While discussion about the future of Evanston’s 100-year-old Civic Center continues, City Clerk Rodney Greene sees a daily reminder of the building’s deteriorating condition inside his office.
“You can see how bad it is just by looking at it,” Greene said, pointing to the yellowing, damaged walls. “We have mold in this building that just ate up the walls.”
The Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., houses nearly 200 city employees who have been working under a roof that is literally falling apart. In September, aldermen voted 7-1 to move forward with fixing the roof despite facing a tight budget and $140 million in pension debt.
“If we don’t fix the roof, water and snow will continue to cause further damage and create an even bigger mess,” Greene said. “I’m confident this will be a top priority going into budget season.”
At a budget workshop Monday night, Finance Director Martin Lyons reported the latest cost estimate of a new roof to be at least $2.7 million. Several small landscaping projects were removed from the Capital Improvement Plan to accommodate for the cost, he said.
Though Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th) questioned the new estimate, she said that the Civic Center was a priority that had been put off for “a long, long time.”
“We would never allow people to continue working in that building if it was owned by anyone else but us,” she said. “We need to fix it now.”
Facilities manager David Cook said that there are currently a “myriad of problems” with the Civic Center, including outdated bathrooms, failing gutters and areas still insulated by asbestos. While Cook said it could take years to renovate the entire building, fixing the roof is the most pressing issue.
“We’ve been getting close to the point where we would have to relocate staff if repairs were not made on that roof,” Cook said. “That scenario would increase costs exponentially.”
Aldermen, city staff and local activists have fought over the Civic Center for years.
In January 2005, the City Council voted unanimously to vacate the building and construct a new building, a decision met with considerable resistance from community activists who championed cheaper renovations instead.
Friends of the Civic Center, a grassroots organization formed by those citizens, rallied to pass an April 2007 referendum that would keep city staff in the building.
Aldermen voted in April 2008 to concentrate on minor repairs costing approximately $6 million. At that time, the cost was estimated to be at least $50 million to renovate the entire building or construct a new one.
John Kennedy, a founding member of Friends of the Civic Center, said that he hopes the years of inaction are behind the aldermen.
“The economic reality the City Council faces today leaves them with no other option than to stay in the building,” he said. “So they need to start moving forward with repairs.”
Echoing the opinions of many residents, Kennedy said the building’s preservation is important because of its historical value.
“As the largest, oldest building in town, it’s very impressive and adds a lot of character to the city,” Kennedy said. “Evanston would have been at a loss if they would have torn it down.”
Greene reaffirmed the city’s commitment to the Civic Center, saying that aldermen realize renovations cannot be put off any longer.
“When it comes to budget cuts, I’m confident that the roof won’t be one of them,” he said. “They’re allotting for this important cost.”
