One thing was missing from Tuesday’s Northwestern University-city meeting: blood.
A surprisingly amicable handful of residents heard a 20-minute university presentation on converting a vacant house to office space at the quarterly meeting for residents, and officials from the university and city.
“We didn’t have any bleeding,” said Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Ronald Nayler. “For us, that’s a good thing.”
The meetings are designed to provide a forum on NU construction and how it impacts the city.
The building in question Tuesday, 629 Haven St., has been vacant for two years and is now owned by NU. The school hopes to give the building to one of 10 programs that need more office space and plans to completely overhaul its interior, Nayler said. With the exception of a potential service ramp, there will be no changes to its outward appearance, he said.
As one of two NU representatives at the meeting, Nayler repeatedly stressed the university’s desire for community involvement in the school’s development projects. NU distributed leaflets to the address’s surrounding blocks to notify residents about the meeting.
“Rather than coming in and hitting (residents) with a special use permit, we wanted to come to the community and get its input,” Nayler said.
The attitude toward residents is starkly different from the one described by Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th) at last September’s NU-city meeting. The much less friendly meeting focused on university purchases of 1800 Sherman Ave. and 1945 Orrington Ave. The purchases blindsided Evanston, Tisdahl said last September, because NU did not give adequate warning, if any, about the purchases.
“I don’t think (disagreements are) out of ill will, just a conflict of interests,” said Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Eugene Sunshine, who also represented NU.
At least some residents agree.
“I think it’s a complicated situation,” said Peter Lobin, one of two resident representatives on the committee. “When there’s a large neighbor and many small neighbors, there’s always going to be a conflict of interests.”
But the situation appears to be improving, at least according to committee members.
City Council members voted Monday night to work with NU to put eight more blue light emergency phones throughout Evanston. At the same meeting, aldermen renewed an ordinance that allows minors to attend local fundraiser bar nights, which are used primarily by NU student groups.
But this week’s meetings cannot be used as a bellwether for town-gown relations because they represent the views of certain people and certain issues only, Sunshine said. For instance, the committee discussed only two issues the entire meeting: 629 Haven St. and the approval of the summer meeting’s minutes.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 6, 2008, unless further conflict arises.
“We all moved into the neighborhood knowing NU is there, and it’s not going anywhere,” Lobin said.
Reach Danny Yadron at [email protected].
