Three months from now, candidates vying for a seat at the City Council dais will learn the outcomes of their campaigns, which began last year.
Yet some of Evanston’s wins and losses throughout 2024 did not involve politics. Downtown welcomed the openings of new eateries, and local business owners lauded the city’s efforts to vanquish the long-dominant rodents nearby.
Here’s a look back at some odds and ends from an up-and-down year in Evanston.
Boarini challenges Biss
Long before Mayor Daniel Biss announced his reelection bid in August, the city’s leading politician had already amassed a six-figure war chest and carried a landslide pedigree from 2021.
Only one man stood up to challenge him: Jeff Boarini.
Boarini, once a McDonald’s creative director, filed to oppose Biss in October. In his first formal interview, he told The Daily about his qualms with the city’s transparency under Biss. The political newcomer also described his introduction to Evanston’s civic goings-on by way of Ald. Clare Kelly (1st), his partner and an anti-Biss crusader also running for reelection.
The two will face off at the ballot box on April 1.
Ryan Field brouhaha deepens
During 2024, the dust rarely settled at the past-and-future Ryan Field, even if it did at the Civic Center. As the 97-year-old sporting citadel turned to rubble early on, the year closed with construction on the brand-new football stadium with an $850 million price tag.
In 2023, an uproar over the future Ryan Field’s potential impacts on its neighborhood escalated into a scuffle at the Civic Center during an initial council meeting. But last year the conflict moved into the hushed halls of a Chicago courtroom, where outraged residents sought to forestall Northwestern’s attempt at hosting commercial events.
The hubbub also maintained its political intrigue. Boarini has garnered the support of the Most Livable City Association, which has helmed the legal push against Evanston and NU over Ryan Field.
Envision Evanston sparks debate
The legal crux behind the Ryan Field battle — rezoning — has taken the front seat in Evanston politics. After Biss launched the Envision Evanston 2045 project early last year, residents sounded off on its myriad provisions.
The comprehensive plan update and rezoning project has drawn brickbats from residents who see Biss’ “yes in my backyard” vision as overreaching. Boarini has blasted the process, calling on Biss last month to “stop and think.” But Biss maintained that the “bold” project would prove transformational for Evanston.
Taco Bell launches downtown
NU students swooned over the new downtown Taco Bell, which opened on Sherman Avenue in November. It replaced Blaze Pizza’s vacated storefront and added a late-night option for downtown diners. Other new eateries last year included Devil Dawgs at Church Street Plaza.
‘Rattiest block’ defeated
Insomnia Cookies manager Laura Dundas long scorned the rodents scurrying near her Sherman Avenue outpost. Early last year, she warned that the rats seemed undefeatable short of “nuclear war.” Yet she later praised the city’s abatement efforts, which helped vanquish the rats by using carbon dioxide injections.
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