By Danny YadronThe Daily Northwestern

Activists in favor of saving Evanston’s Civic Center are making one last push before local residents vote Tuesday on two referenda regarding the building’s future.

Members of the group Friends of the Civic Center, which has petitioned the Evanston City Council for months to save the 98-year-old building at 2100 Ridge Ave., have spent more than $3,000 so far on flyers, door hangers and posters.

Entering this weekend, the group’s bank account had $1,300, but they also had $2,200 in planned expenses, said group member John Kennedy. The group spent $1,700 on newspaper advertisements this week and another $500 for more flyers.

But funding is not an issue for the organization, group member Brian Becharas said.

“If we have to dig in deeper in our own pockets, we will,” he said.

According to Kennedy, group members are unlikely to have to pay for campaigning on their own.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “Evanston residents will probably have raised over $5,000 by the time this is over.”

The group plans to spend Friday through Sunday blanketing the city with door-hanging flyers, said Kennedy, who participated in a televised Civic Center debate on the organization’s behalf last week.

Last month, the group succeeded in placing on Tuesday’s ballot a non-binding referendum asking residents to vote on whether the city government offices should remain in the existing building.

The Civic Center’s roof is falling apart and its utilities – including its heating system – are in need of improvement.

The council, which favors finding a new location for the government offices and selling the existing property to developers, added its own question to the ballot in response. The city’s question lists an estimated rehabilitation cost of $31 million, a number the Friends argue is inflated.

Showing support on Tuesday for the Friends’ initiative is so important, Becharas said, because of the referendum’s non-binding status.

Residents need to send a strong and clear message so the City Council takes them seriously, he said.

“I think the City Council has not done a good job representing the people and soliciting the ideas of the people they represent,” Becharas said.

Former Ald. Art Newman (1st) said a move is inevitable because people do not want to pay for an expensive renovation.

“If you want to stay in the Civic Center, then everyone who’s here now will pay,” Newman said. “If you’re willing to move it, that leaves the new tax from the new development to pay for it.”

The group is asking for donations of any amount as they bring their campaign into the final stretch.

They said they hope residents continue to think of their wallets as they head to the polls.

“It boils down to basically communicating that renovation of the Civic Center is a less expensive option than moving to a new site,” Kennedy said.

Reach Danny Yadron at [email protected].