Former Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl will be honored with a sign reading “Elizabeth Tisdahl Way” on McDaniel Avenue after a unanimous vote from City Council on Monday.
Tisdahl, who served as mayor from 2009 to 2017, was also on the Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education and represented the 7th Ward on City Council. She was present at Monday’s meeting, along with former Mayor James Lytle.
“I think that ‘Elizabeth Tisdahl Way’ — I don’t think that’s dramatic enough,” Lytle said during public comment. “I think maybe you should (be) considering ‘Elizabeth Tisdahl Blvd.’ because of the width and the depth and the length of time that she spent not only in Evanston with the school board and the city but with the U.S. Council of Mayors and her work on sustainability.”
In an email reflecting on the council meeting, Mayor Daniel Biss called Tisdahl “a friend, mentor, and role model.”
Councilmembers and residents echoed these sentiments during Monday’s meeting.
“I remember reading about this woman who’d been on the PTA and then school board and then 7th Ward alderman and then mayor, and I thought, ‘That’s the way it should be done,’” Ald. Devon Reid (8th) said. “It was truly inspiring to me to see someone who had put in so much time in our community working their way up to serve our community.”
The council will celebrate the street name designation on May 31 at 2 p.m.
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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