Duty keeps calling Stephen Engelman.
The first time was in February of 1970, when Engelman was drafted into the Army. After graduating from Dartmouth University the year before, he entered basic training, which was as bad as he had imagined. He then served as a medic in a Texas burn ward, which was worse. By August 1971, he had been discharged as a conscientious objector to all forms of war.
But Engelman, 57, who retired in February as Seventh Ward alderman, said his time in the Army started a chain of events that eventually landed him in the job he loved.
“I spent about a week in hiding trying to figure out if I would go to Canada or go to basic training,” Engelman said. “Had I burned my bridges and gone outside the system, do you think I would have ever been an alderman of the city of Evanston? Would I have ever had the opportunities or the privileges that I had?”
Engelman’s courtroom battle for conscientious objector status inspired him to become a lawyer. The Highland Park-native graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent School of Law in 1976 and came to Evanston, setting up his practice in a Chicago Avenue storefront. A sketch of the old building hangs on the wall of his current office in the Bank One Tower, 1603 Orrington Ave.
The firm, Engelman & Smith, represented city tenants organizations and civil rights activists, groups it still serves in a lesser capacity. It even represented Evanston’s first woman police officer when she asserted her right to serve on the force.
In 1983, Engleman was elected Evanston Township assessor, a position that determines local property values. He quickly learned much about the city’s diversity and how taxes affect citizens. He also saw that the lack of undeveloped land and big non-profit institutions determine how the city works.
Later as an alderman, Engleman said he “tended to take the Evanston rather than the ward view a little more often. That might be because I spent eight years representing all of the community.”
His 12 years on Evanston City Council began one Sunday morning when 10 Seventh Ward residents and their retiring alderman came knocking on his door. After asking a number of policy questions, nine of the 10 residents agreed Engelman was the candidate for them. Duty had called again.
“I never went out to seek these positions,” Engelman said. “But I knew if I did my job and did it well, that was all that mattered.”
Engelman said he is proud of the council’s accomplishments during his tenure, especially Evanston’s economic development.
Engelman said his stance on Evanston-Northwestern relations was a litmus test for the first election. Though the issues have changed, the solution to problems between the city and university hasn’t, he said.
“We have to have dialogue, a continuous, ongoing effort,” Engelman said. “(Northwestern) differentiates Evanston from every other community on the North Shore. Without NU, we’d just be another bedroom community. So let’s give people who make a contribution their due and try to see if there’s a way we can balance everybody’s interests.”
The Seventh Ward includes many North Campus residents, and Engelman said it was important to stick up for those students. He has dealt with many an angry complaint about Dillo Day, he said.
“I was in college once,” Engelman said. “I was in college more than once. I was in college longer than the average person. Sure it was generations and ages ago that I was in college. But kids are kids.”
As for those students who aspire to political office, Engelman’s advice is simple:
“Do your job and do the best job you can. And if you’re in the right place an the right time, you might get lucky enough to be tapped on the shoulder.”
Responsibilities to his health and his family — he has four children — prompted Engelman to retire. Fellow alderman said the city has lost a true leader.
“I think he served his ward nobly and with great concern and vision,” Ald. Joseph Kent (5th) said. “I think that he was an alderman that tried to get to the very core of a problem, any problem, and not just come up with some Band-Aid solution.”
On Thursday, Evanston Mayor Lorraine H. Morton appointed Elizabeth Tisdahl, a former Evanston Township High School District 202 board member, to take over as Seventh Ward alderman. Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th) said he expects her to be confirmed when the council votes March 10.
Bernstein thinks Tisdahl would be a valuable addition to the council but said it takes some time before aldermen are comfortable with their responsibilities. He said Engelman’s tenure as assessor gave him additional perspective.
Although Tisdahl said she did not know Engelman well, she said she as always admired him.
“I have supported him every time he ran,” she said. “He has a well-deserved reputation for behaving in a very civil, professional, statesman-like manner on the council.”
