Downtown residents showed they weren’t ready to accept the newly approved Downtown Plan at Tuesday’s mayoral forum.
Candidates discussed the Downtown Plan, the Fountain Square Tower planned for 708 Church St. and the city’s relationship with Northwestern. The Evanston Public Library and Downtown Residents Association cosponsored the event, which was held at the main library, 1703 Orrington Ave.
Mayoral candidates Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th), Barnaby Dinges, Stuart Opdycke and Jeanne Lindwall gave 10-minute opening statements and answered several questions from the audience. They addressed the Downtown Plan early and often.
“The 708 Church Street block, as far as I’m concerned, should have a maximum height of 25 stories,” Tisdahl said. “I think that the tower is an economic disaster for our community.”
The plan approved by the council allows for a base maximum height of 25 stories, but developers can build up to 35 stories by incorporating public benefits into their designs. Tisdahl voted against the measure at Monday’s meeting.
Dinges offered no opinion on the plan, saying it was not an important aspect of his campaign, though he mentioned that he had written about the issue on his blog.
Opdycke, who served as the chairman of the Plan Commission when the group drafted the downtown plan, defended the work of the commission.
“We worked very hard on that plan,” he said. “And I’m very proud of it.”
In reference to the tower, Opdycke said the lack of development opportunities in Evanston is a major problem.
“Nobody’s going to be building anything in this town for three to four years,” he said. “Development for all intents and purposes is dead.”
Lindwall also came out against the tower.
“I think it would be an atrocity for us to be held captive by a developer,” she said.
The candidates also discussed the city’s relationship with NU.
Tisdahl expressed her excitement regarding NU’s incoming president, Morton Schapiro, who she said couldn’t arrive “soon enough.”
“I’m hoping that he will have a different sense of community and that we will be able to work with him,” she said.
As usual, the topic of town-gown relations was focused mainly on how NU would contribute financially to Evanston, particularly as the economic crisis continues. Opdycke emphasized that NU and Evanston were mutually beneficial to each other, but certain realities have to be accepted, he said.
“You can’t make Northwestern do anything they don’t want to do,” he said.
Another topic of discussion was the type of leadership each candidate would provide. The candidates had their own ideas about how to best serve as mayor in a city manager form of government – where the executive does not play an active role in running the city.
Tisdahl said the new council’s selection of a city manager to replace interim manager Rolanda Russell will be very important to the future of Evanston.
“We don’t have a ‘Mayor Daley’ form of government,” Tisdahl said. “Who we choose will have a lot to do with how the city functions.”
Dinges used President Obama’s rhetoric in his vision for mayor.
“I will drive change,” he said. “I will do it through energy, force of personality, media relations and public relations.”
The Downtown Residents Association and the Public Library will host a forum for the aldermanic candidates of the First through Fourth Wards on Feb. 17.
