Chicago blues legend David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards was honored with a 93rd birthday tribute performance at the Society for the Preservation of Art and Culture in Evanston Wednesday night. Vocalist Katherine Davis hands off the birthday cake to the guest of honor. Edwards, who won a Grammy this year for best traditional blues album, has just […]
Posted inBusiness, Government, Real Estate
Evanston has density diversity
All the growth in town has Evanstonians debating whether housing density is good, and whether more would be better. Providing some context for that debate is the website of for Center for Neighborhood Technology’s new study of how housing and transportation costs interact. It includes a map that shows just how diverse Evanston is when […]
Posted inBusiness
Bravo to replace Puck at downtown plaza
The banner’s now gone up for the new tenant outside the former Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in Church Street Plaza on Maple Avenue. The new restaurant going into the space is Bravo. That’s a national chain with about 40 restaurants in in 18 states, owned by the same company that operates additional locations under two different […]
Posted inGovernment, Public Safety
Pension panel waffles on payment plan
Members of the Blue Ribbon Committee appointed to sort out Evanston’s public safety pension mess reached no agreement last night on how fast the city should try to pay down the estimated $140 million owed to the pension programs. The group, meeting in the Aldermanic Library at the Civic Center, agreed to prepare a three […]
Posted inEducation, Entertainment
General Dawes, meet Mark Twain
The Evanston History Center has new company in being the operator of a historic home that’s having trouble covering its costs. The New York Times today reports that the non-profit group that runs the three-story Victorian mansion in Hartford, Conn., that Twain lived in while writing most of his famous books may be forced to […]
Posted inEntertainment
Bottle art beckons this summer
A bunch of bottles showed up on the lawn of the Evanston Art Center this weekend. But they weren’t the careless discards from a night of lakefront revelry. They were the raw material for a new public art installation by Kansas City artist Matt Dehaemers. On Saturday Dehaemers and his assistant Keith Dalby put together […]
Posted inBusiness, Government, Real Estate
Housing density makes Evanston affordable
A study from the Center for Neighborhood Technology reverses traditional conclusions about the cost of housing. The cash cost of buying a home tends to be much lower in distant suburbs than close to the urban center. But the CNT study found that transportation costs increase dramatically in outlying areas because of the dispersal of […]
Posted inBusiness
The readers speak: We listen
A week ago we launched a survey of Evanston Now readers to ask about certain aspect of the site, and a lot of our most dedicated readers responded. In response to the feedback we plan to make some changes to Evanston Now over the next few weeks. Readers were split about whether people posting content […]
Posted inGovernment
Meet the alderman: Melissa Wynne
Alderman Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, and got her start in Evanston politics when she was appointed to the Environment Board in 1993. But it was her leadership of a failed 1996 effort to block establishment of a Boys Hope Girls Hope group home for girls across the street from her Hinman Avenue home that brought […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Three men invade home on Oakton Street
Police are looking for three men who invaded a home on Evanston’s southwest side Thursday morning and held several people in the house against their will. The incident happened about 8:30 a.m. at 2037 Oakton St. Police say the victims were ordered into a bathroom where the suspects demanded money from them. One victim was […]
Posted inGovernment
City-school field house plan gets support
Evanston officials say public comment so far at meetings on the city’s indoor recreation needs has strongly favored the idea of collaborating with Evanston Township High School to build a new joint-use field house on the school campus. Parks Director Doug Gaynor says about 20 people turned out at the Robert Crown Center Wednesday night […]
Posted inBusiness, Government, Public Safety
Tobacco sales law gets 95% compliance
Evanston police say a sting operation they conducted this month showed that only two of 44 businesses tested sold cigarettes to testers who were under 18 years of age. The police used five local young people to enter the stores and attempt to by cigarettes while being monitored by police investigators. Commander Tom Guenther says […]
Posted inEducation, Entertainment
Community foundation distributes grants
The Evanston Community Foundation brought donors and grant recipients together this morning for a breakfast meeting at which the group handed out nearly $172,000 in grants, up 7.6 percent from last year. Representatives of each of the 23 groups receiving grants got a chance to briefly describe their programs — and leave the podium at […]
Posted inBusiness
Fountains flow again in Fountain Square
The fountains that give Fountain Square its name are back in operation this week. The construction fencing came down and everything was working in time for Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony — much to the relief of Evanston aldermen who at Tuesday night’s meeting praised the contractor on the nearly half-million dollar project for getting the […]
Posted inGovernment, Public Safety
Main Street detour planned at Ridge
The Ridge Avenue repaving project will lead to a three-day detour on Main Street next week. City officials say a new concrete base being poured for the roadway at the intersection needs time to cure, and so Main Street traffic in both directions will be detoured onto Greenleaf Street between Asbury and Maple Avenues. The […]
Posted inBusiness, Government
Committee backs funding for tourism group
The Economic Development Committee Wednesday recommended that Evanston aldermen approve a three percent increase in annual funding for the Chicago North Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau.