Central Street Planning Schedule

The City of Evanston encourages community members to become involved in the planning process for the Central Street corridor by participating in upcoming community workshops. All workshops will be held in the Parasol Room of the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.

The Lakota Group, the City's consultant for the project, assisted by Gewalt Hamilton Associates and Infrastructure Engineering, will facilitate the process.

Reservations for each session are appreciated; call 847-866-2928 or e-mail bnewman@cityofevanston.org.

Two visioning workshops
Two Visioning Workshops are planned to review and discuss area issues, strengths and opportunities. Because of the size of the corridor, the meetings have been divided in the follow manner:
· Central Street west of Hartrey Avenue on Thursday, Feb. 1; and
· Central Street east of Hartrey Avenue on Thursday, Feb. 8. Each session will last from 6 to 9 p.m. and the two sessions will review and discuss similar information, so attendees may attend either one or both.

Reservations are appreciated by Jan. 26.

Community workshops
On March 1, from 6 to 9 p.m., the City will host a community workshop for the consultant team to review the findings of its analysis, along with strategies and concepts for improvement and development of the corridor, including streetscape design concepts.

On March 29, from 6 to 9 p.m., a second community workshop is scheduled to review the planning process to date and refine the Preliminary Corridor Plan and Streetscape Design Concept with stakeholders.

Joint Plan Commission and P&D meeting
A special joint meeting of the Planning and Development Committee and Plan Commission is scheduled for 7-10 p.m. on April 12; and the Corridor Plan/Report and Streetscape design booklet will be presented for review.

For further information on the process, call 847-866-2928 or 847-866-2936. The City will soon establish the web page www.cityofevanston.org/centralstreet so the community can track the progress of the project.

Downtown Evanston Raffle Winner

The winner of this year's Downtown Evanston Winter Wonder Fest charity raffle was chosen on Jan. 3. The winner was contacted after the raffle drawing was held in the offices of EvMark.

"This is such a nice surprise! What a way to start out the New Year," said raffle- winner Lynne Sered, wife of State Senator Jeffrey Schoenberg.

From Dec. 9 through Dec. 29, downtown Evanston retailers sponsored the first Downtown Evanston Winter Wonder Fest. The focus of the event was on the charity raffle. In the giving spirit of the holiday season, items were donated by 52 downtown merchants and restaurants; including gift baskets, toys, food, wine, gift certificates and home accessories.

Pictured standing in front of just some of the raffle items is Tyler Sapien (left), owner of The Things We Love; winner Lynne Sered; and Sara Schastok, executive director of the Evanston Community Foundation.

The raffle generated over $3000 in donations that will benefit Evanston Community Foundation's Communityworks initiative, Every Child Ready for Kindergarten, Every Youth Ready for Work.

"We provide many grants that are on the order of $1,000 to $3,000, so this will make a definite impact," said Ms. Schastok, executive director of the Evanston Community Foundation.

The downtown retailers wish to thank the Evanston Community Foundation, EvMark, the City of Evanston, and the Chicago North Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau - which provided a significant matching grant for advertising - for their support in making this event possible. Thank you, too, to the residents of and visitors to Evanston who purchased raffle tickets and supported the businesses that made the raffle and this year's Downtown Evanston Winter Wonder Fest so successful.