heaving, bare, covered, etc., descriptions about which suckling babies could care less.

A co-worker expressed her horror at seeing a female-child mannequin in an Evanston store's window that had little buds for breasts that protruded under a form-fitting shirt. What is this about? Pedophilia? Are we really incapable of buying a shirt for a female child without seeing the potential of developed breasts?

I stood at the counter of an Evanston newsstand, waiting to pay for a newspaper, and directly in front of me were display cases with magazines exhibiting scantily clad women, baring full breasts and big (annoying) smiles. Pardon me: Tassles adorned some nipples.
What is the matter with us (and I use the word "us" only to signify my membership in our society, not my attitude)? Have we become so base, so intellectually dwarfed that we can only focus on lust?

My mother's frequent lament was, "Lord, help us to get right!" My breast* rises and sinks in the spirit of her lamentation. (Sigh) Help us to get right, indeed.

*breast -"The bosom conceived of as the center of emotion."

Letters

Misleading Remark About D65 Building
Editor:

In the article "Civic Center" in the Aug. 9 RoundTable, Ald. Steve Bernstein took District 65 to task over its Early Childhood Education/Administration building. He implied that District 65 used funds to build an opulent, grandiose (Bernstein's words) structure, at the expense of educational programs.

I'd like to offer some context for the situation. To simplify, at the risk of oversimplifying, Illinois law forbids government units (city councils, school boards, etc.) from spending capital funds for operating expenditures, and vice versa. So even if corners had been cut and money saved on the construction of the District 65 Early Childhood Education/Administration building, those savings could not legally have been used on educational programs.

One may conclude that either Ald. Bernstein doesn't understand Illinois governmental accounting law, or that he knowingly misrepresented District 65's use of funds to build the Early Childhood Education/Administration building.

Regardless, Ald. Berstein, the community deserves better from its elected representatives than misleading remarks about another branch of local government.

--Bob Eder

Loud!: Part 2
Editor:

Bless Charles Wilkinson, whose article ran in the Aug. 23 issue of the RoundTable and addresses the current serious problem of noise pollution.

There is a wonderful restaurant in my neighborhood - great food, courteous service. However, terribly loud music is piped throughout, and somehow, when the room was rehabbed, it was made to amplify the sound of conversation as well as music.

This restaurant is very well attended; evidently most of us are going deaf and need the loud sound or are anti-social and don't want to converse with friends over good food.

I suggested to a server at an Evanston coffee shop that he would not have to shout to his co-workers and customers if the level of music were lowered slightly. He told me he enjoyed shouting.

Stores, restaurants, coffee shops, all have music piped throughout. Why? Decades ago it was suggested that music be piped through the Evanston Public Library's main building. What stopped it? Should the music be my taste, baroque, Renaissance, classical and foreign folk, or someone else's, country and western or rap?

Ruth Granick

Concern Over Treatment of Hockey Program
Editor:

I wanted to write this letter to express my exuberance at a great Evanston program and my concerns about some recent events.

You may not know it, and I suspect that many Evanston residents do not, but there is a fledgling Adult Hockey Program at Robert Crown, run by Don Howard. Over the past year or so, over 60 adults, many parents of youngsters in the Evanston hockey program, have gotten together a couple of nights a week to play hockey. Since many of us are first-time hockey players, having an opportunity to do this is tremendous. I suspect that I speak for many of the dads in saying that all week I look forward to our version of "bowling night," in full equipment and pads and on ice. As one who often works 60- to 70-hour weeks to support his family, I hold this form of recreation and outlet very important. And the fact that we get on the ice after our kids go to sleep means that not only do we love it enough to be willing to leave the house after a long day, but that it is not an imposition on our families.

Over the last year and a half, this group of guys has become close-knit, often going out for a little bit after we play. It is a diverse group of people, varying in age, profession and culture. And while there is a core group of players, there always seem to be newcomers who are welcomed and quickly brought into the fold.

It is astounding that in a sport where people often bump into each other (often because, as beginners, we are not that coordinated on ice but fortunately wear full equipment), never have I seen a fight or even a heated argument during play. Don leads us in practice drills for 45 minutes, then we pick teams and scrimmage.

Over the last three months we started our own mini-league of three teams. It is like a second childhood to be able to play a game at middle age instead of just exercising on a treadmill.

Unfortunately, it seems as though some people who run Robert Crown are not as excited about the program as we (and our spouses) are. I had always heard rumors about this, and in fact, over time, a couple of guys mentioned that if Don were ever to leave, they feared the program would die.

During the last couple of weeks I have seen some evidence of this. The first incident happened when, as a group, we decided that to make sure we can make this program last, we should get the word out to the community about how great it is and how much it means to us.

One of our players even sent an e-mail to his alderman, who obviously had not heard how, over the last couple of years, Don has gone to great lengths to grow both the adult and the youth hockey programs in Evanston. I was shocked to hear the alderman say that Don was a part-time employee, as I cannot recall more than a handful of times when I have been at the rink in the past year and a half (and I am often there three or four times a week during the fall and winter) that Don was not there.

The second incident occurred when 16 of us showed up on a recent Friday night for our regular Friday night of hockey. Don was not there on that night, but his assistant was (one of them is always there when we play). Yet we were told that we were not on the schedule, so we could not skate.

We offered to pay for the ice (even though I suspect we already had, as part of our quarterly fee for the program), as it is available for rental, and even though the person in charge was available by phone, and in fact discussed this by phone for about 45 minutes, we were not allowed on the ice. Yet no one else was using the ice.

This seemed like a bold statement to all of us, that instead of trying to find a way to get us on the ice to play, the management of Robert Crown was trying to find a way to keep us off the ice.

Since moving here from Chicago a couple of years ago, I have been amazed at the City of Evanston's services and programs. People have always been more than friendly, accessible and ready to help.

Yet here, where there is a chance to help boost a program that I have been told is one of the most successful new programs in the City in a long time in terms of participation, there does not seem to be support from the people in charge to keep the program, and the hockey program in general, going.

This fall I expect to have four kids in the hockey program, plus myself, largely because of Don's enthusiasm and encouragement.

I guess the question to ask is really how can the City help Don Howard, this "part-time" employee, run the youth house hockey league, the learn-to-skate programs for the little ones, and the fast-growing adult hockey program?

Kudos to Don for not running away. These three programs bring a lot of revenue into the City as well as help to bring a diverse community together in a sport many Evanstonians, both young and old, love.

I know that Don cannot do it alone (although it often seems as though he tries). It would be nice to see that a City that tries to help its citizens as much as Evanston usually does would try to support and encourage this program.

--Jonathan D. Levy

Referendum Sham
Editor:

On Aug. 14, with virtually no resident input, no publicity, our City Council betrayed affordable housing in Evanston with a kiss. They held out the sweet hope that there would shortly be up to a million dollar pot from which affordable-housing developers could draw in order to build affordable housing in our community.

But for this pot of gold to come about, property owners in Evanston would need to approve a referendum supporting a substantial increase in the tax paid at the time they sell their property.

Currently, when property is sold, a tax is paid to the state, the county and the City totaling 6.5 percent of the sale price. This referendum would increase the City's portion from 5 to 6 percent.

Aldermen have loudly complained that Evanstonians are leaving the community because they can't afford the taxes. I have heard these complaints regularly at Council meetings.

So how does their stance fit with the recent Council vote? Well, cynically, they indicated that the referendum is a wonderful opportunity for citizens to show how much they value the affordable housing in the community that makes this a vibrant diverse community.

I believe citizens do support affordable housing here. Most are aware that without affordable housing, we will not be able to maintain our vibrant, diverse community.

I am an advocate for affordable housing, but simple arithmetic tells me this referendum has failure written all over it. A 20-percent tax increase? Come on!

This Council has had before it for more than two years an inclusionary housing proposal that would require developers of buildings over 25 units who want to exceed zoning requirements to provide affordable units in their development or, alternatively, money to the City to build affordable units elsewhere.

The Council has not been willing to require those developers, who have been making lots of money changing our skyline so dramatically, to give something back to the community. instead, it is asking all citizens to pony up. Does this sound like a City Council that supports "a comprehensive inclusionary and affordable housing policy"? (Objective B of Goal 2 in recently passed Strategic Plan)

There are other concerns for organizations like the new Citizens' Lighthouse Community Land Trust, of which I am a board member. Because this is a binding referendum, the Council may find it difficult to be supportive of affordable housing measures if it fails.

Alderman Rainey made it quite clear in her advocacy for this referendum that the Council should use a negative vote as proof that Evanstonians aren't concerned about affordable housing.

This vote should never have happened as it did, without awareness and support in the community, and it must be rescinded at the next Council meeting.

Sue Carlson

Can We Try for a Little Beauty Downtown?
Editor:

It's obvious that all the new building in Evanston is changing the character of the downtown area. It some instances this is a good thing -- for example, the Maple Avenue corridor, which used to be a depressing mix of City yards and run-down buildings. The Northwestern University motor pool still has an ugly, rusting chain-link fence facing the Hilton Gardens.

The new Barnes and Noble corner is more attractive than the former Osco Drug site.However, the massive, one-block high-rise structure is overwhelming. Fountain Square is deteriorating, and the building is unattractive, but another high-rise in that location would create a canyon that would destroy the already compromised ambiance of our downtown.

How do we keep our City from becoming a place where long-time residents are alienated from the new residents, and how do we integrate the new residents into our community?

One suggestion is to install public art that brings Evanston history into the mix. In Berkeley, Cal., and in other cities there are public art installations in the form of engraved metal and concrete sidewalk "tiles" with city history, quotes from famous former and current residents and poetry by poets from the area, as well as poetry from ordinary citizens.

A poetry project involving our elementary, middle schools and ETHS, with our City as the subject, could help to personalize our new downtown. Selections could be made from this project and fabricated as sidewalk tiles, combined with metal plates etched with excerpts from Evanston's history and quotes from Evanston authors and poets.

There are two windows in an empty storefront in the Fountain Square building that display abstract paintings. There is no mention of the artist or the sponsoring organization, if there is one.

The Evanston Art Center has an outreach program with Family Focus, whereby students learn photography by documenting their neighborhoods and lives.

Art Encounter has an outreach program combining youth with seniors to collaborate on projects. Their work would be an excellent way to fill the many empty storefronts in our city. School children's art work could be displayed also.

Please, no more high-rises. Developers' main objective is to make money, and they care very little about preserving the character of a place.

The building on the southeast corner of Davis Street and Chicago Avenue has a separate entrance on the south side of the building, with a small courtyard in front.
It is so charming and evocative of other charming places. Why would we want to replace this building?
Very sad.

-- Barbara Blades

Is Trader Joe's Coming?
Editor:

I am wondering what is happening with the Osco building at Asbury and Oakton. I read speculation in your paper that Trader Joe's might be enticed to move in there. I would love that.

Any news on what is going to move there?

-- Nicole Miller

You Can't "Nuke" Global Warming
Editor:

The recent heat wave contained two news stories about nuclear energy, one widely broadcasted, one conveniently ignored. The first was about the record-setting electricity use fuelled by the region's demand for air-conditioned relief. Exelon and other nuclear utilities attribute their success at meeting this demand to nuclear power.

The second story barely appeared after the heat broke, when people weren't paying attention. Both here and internationally, the demand for electricity was indeed met, sometimes by nuclear power.

However, in many cases nuclear reactors were either not allowed to run at full power, or, if they were, they were given regulatory permission to exceed safety and environmental standards. In other words, nuclear plants were allowed to keep the air conditioners running, but only by risking an accident or damaging an already heat-stressed environment.

In Illinois Exelon's Quad Cities and Dresden reactors had to curtail power output because the hot water discharged into the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers exceeded EPA heat discharge regulations.

This occurred previously in 1988, when then-ComEd reactors had 100+ reactor-days of curtailed power output or complete shut down related to excessive thermal discharge. This resulted in millions of dollars of water-cooling retrofits for the reactors.

Exelon came close to power curtailment again during Illinois' 2005 drought.

Exelon's Limerick reactor in Pennsylvania also curtailed power output. Across Lake Michigan the Donald Cook reactor building overheated on July 29-30, resulting in an automatic reactor shutdown.

Europe experienced similar problems. This year, as in the 2003 heat wave, the French government gave permission for reactors to exceed heat discharge - and even safety standards - at 37 reactors. Germany allowed several reactors on the Elbe River to discharge in excess of thermal standards. One reactor in Spain was shut down completely rather than thermally contaminate the Ebro.

These situations occur in climatic conditions far less extreme than those anticipated in a full-blown global warming world. They serve as a warning that nuclear power is ill-suited to help us in that world - unless we are willing either to further destroy the environment or to risk increased likelihood of a nuclear accident.

When nuclear reactors will be needed most, they are likely to be least available, and then only at greatly increased risk. Contrary to the propaganda nuclear power spin-meisters and their editorial allies are feeding a gullible public, you can't "nuke" global warming.

--David A. Kraft
Director, NEIS

Support HB 750 to Change the Way Schools Are Funded
Editor:

My Cook County property tax bill arrived serving, as always, as a reminder that we are failing utterly to properly fund our public schools. The failure of the State of Illinois to fund our public schools is a fact and an embarrassment.

As you can see by looking at your tax bill, approximately two-thirds of your property tax bill goes to fund the elementary and high schools.

Why so much? Because Illinois, despite being #3 in per capita income, is 49th in the nation in its funding of public schools. This means that schools must turn to property taxes for funding. Relying on property taxes as the primary funding of schools not only guarantees the substandard and unequal education of children living in areas where the property has little value, it institutionalizes it. This is a disgrace.

The State of Illinois spends more money than it takes in, and it has borrowed heavily in the last four years. The "new" money that it has given to schools has only kept pace with inflation.

Since the state is broke, it can't give the schools what they need to operate. School districts are forced to rely on the property tax. So what's the solution? Passage of legislation that will raise income taxes, broaden the sales tax base and allow a reduction in property taxes.

House Bill and Senate Bill 750 has been introduced in the State Legislature in the past several years but has been unable to garner enough support because our Governor has stated that he will veto any legislation that will increase income or sales taxes.

There has not been a veto proof majority of legislators willing to vote for the legislation. So the status quo continues to be the law of the state, and property taxes go up.

The pledge of "no new taxes" is popular but so shortsighted. With the
upcoming elections in November, now is the time to (1) find out where candidates stand on this issue; (2) let your views be known to the candidates on the need to increase income taxes and sales taxes rather than force people from their homes because of rising property taxes; and (3) vote accordingly.

Michelle K. Jordan

Problems With Evaluation Tool for D65 Superintendent
Editor:

Every District 65 employee deserves a fair and accurate evaluation.

I cannot fairly and accurately complete the Management Qualities section of the Superintendent's 2005/2006 evaluation, because it does not contain clearly defined, objective expectations for performance.

Additionally, the process the Board undertook to adopt it was faulty: The document was not introduced until more than halfway into the school year, and the process for adopting it was not collaborative and may have violated the Open Meetings Act.

The Superintendent's evaluation instrument contains two parts: Board Goals and Management Qualities. The Board Goals section is objective in nature and includes specific and measurable expectations for improvement around student achievement, special education, middle schools and finance. The Board and Superintendent unanimously agreed upon this section at an executive session meeting on Jan. 24.

The Management Qualities section contains a list of vague elements that are subjective in nature covering areas such as the Superintendent's educational leadership, relations with the School Board and community and ability to manage staff.

This document was never reviewed and discussed at a meeting. Instead, former Board president, Mary Rita Leucke borrowed it from a 2003 evaluation and circulated it to the Board, asking for approval of its contents via email on Jan. 25.

I objected to the discussion of this document outside the structure of a meeting; therefore, I repeatedly emailed the former president, asking her to schedule an executive session to allow the Board and Superintendent an opportunity to properly discuss it.

She repeatedly denied my request, stating that the majority of the Board had already agreed with her idea to adopt it.

Had the meeting occurred, I would have advocated for more specificity and precision in the Management Qualities document, to support a fair and accurate evaluation of the Superintendent.

How can behaviors be evaluated if they are stated broadly, without indicators or ways to effectively measure their demonstration?

The community should be concerned when a school board uses a subjective instrument to evaluate the leader of the district. For our School Board, subjectivity becomes a tool for playing "gotcha."

It is where Board members insert negative feelings, perceptions, hearsay and anecdotes about the Superintendent as "evidence" that he is not performing.

Objective evaluations not only protect the employee, they ultimately protect the School District from Board members fixated on micromanaging, dismissing significant accomplishments, and ultimately driving out a Superintendent who consistently meets his objective goals.

-- Marianne Kountoures,
Board Member, District 65

All's Well Except the Acronym
Editor:

I appreciated the Aug. 23 article about District 65's wellness policy and its emphasis on good nutrition, but had to snort at the discussion of "FMNV" (Food of Minimal Nutritional Value).

Is anybody else out there feeling a little SOFA (Sick Of Foolish Acronyms)?

Seriously, though, I'm sure we're all in favor of cutting the Carbohydrate-Rich Alimentary Provisions.

-- Jeff Balch