By the time just over 2,500 ballots rolled in to elect a new 3rd Ward councilmember in April, Ald. Shawn Iles (3rd) had knocked on every door in the ward to preach affordability as he vied for the seat in a monthslong campaign.
“One of the things that I’m the most concerned about is preserving the current naturally occurring affordable housing,” Iles said, referring to the two- and three-flats that make up much of the southern half of the ward.
Single-family homes that have direct access to lakefront parks and beaches are customary elsewhere across the ward. Ninety-four percent of those properties sit within the Lakeshore Historic District, an area that has had development restricted since its designation in 1980.
The issue of housing continues to define — and divide — the community.
Drafted zoning updates to Chicago Avenue, a thoroughfare in the ward connecting the Far North Side to downtown Evanston, would allow for the construction of buildings up to 100 feet in height in an attempt to support further affordable housing.
The proposition has been of particular concern to residents like former 3rd Ward candidate John Kennedy, the president of the Southeast Evanston Association, who ran against Iles for the seat in the April election.
“People on the west side (of Hinman Avenue) — their alley butts up against what would be 100-foot-tall monoliths,” Kennedy said.
Much of Chicago Avenue as it runs through the ward makes up the Main–Dempster Mile, a quaint business district that is home to dozens of local restaurants and shops.
Because of its role as a key connector between the North Shore and Chicago proper, the road has already been a focus for development in terms of bicycle and pedestrian accessibility. Plans have additionally been made to calm commuter car traffic, according to Iles.
“The thing that I’ve heard the most, during the campaign and since the campaign, is about the speed of traffic,” Iles said. “There’s a real feeling since the pandemic that drivers have gotten significantly worse.”
The corridor remains a hotspot for good food and entertainment in the area. For family dinners, Iles recommended Firehouse Grill, Cross-Rhodes and The Lucky Platter, all within a three-minute walk of the Main Street CTA Purple Line station. In terms of night spots, Kennedy and Iles both recommended live music hall SPACE.
Away from the bustle, five lakeshore parks containing two public beaches make up the mile of public coastline, the greatest amount of any ward.
Longtime resident Anne Burket sometimes looks out over Lee Street Beach and watches the sunrise from her home in the Historic District. She frequently walks up and down the lakefront, a routine she has held for years, she said.
“I found it a nice place to grow up, where people were pleasant,” Burket said.
Burket’s brick-and-column Colonial Revival home was built in 1919, and she has lived in it since her young adult years. Since then, the ward’s boundaries have changed considerably as populations came and went, but its simultaneous access to the lake and transportation to Chicago has remained constant.
The biggest change in recent years, she said, was the attitude of the ward’s residents as Evanston has continued its urbanization. Much of the Historic District preserves what she thinks Evanston should be: suburban.
“A lot of the friction is: Do you think you live in a sleepy suburb or an urban environment?” Iles said. “And if you think you live in a sleepy suburb, you don’t want anything to change.”
And things are changing, Iles said, albeit slowly.
A handful of construction projects and proposals line the agenda for the community’s future. Iles has concluded that such plans support the new generation of 3rd Ward residents.
“As I talk to people, anybody under the age of 45, pretty much, is pro-change,” he said. “They don’t see a path to home ownership. … And they want to see a change.”
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Bluesky: @ryaninevanston.bsky.social
