City Council on Monday night held off formally discussing a safety zone around Evanston Township High School amid growing concerns that the proposal would unfairly target black neighbors.
In a rare response during citizen comment, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl sought to assure 5th Ward residents that the so-called “Safe School Zone” would not lead to disproportionate arrests along racial lines.
“We will not let the community fall through the cracks, and this entire council is taking this … seriously,” she said.
Tisdahl’s promise was not enough to move the legislation forward, and aldermen voted 6-3 to bring it up again at their Sept. 9 meeting. Alds. Colleen Burrus (9th), Jane Grover (7th) and Ann Rainey (8th) formed the opposition.
The intergovernmental agreement between the city and District 202 would charge anyone who has been told to stay out of the zone with criminal trespassing if they try to reenter it, including expelled and suspended students.
The zone’s boundaries would be the sidewalks across the four streets surrounding ETHS, 1600 Dodge Ave., according to city documents. It would not include private property.
D202 Superintendent Eric Witherspoon said the ordinance is a necessary measure as ETHS officials combat student conflict that can “really bubble up” beyond school walls.
“Here in the 21st century, in the digital age, it’s not getting any easier to keep children safe,” Witherspoon said. “We as a community and we as adults have an obligation to do everything that we can to make sure young people have as much safety as possible.”
(Proposed ordinance would expand police power near ETHS)
Fifth Ward residents said they were unfamiliar with the proposal and feared it would lead to disproportionate arrests of black people living near ETHS. They were unswayed by a city attorney who explained that ETHS administrators would have to give anyone written notice before he or she is arrested for criminal trespassing in the zone.
“When you are black, you get the brunt of police when they come around,” said Bridget Ridder, who lives across the street from ETHS.
Carlis Sutton, who lives less than a mile away from ETHS, called the zone a “knee-jerk reaction” to gun violence in the 5th Ward that has put city officials on high alert.
“Do not pass it,” said Betty Ester, who lives across the street from the school. “You pass it, and we going to court.”
Ald. Delores Holmes (5th), who opposed the zone when it cleared the Human Services Committee 3-2 last week, suggested the council may have to abandon the idea altogether.
“This just does not do it, and I think we have to work on it to figure out if it’s even the right thing to do,” she said.
Other aldermen signaled they were more willing to tailor the legislation, which is based on a state law some of them described as ambiguous. Ald. Don Wilson (4th) said some definitions in the state law are “virtually without meaning” and would need to be clarified to apply to Evanston.
Rainey criticized the council’s decision to delay any formal discussion about the proposal for four weeks.
“A lot could have been done in that month,” she said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the name of the proposal. It is called a “Safe School Zone.” The Daily regrets the error.
Summer editor Patrick Svitek can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/PatrickSvitek.
