Aldermen will be asked tonight to spend nearly $25,000 to fence the roof of the 12-story Sherman Plaza garage to deter people from sitting on the roof’s unprotected perimeter wall.
Residents of the adjacent condo tower have reported seeing people sitting on the wall on several occasions, and say that sometimes people have also thrown objects off the roof onto the street below.
After two people jumped to their deaths from downtown garages in Evanston last fall, aldermen in January considered, but then rejected installing suicide nets on the three downtown garages, after staff estimated that could cost as much as $5 million.
The new proposed chain-link fence would rise six feet above the upper deck surface.
After meeting with the head of the condo association at the garage roof last month, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz told aldermen in a memo that he believe the fence “is an important safety improvement to be made to the garage.”
