During public comment at City Council’s Monday meeting, community members expressed dissatisfaction with the City Council’s goal summaries approved in February, which they said contain no mention of improvements to the city’s bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
While not part of the council’s goals for their term, Evanston’s proposed 2026 Bike Plan Update calls for establishing biking infrastructure on the Main Street East-West corridor from Hartrey to Asbury Avenue.
Some residents argued this item should be included in the goals and suggested extending the corridor.
“I encourage the Council to invest long-term in Main Street’s improvement,” said 9th Ward resident Jeff Balch. “I think we don’t want to get into the situation where there’s a halfway investment in corridors like Main, and a few years from now, we are kicking ourselves for not having completed that corridor all the way from downtown Chicago Avenue out to the Skokie line.”
Other residents said that prioritizing biking infrastructure would benefit children commuting to and from school.
Seventh Ward resident Liz Berliant said following recent Evanston/Skokie School District 65 budget cuts, there will be fewer buses available to transport kids to school.
She added that with school boundaries shifting due to the closure of Kingsley Elementary and the opening of Foster School next fall, students will have new routes and commuting patterns.
“This is a great opportunity for the city to work with the school district to protect our kids,” Berliant said.
Ald. Matt Rodgers (8th) said the council’s goals were based on the seven top priorities adopted from the Feb. 9 City Council meeting, which included housing affordability, economic development and climate action.
He added the council’s goals are “not exhaustive” and argued it is unnecessary to list policies like the city’s Strategic Housing Plan and Bike Plan.
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) said the purpose of the goal document is to give the City Manager more direction. However, he announced he is not ready to accept and file the current version of the goals document.
Ald. Shawn Iles (3rd) agreed, saying that the list should include traffic calming.
“To me, traffic calming includes not just vehicles, but bike and pedestrian safety,” Iles said. “Third Ward residents make that point repeatedly.”
Council voted 5-0 in favor of tabling the final approval of the goals until the first regular City Council meeting in April, after which it will be discussed in executive session with the evaluation of the City Manager.
“What I think would be appropriate is for councilmembers that have concerns about this document to have one-on-one conversation before April 6 with the City Manager,” Nieuwsma said in response to a question from Ald. Parielle Davis (7th) on what will happen between now and the next meeting. “So we can work out any potential conflicts and what comes back to us on April 6 is something we are ready to vote on.”
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