Amid fears of Orwellian invasions of privacy, Evanston City Council voted Monday night in favor of installing 57 video-surveillance cameras in city-owned buildings.
City Council also postponed debating redevelopment plans for the Kendall College site until the new council is sworn in, but agreed to hear an appeal to a Preservation Commission ruling against the development.
City staff argued at the meeting that the cameras are necessary for safety, but Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th) said he feared they would be used for unnecessary surveillance. The plan passed 6-2, with Bernstein and Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) voting against it.
Jean-Baptiste said he was concerned that the cameras would be installed in locations without a demonstrated need for increased security. Bernstein said the cameras could invade residents’ privacy.
“I’m a student of the book ‘1984,’ and I was raised to fear that kind of concept,” he said. “I don’t want to live in a society where we always feel compelled to be watched. I would feel safer if I was not watched.”
Cameras cannot replace live security officers, Bernstein said.
“A camera is not going to stop bad conduct,” he said. “It may report it for posterity.”
The cameras will not be monitored continually, said Doug Gaynor, director of parks/forestry and recreation.
Ald. Gene Feldman (9th) said the council has an “obligation” to ensure citizen safety in public areas. He asked why the cameras should be installed if they are not going to be monitored.
“All I’m asking is for us to not wait for something horrible to happen,” he said. “We don’t want to be ‘1984,’ but go tell that to the woman who is mugged (hypothetically) in the halls of the Levy Center.”
Nine cameras are already installed in the Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave. The new plans include installing 16 cameras in the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., 10 in the Civic Center and four on the Dempster Street Beach.
Gaynor said the cameras can be monitored all day but that is not included in the current proposal. The cameras should be installed by the end of the summer, said David Cook, the city’s assistant director of facilities management.
The council agreed to hear an appeal from Smithfield Properties, the owner of the Kendall College site, 2408 Orrington Ave., on an April 13 ruling by the Preservation Commission. The commission ruled against a plan for 16 single-family homes and 32 townhouses on the site. By law, council must rule on the merit of the appeal within 45 days.
Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) said the commission approves proposals 97 percent of the time, so appeals should be carefully considered.
“When we tell a property owner they can’t do something with the property, they deserve as much due process as we can give them,” Newman said.
Along with the appeal, the council will probably consider a recommendation from Evanston’s Plan Commission to reject Smithfield’s development proposal at the May 23 council meeting. During Evanston’s Planning and Development Committee meeting, which was held immediately before the city council meeting, Smithfield’s owner and attorneys said they plan to introduce a modified plan for development.
“We have to sit down with people and find out whether it’s acceptable or not,” said John Malarkey, an attorney for Smithfield.
Council also voted 8-0 to raise parking taxes 20 percent but did not act on a proposal to increase some city parking rates. Newman said the raise is long overdue and will help balance the city’s parking fund.
Three aldermen-elect — Cheryl Wollin (1st), Delores Holmes (5th) and Anjana Hansen (9th) — will be sworn in at the council’s next meeting, May 9. The three sat together in the audience during Monday’s meeting at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.
Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected]. Reach Tina Peng at [email protected].
