Following seven terms on Evanston City Council advocating for “civility, transparency and common sense,” Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd) will not seek reelection in 2025.
Wynne’s 28-year tenure on the council will make her the 3rd Ward’s longest serving councilmember and the fourth-longest serving elected official in city history.
After serving on the city’s Environment Board for four years, Wynne joined the City Council in 1997 and has been reelected every four years since then.
“She is extremely open-minded and collaborative, always willing to assess an issue from multiple points of view to reach a compromise that best serves the whole community,” Mayor Daniel Biss told The Daily in an email. “I’ve learned a great deal from her and, while I wish her a wonderful and well-deserved retirement, I know I’ll miss her on council.”
In her time representing the 3rd Ward, located in southeast Evanston along the lakefront, Wynne helped establish and grow the Main-Dempster Mile in 2014, protected the city’s lakefront from commercialization and pioneered the practice of hosting regular town hall meetings with residents, Wynne said in a letter to residents.
In 2023, Wynne voted against the commercial rezoning of Ryan Field.
Businessperson John Kennedy, Interfaith Action of Evanston Overnight Shelter Director Shawn Iles and environmentalist Gennifer Geer are running for the 3rd Ward’s open seat. Wynne has not yet endorsed a candidate, but told The Daily she plans to.
Evanston’s consolidated general election will take place April 1, 2025. New councilmembers will take office later that month.
The Daily spoke with Wynne about the work she’s done on City Council and what her future holds.
This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
The Daily: What are your proudest accomplishments as the 3rd Ward’s councilmember for the past 28 years?
Wynne: For the first part of the time that I was on the council, it was rezoning Chicago Avenue. It had been zoned to allow much taller buildings along the length of it, and in my first term, we were able to get it rezoned downward and to make it much, much more reasonable. The transformation of Chicago Avenue is something I’m pretty proud of. Twenty-eight years ago, it was treeless — very much an arterial street that you didn’t pay much attention to. It’s much greener than it used to be.
The other thing I did want to say is that I’m very proud to have been a participant in our reparations program. That happened just in the last four years, even though the City Council originally voted on reparations in the early 2000s, but we didn’t have a revenue stream for it. I’m really proud of being part of a City Council that voted for that. We’re setting an example for a lot of communities in the United States.
The Daily: What challenges have you faced in your position?
Wynne: For the first portion that I was on the City Council before the Great Recession, part of the challenge was that we had developers coming to Evanston who wanted to build, build, build — as tall and dense as they could get away with. It was a challenge to actually get development that fit into Evanston, that people in Evanston felt was appropriate.
The Daily: How has your work and your understanding of Evanston changed over the past 28 years?
Wynne: One of the things that I tell new councilmembers, or people who are interested in the council, is that there is such a deep and broad amount of talent in Evanston. It’s always astonishing to me when we have people who come to public comment or people who get involved in an issue or serve on one of our boards or commissions, just the level of expertise and skill they bring. I am continually impressed by Evanstonians and their really active involvement in their community.
The Daily: In the final six months of your term before the next alderperson takes office, what do you hope to achieve?
Wynne: We have a lot to get done. We’ll finish this budget, and then we have the new comprehensive plan and the zoning changes. I look forward to working on that and getting that done before the next council comes in, and to the extent that we can make some decisions about a more permanent location for the (Lorraine H. Morton) Civic Center and the police and fire headquarters. I think it’s really important that this council makes that decision and not leave that up to the next council.
The Daily: What do you hope the next 3rd Ward alderperson prioritizes?
Wynne: The same things I prioritize, which is thoughtful, common sense, good public policy. The vast majority of members of the council do it because they care really deeply about their community, and they want to give their best thinking on every issue. So I look forward to the next 3rd Ward councilmember being someone who carefully weighs what the community thinks and gathers all of the information and then makes a good policy decision.
The Daily: Moving forward, how can the city create a more productive relationship with Northwestern?
Wynne: Like in any relationship, it’s maintaining the lines of communication, no matter how strained they can get — trying to build trust back and forth. And that’s a two-way street. I like (NU Executive Director of Neighborhood and Community Relations) Dave Davis a lot. He works really hard at his job. He’s the liaison (between NU and) the City Council. We need to recognize that neither of us are going anywhere and that our fates are really intertwined.
The Daily: How do you want to be remembered in Evanston? What do you hope your legacy is on the city?
Wynne: I hope people remember that I really worked hard for all Evanstonians, not just 3rd Ward residents, and that I did my best to weigh every issue carefully and make a smart public policy decision.
The Daily: Why did you decide to retire? What will you do in retirement?
Wynne: I decided that 20 years was enough, and I continue to feel that way. I don’t regret my decision at all. Traveling for longer than 12 days between council meetings is one of my primary goals with my husband. We just did this Asia trip. This is a preview of what we’re planning to do. I want to travel more and spend time with various family members who are scattered around the country.
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