Evanston’s City Council Chamber is getting a face lift this weekend thanks to volunteers from the Kiwanis Club of Evanston and other groups.

Taping windows
Volunteers Alena Morrissey and Laurie Peterson tape the window wall at the rear of the Council Chamber.

After a couple days of prep work by a smaller team, dozens of folks from the Kiwanis Club, Northwestern’s Campus Kitchens and Dance Marathon organizations and students from Evanston Township High School pitched in this morning with paint brushes, rollers and other tools to give the City Council’s meeting place a fresh look.

Peeling paint came off and a fresh coat is going on — same beige color though, so folks who only watch council meetings on TV may not notice the difference.

In addition to free Kiwanis t-shirts, the volunteers got refreshments thanks to donations from real estate management companies Farnsworth-Hill and Schermerhorn & Co. and Evanston resident Brenda Perry.

Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now.

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2 Comments

  1. What a nice gesture but wow!
    What a nice thing for these volunteers to do. It benefits all of us that they took the time to do this. They have truly contributed to our community and I sincerely thank them for doing it.

    But what does this say about the governmental entity known as the City of Evanston? I’ve never lived in a city (or town or village or podunk nowhere, for that matter), that was so sad a** that it needed volunteers to keep its the chambers of its governing body in good repair.

    Or is this just a publicity stunt by the City Council? “Look, the Civic Center is in such disrepair and we are so broke (and we’re so frugal) that we can’t even pay for someone to paint?”

    Again, not to take anything away from the fine volunteers who actually did the work. They are to be congratulated for doing this for all of us. They saved the city some money. But as for the ability to create a sideshow-like diversion, I wouldn’t put anything past the current City Council.

    What exactly is the message that the Council is trying to send here?

  2. Volunteers for a City …
    Volunteers for a City that collects some of the highest property taxes in the nation?

    The City Council needs to grow up.

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