Evanston’s 6th Ward residents will have a second chance to choose between Ald. Mark Tendam and challenger Mark Sloane during Tuesday’s citywide elections.
Sloane, Tendam and a third candidate faced off in 2009, when Tendam won by about 100 votes.
Sloane, the chief financial officer at a Chicago marketing agency and former chairperson of Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl’s Budget Task Force Committee, said he decided to run again because he would bring needed financial wisdom to city government.
“City Council is currently making a lot of bad financial decisions,” Sloane said. “I have knowledge the city really needs on the council.”
Sloane criticized the council’s handling of recent tax increment financing districts, specifically the Chicago/Main and Dempster/Dodge TIFs. Sloane said the council should have given more incentive to the existing tenants in these TIF districts and fewer to developers.
In addition to city finances, Sloane said he would focus on parks and recreation, which he said has taken a backseat in the council’s priorities.
Tendam, who owns a graphic design company, said he decided to run again because he wanted to continue working on initiatives started during his term. Tendam implemented a program to increase pedestrian safety for children walking and biking to school. In his next term, Tendam said he would increase the council’s focus on crime. He also identified the city’s aging infrastructure as an impending issue for council.
“We need to address that challenge and realize we have a very old infrastructure,” Tendam said.
Tisdahl and six of the eight other aldermen endorsed Tendam. Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin and Evanston Fire Fighters Association Local 742 also endorsed the incumbent, as did six members of the Mayor’s Budget Task Force. Sloane said he does not publicize endorsements.
— Ciara McCarthy
