Plans for a new community center in southeast Evanston could be developed by April if there is enough community support, representatives of a consulting firm hired by the city told a community meeting Tuesday night.
About 75 residents attended the meeting Tuesday at Oakton Elementary School, located at 436 Ridge Ave. Kimberly Martin and Hans Hess of Brailsford & Dunlavey, a consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., presented a timetable for the creation of the plans, but said they do not know what such a center would look like.
“We do not have a set view on what a community or recreation center would be for southeast Evanston,” Martin said.
There is no community center in this section of the city, and neither the firm nor city officials have proposed a specific location for the project. Whether the center is created and what it will look like will depend on community input, Hess said.
“The project is meant to be tailored to your (the residents’) needs,” he said.
Hess and Martin previously met with city officials and will conduct focus groups with residents in the coming days, Martin said. These groups will determine questions for February’s survey on this issue. Residents living in the area bounded by Oakton and Howard Streets and Ridge and Chicago avenues will receive this survey.
If the polling data shows that there is support for the center, the firm will analyze the costs associated with building a center at various sites. There will be another community meeting in March, Martin said.
Martin said the search for a location is only just beginning. Residents suggested using existing buildings for the center. But resident Darlene Marshall noted existing buildings are being rapidly redeveloped, making the need to start on plans even more pressing.
“Every time you look up, they’re taking these abandoned buildings and turning them into condominiums,” Marshall said. “There’s no need for a survey. There’s a need for a community center.”
Martin said she understood these concerns.
“As I drive around southeast Evanston, there’s not a lot of open space – or any,” Martin said.
Evanston resident Irv Levinson proposed that the city buy air space above the El tracks at Custer and Elmwood avenues and construct a bridge over it that included a center.
“Nobody lives there,” Levinson said about the space over the tracks. “Birds fly over there.”
City officials and residents also discussed Tuesday how the center would be used. Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) said the community center should include programs for young children, noting that southeast Evanston has the largest gap in the city between demand for such programs and supply.
“A pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure,” Moran said. “We spend a lot on cures. I think we need to spend more on prevention.”
Several residents asked that the center include programs for people of all ages and classes.
“We don’t need anything else to divide the people of Evanston,” said resident Jeanne Robinson. “We’re divided enough already.”
