By Rebecca HuvalThe Daily Northwestern
Evanston residents and aldermen agree on at least one aspect of the Civic Center: The city needs the facts – the right ones – about rehabilitating the building.
That was the message from a Civic Center Committee meeting Tuesday night. As residents prepare to vote on a referendum to preserve the building, aldermen said they want Evanston residents to know the cost of fixing the Civic Center.
The activist group Friends of the Civic Center collected enough signatures on its petition to include a question about the Civic Center on the April 17 election ballot: “Shall the City of Evanston municipal government rehabilitate and continue to reside in the Civic Center located at 2100 Ridge?”
The City Council voted in January 2005 to move out of the Civic Center, concluding it was unfit for city business.
The historic building, constructed in 1909, has deteriorating utilities, such as a heating system that has residents wearing coats during council meetings. Outside, scaffolding protects pedestrians from falling bits of the roof.
The city would pay $31 million to rehabilitate the building, according to the city’s most recent estimate. But aldermen and residents disagreed on the costs.
Brian Becharas, of Evanston, said he renovates buildings as a hobby. He said the council’s estimates are pricey compared to the high-end renovations he has worked on.
“I urge the City Council not to do anything rash,” Becharas said. “This is a beautiful building.”
John Kennedy, a founding member of Friends of the Civic Center, said his group put the referendum on the ballot to spark conversation about the city’s options. A contractor told his group it would cost $1 million to repair the roof, while the council said it would cost $3 million.
Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th) said he wants residents to learn the best estimates.
“Our intention in viewing these numbers is to be truthful,” Bernstein said.
“Yeah, but we don’t know,” Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) added.
“This building doesn’t operate in a vacuum,” Bernstein replied. “It’s in the context of everything else we do.”
He said capital improvements for the entire city cost $7.5 million per year. If the city spends $31 million on renovations, “that means no more streets get paved, no more trees get trimmed.”
Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said it is the aldermen’s responsibility to inform citizens before the April elections.
“I don’t care how people vote. I just want people to be voting on the right information,” Rainey said. “The council will give preference to a developer who agrees to save the site.”
The committee tried to brainstorm ways to save money on the renovation. Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th) suggested city staff stay in the building instead of relocating during construction. Ald. Anjana Hansen (9th) said Cook County officials did that in their building. They rehabilitated a few floors at a time and moved city workers to different floors as construction progressed.
Some aldermen said it might be unsafe for residents to use the building during construction, especially because the center has some asbestos.
City Manager Julia Carroll said she would want to move the elevator shafts and add more bathrooms – core renovations that would be difficult to finish with people in the building.
“If we’re going to rehabilitate, I’d rather see us moving out for a year or two and get it done,” Carroll said. “We have a lot of people coming in and out of here.”
Reach Rebecca Huval at [email protected].
