Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl spoke of tough economic times and the city community’s strong spirit at the annual State of the City Address on Friday.
Tisdahl, who is serving in her second year as mayor, addressed a room full of civic and community leaders over a luncheon organized by the Evanston Chamber of Commerce and NorthShore University HealthSystem at the Hotel Orrington’s main ballroom, 1710 Orrington Ave., calling city duties a “balancing act.”
“We are trying not to increase taxes so much that residents and businesses have to leave,” she said. “At the same time, we are trying to provide enough services to make sure everyone wants to stay here.”
During the luncheon, Tisdahl sat directly next to University President Morton Schapiro in a move that symbolized the relationship between the city and the University.
In her speech, Tisdahl highlighted two positive town-gown events from the past year: the City Council’s reception for Nobel Prize winner and NU professor Dale Mortensen, and the city’s efforts with the NU football team to increase purple pride across the city by “painting the town purple” and hosting a joint Evanston-NU pep rally.
“NU and Evanston have not solved all our problems, but we are working at it,” she said. “We’re lucky to have Morty Schapiro at NU because he’s a great guy and we are committed to working together to solve our problems.”
But the bulk of the speech centered on economic issues, like Tisdahl’s first State of the City speech last year. While economic problems still exist, this year the city took concrete action to keep local businesses afloat, she said.
The mayor said bankruptcy for Evanston is out of the question due to budget cuts – $9.5 million cut last year and $3.5 million this year – and economic and community assets, she said.
An asset supporting Evanston’s future is the city’s economic development team, which works to create and retain jobs in Evanston, Tisdahl said. The team recently convinced two Evanston businesses, Ward Manufacturing Co., 2230 Main St., and Converged Communication Systems, 2930 Central St.,to stay in Evanston to expand their businesses, in total keeping 73 jobs in Evanston and adding about 30 more, she said.
“Evanston can handle tough economic times because of the terrific, talented people who live here,” she said.
Tisdahl said the $18 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds Evanston received with help from U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. and U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. will be used to stabilize neighborhoods that have been hit hardest by foreclosed and abandoned properties.
The 59 units already under the city’s control will be ready for move-in by the spring or summer of this year, and the city will be rehabilitating 100 housing units, creating about 150 jobs for local residents, she said. These units could house Evanston employees, which “reduces employee commutes, stress, absenteeism and turnover,” she said.
The mayor also addressed the state legislature’s lack of pension reform, which puts more pressure on local governments to cover the increasing costs of police and fire pensions by raising taxes.
“The current system is a train wreck heading at us all and we will keep going back to Springfield until it is changed,” she said. “We owe our policemen and firemen pensions. We want to pay them and we will.”
Tisdahl applauded the Evanston Police Department and the decrease of city crime, which is down by 13 percent for the second year in a row. Still, there’s work to be done, she said. The six homicides in 2010 were “six more than our goal, which is zero,” Tisdahl said. The city is working with local community groups to kick off a campaign against gun violence on the tentative date of April 9, she said.
Tisdahl’s speech reinforced her image as a hands-on mayor. She recounted the story of her ride in a snowplow during the recent blizzard, in which 20 inches of snow fell in 24 hours. She also told of the story of going to the scene of a July fire at the McGaw YMCA to hand out bananas and Gatorade to 70 evacuated residents with City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz. And she spoke of her experience welcoming Jewish congregants to High Holiday services in the fall, when Westboro Baptist Church members planned to protest local synagogues. There, she came across a group of teenagers protesting the Westboro protestors, a group that eventually backed down.
“There were more teenagers protesting the bad guys at each of the locations than there were bad guys,” she said. “I drove home thinking, what’s the state of a city where teenagers act like that? The future of Evanston looks pretty darn good to me.”
