EDITORIAL

Evanstonians Could Use Some Wheel Help

We suggested recently that more people will be inclined to spend their vacations close to home this summer, given the mounting costs of getting away. And while it is fairly easy to get to Evanston by public transportation, it is not always so easy to get around Evanston without a car.

One aspect of the City's strategic plan is to encourage lifestyles that encompass sustainability practices, and bike-riding comes easily to mind. We know there are bike paths for leisurely enjoyment and bike routes for serious riders to use getting to and from places.

What is missing is something for what we would term the "casual commuter." Nearly 41 percent of Evanstonians who work, work in Evanston, according to figures from the Chamber of Commerce. Many who work outside Evanston take commuter trains. Heavy traffic on major streets is a detriment to bike riders who have only a mile or two to travel to their job in Evanston or to a commuter train station. Rather than face the roar of those engines and the heavy traffic on streets that contain either narrow or nonexistent bike lanes, many people still resort to their cars.

We know the City has just recently adopted a bike plan, but it does not create bike-friendly paths for the "casual commuter." We suggest the City look at doing so with a creative eye and explore ways to create bike paths that people would feel comfortable and safe using to travel to work or a commuter station.

Another practical way to encourage bike riding would be to add a few more thoughtfully placed bike racks in or near our major commercial areas and at commuter train stations: Central Street west, Central/Green Bay, downtown and West Davis Street; Dempster Street, Main Street and Howard Street. We understand that an enlarged area will be provided at the new Howard Street station to encourage people to ride their bikes to that station. It should be done at other locations as well.

Finally, we urge the City to reconsider its parking restrictions in residential areas near commuter stations. Banning street parking without a residential sticker before 9 a.m. limits the number of parking spaces for commuters and discourages people from taking public transportation to work. Perhaps this is an unintended consequence of neighbors' desire for on-street parking, but in any case, given the oil crunch and the likelihood of even more ozone-alert days this summer, we feel it is imperative that the City do all it can to help residents minimize oil consumption and to encourage people to take public transportation.

That way perhaps we can all breathe a little easier in the fall.

Lessons Learned?

By Charles Wilkinson

Great teachers are lifelong learners, as all of us should be.

Really great teachers offer more questions than answers, challenging others to take whatever questions they pass on and live into them in order to find their own truths.

Preachers are teachers. The truly great ones respect their "students" while trying to enlighten their spiritual lives. As lifelong learners, great preachers know their place and their function. They also know what they do not know (a neglected measure of true intelligence) so they are open to being taught as well as to teaching.

According to such standards, we have been exposed to less than great preaching in the on-going presidential campaigns. The Reverends Jeremiah Wright, John Hagee and Michael Pfleger have become both political pawns and caricatures that belie their roles and, sadly, tarnish the good they have done.

I have little difficulty accepting the out-of-context defense and cry of "Foul!" by both Reverends Wright and Hagee, even while feeling their words, in context or out, are ugly as sin. But Father Pfleger is another matter.

As a former priest and seminary teacher of communication, I cringed watching on the news and YouTube his performance at Trinity United Church of Christ. In other settings, the distortions of his person would be not only laughable but also insulting to most listeners, to say nothing about his mockery of Senator Clinton. No out-of-context defense for him.

If anything, his performance was well out of the context of my idea of a priest, and apparently the ideas of many others, judging from responses in the press. In my seminary years I taught that nothing communicates more powerfully than one's person and truth and that any priest's model should be He whom he represents.
I do not know the person and truth of Father Pfleger but I found it very difficult to see Jesus in his performance.

That being said, I am left saddened by the poundings all three preachers have had to endure because of their stumblings into matters political. But they, more than most, should have heeded and been living by their Employer's admonition to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

Now that the presidential primaries are over, I can only hope they have learned their difficult lessons. The campaign months ahead should be all about Caesar, though that is not to say we do not need God's continued blessings on our country, its future and its leaders.

In the meantime we can be grateful, somewhat, that the three reverends have reminded all of us that the principle of separation of Church and State applies
not only to politicians but to preachers
as well.

Ode to Father

By Peggy Tarr

"Your dad was present when you were born," Mom often told me with a smile.
"He wiped my brow and held my hand, never leaving me all the while."
When I was born, he hugged my mom and smiled from ear to ear.
He couldn't find words to express his joy for the baby that now was here.
As a toddler, whenever Dad had to leave, I would start to cry.
My dad would hug me and say he'd be back 'cause I was the "apple of his eye."
My dad always found a way to inspire me, whether about school or work or play.
Somehow his words of encouragement always helped me find a way.
I'm a big person now, an adult in fact, and my dad's more precious to me
Than in those days when I was small enough to sit upon his knee.
Today is a special day for me to find cards or gifts that say:
"You've made my life complete, Dad. Happy, happy Father's Day!"*

*Father's Day = June 15, 2008, the third Sunday in June in the U.S.A; first celebrated in June on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Wash.; recommended as a national holiday in 1924 by President Calvin Coolidge; designated as a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday in June
by President Lyndon Johnson but not officially recognized until 1972, under Richard Nixon.

Other countries and religions have services, rituals or days that honor men on various dates, some official and some in language equivalent to the English designation, Father's Day.

Letters to the Editor

Consider the Dawes House
Open letter to Northwestern University President Henry Bienen:

I know you have been busy of late with award ceremonies for girls sports teams, the upcoming graduation festivities and endless other details as you approach your announced retirement in August 2009.

But before you go, I would ask you to consider something. Consider leaving to Evanston a wonderful gift - namely, the Dawes Mansion.

If it is the money pit as some have suggested, let the town worry about where to find the $4 million to put her back in good shape. A little worn-down at the heels to be sure, but Evanstonians love the place.

She is part of the cultural fabric of our town no less than University Hall, The Woman's Club of Evanston or the Second Baptist Church.

She is a grand old lady who speaks of other days and is deserving of some dignity and attention. Perhaps that is the reason General Dawes wanted it placed in the care of the Evanston Historical Society along with an endowment for her upkeep.

Were you to make this wonderful gift to our town, I suspect that it would go a long way toward quieting those who often carp that Northwestern doesn't do enough.

Think about it, Mr. Bienen.

With thanks,
- Stuart W. Opdycke

Bard Bombard
Editor:

The quality of reality is not sustained

It droppeth as the rental gain has later
waned

Below the pace it reached: Reality is
twice cursed

Cursed by overprice but oversupply is
worse

Now height edifice might manifest to
become

The unthroned monarch that brought
oligarchy down
- Robert J. Bagby

Do Not Let the Tower Be Built
Editor:

As a 30-year resident of Evanston who has lived in three precincts, I am appalled by the plan to erect a tower at 708 Church St.

I believe that the building they want to tear down is almost a century old, and we should cherish it. Williams Shoes has been there since 1954, and before them there was a candy store.

Please do not destroy a remnant of Evanston's history.
- Emily Gaul

Community Input a Necessity For Downtown Plan
Editor:

Alderman Edmund Moran in his Guest Essay (RoundTable, May 28) writes a paean to changes in Evanston over the years and to future positive changes through establishment of a downtown plan.

I agree that the downtown plan currently in process is, and has long been, needed. However, I am equally sure that there will, and should be, further discussion about the details of that plan and of future proposals to build under that plan.

In the same issue, Mary Brugliera's "Interview With a Founder of Evanston's Preservation Movement" (p. 14) amply demonstrates why we cannot simply rely on City government or staff to make these decisions for us.

Further, I attended City hearings when John Buck proposed his development on Chicago Avenue. Buck's original plan was to build two towers on the site (both approximately the size of the Chase Bank tower) with the "possibility" of a food store.

City government was eager for this development, fearing contagious downtown blight from the large, empty former Washington National building.

What Ald. Moran now lauds as "the stylish Park Evanston that also gave us the new Whole Foods" would, without community protest and input, have been inappropriate for its location and far less attractive.
- Lola Himrod

Home in Evanston
Editor:

Oh, give me a home, where no
developers roam,
Where the small businesses and the
locals play,
Where never is heard, the "Tower"
word,
And the skyline is visible all day.
- Michael Zucker