By Ketul PatelThe Daily Northwestern
The Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., received a big boost from some friendly faces.
Friends of the Civic Center, a group of Evanston residents opposed to moving the seat of city government to another location, started a petition last month to get an advisory referendum on the April school board elections ballot. The referendum would ask citizens whether they support rehabilitating the Civic Center.
The Evanston City Council passed a plan two years ago to relocate the Civic Center rather than rehabilitate the existing building, which is in poor condition. Rehabilitating the Civic Center would be the more expensive option, according to the city’s Web site.
Vito Brugliera, a member of the Friends of the Civic Center, said he thinks the building should be preserved.
“From an aesthetic point of view, we would like to remain in the building,” said Brugliera, McCormick ’55. “As a long-time Evanston taxpayer, I don’t think the estimates the city presents are realistic.”
Brugliera said he fears the cost of constructing a new building will exceed the city’s estimate.
“Where are they going to find the property?” he said. “I don’t think the real estate market will support (the move).”
Eugene Sunshine, senior vice president for business and finance at Northwestern, told The Daily in October that the city and the university were discussing using a parking lot owned by NU as a possible site for the new building.
John Kennedy, one of the founders of the citizens’ group, said he disagrees with a plan to sell the current building. He said a city estimate of $20 million for the rehabilitation of the Civic Center includes unnecessary renovations and that dealing with immediate needs would cost only $7 million. These immediate needs include fixing the roof, heat pumps and elevators.
The city’s plan includes roughly $12.8 million of “nice-to-have items,” Kennedy said. These changes include relocating the City Council chamber outside of the Civic Center, Kennedy said. He said the chamber is adequate for “nine out of 10” council meetings. Other proposed changes include new lighting, furniture and carpets.
Kennedy said the group of about 100 people started collecting signatures in the middle of December. The group needs about 1,800 signatures to get its referendum on the April ballot.
The Civic Center was constructed in 1909, and was originally used by Marywood Academy, a Catholic girls’ school. The city of Evanston bought the building in the 1970s.
Doyle and Associates, an architectural consulting firm, studied the future options for the Civic Center in 1997. The firm said the roof, plumbing, electrical and sprinkler systems required replacement because they were no longer useful.
But Max Rubin, Evanston’s director of facilities management, said the Civic Center’s supporters merely concern themselves with short-term problems that need to be fixed immediately.
Rubin dismissed the $7 million estimate for the upkeep of the Civic Center. He told The Daily in 2005 that the building has high heating and cooling costs because of its elevated ceilings.
“I have to maintain it, and I spend public money,” Rubin said at the time. “I shouldn’t be wasting the public’s money, and we felt moving to another location would be cheaper.”
Reach Ketul Patel at [email protected].
