The Evanston City Council has heard complaints from the Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association at every meeting since April 16, when the council voted to allow construction on the green space north of the King Lab School.
But at tonight’s meeting, the council will get a break.
Members of the MLK Neighborhood Association met Sunday night and decided not to hold another mass protest at the council meeting. Instead, the group will wait for advice from the legal agencies the organization has been consulting.
“I think there is a feeling that they expressed all their anger,” said member Peggy Tarr. “They want to come back to the council with another perspective.”
The organization has been shopping for legal help for the last three weeks. Members were in discussion with lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, who Evanston resident Rose Cannon said was “very much interested” in the case.
But after discussion, the ACLU referred the group to administrative agencies such as the Department of Justice and the Department of Education. Cannon said she has been in contact with the agencies.
Cannon also spoke with the Rev. Jesse Jackson early Sunday on Cliff Kelley’s WVAZ call-in radio program about steps the neighborhood could take against the city. After the council’s vote three weeks ago, Cannon said she was going to seek the help of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and had since been in contact with Jackson’s field coordinator.
Cannon said she made plans to contact Jackson later in the week, but any predictions made about the group’s actions were premature.
“I believe we’ve made the necessary contacts,” Cannon said. “Hopefully, we can bring this to fruition.”
This evening the council also will consider a lease for the South Branch Library, 943-949 Chicago Ave., near the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Main Street.
The library became a point of debate during last year’s budget negotiations. At one point, Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) suggested cutting the library’s funds from the budget, which would have eliminated the branch. But the city found space in the budget and the branch remained open.
Newman’s move to eliminate the branch was based on a study by the city showing the branch was underused, underfunded and understaffed. To run properly, the study said the branch needed four times the budget it was granted by the city.
Since then, citizens have voiced concerns about moving the branch to a location more accessible to residents of south Evanston.
One suggested location was the James Park at Oakton and Dodge Streets. But Evanston resident Ben Schapiro said the spot in too far from downtown activity. He said the library needed to be accessible to residents walking by.
“(Libraries) are a walk-in business,” Schapiro said. “You put it somewhere there is going to be traffic.”
Schapiro recommended a location on Main Street alongside the area’s other popular storefronts.
But Newman said that he expects the lease for the current location to be renewed at tonight’s meeting.
The council might vote tonight on a lease that would allow the League of Women Voters a room at the Evanston Civic Center.
The council will also vote whether to appoint Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) director and City Manager Roger Crum alternative director of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County for a two-year term.
