For a moment Monday evening, Evanston looked beyond its recurrent rodent battles and wrestled with the not-so-fuzzy politics of dog breed restrictions.
City Council tangled with Ald. Devon Reid’s (8th) proposal to prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants’ dog breeds, though he tabled it for the council’s Nov. 11 meeting.
The lively discourse over canines followed weighty issues like the next city budget and Evanston’s nascent community responder program. Still, the council also gave an initial nod to reining in the city’s horse-drawn carriages.
“Look, Evanstonians love animals and love pets,” Mayor Daniel Biss, a former pet rat owner, told The Daily after the meeting.
Reid proposed an ordinance that would ban rental agreements from prohibiting any specific dog breeds. A city-prepared memorandum said the change would “hold owners accountable for issues with their dogs rather than place the blame on a dog due to its breed.”
The proposal would still allow landlords to restrict dogs based on size or nuisance, Reid said. He argued that breed restrictions have historical associations with a “whole bunch of -isms,” such as classism.
“There is no evidence that particular breeds are more aggressive than other breeds,” Reid said. “The breeds that maybe do tend to be a bit more aggressive or yappy are the smaller ones that are usually allowed everywhere. There’s just no evidence to support this.”
Ahead of the discussion, an Evanston landlord pushed back against Reid’s canine clauses.
Eric Paset, who manages North Shore Apartments & Condos, said during public comment that the restriction would overstep on landlords and business owners. Housing rules like this proposal would drive people out of Evanston, he added.
“I shouldn’t have to be here for this,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many — we get a big dog in our building that becomes mean, and people don’t want to live in our home. They’re scared.”
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) echoed Paset, adding that the new stricture could lead more landlords to prohibit all dogs. That would leave “fewer homes for dogs,” he said.
Confusion arose over whether animal advocates have also pushed to prohibit discrimination on size. Reid opened the discussion by saying he wanted to table the proposal, so the council’s dog debate could continue Nov. 11.
City Council also advanced by consent a plan that would tell carriage operators to hold their horses.
The proposal would require any prospective horse-drawn carriage operators to pay $50 for a one-day permit and comply with traffic controls. Horsing around the restrictions would cost a scofflaw $375.
Multiple councilmembers told The Daily the concerns arose after troubling carriage sightings. A report from August 2023 described a “distressed horse pulling a carriage in heavy traffic” on Chicago Avenue near Whole Foods, according to Ald. Thomas Suffredin (6th). Another, from this August, involved a carriage at a Lake Street quinceañera.
Ald. Krissie Harris (2nd) and welfare advocates helped spearhead the plan, and a final vote looms at the next regular council meeting. Horse-and-buggies remain a rare sight in a city crisscrossed by train lines and bustling streets.
“It’s all anecdotal,” Ald. Juan Geracaris (9th) told The Daily. “I haven’t seen them in person.”
The animal agenda arrived at City Council Monday, but Evanston has seen a long-running fracas over rodents running wild.
Earlier this year, a campaign by residents and city staff apparently vanquished downtown Evanston’s reviled rats. The memories still run deep.
“If we could ticket or put a permit on rats, we’d be rich,” Harris told The Daily.
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