state of the city address 3-8-13

Mayor’s State of the City-March 2013 Final

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Mayor’s State of the City Address Orrington Hotel

Evanston, IL March 8, 2013

We have a great city and it is going to continue to be a great city. Evanston can weather the storms that are coming, and storms are coming from sequestration and from the State of Illinois’ budget woes. We’ve made a covenant with one another to live in a diverse community because it is immensely rewarding. It is more fun, more vibrant and a continuing learning experience. It is also more work. Evanston’s aldermen and alderwomen are an incredible group dedicated to doing that work. No, they are not dedicated to agreeing with one another all the time, nor should they be. Evanston’s residents are an equally incredible group of people who act, who help, who look out for one another and who do not agree on everything either. We can create economic development, provide workforce development opportunities for all our residents, sell water to more communities, promote the arts, have a peaceable city and much more. We can do all these things because we want to and because we have to. Change is not optional. We have to change. Yesterday’s news from Springfield is that Evanston would lose $1,400,000 if a proposal to cut the cities’ share of the Local Government Distributive Fund passes. It’s a long way from passing and Mayors are heading to Springfield to lobby, but it is a foreshadowing of things to come. We can succeed at reinventing ourselves because we have partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce, Oakton Community College, Northwestern University, Districts 65 and 202, ORT, the Faith Community, the Non Profit Community and all our legislators. As we work to reinvent ourselves, cities are supposed to do more with less. Forget about that. It’s highly overrated. I am a proponent of doing more with more folks helping. Partnering with all of you works well. Since this is a Chamber of Commerce event, let’s begin by talking about a business, Best Buy. The general manager, Steve Smith, read about Ald. Rainey’s work to revitalize Howard Street. He offered to help with appliances for the 2 affordable rental units above Ward 8, the fabulous new wine bar. He asked Ald. Rainey what kind of refrigerator she wanted. It was a historic moment, for once Ann didn’t know what to say, should she pick the most expensive, should she pick the least expensive, but she handled it beautifully. She said “You know your merchandise best. You should pick.” He said “You should have LG refrigerators because they are the best.” So that’s what is in the city owned apartment, the best. There’s a reason our Best Buy did not close when so many did. Mr. Smith and his employees are the reason. There’s a reason that Howard Street is now a place people want to go. Alderman Rainey and her band of never give up believers are the reason. It’s been the best of times and the worst of times. In a terrible week for Evanston, Dajae Coleman was killed and Northwestern University student Harsha Modelula was found


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dead in Wilmette Harbor. Dajae’s killing shocked his friends, family and our entire community. Dajae was an ETHS freshman doing everything right with his life, his successes embodying the hopes and dreams we have for all the young men and women in our community. The Evanston Police Department and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced the arrest of Wesley A. Woodson III of Evanston in connection with the murder of Dajae Coleman. My thanks to the Evanston Police, the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force and the State’s Attorney’s Office for their fine work in apprehending and bringing charges against Dajae’s alleged killer. Their work was assisted by a community that wanted the killer to be caught. To fully understand the depths of this tragedy, we need to remember that Mr. Woodson is from a 3rd generation Evanston family. If convicted, his is another life lost. As a community, we have worked together to make Evanston a safer place. But more needs to be done. And will be done. We have too many guns in Evanston. We must work to get guns off the street through buy-back programs and other means until local jurisdictions have the authority to enact real gun control legislation. I called a community meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 2 at the Fleetwood Jourdain Community Center to bring together community members to discuss how we can bring more resources to our efforts to protect and engage our youth. 450 people joined me there. I would like to thank everyone who attended except for the Illinois Rifle Association who sent out a mass email telling their members to come to our meeting. Some gun advocates came, but they were so intimidated by the 450 or more Evanstonians that most of the IRA folks left. The handful that remained were not capable of disrupting our meeting. Carolyn Murray, a 5th ward activist, had been working with Ald. Holmes, Chief Eddington and me on a gun buyback program. Carolyn’s son, Justin Murray, was killed before the gun buyback program took place. His was the second of the 3 homicides that occurred in 2012. With incredible grace, strength and determination, Carolyn came to the gun buyback which succeeded in removing 48 guns from our streets. Carolyn and the people at the meeting at Fleetwood are the reason I am confident we can resolve our problems. To stop the violence best practices include: First strong support of our excellent police department including assistance from the Federal, State and County governments; second increased programs for teenagers which we all created two years ago and are still perfecting with the help of the Mayor's Youth Council and ; third workforce training. There is excellent career education available at ETHS and at Oakton Community College. The problem is not motivation. Our 18-25 year olds want to work. Whenever I meet with them and ask what I can do to help them, they say "We need jobs."


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Let’s look at the barriers. Not enough ETHS students who do not go on to college are aware of and availing themselves of the opportunities that exist for them at ETHS. The city has promised to help Shelley Gates advertise her fabulous work by distributing fliers describing ETHS career education at community centers, libraries, churches and our outreach workers will put them directly into young people's hands. Perhaps, even better, we will put the information directly into parents’ hands. Oakton Community College has a different barrier. The Des Plaines campus is hard to reach by public transportation. Oakton is working with us to improve outreach. Currently 8 percent of Oakton's students are from Evanston while Evanston's population represents 16.6 percent of the district. We have great young people who can have fabulous careers when we remove the barriers to workforce training. Superintendent Witherspoon and the District 202 Board of Education have decided to hire someone to encourage students to take a look at the career classes that are available to them. ETHS deserves to be congratulated for a wise move that will improve the lives of our youth. Dr. Peg Lee, President of Oakton Community College and Evanston’s own Bill Stafford, an Oakton Trustee, are on the case as well and I am sure that the number of our young people attending Oakton will improve. In the meantime city outreach workers are taking young people to ORT in Skokie where vocational training is provided, bus service to campus is included at little cost. The great news is that our youth want careers, want to learn and are doing well when given the opportunity. With faith in the good people in charge at Oakton and ETHS, the future has unlimited opportunity for those not heading to college immediately after graduation and that bodes well for our entire community. The city realizes that the resolution to recent community violence is a dynamic partnership with the community where we all commit to do our part to make this City a better place for our young people. Here are a few ways that you can help us: Come hear Tio Hardiman of Cease Fire at the Fleetwood Jourdain Community Center, Thursday, March 28 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Form a neighborhood watch group in your community. They are effective ways to deter crime.

Volunteer to be a mentor. Many young people need guidance to make better decisions. Check out the youth/mentor programs in town and get involved.

There is good news, lots of good news. In June the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that Erie Family Health Center received a grant to open a


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new health center in Evanston. The grant will provide $650,000 of annual support toward the operation of the center. In October the center opened in the basement of the Civic Center.

On July 15, 2013, the new and permanent site at 1285 Hartrey will open. This will allow Erie to reach even more Evanston and Skokie residents. The new health center will be 15,000 square feet and have 15 exam rooms, 5 dental operatories as well as space for an onsite lab, behavioral health suite, children’s play area, group health education and other activities. Thanks go to North Shore University Health Systems, their help made all this possible.

Thanks also go to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Senator Durbin, my new best friend, Binta Beard on the Senator’s staff and my always and forever friend, the inimitable Dave Davis. This grant will allow us to improve peoples’ lives.

On January 31, when the ground was frozen solid, there was a ground breaking on the future site of Trader Joe’s, 1211 Chicago Avenue. Alderman Wynne and I were so excited that we broke through the frozen ground and each did our share of shoveling. The arrival of Trader Joe’s will mark an important step in the continuing improvement of Chicago Avenue which has seen a lot of recent activity with construction nearly complete on the AMLI Residential development, a new 214-unit luxury rental apartment community; the OMS Evanston LCC mixed-use office and retail redevelopment of the property at Chicago Avenue and Main Street; and the CTA improvements of the retaining wall along the corridor along with the replacement of three CTA viaducts. I would like to repeat that, 3 viaducts. The City of Evanston is doing and will continue to do everything possible to encourage economic development.

For example, the gigabits are coming to town. On Friday, January 18, Governor Pat Quinn came to Evanston to announce a $1,000,000 state investment to help the City of Evanston and Northwestern University become an Illinois Gigabit Community, bringing ultra -high speed Internet to one of the nation's top universities and the surrounding area, home to more than 160 startups. "To compete in the 21st century economy, we must have technology that is second to none, " Governor Quinn said. Internet service that's a hundred times faster than what we have today will help businesses, universities and governments to revolutionize our communities and make them stronger today and in the future." The gigabit grant is proof that City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz's creation, Evanston Day in Springfield works. That is when Governor Quinn told me that we should apply with Northwestern for a gigabit grant. At the time I did not know what a gigabit was, but I said "Governor, we will do it." And we did. The next Evanston Day in Springfield is March 13. I hope you all come.


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On Jan. 30 Governor Quinn was at it again. He and the Illinois Department of Transportation awarded another grant, this one for $580,000 to rehabilitate the multi-use trail at the Ladd Arboretum. The city has been applying for this grant for at least 10 years. Congratulations to Doug Gaynor and Stefanie Levine, Daniel Biss, Robyn Gabel, Laura Fine, Heather Stearns and Kelly Cassidy for incredible perseverance and optimism. I thought it was hopeless so I am glad that no one asked for my opinion. We will continue to aggressively apply for state and federal grants. The City designed and constructed its first protected bike lane on Church Street. The path currently provides a protected zone for bikers transiting from west Evanston to downtown Evanston. The Church St. protected bicycle path separates bicycle traffic from vehicular traffic using different pavement markings, upright lane separators and parking reconfigurations. Protected bike paths are planned for Davis Street and Dodge Avenue. Because of the City’s innovation with the Church Street project, the existing bicycle network and the diverse ridership, the City was recently named a “Bicycle Friendly Community” at the Silver Award level by the League of American Bicyclists. Evanston was one of only five communities in the state to be recognized and one of only two to have received the Silver Award. Partnering with the County, State and Federal government will help us maintain our infrastructure and our budget. The City’s financial standing has remained relatively stable during the past year. In 2012, the City maintained its AAA credit rating with the Moody’s and Fitch. The AAA rating is the highest attainable credit rating awarded by these agencies. Regarding the City budget, General Fund revenues have performed close to anticipated levels and the City has been successful in consistently holding General Fund expenses below budget. The City has also reduced its staffing levels by nearly one hundred employees since 2006 without significantly impacting services. City budgets are inextricably linked to the state and nation’s financial problems. Sequestration is incomprehensible from a public policy point of view. It will create a 5% reduction from FY 2013 for HUD programs such as CDBG and more trouble will follow that. The State of Illinois’ financial problems have no solution in sight in spite of Sen. Daniel Biss’ good work on pensions. As for the state’s choice of benefits for the police and fire pension plans, that’s not even being discussed. I will continue to lobby for pension reform, particularly for reforms that do not impact current benefits but so far I am striking out. When discussing pensions, it is important to put it in perspective. I discussed the police department’s excellent work earlier. In 2012 the fire department responded to 9330 calls for service, the highest volume in the department’s history. There were 154 fires. The average response time was under the 4 minute standard set by the National Fire Protection Administration. We have a great fire department.

http://www.bikeleague.org/


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To help expand our tax base Evanston has positioned itself to be ready to negotiate with other potential wholesale water customers. Evanston partnered with Lincolnwood, Niles, Des Plaines, Park Ridge, the Northwest Water Commission and the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency to complete a transmission main study in 2012. This study determined the preliminary pipe routing, pipe size, cost and cost allocation for a transmission main that would be needed to supply the water to these potential partners. Additionally, Evanston continues to work on the facility level planning to increase the capacity of the water treatment facility necessary to meet the demand of these potential new customers. Evanston is working to execute a water supply contract with Lincolnwood by the end of June, 2013. Negotiations with the other partners will continue throughout the year. Curt’s Café is more than a coffee shop. Susan Treischmann is more than a café owner, manager, waiter, greeter, and dishwasher upon occasion. She’s good at fighting crime, she’s on a par with Batman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman or Superman. Susan asked ex-offenders what would stop them from offending again. They said “a job.” So Susan opened Curt’s Café at 2922 Central Street to give them what they needed. She just did it. Okay, okay, she opened it a little too early, before she had a large refrigerator but that’s all worked out. I was at Curt’s Café a day after it opened. They said “Hello Mayor, Mayor Morton was here yesterday.” Don’t worry, Mayor Morton is still on the job. She’s not a step ahead of me. She’s a day ahead. Service is excellent at Curt’s. The food is great. The atmosphere is upbeat and friendly. The Presbyterian Home sent 17 ladies over for tea. Haven students eat lunch there on half days. Regulars pack the place and while all this is going on, students are receiving 6 hours a day of on the job training and a daily stipend which is critical because some of them have children to support. After 3 months, ex-offenders have skills, a resume, recommendations and help moving on to other jobs. Susan sees a problem, analyzes it and solves it. It’s people like Susan who make our community strong. Evanston's work around sustainability and addressing climate change is a continued area of strength for our community. We formally committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by signing onto the US Conference of Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement in 2006, along with more than 1000 other cities in the US. Our goal was to reduce our community emissions by 13% by the end of 2012. I am happy to announce we are one of a handful of communities across the country that have reached our emission reduction goal. We could not have achieved this goal without the great work of staff and the community, including our citizen volunteer groups such as the Evanston Environmental Association, Evanston Environment Board, Citizens' Greener Evanston, and the Evanston Utilities Commission. We have more work to do to continue to meet our commitment to addressing climate change but we have proven that hard work and creativity can help


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us meet any challenge. Relations with NU are strong. They are giving fabulous support to ETHS and District 65. There are issues and there will always be issues. NU seeks to grow on a finite amount of land; improve attendance at football games by playing a game at Wrigley, home I point out of the loveable losers; and bring large numbers of eighteen year olds to Evanston, away at last from all parental supervision. There will always be issues. The city seeks greater participation by Evanston residents and Evanston businesses in the work resulting from all the new construction. We want to retain NU businesses that are incubated on campus and outgrow their space. Evanston businesses want to benefit from NU’s yearly purchasing power. There’s news on the Wrigley Field issue. If Wrigley is reconstructed and can accommodate a football game, that’s a big if. Then President Schapiro assured me that Evanston will keep 6 home games a year at Ryan Field. Only when there is a 7th home game will one be played at Wrigley and it will not be against a marquee team that sells out. Morty is not here because he is at a trustees’ meeting. If he was here, he’d be fired and then the city would have to hire him. I thought of offering him a job in the recreation department but I didn’t think he could handle the concept of telling the kids not to worry about the score in a game. Rosemary O’Neil has set a new standard for problem solving. Her house on Sheridan faces NU’s parking lot which was being reconfigured to have all traffic enter and exit across from Rosemary’s house. She thought she might not be nimble enough to dart in and out of so much traffic. After prolonged negotiation NU put a device in Rosemary’s driveway that made the traffic signal give Rosemary 20 extra seconds to exit. I received an invitation to the Blessing of the Traffic Signal party. A priest from Sheil blessed the light which worked, thank heaven. City governments will always have problems, but if we can solve them with the panache of Rosemary, we will do well. The party was a blast. We are going to change. We are going to focus on economic development, expand our water sales, attract tech firms, educate a workforce for today’s jobs, provide affordable housing, provide health care, and keep reducing our carbon footprint. In the midst of all those changes, we will not change at all. We will remain a diverse, caring, inclusive society committed to excellence, equity, opportunity and a warm welcome for everyone. As we celebrate our 150th anniversary with 10 great visionary ideas, as talk of change is necessary, exciting and everywhere, let us remember who we are and why we have chosen to live in this marvelously difficulty and wonderfully participatory city. Let us celebrate that never changing.

Elizabeth Tisdahl, Mayor

City of Evanston

state of the city address 3-8-13

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