Citizens get to work on 10 ambitious ideas
BY KAREN BERKOWITZ kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com November 11, 2011 1:32PM
Rives Collins serves as host of the Thursday evening celebration announcing the top 10 ideas for making Evanston a better place to live, work and play. | Joe Cyganowski~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: December 18, 2011 8:10AM
Evanston citizens and activists have imagined a utopian Evanston for the future with affordable health care, citywide Wi-Fi access, universal preschool and a vocational center to link job-seekers with real-world opportunities.
They’ve imagined a green, bike-able and walk-able Evanston that is carbon neutral and dotted by urban farms and community gardens that produce a harvest of locally grown food.
Residents would have free beach access. Literacy centers, located in different neighborhoods, would provide conventional library services and serve as community learning centers with a focus on technology.
Teen interests would be nurtured in a youth development center that provides creative and artistic opportunities, while providing career counseling, internships and apprenticeships.
The 10 visions to emerge from seven months of groundwork by Evanston 150, in preparation for the city’s 150th birthday in 2013, were announced Nov. 10 during a “black tie and blue jeans” affair that drew about 300 people to the Levy Senior Center.
More than a party
The odd attire denoted that the party was not just a celebration with free food and music, but a time to hunker down and begin the task of converting the lofty aspirations into do-able projects.
At each table was a “toolbox” of resources and suggested starting points.
“There are websites for community organizations that share the same interests, and websites for cities that have implemented similar projects,” said Stephanie Kulke, project manager for Evanston 150. “They are not starting from scratch.”
A visit to the “Here’s to our health” table found city staff member Davon Woodard updating participants on the status of the city’s plans to create a federally qualified health clinic in partnership with Erie Family Health. An application for $650,000 in federal start-up funds has been approved, but the funds have not yet been appropriated, he said.
Joel Freeman, a member of the Evanston Energy Commission, Evanston Utilities Commission and the Mayor’s Wind Farm Committee, was among those sitting in at the “Green and Clean” table. Freeman was involved in creating a comprehensive Climate Action Plan aimed at reducing the city’s carbon footprint.
“I would like to contribute where I can,” Freeman said. “This is a new collection of people, so there is a new set of ideas. There will be a new set of preferences. We’ll have to see how this group kind of directs itself.”
Roots of the project
Evanston 150 dates back to 2008, when some civic leaders began mulling a fitting way to celebrate the city’s sesquicentennial anniversary, which officially takes place on Dec. 29, 2013. They came up with an ambitious plan for capturing the public’s imagination and giving citizens a say in the city’s future.
At a kickoff event in March, they put out a call for 2,013 ideas for making Evanston a better place to live, work, play and study. Brainstorming sessions were held in classrooms and community venues across the city.
By the July 31 deadline, more than 2,200 ideas had rolled in. A selection jury culled and synthesized the list down to 100 ideas, which were presented for community votes over a weekend in October.
From the top 30 ideas, the jury selection developed 10 broad ideas. The goal is to bring the ideas to fruition in some fashion by the anniversary in 2013.
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