The Evanston City Council voted unanimously Monday night to change the city’s curfew laws, amending the code so minors will have to be off the streets by 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The measure was introduced as a safety precaution, Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said.
“We know, of course, that the majority of youth in our community are extremely responsible,” she said. “Curfews are not just (for) unruly youth, but to protect.”
Rainey was responding to Evanston residents who said they approved of the measure but wanted to remind the council that not all Evanston teenagers are criminals.
“We have good youth here in Evanston,” said Rev. Taurus Scurlock of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Scurlock said the youth programs his church hosts, which he called a “safe haven,” often go late into the night, but said he respects the new curfew code.
Evanston curfews originally required minors to be off the streets by 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends.
The council also granted an extension to developers of an 18-story condominium tower a half-mile from campus, allowing them to delay construction for two more years .
The Planning and Development Committee approved a similar extension in June 2007. The building, located at 1881 Oak Ave., would house 165 condo units.
This year’s extension came with some conditions, including removing a construction fence that is not “aesthetically pleasing” and agreeing to mow the lawn every week.
“They do not maintain the property,” resident Tina Paden said, who spoke against the extension in the Planning and Development Committee meeting. “They made lots of promises the first time that they came for an extension of time.”
Paden brought pictures to show the Council how ugly the property had become.
Still, the committee recommended approval, and the council voted for the extension 7-2.
“By extending this we keep alive the possibility of development,” Rainey said. “This is a really ugly fence, by the way.”
Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd) and Edmund Moran (6th) both voted against the extension, saying they opposed the project from the start.
Council members also unanimously gave their OK to a plan to expand the Kellogg Cancer Care Unit at Evanston Hospital.
The new five-story building will provide more space for a patient load that is increasing by 2.5 percent each year, architect Will Eckenhoff said.
“The building is antiquated and way too small for the functions expected of it today, ” he said.
Resident Kathleen Dove spoke on behalf of the plan in the Planning and Development Committee, citing her experience after her daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago.
“She was treated in the utility closet, she was treated in the auditorium,” Dove said. “And there were times when we got some not good news about her treatment or test results in a non-private space.”
