In 1972, Dave Glatt opened the first location of Dave’s Italian Kitchen in a small storefront on Davis Street. Since then, the restaurant has moved five times, each to a different location in the 1st Ward.
Throughout its relocations, the restaurant has remained a community staple and its owner a prominent community member.
“I am treated like an icon in many ways,” Glatt said. “Basically, I didn’t die. So I have had that kind of continuity, I have done outrageous things.”
The 1st Ward is composed of the Downtown Evanston business district as well as most of Northwestern’s campus. It’s also home to the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Charles Dawes House, portions of the lakefront path and the Evanston Public Library.
However, the library is currently exploring the potential of splitting from the city because the funding it receives from property taxes is not enough to make necessary building repairs — including a $1.9 million roof repair.
While the 1st Ward remains a vibrant downtown shopping mecca with bookstores, restaurants and retail stores, property owners are getting pushed out by increasing real estate prices, which also make it more difficult for new businesses to open.
A new 29-story high-rise at 605 Davis St., approved Monday, will only exacerbate these issues, Ald. Clare Kelly (1st) said.
“Normally, a building that size should offer some tax relief or it can be new funds that allow schools to do something new or to fund projects,” Kelly said. “But instead, (the contractor is) going to be receiving a tax break. They will not pay their full property taxes for 30 years.”
The 1st Ward also contains a large portion of the Lakeshore Historic District, including many large homes built in the 1890s by wealthy Chicago entrepreneurs. In the 19th century, as property values rose, the neighborhood shifted from a diverse mix of homes to smaller homes being demolished and replaced by larger ones.
Evanston became a North Shore shopping hub in the 1920s when the great economic boom encouraged large Chicago department stores, like Marshall Field’s, to branch out and build stores in the suburbs.
During the Great Depression, people tried to divide these large houses into boarding houses. However, the city didn’t want a dramatic increase in population density, so it created ordinances against dividing buildings into multifamily homes.
“Change is constant, so a lot of the issues that we face today have been faced throughout the past, and most of it has to do with settlement patterns and population growth,” Kris Hartzell, director of facilities, visitor services and collections at the Evanston History Center said.
In response to high property taxes, Kelly proposed a property tax circuit breaker program, which was revisited on Tuesday, to help financially strained people stay in Evanston.
Kelly said she believes one of the main reasons behind longtime Evanston residents moving out of the city is bloated budgets, which in turn creates high property taxes. Since much of the 1st Ward comprises properties off of the tax roll — such as the University, nonprofits and religious buildings — a higher tax burden falls on residents.
“The problem is, as is everywhere else, real estate here is becoming more and more unaffordable,” Glatt said. “This is why I live in Skokie — I can’t afford to live here.”
Despite these issues, the 1st Ward maintains a strong community through events such as the Evanston Folk Festival and businesses like Cafe au Lake, Kelly said.
“We’re sort of a big family of so many different people,” she said. “I think people feel very much connected and united in this ward.”
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