Three months of conflict between the owner of an Evanston gas station and its neighbors culminated into a contentious committee meeting riddled with interruptions Monday night.
Residents have blasted the owner of a Marathon gas station, 555 Howard St., for attracting crime by illegally maintaining late hours of operation. The owner, meanwhile, said at the meeting his convenience store must remain open at least until midnight for his station to compete effectively with others nearby.
Aldermen, the owner and his attorney interrupted each other so much that Ald. Ann Rainey (8th), head of the committee, interjected at one point to renew order.
“I don’t think anybody remembers who is the chair here!” she said.
Several alderman accused owner Hafiz Yaqoob and his attorney for acting in a “belligerent” manner and said it “was not helping the situation at all.”
Despite the heated debate, committee members compromised with Yaqoob. His store, which used to be required to close at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and all day Sunday, will now be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. The committee will reassess the agreement in 90 days.
Though a zoning ordinance has limited the hours of the station’s store since 2005, a city investigation revealed the store remained open past the restricted hours. Residents and Rainey, the ward’s aldermen, took issue with this because the hours attracted illegal activity, Rainey said. According to a police memo, Evanston police received about 120 calls a year for service at the station.
After being threatened with a $1,000 daily fine, Yaqoob started following the legal hours last month before formally requesting to have the restriction removed.
At Monday’s planning and development discussion, Yaqoob said the change in hours will not to save the station.
“A compromise that puts us out of business isn’t a compromise at all,” he said.
Yaqoob said he competes with eight nearby gas stations – five in Evanston and three in Chicago. His Evanston competitors are open 24 hours a day.
Though the station can sell gas all day, gas stations in general earn money not from gas but from their convenience stores, said Bernard Citron, Yaqoob’s attorney. The City of Evanston, however, makes three cents for every gallon sold. That number coupled with the sales tax from the store adds up to about $100,000 in revenue a year for the city.
Citron predicted without a more considerable change in hours of operation the gas station will close in less than six months. The funding to the city will end, and the amount of crime in the area may still not decrease, he said.
“Having a vacant gas station is good for Howard Street?” he said. “People aren’t going to congregate there anyway?”
Yaqoob, his voice shaking emotionally during his testimony, said he needs the station to remain open to pay his mortgage.
“I am hurting,” he said. “I am hurting financially.”
The committee and the full council each unanimously approved the compromise.
HEALTH CENTER
Director of Health and Human Services Evonda Thomas presented the Health Department Work Plan to council, receiving a unanimous endorsement from the aldermen for building a federally-qualified health center in Evanston by 2011.
Thomas said the center is a necessity, espcially to stop the growing number of sexually transmitted infections contracted by young people . The school clinic requires parental consent for some services, deterring potential patients.
FINANCIAL REPORT
Also at the meeting, Assistant City Manager Marty Lyons presented a review of the fourth quarter of the 2009-10 fiscal year. He said the general fund balance decreased from $14.3 million to $11.4 million, though the city aimed to keep it at about $12.4 million. Though the city cut more expenditures than administrators originally expected, revenue came in $5.6 million less than they anticipated. Lyons said the city manager’s office will present the numbers on the first quarter of the current fiscal year on June 21.[email protected]
