EDITORIAL

Sign-ificant Evanston

Evanston is being overwhelmed by visual communication. Consider the proliferation of signs, most of them at eye level and many of them unfriendly and unwelcoming.

Recent drive-by counts revealed an average of 13 signs per side of a block on second-tier streets such as Lincoln Street and Asbury Avenue and six or fewer on residential blocks such as Brown Avenue and Greenleaf Street.

On the three blocks of Dodge Avenue across from the high school - Lake Street to Church Street - looking only at the east side of the street, a cursory count showed 49½ signs - the ½ being the folded stop sign - and seven more visible at the corner (again, east side only) but north of Church Street. Most of them take the form of "No Parking."

Signs at the lakefront, Mount Trashmore and Northwestern University's lakefill warn us away, and we are also cautioned about yielding the right-of-way to pedestrians and not turning right at stop lights.

While we realize that many, if not all, of these signs are in response to or to prevent legal action, we feel there must be a better way - one that is either friendlier or more concise.

What happened to color-coded curbs? Yellow curbs generally mean, "Do not park here ever." Would green curbs mean "Go ahead and park here any time," and red ones mean, "Only on occasion can you leave your vehicle here"? Of course, given the vagaries of the season, the colors would have to be bright enough to be seen through snow; and maybe curb-painting could be a seasonal occupation.

That would allow for some enticing possibilities: "stay-away-commuter blue" for 7-9 a.m. prohibitions; black curbs with white polka-dots in front of the fire stations; "orange you sorry you parked here" in front of the high school; "don't-touchdown-here purple" for temporary parking prohibitions during Northwestern home football games; patriotic stripes for the Fourth of July parade.

Corporate sponsorship of curbs would be welcome - Fed Ex red, white and blue or UPS brown in loading zones, as examples. Curb coloring is not the lowest form of art; miniature beauty on our curbs would enliven the community and get rid of those unsightly signs.

We realize that adequate notice is necessary, perhaps on the City's website or on signs at the gateways to the City. Or we could consolidate everything into one comprehensive sign:

City Limit
Stay Away From the Lake
Do Not Sled on the Big Sledding Hill
Keep off Northwestern Property
Do Not Park Anywhere
Welcome to Evanston

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This Rough Budget

There is ugliness in our new budget, as the community is asked to pay greatly for past problems in the pension fund. While it is easy to try to lay the blame in one area, hindsight reveals a few places where things went awry: minimal or perhaps insufficient contributions, poor performance by the funds, unfunded and increasing state mandates.

Our public safety personnel protect the City and we are grateful for their efforts. We encourage City staff and City Council to keep looking for the best way to pull us through this long financial winter.

A hidden cost in the budget, disguised as a cost-saving measure, is the stream of senior City staff members who are availing themselves of the City's early retirement package. While we cannot, and do not, blame anyone for seeking employment elsewhere or simply retiring to seek the simpler pleasures of life, the mass exodus from the Civic Center does give cause for alarm. Who will carry on, teach how things are done, remember why things are done? We understand the need for fresh ideas and we understand the need to move on. Are we at a point, though, where many departments are getting out of a rut or into a position where they will just re-invent the wheel?

Time will tell, of course, and those in power at the City must know that all of Evanston will be watching.

Paperless

By Charles Wilkinson

Maybe it has become one of those urban myths I keep bumping into. I did not consider it such a few years back when I heard that the world was going paperless. It made sense to me so I anticipated a proliferation of unthreatened woodlands and the re-greening of our lands. But so far, the promise of a paperless world feels like a politician's perennial sleight-of-hand when it comes to taxes.

While it is a wonder that the big bang of computers and cell phones, e-mails and text messages have not given our atmosphere a bad case of megabyte indigestion, life without paper is just not happening. Even though paper shredding has become an industry, filing cabinets ignore data diets; bookstores are bulging; and newspapers and magazines add more weight to recycling trucks than anything else.

On a personal level, I simply have to look around my home to realize that trees remain an endangered species.

There may be no "paper moon hanging over a cardboard sky" in my world (I cannot write those words without humming) but I continue to be stunned at the piles of paper I cannot get rid of: bills, sales receipts, junk mail, cancelled checks, shopping bags, memo pads and copies, copies, copies of this 'n that which come from God knows where and exist for no reason whatever. Try as I might, more paper still comes in than goes out.

What is a person to do? I am hoping that writing this piece will raise my level of consciousness to help me better manage my too-papered world. Paying bills on-line, avoiding mail pile-ups, letting my computer do the filing, breaking the habit of saving disposable receipts and using my printer only when necessary will provide a good start.

But I cannot guarantee that by this time next year my world will be any closer to becoming paperless.

I do know this much: even in a paperless world I will still be buying and reading newspapers. It is fast becoming a generational thing. My grown kids use their TV and laptops for news. I use mine for headlines then get the full story in the morning edition, always with a cup of coffee and a chunk of quiet time. A computer does not give me the feel, smell and smudge of newsprint (a lifelong pleasure) or, as of yet, a sense of the energies and romance of a newsroom.

A paperless world? Not possible. But a world with less paper? It is within reach - in my home and yours.

Adrenalization, Devolution, and Devil-ution

By Peggy Tarr

It's 2008 - a leap year, giving those who follow the Gregorian calendar an additional day this year. The question is this: In what way will this extra day be used or abused?

People talk a lot about the cruelty, crime and general lack of respect for each other found in our society today and who is to blame. Although I would agree that many parents are not doing a good job rearing their kids, I think we need to look at the adrenalization of our society by the media. The news, commercials, documentaries, cartoons, sitcoms, music, theatre and dance are too caught up in raising the observer's adrenaline by focusing on sexually arousing, threatening or vicious scenarios.

How many shows and commercials focus on nude (or almost nude) women in compromising positions? How many movies show explicit sex? How many times must we, helpless, have to watch people being swept away in floods or earthquakes or being killed in wars, in our neighborhoods or other countries? How many times did the media show the footage of the off-duty officer beating up the barmaid? How many sitcoms/competitions/courtrooms present couples/competitors/characters cursing, fighting and insulting each other?

Rhetorical questions, these. All of the above raise our adrenaline levels, giving us some sort of rush/alarm ("fight or flight") until ...some of us are numbed and don't respond to much of anything anymore. Adrenalization at its highest ...or lowest.
When feelings are numbed and compassion dulled, what can we expect besides the degeneration of a society's morals and morale?

Devolution and Devil-ution
As stated earlier: It's leap year. Along with the definition of leap as "spring(ing) through the air from one point to another" is the meaning: "a sudden or abrupt transition." It is the latter definition that gives one hope, that this year will embrace efforts to oppose our society's adrenalization, devolution and devil-ution. Our kids deserve a better world and a better model than the one we're giving them.

Best wishes for 2008.

Letters to the Editor

City Oversight of Development Is Sorely Needed
Editor:

In the article "Unplanned Developments" (Evanston RoundTable, Dec. 26 2007), Joe Linstroth makes a compelling argument that "planned development" in Evanston is a haphazard affair. In some instances, such as the 900 Chicago Ave. development, careful attention to detail can be thwarted after the fact, and in [many] other instances, development is allowed to proceed without sufficient attention.

In understanding the dynamics of the approval process and the potential for developer coercion, it is worth revisiting the case of the Evanston Bank Building/ 900 Chicago Ave. development.

The article reports that, following the bait of a restoration project, a switch in plans came about when the foundation of the existing building was found to be insufficient to allow the planned addition of upper stories. However, the story reported publicly at the time was that preliminary work had revealed that the quality of the original edifice did not warrant restoration.

It seems that a rigorous review process should have established that the existing foundation could support two more stories long before detailed planning review and construction began. If our process does not afford a full and open review and demand accountability from developers, it is no wonder that Evanston is losing control of itself.
-- David Ucker

Police Chief Salutes Staff and Volunteers
Editor:

For several decades, police department employees have donated to the Evanston Police Department charity fund and each December sponsor a holiday food basket giveaway for Evanston's needy families.

This year, our employees' personal contributions enabled us to feed 190 people as well as provide additional supplies to a local soup kitchen.

Recipients are referred by members of the Evanston Police Department, four local buildings for seniors and persons with disabilities and other Evanston social service agencies.

This year's food basket included ham, chicken, vegetables, sausage, fresh fruit, bread, applesauce, soups, gourmet chocolate, cookies and candy.

Once again, Becharas Wholesale Food Company, Leon's Sausage, Highland Baking Company, Piron Belgian Chocolatier, Sam's Club, Ferrara Pan Candy Company and Dominick's on Green Bay Road were our partners in this community project. Their donations of food and time are the holiday spirit personified, and we are indebted to these organizations for their many years of continuing generosity.

We also wish to thank our energetic and amazing volunteers from the Evanston Citizen Police Academy and Evanston Township High School students for their hard work assembling the baskets and assisting Department personnel with the deliveries.

Our best wishes to the Evanston Community for a safe and Happy New Year.
-Richard Eddington
Chief of Police
Evanston Police Department

Comments On Pension Fund
Editor:

A few corrections and comments on your otherwise comprehensive article, "Funding the Pension Shortfall: $140 million and Counting" (Roundtable Nov. 28, 2007, page 4)

During my Nov. 19 City Council presentation, you report that I accused the City of acting in bad faith "by failing to make sufficient contributions that amounted to about $10 million." That is incorrect. The correct figure is $77.5 million for the Police Fund. I used $10 million merely as a round, hypothetical number to show that if $10 million owed is not put into the fund (as has been the case repeatedly), the real losers are Evanston taxpayers.

The plan design is structured so that the bulk of retirement payments are paid by investment income, and not by the taxpayers, but only if the necessary amounts are deposited annually and are invested by the Fund over time. $10 million shorted today cannot be made up by paying $10 million ten or twenty years later, and calling it good.

City payments are currently one-third "normal cost" (the benefits cost) and two-thirds interest payments (and heading higher) on the money that the Fund could not invest, because it was not there. The taxpayers lose the benefits of compound interest, and at the previously assumed earnings assumption of 7.5% the $10 million increases to $20.6 million in 10 years, and to $42.5 million in 20 years. Evanston taxpayers have paid previous city managers, finance directors, actuaries, attorneys, and city councils large amounts of money to substitute their short term, politically expedient wisdom for the sound structure of the plan design. Now it's time to pay the piper.

My commentary on the 1993 change in the funding statute attempted to draw Council's attention to the most damning part of the whole affair. Municipalities complained of increasing fund contributions (an inevitable consequence of inadequate funding). Trustees were told, "You don't need the money now." This was true only if City officials did not understand the plan design, or purposely wanted future taxpayers to foot the increased bill.

The 1993 law change, spear-headed by the Illinois Municipal League (IML), was another politically expedient move that further guaranteed that future generations of taxpayers would be saddled with paying for police/fire services rendered long ago, plus interest. The 1993 Pension Code amendments (similar to a back-loaded, balloon mortgage) guaranteed reduced pension fund payments by cities for six to eight years (slightly longer than the life span of many politicians, and beyond the memory span of most), and then precipitously rising payments after that. The Illinois Division of Insurance, fund trustees, and numerous independent actuaries warned that any debt owed to the funds would increase at least three and half times between 1993 and 2007, even if all the assumptions were met, and all of the required contributions were made. Disingenuously, city governments now express surprise that their own handiwork has caused this fiscal "crisis."

City Manager Julia Carroll is quoted as saying "the police pension board ...thinks the assumption should be 7.25%." Actually, we think the 7.25% interest rate assumption is too high. Given our investment restrictions (presently 45% equities/55% government bonds; the state's mandate, not ours), that mix has historically returned somewhere between 5.1% (if you subscribe to Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel's analysis of 7% returns for stocks, and 3.5% for bonds) maybe up to 6.45%, according to others. The actuary uses some type of crystal ball not available to ordinary mortals to predict what the future returns will be. If the assumed rate is too high, the taxpayers get to pay more later. If the rate is too low, then the taxpayers get finished paying sooner, or pay less later.

The police pension board has agreed to go along with the GRS 7.25% assumption this year only, just to get things moving. It is certainly more reasonable than the 7.5% rate assumed and apparently never examined for the preceding twelve years, an oversight Evanston taxpayers will be funding for years to come.

As far as the presentation made by the City's "consultants," it was difficult to read aldermen's faces as to whether these folk had shot themselves in the foot or in the head. While the board is certainly willing to look at new ideas to ease the shortfall (and have been searching for a few on our own), none of the investment vehicles you report on would be legal for a pension fund or for the City to hold. The "consultants" were told as much before the Council meeting. None of the firms in our vast network of contacts could think of any legal holding that would guarantee 7.25-7.5% for 26 years (unless shares in the Brooklyn Bridge Corporation are still available) The legality of a separate city-managed pool of money borrowed to fund pension assets clearly and totally flies in the face of state law giving police and firefighter pension funds the exclusive authority to manage and control the funds.
-- Timothy Schoolmaster

Timothy Schoolmaster is a twenty-five-year trustee and president of the board of trustees of the Evanston Police Pension Fund. A thirty-plus-year City employee and taxpayer, he was a founding member and former executive director of the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association. He was co-chair of the Illinois Public Employees Retirement Systems Conference in Chicago in 2006 and 2007, and is a member of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS).

Seek Harmony in 2008
Editor:

As we enter a new year, with the customary fanfare - champagne, celebrations in Time Square and around the world - I think we've reached an adequate level of sophistication to know that everything isn't going to be great in 2008 and that the New Year alone isn't going to solve our last year's problems.

But there are clear trends we can see by looking over the last few years, so we can at least recognize what direction we need to be moving in.

Along with the constant technological stream of innovation in computers, home entertainment systems, cell phones, portable musical listening devices, navigation systems for the car, etc., there is a parallel and constant stream of international violence, war, civil war, bloodshed and strife that, like technological innovation, has no end in sight.

Although it is a great a pity that progress can be made in one area parallel to what seems like social degeneration in another, we human beings all around the world are given a clear message: It is far easier for us to come up with technological innovation than to learn how to get along with each other.

We can send space probes to Mars but can't put an end to war or violence among ourselves. I think it's time now for us to put just as much (if not more) collective energy into the art and science of international (as well as interpersonal) discussion, dialogue, reaching out to each other, negotiation and compromise - in a word, harmony-- as we do cell phones that can access the Internet and otherdazzling communication devices.

If we got up to speed in the art and science of harmony as we have done in technological matters, we'd be in far better shape as a species. More and more it is becoming a matter of survival that we work out this art and science of harmony between us, especially as our numbers continue to swell and the space between us shrinks. If we can take stock this year and realize this much, we will be on a much safer footing with a much safer future.
- Michael Zucker

Seek Peace for Gaza
Editor:

Gerald Gordon, in his response to the Letter from Religious Leaders concerning conditions in Gaza, says the authors of the letter are "extremely biased and one-sided."

He also says, "the Palestinians, tragically, have missed the opportunity to build a new, exemplary state in Gaza when they regained control in 2005."

As one of the authors of the letter, I ask Mr. Gordon to read Sara Roy's recent book, "Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" (Pluto Press, 2007). Sara Roy is a child of Holocaust survivors. In 1985 she made her first trip to Gaza to conduct field work for her doctoral dissertation, which examined American economic assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Her research focused on "whether it was possible to promote economic development under conditions of military occupation." (p. 19) Based on her initial research for her dissertation and further research, she concludes that Israel's military occupation of the Gaza Strip has and continues to result in utter devastation of the economy.

Prime Minister Sharon's disengagement from Gaza in 2005 meant that the Jewish settlers left Gaza and Gaza became a giant prison. All crossings in and out of the Gaza Strip remain under total Israeli control.

The airport remains destroyed and the border with Egypt is effectively sealed. As a result, Gazans have no access to international markets, not to mention the ability to import needed materials.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and Oxfam International recently issued reports to document the dire humanitarian situation of the 1.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and call for political intervention.

How, I ask, can the Palestinians "build a new, exemplary state in Gaza" when they are living in a prison?
- Newland Smith,
Episcopal Diocese of Chicago
Peace and Justice Working Group

Do Not Recycle Plastic Bags
Editor:

A new year's resolution for all Evanstonians who recycle is to remember not to put plastic bags in the recycling and never put recycling in a plastic bag.

The City and Groot have not made much of an effort to inform folks about this, and the result is that lots of recyclable material can end up in the trash, as Groot employees don't have time to remove recyclables from plastic bags at the material reprocessing facility.

The thing to remember about plastic is only to put in containers with a number/recycling symbol on them. In addition to the plastic bags, plastic wrap, bubble wrap, air-filled padding, Styrofoam and shipping popcorn are not acceptable in your red bin.

I called the City sanitation department, and an unidentified employee mistakenly told me that plastic grocery bags are okay to recycle.

A call to Groot revealed that, as always, they are not. A short trip down any Evanston alley will show that many people are plastic bagging recyclables.

It makes things neater, but it is still a no-no. Leave things loose so they can be easily separated by Groot or, if you must bag, use paper bags only. Take plastic bags back to the grocery store.
- Clif Brown

Drug Abuse Is an Illness; It Should Not Be a Crime
Editor:

Numerous burglaries in Evanston, says Police Chief Eddington, are the result of drug addicts seeking to fund their habits. He continues, "Frankly, unless the cycle of drug addiction is broken, we're going to be doing the same thing next year."

"American Gangster" is a film about tale of lives ruined by drug abuse and the drug trade. According to the honest cop, nobody, not the police, not the DEA, not the lawyers, not the judges ... wants America to be drug-free, because there are at least 100,000 Americans making a living off drugs, not counting the criminal element.

The film, filled with carnage inflicted by criminals and police alike, ends with drug lord and crooked cops imprisoned, but nothing changes. Fueled by the desire for the greenback dollar bill, others will take the place of the busted drug ring, police will be corrupted, and our prison population, the world's largest, including an increasing number of non-violent drug offenders, will continue to grow, diverting public resources from education, health care, housing, drug education and treatment centers...

Where's the light?

First, we must accept the reality that drugs are here to stay. Why? Because humans all over the world, past and present, want (perhaps even need) to experience the effects of drugs, be they legal or illegal, so that life's pains and sorrows might be lessened, or to experience non-ordinary states of existence in order to go beyond the commonplace and enhance life's journey. No society in recorded history, not even those that cut off hands and/or heads of sellers or users, has succeeded in having a drug-free populace. Prohibition proved that for Americans.

To classify all drug users as drug abusers is to turn a challenging problem into an unsolvable one, its attendant costs to society illustrated by the failed - but costly in terms of lives and money - war against drugs.

More of America, including Evanston, needs to join the civilized and wise cities and countries of the world in treating drug abuse as an illness, not a crime; by replacing time in jail for drugs with time in drug treatment; by providing job training and jobs for drug offenders so that they can make a living legally and not illegally.

We need to regulate drugs like alcohol. Prohibition did not end alcohol abuse, but it ended the carnage associated with its use and the corrosive corruption of society.
- Louis Silverstein

Reasonable Remote Control For Older Folks Needed
Editor:

From about March 2007, when digital cable TV service was brought by Comcast to my mother's neighborhood, an assisted living apartment building for the elderly, until service was discontinued in October 2007, my mother was not able to use her television set effectively.

For the first five months, she did not tell me about this because she was suffering acute grief. She had no interest in watching TV. I paid the bill every month without knowing that the digital service was too difficult for her to manage.

In the summer of 2007 my mother complained to me about having difficulty changing channels. I found out that the TV only showed static. My mother is 86 years old and has health problems that made using the new digital Comcast service impossible.

Though I ordered the new digital equipment and installed it for her, she was not able to learn how to use it. The remote control, with over 50 buttons, was impossible for her to manage. I called Comcast three or four times to request assistance and to request a type of remote control device that an elderly person with medical problems could use. I was told there was no such device. I called five other cable TV companies and was told the same thing. I did an Internet search for easy-to-use remote control devices, but nothing I found met my mother's needs.

Finally, in October 2007 I learned from her building manager that the building had its own cable TV service that is much easier to use and requires no remote control. So I discontinued Comcast and continued with the in-house cable service, which my mother is able to use in the way she has always watched TV since she first bought one more than 50 years ago.

I am really disappointed that Comcast and all the other cable TV services (apart from the in-house service) I contacted make no attempt to serve the elderly.

Even the elderly who are cognitively intact have trouble learning to use complicated remote control devices.

Considering that close to 50 percent of those more than 85 years old suffer from some sort of cognitive impairment, and that age group is rapidly growing in numbers, I think cable TV companies should pay attention to this market. A smart, creative engineer surely could design a cable TV system the elderly and cognitively impaired could use.

This is simply an engineering and design problem.

This is also a corporate mission problem. If Comcast only serves the cognitively intact, they are disregarding their corporate responsibility. Many elderly folks really like watching TV. As they inevitably age and develop more health problems, many elderly become socially isolated and unable to leave home safely. TV may be one of their few sources of stimulation and enjoyment.

Comcast makes much profit from its subscribers. I think Comcast has a corporate responsibility to use some of their profits to serve the elderly population.

I urge Comcast to spend at least some of their profits to hire an engineer to design a better remote control for older folks.

When I asked to talk to a manager of customer services about this, I was told my only option was to leave a message on the Comcast website.

As expected, this was simply a way to get me off the phone. I got no reply.
- Deborah Wolen

Support Pensions For Safety Personnel
Editor:

As both a property owner and future beneficiary of a City of Evanston fire pension, I would like to comment on the recent reports of the pension funding crisis facing our City.

It has been accurately reported that the fire pension fund is currently only 41 percent funded, and according to the City's latest actuaries, the fire and police pension fund will need roughly $140 million over the next 26 years to cover the deficit.

The City staff has offered several proposals to address the crisis, and it is now up to the City Council to determine whether to issue pension obligation bonds or to raise taxes on property owners and "pay as you go" to reduce the deficit. There will also be a referendum question on the ballot on Feb. 5 calling for an increase in the transfer tax on properties sold in Evanston to help supplement the shortfall. I support this referendum, which will raise an estimated $800, 000 per year to go directly into the pension funds.

I applaud the current City of Evanston staff and City Council for finally addressing the funding crisis and for wanting to move forward to come up with solutions to resolve the crisis. However, I'm sure there are many residents who are going to be upset, and justifiably so, at the thought of significant increases in their property taxes to cover the shortfall in the fire and police pension funds.

I am one of those residents. Some may wonder just how the City could have allowed the pension funds to become so underfunded. That is a relevant question that would be best answered by City staff.

One point needs to be made perfectly clear to the taxpayers of Evanston. Evanston's firefighters and police officers are not responsible for this mess. Our respective pension boards have warned the City for nearly two decades that our pensions were underfunded and we were headed for a crisis.

A recent RoundTable article quoted an unnamed financial expert who suggested that a possible solution would be to have the City negotiate for increased pension contributions from firefighters and police officers.

However, employee contributions are negotiated at the state level, and state law mandates that firefighters contribute nearly 10 percent of their salaries to the pension fund. Any change in contributions would need to be negotiated at the state level. It might sound reasonable to some to ask firefighters and police officers to increase their contributions into the pension funds to help offset the funding shortfall, but I don't agree.

Evanston's firefighters spend one-third of our working life away from our families (working 24-hour shifts every third day). We have missed numerous holidays, family functions, our kids' sporting events and school concerts, not to mention at times risking our lives to serve the citizens of Evanston.

I say this not to elicit sympathy. We knew of the sacrifices we would be making going into our chosen vocation. Rather, I say this because I, as well as the rest of my fellow firefighters, have spent our careers faithfully serving and protecting our community and have made our required contributions into the pension fund throughout our tenure with this wonderful City.

We have held up our end of the bargain. It is now up to the City staff and Council to find a solution that results in the least amount of pain on the taxpayers of Evanston.
- Greg Klaiber

Concerns Over High-Rise Safety
Editor:

A major concern related to fire safety has emerged in consideration of the proposed 49-story tower at 708 Church Street. This has the potential of costing the City of Evanston millions of dollars over and above revenues generated by the project.

At the Plan Commission meeting on Dec. 12, a statement by Fire Chief Berkowsky was read into the record. Directly commenting on the proposed 708 Church St. Tower he stated:

The most critical component is firefighters for a high-rise incident. The number of firefighters available to respond to the onset of a high-rise fire will have the greatest impact in the mitigation of the event. In Chicago, their initial response to a high-rise incident is 61 firefighters.In Evanston, the most we can send on the
initial response is 26 firefighters on any given day. [emphasis added]

If there was a need to remind Evanstonians that high-rise fires do occur, the very next day in Chicago, on Dec. 13, a fire in a 27-story residential building in Wrigleyville (810 West Grace) required more than 150 firefighters and paramedics.

Chief Alan Berkowsky's calculations indicate that an additional 35 Evanston firefighters per shift would be required to have the necessary initial responders to an incident in a high-rise structure such as that proposed at 708 Church St.

That is, if Evanston approves a high-rise building, an additional 105 firefighters will be needed. Looking at the 2007-08 Evanston City Budget, annual fire suppression services primary pay and benefits (excluding pension costs) cost $10,244,600. This means that the average per-employee cost of the 103 full-time-equivalent fire suppression personnel is $99,462 (salaries, benefits, as well as related supplies and services). This does not include pension costs.

Given Chief Berkowsky's confirmation of reasonable initial responder numbers, Evanston will need to spend an additional $10,443,510 annually (not including pension costs) if they want to ensure the safety of the residents in the proposed 708 Church building. This is more than double the current fire suppression budget.

Property tax revenues from the proposed 708 Church building are estimated generously at $3,200,000 per year.This means on the issue of fire protection personnel alone, this building would cost the City almost $7,000,000 per year.

This does not even start to consider the cost of new fire stations to house these firefighters and new equipment to be used by these new personnel. This would be an enormous tax burden to be borne by Evanston taxpayers.

While some might argue that we could get help from Chicago and neighboring suburbs, let me underscore Chief Berkowsky's clarification that this is a need for 61 initial responders.

The additional five, ten or 20 minutes that would be needed to get additional firefighters on the scene from neighboring communities may very well be the difference between life and death for residents or for the firefighters who have inadequate support in addressing a fire or other incident in the building.

As noted above, last week's fire in a Chicago high-rise building smaller than the proposed tower required 150 fire suppression personnel and paramedics to ensure the safety of the residents.

Particularly distressing was the lack of attention paid to these very serious safety and financial issues by the four members of the Plan Commission voting to approve the 708 Church building last month.

Although Fire Chief Berkowsky's statement was read into the record, the four members paid it little heed. Rather, one commissioner commented multiple times that the development was "pleasing to the eyes."

Another commissioner described how he knew many of the applicants well and "trusted" them to do a good job. Still another commissioner voting to approve the project stated that "it says something about a city that can put its wealthiest members at the center of the city."

The overlooked fire safety issue is symptomatic of the incremental planning nearsightedness that has overtaken City governance.

Even when the issue of a high-rise was first proposed apparently at a February 2007 City Council meeting, no effort was made to carefully understand the impact of a high-rise in a city of less than 80,000.

Similarly, the pending draft Downtown Plan, which calls for more height at the core, is silent on the financial and quality-of-life issues of added fire protection, policing, road repairs, the impact on substantially increased downtown traffic and traffic controls, to name a few.

At the moment when the high-rise was proposed, there should have been a careful analysis of financial feasibility of a high-rise, not merely using data and perspectives provided by the developers but a thorough consideration by all affected
City departments.

As underscored by the cost of fire protection, there are economies of scale in a city supporting high-rise development. It appears that if even a few high-rise towers are built, it will only exacerbate Evanston's financial crisis.

It is quite possible that the only way the high-rise development will pay off for the City is to ensure that there are many high-rises, possibly more than 10. If this is where we are headed, this should be discussed very carefully as a broad policy before the first tower is built.

City Council should take extreme care before getting too starry-eyed about the 708 Church proposal and prior to accurately understanding the substantial public costs of such a development.

On a related matter, the draft Downtown Plan, which is making its way to City Council, carries some of the same flaws as the discussion of the 708 Church building. While underscoring the benefits of more downtown development, the report has glaring shortcomings in its scope and analysis related to the costs to the City and its taxpayers.
- Phil and Gwen Nyden

Why Evanston?
Editor:

1) Evanston is "a city with a soul."
2) The 9 wards of Evanston allow people from every socioeconomic, religious, cultural background to create a home and feel good about themselves. The 5th ward allows for a certain home price and community character that residents can embrace while the 7th ward allows for a different community character and the 3rd ward again a different. Evanston works because it allows for this diversity making it unique and gives it a soul.
3) Evanston has a history.Great leader of business, government and movements have lived in Evanston: John Evans, Dawes, Hill, etc.
4) This diversity allows for different groups to coexist in the same city, they can go to the same schools, eat and shop at the same stores and exchange ideas from different prospectives these are the Faces of Evanston.

The Vision:
1) Market and develop the land along the canal. It's underutilized and bring in technology and research based firms.
2) Lots of parking, can jump on McCormick and be home in any part of Evanston within 10 min.
3) They would be 5-10 min from downtown Evanston from any point in the city.
4) The university is here giving us an advantage for exchange of ideas and higher learning such as networking, internships and a beautiful city.
5) The downtown should be unique and attractive.
6) The golden triangle (fountain square block)should be the center and I see a sculpture of John Evans along with a wall of glass or stone listing the many leaders that have shaped this community on fountain square).Evanston would be a community that embraces its history and is proud of themselves.The wall would have a place for future leaders that children could hope and dream one day their name would be listed.
7) The block would be an example of adaptive re-use with small unique stores maybe around 500 sq. ft. such as perfume, socks, moisturizers, etc.
8) Rising from the belly of this block would be a modern new concept of office space.Management companies could
buy entire floors and furnish them with conference centers, break rooms, recep-
tion areas allowing someone to rent individual offices on a month to month or
year basis.
9) Companies can buy entire floors.
10) At the top, consider high end condos, custom built and furnished. This is a new trend but has to be done with a high class builder/developer.
11) A Dillan's candy store, a Willy Wonka concept that creates a fantasy land for kids is another kind of store that would work in Evanston.
12)H and M, Top Shop or Zara are all international, affordable, trendy and classy.
13)A museum, perhaps in the "golden triangle" in the Fountain Square area.
14)Stores that are indoors, such as a mall concept.Evanston has a lot of cold winters and it would give people a place to go.
15)City Hall would remain in its current location allowing for adaptive reuse and adding to the side a new and modern performing arts center.A city hall by day and arts center by night using the same parking space along with beautiful gardens and green space.

How to make it happen?
1) Market the City with buzz words like "a city with a soul," Evanston's "golden triangle," technology-based firms, innovative yet community.
2) Market the City in newspapers on
the internet talk about what makes it great and why come to Evanston.
3) Go after companies national and international and court them. In the beginning go to them, invite them to Evanston and sell them on the City and the vision.
4) Understand the cultures of the businesses and why they could see Evanston as a good home for them and their children.
5) This would revitalize Evanston and place in on the world stage as a city that cares about itself and its community.
6) This means work, strategy and leadership. It means bringing new people with new skills and ideas working with Kellogg and employing their services.Kellogg does not give money but could provide the service and experience through case study and setting up a strategy.I am sure they would be willing to help.
8) This means working with the different departments at Northwestern and seeing what would bring in technology and research firms and which ones would find Evanston attractive.
9) Northwestern will not give the City money but let them provide the service and pick their brain for ideas besides they are a part of the community and we share the same father, John Evans.
10) Work with the talents of its residents and see if they would provide their services to make Evanston a great city.
11) People must be informed in order to act effectively as citizens and community members, but unfortunately indifference is taking hold and that is worse than anger.
- Dr. Stamata Blanas