Evanston alders narrowed their draft list of goals from 10 to six and produced brief descriptions for each goal at at special meeting Saturday.
The goal setting process was a response to what Mayor Daniel Biss said has been “a lack of focus” during the first two years of the current council’s four-year term.
The goals are designed to guide the body in allocating time and resources as it heads toward the next election for mayor and all the alders in April 2025.
The goals on the final list are:
- Housing — Expand the supply of safe and affordable housing in every neighborhood of Evanston.
- CARP — Achieve Evanston’s 2025 Climate Action and Resilience Plan goals.
- Economic Development — Invest in and bolster Evanston’s unique identity and culture. Foster growth and stability for existing and new Evanston businesses. Ensure pathways to economic growth for residents.
- Finance — Responsible and sustainable stewardship of city assets.
- Public Safety — Ensure Evanston is safe and welcoming to all. Implement best practices and policies and develop coordinated alternative public safety responses.
- Public Health — Make signficant and measurable progress toward addressing E-plan priorities.
Alders trimmed from the list four other goals that they had identified during their first goal-setting meeting last month.
They decided to reference “Equity” in a preamble to the goal list.
“Goals change,” Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) said, “but putting it [equity] at the top makes it a number one priority that won’t change.”
Also dropped from the original list of 10 were “Community,” “Process and procedures” and “Infrastructure.”
Those got the lowest number of votes when council members were asked to pick their top five choices from the list of 10.
Biss said city staff now would be asked to provide more specifics about what the city might try to accomplish in each of the six areas over the next two years and return to the Council for another session to evaluate those action plans.
The new goal list is designed to replace a list of six goals the Council adopted in 2019. Those included:
- Invest in city infrastructure and facilities.
- Enhance community development and job creation citywide.
- Expand affordable housing options.
- Ensure equity in all city operations.
- Stabilize long-term city finances.
- Implement the city’s climate action and resilience plan.
Diversity and leadership consultant Gilo Kwesi Logan, who led the session, emphasized that just because a topic didn’t make the top priority list doesn’t mean it won’t be considered by the Council over the next two years.
All the council members except Ald. Tom Suffredin (6th) were present for Saturday’s session.
I am pleased that CARP is on the list of the Council’s top priorities . Implementing the principles and goals of CARP can have a positive impact on the other important goals the Council plans to pursue, including equity, public health and safety.
Interesting that infrastructure, one of the most basic functions of a city government, doesn’t make the list, but aspirational goals such as CARP and Public Health do. In my mind, you don’t even touch these goals until you’ve got infrastructure, public safety and your finances in order (which we don’t).
I’d also question why the Council is so obsessed with affordable housing. What’s wrong with market-price housing? Green-lighting as many market-price projects as possible should have the effect of decreasing demand for older and less desirable housing stock, which should make them more affordable.
In terms of economic development, the council could best achieve this by not passing laws and regulations that hurt businesses such as the bag tax or the proposal to require businesses to accept cash, to cite recent examples.
These priorities to me show how out of touch the council is with reality.
David – I’m with you on market price. I am getting the impression that the council wants to turn Evanston into Rogers Park. If i wanted to live in RP, I’d live there in a much cheaper property, but i chose Evanston for safety and amenities, knowing I’d have to pay a premium. I feel like the emphasis on affordable housing is beginning to come at the expense of market value of housing overall in Evanston.
Be sure to define “Equity” and agree on the term before using it.
Really bothers me that a group of elected officials need to pay someone else to help them agree on a list.
100% agreement, David. Drive one suburb north. Schools and roads are in good repair. Downtown is bustling. We have a number of well meaning folks in charge and their intentions are under cut by the lack of foresight into the consequences of their actions. We need to vote them out before things get worse.
100% in agreement with these comments. Seriously, infrastructure is not a priority?! At least finance made it on the list even though it wasn’t on the first draft. As far as I know, there is no target on “affordable” housing for Evanston. When will we have enough? I think Evanston Now estimated affordable housing stock here is about 17% of total inventory, almost double the state minimum. Please let there be better candidates next election cycle.
Not only did they pay someone else to help them with this, but that someone else was a diversity and leadership consultant? I get the leadership part as none of our elected officials, including the mayor are true leaders. But the diversity aspect of this persons expertise? Seems like a sad attempt to prove how woke they all are.
Yes they need to define equity, diversity, etc., etc.
That consultant has over 20 years experience as a trained facilitator as well – that’s the skill that was utilized. You’re getting caught up on the wrong words my friend. Being “woke” has nothing to do with it.
Which of these goals from 2019 were considered successful met and how? Does anyone have this information? _________________________________
The new goal list is designed to replace a list of six goals the Council adopted in 2019. Those included:
Invest in city infrastructure and facilities.
Enhance community development and job creation citywide.
Expand affordable housing options.
Ensure equity in all city operations.
Stabilize long-term city finances.
Implement the city’s climate action and resilience plan.
This City Council bunch are like blindfolded toddlers trying to play “pin the tail on the donkey”… is there an *adult* in the room…!!!???
“Equity” is, by definition, racist and sexist because it advocates for outcomes based not on ability, but on physical characteristics like melanin in skin, gender, etc
My biggest fear is that the city council never wakes up from identity politics stupor until the city finances have fallen apart and vagrancy has irreversibly destroyed the community.
We are all at risk of losing a lot more from their ongoing misguided priorities.
Equity is not defined based on the narrow description you provide. Among other things, equity IS an outcome….for EVERYONE!