Before Matt Rodgers became a self-employed graphic artist, he painted. He said his mother hung his artwork around the house when he was growing up. 

Although he said no longer paints — a decision “much to the chagrin” of his mother — Rodgers’ affinity for art remains. He’s served on the Mudlark Theatre board and dabbles in photography today.

Now set to serve as 8th Ward councilmember after 18 years of city experience, he said an innovative mindset prevents council procedure from becoming routine over time. 

“You have to have a creative mind in order to function well in city government,” Rodgers said. “You can’t always be constrained by everything that’s around you. You have to look for new ways to do things.”

Besides working in the arts, Rodgers is the director of operations and communications for the Church of the Atonement, an Episcopal church in Chicago. Outside his career, the 21-year Evanston resident was on the Zoning Board of Appeals for ten years, serving as chair for three of them. He then worked on the Economic Development Committee and chaired the Land Use Commission until January.

He was the only candidate to unseat a sitting councilmember in the April 1 municipal elections, notching about 64% of votes to surpass incumbent Ald. Devon Reid, according to unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s office.

As chair of the Land Use Commission, he emphasized exploring new affordable housing options and hearing residents’ perspectives, even unfamiliar ones.

His main disagreement with Reid involved the Envision Evanston 2045 comprehensive plan. Reid supported allowing single family housing to have four dwelling units while Rodgers said this proposal would push residents to seek homes in competing neighborhoods. 

He speaks from his personal experience of searching for housing: The Ohio native hadn’t planned to live in Evanston. After attending college in Indianapolis and living in Chicago, he said he first searched for a home in Edgewater or Rogers Park.

“People who are looking at Evanston are looking at Rogers Park, they’re looking at Skokie, they’re looking at Wilmette,” he said. “It’s important for us to provide for some level of development in the city but also not make it a total free for all.”

He said Land Use Commission members often joke that they’ve faced three “once in a lifetime” building-related issues in the last three years — the commercialization of Ryan Field, Envision Evanston and Connections for the Homeless’s use of the Margarita Inn.

In such unexpected occurrences, Rodgers said he prefers to fall back on existing procedures and community feedback for guidance.

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time,” Rodgers said. “It’s about letting people be heard, keeping the conversation focused on the key issues and not having everybody just throw in the kitchen sink with their discussion points.”

Former Zoning Administrator Melissa Klotz said Rodgers was a “uniting factor” as Land Use Commission chair in handling opinions on issues like Envision Evanston.

Klotz said she first met Rodgers in 2011 on the Zoning Board of Appeals. She also worked with him on the Land Use Commission. 

“Matt is very matter of fact and to the point but does an excellent job of being kind and fair and softening potential blows on things that may make people upset,” she said. “He strikes that very delicate balance that is hard to do.” 

Rodgers said his campaign focused on meeting people in person rather than leaning on social media advertising. He knocked on doors and attended house parties to speak with constituents. Some of them later thanked him for doing so, he said.   

Previous interactions with U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) inspired this approach, he said.

“I joke all the time that Jan Schakowsky and I have a relationship. It’s in aisle five of the (Jewel-Osco) on Chicago Avenue,” Rodgers said. “Every time I see her, I say hi. She says hi to me. And we might talk for two or three minutes about some issue.”

In the process of campaigning, he said he realized how much 8th Ward neighborhoods differed from each other. Each one resembled “a small town within its own city,” and each had separate concerns. 

Hugo Rodriguez, an 8th Ward resident and former Housing and Community Development Committee member, worked on Rodgers’ campaign. 

“He offered to be more in connection and responsive to the issues that our ward has and also connect more directly with the residents of our ward and make the ward his priority,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodgers said a common concern among residents was their councilmember’s responsiveness to inquiries — even ordinary ones like unresolved remodeling permits.  

He said he wants people to know he will help move these processes along.  

“It really is about making sure that the city is doing the work for its residents,” Rodgers said. “City government doesn’t exist for any purpose except for delivering services to the people who live in that town.” 

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