By Liz AustinThe Daily NorthwesternSurprises come few and far between in Evanston city government.
Mayor Lorraine Morton’s veto of the Northeast Evanston Historic Districtcame as no shock to aldermen and residents alike. Neither did the council’s6-3 decision to override it.
Morton, who was out of town and could not attend the meeting, submitted afour-page letter to the aldermen explaining several reasons for her veto.
Among them were a desire to re-establish community harmony, a concern aboutpossible lawsuits and a feeling that the establishment of the district will”stymie or eliminate” negotiations between the city and Northwestern.
“Though I do endorse the principles of preservation of community resources,I do not feel it is in the best interest of our Evanston community tosupport a continuation of this animosity by signing an ordinance agreeableto some residents and much opposed to others,” Morton wrote in her letter.
“This mayor will not support favoritism for some and legalize denial toothers.”
City Council voted 6-3 on May 22 to approve the district after amending itsnorthern boundary twice. The first amendment moved the boundary south fromthe Evanston/Wilmette border to Lincoln Street, while the final one movedit a half-block south to an alley between Lincoln and Colfax streets.
The other boundaries remained the same: Emerson Street to the south,Sheridan Road to the east and Sherman or Ridge avenues to the west. About50 Northwestern buildings are included in the district.
The boundary change cut out about half of the homeowners in the district -most of whom opposed it – and resulted in a district 30 percent smallerthan the one originally proposed.
Morton said she was disappointed the council chose to override her vetobecause she believed very strongly in the validity of the reasons listed inher letter.
“I have no doubt that my veto was the right thing to do, the proper thingto do and the moral thing to do,” she said. “I cannot conceive of howsomeone can support this district given the reasons I listed in my letter.”
Eugene Sunshine, NU’s vice president for business and finance, called themayor’s veto a “courageous action” and said it demonstrated the extent towhich the mayor is willing to go to serve the best interests of the city.
Sunshine said the council’s decision to move the boundary south to LincolnStreet removed any doubt that the district was intended only to limit NU.
“The thin veil of what the district was all about was pierced or eliminatedentirely,” he said. “We were extremely disappointed but hardly surprised.”
Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th), who voted against the district in May, said hesupported the mayor’s veto because of the residents’ vocal opposition tothe district. Of the 160 homeowners in the district, 40 have signedpetitions in favor of the district while 53 have signed petitions inopposition to it.
“No district will be effective if it does not have the support of thosepeople whose conduct it is supposed to regulate,” Engelman said at themeeting. “Forty out of 60 is hardly an overwhelming vote of support.”
But Ald. Arthur Newman (1st), who voted in favor of both the district andthe override said he thinks the number of residents of his ward who opposethe district are outnumbered by those who support it. He said his mainmotivation in voting for the district and against the mayor’s veto waspreserving the NU-owned historic houses that line Sheridan Road andpreventing the university from expanding westward.
“If this ordinance prevents Northwestern from purchasing one more housewest of Sheridan Road, then it’s a victory for the tax rolls and a victoryfor the city,” Newman said at the May 22 meeting in which the council votedto establish the district. “Some of the houses may eventually go down, butthey’ll go down because of the approval of the historic preservationcommittee.”
But Sunshine said this “victory” will have serious consequences in relationto future negotiations between NU and City Council.
“They chose essentially to ignore what we had to say,” Sunshine said.”Thisis a major, major problem for us and it has major ramifications for how wefeel and think.”