What the Community Will Tolerate

The consensus of the small but concerned group of people at the July 17 meeting of Partnering for a Safer Evanston was that this community must determine how much crime and how much violence it will tolerate. Only then will we be able to take meaningful steps toward eradicating both from Evanston.

We agree that this daunting challenge must be thrown to the entire community. We acknowledge that the response, if it is honest, will be painful. There is a tendency to decry as "antisocial" or "criminal" certain behavior in others, which, among family and friends can be overlooked as understandable or controlled and so not really dangerous: teenagers drinking in the basement (but at least they are not driving); college kids’ smoking an occasional joint (but they have a bright future); a gun in the house (but just for self-defense); gang paraphernalia (but the kids are not serious like in Chicago gangs – just experimenting).

There may always be excuses ("We have it under control"), but there will always be consequences (early addiction, car accidents, suicides, murders). We must be cautious in allowing exceptions so that we do not forego accountability.

Of course, most of us are scofflaws at one time or another; the parking ticket fines that help balance the City’s budget prove that. But as a community we have to decide what we can accept as peccadilloes and what we want to see brought to account.

Maybe we will decide to decriminalize a first instance of underage drinking or smoking marijuana. Maybe we will decide that we will not tolerate gangs, guns, illegal drugs, littering or loitering. Whatever we decide, we must be prepared to accept the consequences of either saying "no" to certain behaviors that may be practiced by family and friends or saying "yes" to dangerous and antisocial behavior.

We do not need littering, gangs, guns or illegal drug sales in Evanston. Yet tolerance for all of these exists in some parts of the community, alongside the belief of others that such things are not to be tolerated.

Chief Richard Eddington has said the police stand ready to help us. It would be preferable, though, if violence and crime in Evanston disappeared because of community pressure rather than arrests.

Partnership between community and police is what will allow us to feel safe and will ultimately make us safe. Without a buy-in from the community, efforts to control violence and restore civility will not work.

Retro

By Charles Wilkinson

"That is so … so … retro!"

The first time I heard that word I laughed and thought to myself,

"What's going on with this fixation on the '50s and '60s these days?" I reasoned it had to do with nostalgia and a subconscious searching for the fountain of youth. The baby- boomers are still booming, I guess. As they come upon the retirement years, I can understand them wanting to reclaim the good times, to hang on to the energies that got them where they are. After all, they have had a great run.

As a fad, retro, I thought, seemed quite harmless and certainly understandable. It works well for class reunions and all-star sports events. But when Rome got into the act I became – and remain – concerned. This business with reinstating the Latin Mass is charming in its own way. I understand the need some traditional Catholics have to reclaim a part of their growing-up years and the mystery of their faith, much like the baby boomers want to reclaim the dreams and drives of their youth. But what is going on in the Vatican?

As a former priest who said Mass in both Latin and English back in the sixties, I, too, experienced a loss of something intangible in the Latin-to-the-vernacular transition. If I were to attend a Latin Mass next Sunday at St. John Cantius in Chicago, I would certainly be taken back in memory to my other life, which would be as retro as I would want to go. But why does it feel like Rome has something else in mind?

That concern was more than underlined last week when the Pope made his statement about "the one, true faith." There is something going on in the Vatican that seems much more than retro. It is as if the present Pope is into undoing, that he has an agenda to reclaim history prior to Vatican II, which to me, the least of his brethren, seems singularly unenlightened.

A good friend told me that as a Catholic he was tired of being embarrassed. I told him not to worry. There is no going back. I believe both creationists and evolutionists would agree. My working mantra, "Trust the process," expresses my confidence that there is something or someone more powerful than history itself that is taking us … wherever; that life is a "toward" experience, that nothing retro can change that. Rome can gum up the works with the best of 'em, but something or someone in the process will straighten things out. I hope I am right.

Retro is a fad that will always have its place. It may evoke the past but it cannot restore or impose it.

Good Golly

By Peggy Tarr

"Good golly, Ms. Molly, how come you're so jolly with all the strife in the world?" "The truth," said Ms. Molly, "I'm not really jolly about the mess that upon us I hurled." "But, Ms. Molly, you appear to be jolly, always acting so caring and nice." "Ah," said Ms. Molly, "just because I'm not jolly, others should not pay the price." "But, Ms. Molly, when you act like you're jolly, doesn't that make you insane?" "Yes and no," said Ms. Molly, "but not acting jolly doesn't lessen the pain." "Well, Ms. Molly, pretending to be jolly makes people think you're not aware of all the pain and misery that so many have to bear. AIDS, poverty, bigotry and wars, causing so much despair. Sometimes I'm weighed down wondering does anybody care." "Now," said Ms. Molly, still seeming to be jolly, "just listen to this song." And she began to sing, enunciating the words clearly and long.

"Why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart feel lonely and long for heaven and home?"
But before Ms. Molly could finish the verse, her friend interrupted with a curse. "I know that song, Ms. Molly, about God watching over you and me, that ‘His eyes are on the sparrow', but it's hard for me to see with chaos and global warming, humans destroying the earth. Can you understand why I'm so saddened by conditions that cause no mirth? I'm sorry, Ms. Molly, I can't be jolly no matter what your belief. I'm filled with sorrow and distress. Religion brings no relief." "Dear friend," said Ms. Molly, "I'm certainly not jolly, aware of all your grief. I wish I could find a way to give you some relief." "If I could, Ms. Molly, I'd help you be jolly ‘cause I love you with all my heart." "I understand," said Ms. Molly, "I can't always be jolly. Just hug me before you depart."

Letters to the Editor

NAACP Position on Race - Conscious School Assignments
Editor:

Viewers of the public comment portion of the July 16 District 65Board of Education meeting may have come away from Ms. Judith Treadway's presentationwith a misimpression about theposition of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) concerning school districts like District 65 (and those involved in the recent Supreme Court decision) voluntarily adopting race- (or income-) conscious measures to promote integration.

In fact, the NAACP filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the school districts whose programs were ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court. In its brief, the NAACP "urges" the Court to "uphold more than fifty years of its precedents designed to ensure school integration." (NAACP Brief at p. 4.) "This nation," the NAACP told the Court, "cannot afford to abandon the goal of school integration." (NAACP Brief at p. 4.) The Court should continue to uphold these race-conscious measures, the NAACP explains, "to achieve the significant educational benefits that flow from school integration." (NAACP Brief at p. 5.) "The NAACP urges this Court to ... reaffirm the value of integration." (NAACP Brief at p. 6.)

The NAACP brief goes on to explain that school integration serves at least two purposes. First, "[d]istricts have a legitimate interest in making sure that children are not casualties of the phenomenon of racially isolated housing patterns. The focus here is on the educational benefits of integrated learning environments." (NAACP Brief at p. 11.) Certainly, the NAACP emphasizes,"no evidence ... demonstrates that prohibiting reasonable voluntary measures to promote integration and reduce the trend of re-segregation somehow increase educational achievement forminority children." (NAACP Brief at p. 21.) Second,"whilestudent achievement undoubtedly is a primary goal of elementary and secondary education,"schoolsalso play an "important role" in "inculcating important social values. Among these important values is racial and ethnic harmony and appreciation for diverse, plural experiences." (NAACP Brief at p. 6.) "District diversity and voluntary integration plans," the NAACP explains, "are a type of values inculcation. They are an extension of the state's legitimate interest in antiracist, multiculturaleducation. ...Diversity in the classroom can increase the likelihood that students willdiscuss racial orethnic issues and be more likely to socialize with people of different races. ... Diversity is thus a valuable resource for teaching students to become citizens in a multi-racial/multi-ethnic world." (NAACP Brief at pp. 10-11.)

The NAACP is right.
-- Jonathan K. Baum

Downtown Evanston
Editor:

Our Director of Planning stated at the July 12 community meeting that "downtown" is for everybody. True or not true?

All new residential construction in our downtown for the past decade or more has catered exclusively to very wealthy individuals without children. No new residential construction for more than 1,000 employees of downtown stores, clubs, restaurants and offices.

When their weekday ends, to go home, they must have a downtown. Why? These Evanstonians, these employees, are not included in the economic model by Evmark, the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, and your elected aldermen.

As a community planner with several hundred communities over a quarter century, I know that none of the suggestions by the citizens at the breakout tables in the community meetings will happen unless a majority of the aldermen vote to include them, an unlikely scenario.

Our elected representatives will continue to support the economic model which guarantees continued canyonization, new structures of 20-30-40+ stories and more economic apartheid – more, more for the rich, nothing for the employees, their families and children in downtown Evanston.
-- Alan Birman

Aldermanic Packet is Useful
Editor:

Members of the League of Women Voters who observe the Evanston City Council and its standing committees have found a very helpful tool on the City's website and want to call it to the attention of the citizens. The aldermanic packet – the compilation of background material which goes out to each alderman before a Council meeting – is now available on the web to citizens as well as to the aldermen. Full of valuable information for understanding the issues before the Council, the packet is available by carefully following this procedure:

·Click on the City's website at www.cityofevanston.org
·On the right side of the homepage, click on Government, then scroll down and click on City Council
·On the left side of the next screen, click on Agendas and Minutes. Before opening the "Packet" on the right, read the information found in the small icon titled "Printing Instructions for Packet." (The packet is very long.)
We commend the City for making this available and for making our local government more transparent.
-- Nancy Bashook, Observer Corps Chair, Evanston League of Women Voters

Ideas for Downtown Evanston
Editor:

The University of Chicago's Business School is now offering classes in London, Shanghai and Singapore. It has become trans-global. They are reaching out to the world to retain their stature as a world- class university. Evanston is a world-class city that is already attracting talented people from around the world. There are many benefits this brings, but they can be at a high price.

The biggest concern that I hear is that all the residential development is causing a loss of diversity. This is mainly due to increased property taxes' driving many residents out of the City. Our community is becoming more affluent and homogeneous.

As we know, the City has a great need to generate revenue to help pay its debts. This debt can be addressed in one of two ways, by residential development or by attracting more businesses. At present, we are bringing in young professionals and empty-nesters, adding to our tax base, but nothing more.

We should be bringing in more businesses, local as well as international, businesses that will add energy, character and vitality to our City, businesses that can provide jobs, a demand for the houses vacated by empty nesters, retail sales and help for our social services through volunteering.

Why not market ourselves and bring in companies from China, Europe, Australia and others parts of the world and the United States? Our location and proximity to the City of Chicago, Northwestern University, the lake and two major hospitals make Evanston an ideal location. At present the City has minimal availability in terms of modern professional spaces to meet the needs of the current global market. The City is not meeting the social needs of the community such as the elderly, children and the disabled population.

That is not because it does not want to. The desire is there but the City cannot do it on its own. We need to bring in ENH, St Francis, Northwestern University and the Evanston Community Foundation to look at the City's social and economic demands.

They are an integral part of the community and have much to gain or lose by what happens in terms of the quality of life in Evanston. Why are they sitting on the sidelines and why have we not invited them to play in the game? We need to step back and allow the current downtown development plan to be completed before any further buildings are built or taken down.Think, a city and a community built around intellect. Instead of us going to the outside world the world would come to us.
-- Dr. Stamata Blanas, D.D.S.

Cell Phone Users, Not the Phones, Pose Dangers
Editor:

We are all concerned about our health and the health of our children.

Certainly, the rapid pace of technological innovation in the last century has solved old problems and created new ones. I read "Cell Phone Dangers" in the June 27 edition of the Evanston RoundTable hoping to learn more about the potential risks of cell phone use.

The article fails to present a balanced view and embraces bad science on the basis of questionable authority.

We are all afraid of what we do not understand. Moreover, we mistrust government agencies and industry on the basis of past mistakes and abuses. This is no reason to accept pseudoscience at face value. My understanding of physics, chemistry, and biology compels me to reject the mechanisms espoused by Dr. George Carlo.

Rather than fear the unknown, let us focus on a very real danger caused by cell phones: distracted drivers.

Every day, I see people trying to talk on their cell phone and drive at the same time. A distracted driver is an unsafe driver, and poses a danger to the public.

The best way to stop cell-phone-related deaths is to turn phones off when driving, and to remind drivers to do so.
-- Peter Hsie