Evanston City Council seats are in high demand this year, with the 23 candidates who met Tuesday’s filing deadline assembling their campaigns in preparation for the April 3 municipal elections.
Competitive races have evolved in eight of nine wards, as incumbents face candidates with community-activist backgrounds and strong opinions on hot issues such as the city’s budget woes, economic development, community safety and Northwestern-Evanston relations.
The race for the Seventh Ward seat will pit Ald. Stephen Engelman against three opponents. In the Fourth Ward, Ald. Steven Bernstein will face two opponents with extensive experience in community activism.
Kellogg Prof. Allan Drebin will challenge Ald. Arthur Newman in the First Ward.
Running unopposed are Ald. Ann Rainey (8th); Mayor Lorraine Morton for her third term; City Clerk Mary Morris for a second term; Township Assessor Sharon Eckersall for a second term; and Patricia Vance for township supervisor.
Engelman faces challengers Howard Levin, Karl Gromelski and Junad Rizki in the Seventh Ward, which includes parts of campus north of Colfax Street.
Gromelski, a free-lance marketing consultant, said he is dissatisfied with the council’s aggressive attitude toward NU, as well as its failure to solve the city’s financial problems without raising property taxes.
“I pay more taxes and get less services,” Gromelski said. “Evanston has too big of a government, and I don’t think the citizens of Evanston want big government.”
Rizki, an architect who has run two unsuccessful campaigns for a seat on the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board, said his campaign will focus on lowering the crime rate in Evanston and alleviating the city’s operational problems.
“I’m running against the entire council because that entire council is not doing its job,” Rizki said. “When do they deal with crime? You can’t find it.”
Engelman said he is running for a fourth term to help change the council’s philosophy toward issues such as a balanced budget. Goals and priorities, he said, are crucial to closing Evanston’s gaping budget deficit.
“I personally believe that politics of rhetoric and competition are not working,” Engelman said. “One of the issues foremost to our citizens is us getting a handle on our budget, and we have to start planning.”
Gromelski said he agrees with many of Engelman’s ideas but thinks he should have taken a more active role in council debates.
“I haven’t seen (Engelman) do anything that shows any leadership on the council to get them to change,” Gromelski said.
But Engelman said he will run on his council record and his ability to “provide a voice of reason” on issues such as financing.
“I wouldn’t be running for re-election if I didn’t think I did a good job and … that what I stood for is what my constituents want,” he said.
Levin could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Community activists Mimi Peterson and Peggy Tarr will challenge Bernstein for the Fourth Ward. Peterson, whose involvement in the Evanston community ranges from environmental and neighborhood activism to co-chairing the city’s Fair Share Action Committee, worked on Bernstein’s 1997 campaign.
She said she decided to run for the council seat because of issues she wants to advocate on behalf of the ward’s constituents, not because she holds any ill feelings toward Bernstein.
Peterson said those issues include demands for financial contributions from NU, pushing forward the head tax proposal and solving the city’s budget problems.
“I have a history of activism in the Fourth Ward, and for me, running for alderman is a progression from this activism,” Peterson said.
Tarr, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, is the current chairwoman of the community group Nichols Neighbors and has previously been outspoken against Bernstein, threatening to file charges against him with the city’s Board of Ethics.
Bernstein, who is aiming for a second term, said that although it will be difficult to run against a friend, democratic elections are improved with more candidates.
“I have served the city well, and I will run on my record proudly,” he said. “I have some experience now that obviously my opponents do not have, and I will use that experience to do better things in the future.”
Ald. Joseph Kent (5th) will face competition from Rochelle Whyte Washington, who served with him as an alderman until 1991, when the number of council seats was cut to 9 from 18.
Washington said that although she has worked with Kent, she thinks she will better address concerns of Fifth Ward constituents.
“I would be an independent voter; I wouldn’t belong to one block of people,” she said.
But Kent said he was proud of the work he has done for his constituents. He said he’s helped to alleviate crime, increase affordable housing, solve landlord-tenant issues and stimulate economic activity.
“We have a good track record of looking out and taking care of the Fifth Ward,” he said. “I enjoy solving some of the issues at the forefront of our community.”
Another highly contested race is forming in the Sixth Ward, as Ald. Edmund Moran faces former Planning Commission and Economic Development Committee member Martin Norkett as well as Omar Khuri, an attorney and self-proclaimed “political outsider.”
In the Second Ward, Lionel Jean-Baptiste, an attorney who has previously been involved with the NAACP and the Canal Park neighbors, and Betty Sue Ester, a member of the Community Development Block Grant Committee, are vying for the seat left vacant by Ald. Dennis Drummer, who chose not to run for re-election.
Businessman Eric Singer, who had considered running for mayor against Morton this year, will challenge Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd). Neither was available for comment Tuesday.
In the Ninth Ward, Pat Navin will face off against Ald. Gene Feldman. Neither candidate could be reached for comment Tuesday.
