Hoping to lend an academic voice to the city’s ongoing over-occupancy disputes, a noted expert on housing standards will speak next month at the Evanston Public Library.
Ellen Pader, an associate professor of regional planning at University of Massachusetts – Amherst, is slated Nov. 2 to address community members about how Evanston’s “brothel law” “adversely impacts housing choice and affordability,” according to an event flyer.
The lecture is sponsored by the Illinois Association of REALTORS, the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern
Suburbs, the North Shore – Barrington Association of REALTORS, Northwestern’s Habitat for Humanity chapter and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.
Howard Handler, the North Shore – Barrington Association of REALTORS’s local government affairs director, told The Daily earlier this week that it’s “completely disingenuous” for the city to defend the “brothel law” on the grounds of life safety.
“This is about purposely separating one group of people from another group of people,” he said, adding NU administrators need to “stand up and support students on this issue.”
NU Habitat for Humanity President Kelsey Watterworth said the campus group was recruited by Handler but has no official stance on Evanston’s over-occupancy rule. The McCormick senior pointed to their national organization’s mission statement, which expresses support for affordable housing.
Over-occupancy restrictions such as the “brothel law” also inhibit access to schools, jobs and recreation, according to the event flyer.
Pader’s lecture is open to all community members and will take place 7 to 8:15 p.m. Nov. 2 at the EPL Main Library, 1703 Orrington Ave.
releases top 100 ideas
Evanston150 unveiled its top 100 ideas to improve the city’s future earlier this week, inching closer to two mid-October voting sessions.
At those public events Oct. 15 and 16, community members will vote to whittle the 100 ideas down to 30 ideas for final consideration by the 21-member selection jury.
Over the summer, the same panel narrowed more than 2,000 public-submitted ideas to the 100 ideas released this week.
The top 100 submissions span a diverse range of city suggestions, from building an outdoor amphitheater to hosting an annual literary festival to allowing free beach access for all Evanston residents.
