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Council wrestles with homelessness, including Howard St. encampment
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members have delayed until May consideration of a plan to aid the city’s unhoused population, including addressing an encampment at the Howard Street viaduct on the city’s far south side. After concerns from colleagues,…
Purchase of $2.3 million new fire truck receives Council backing
Reserve truck facing major repairs has ‘put us in a bad place,’ says fire chief By Bob Seidenberg Evanston Fire Department officials received City Council support Monday to move ahead with plans to purchase a $2.3 million new ladder truck,…
Council OKs $180,000 to buy electric leaf blowers for landscapers
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council on Monday approved a plan to make a bulk purchase of electric leaf blowers, batteries, chargers and other equipment to help local landscapers who have had difficulty making the transition away from gas leaf…
7 a.m. liquor service on tap to be discussed at Council committee meeting Monday
By Bob Seidenberg Restaurants could start selling alcohol as early as 7 a.m. seven days a week, under a change to go in front of the City Council’s Administration & Public Works Committee at their Marc 25 meeting. The change…
Staff proposes bulk purchase to help local landscapers afford electric leaf blowers cost
By Bob Seidenberg Local landscapers maintained that cost was a major barrier transitioning to electric-powered leaf blowers after a city ordinance went into April 1, 2023, banning the use of gas-powered or propane-powered devices because of their noise and harmful…
Council approves brokerage contract on Civic Center move – this time in public
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members reapproved a contract Monday for a real estate firm to broker a move out of the Morton Civic Center, complying with a blistering opinion from the state Attorney General’s office that ruled the…
Evanston firefighters union pays tribute to historic 1974 walkout ‘Their story will not be forgotten’
By Bob Seidenberg One by one, the fire companies at Evanston’s five stations took turns notifying radio dispatch they were signing out of service. Locked in a monthslong impasse with the city, 89 Evanston firefighters walked off the job for…
Council rejects temporary halt to gas leaf blower ban
By Bob Seidenberg Evanston City Council members voted against suspending enforcement of a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers Monday, a pause some landscapers had sought to allow more time for the transition to electric devices. Council members were sympathetic to…
Council committee working to clear the way for video gambling
By Bob Seidenberg rseiden914@gmail.com A city committee began filling in the blank spaces in an ordinance that would permit video gambling in Evanston for the first time, opening the way for officials to tap into the fast-growing revenue source. A…
Committee backs tax deal to keep VW dealer in Evanston for 10 years
City’s economic development manager challenges Skokie assertion that it wasn’t trying to recruit the business By Bob Seidenberg rseiden914@gmail.com Members of the city’s Economic Development Committee Wednesday night backed a modified sales-tax sharing deal with the owner of a local car business –…