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HomeMy WebLinkAbout0324ccCITY COUNCIL ROLL CALL - PRESENT: A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT AT ROLL CALL: ABSENT: PRESIDING: Alderman Moran Alderman Tisdahl Alderman Feldman Aldermen Rainey, Kent None Mayor Morton March 24, 2003 Alderman Newman Alderman Jean -Baptiste Alderman Wynne Alderman Bernstein The OFFICIAL REGULAR MEETING of the City Council was called to order by Mayor Morton Monday, March 24, 2003, at 5:37 a.m. in the Aldermanic Library. Alderman Feldman moved that Council convene into Closed Session for the purpose of discussing matters related to litigation and closed session minutes pursuant to 5ILCS Section 120/2 (c) (2) (11) and (21). Seconded by Alderman Jean -Baptiste. (11) Litigation, when an action against, affecting or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or when the public body finds that an action is probable or imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting. (21) Discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under this Act, whether for purposes of approval by the body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as mandated by Section2.06. Roll call. Voting aye — Moran, Tisdahl, Feldman, Newman, Jean -Baptiste, Wynne, Bernstein. Voting nay — none. Motion carried (7-0). At 7:30 p.m. Alderman Feldman moved to reconvene into Open Session and recess. Seconded by Alderman Newman. Motion carried. No nays. Mayor Morton reconvened the City Council at 9:10 p.m. in the City Council Chamber. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Community Information Coordinator Donna Stuckert announced that yard waste collections would resume March 31 and continue on regular refuse collection days until December 4. By state law yard waste must be collected separately from other household waste. Yard waste can be placed in 90-gallon yard waste carts (available for purchase from the City), 30-gallon Kraft paper bags or disposed of at the drop-off at 2222 Oakton St. starting April 4 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays only. For information about the City's yard waste program call Streets & Sanitation at 866-2940. She announced that street cleaning would begin April 1. Residents are asked to read the parkway signs that tell when streets are cleaned or visit the City's website at www.cityofevanston.org. Facilities Management Director Max Rubin had an initial report from U.S. Equities on the Civic Center and announced the March 26 Civic Center Committee meeting was cancelled. He announced that Emergency Management Agency of Evanston was hosting a severe weather seminar from the state on April 1. Persons who wish to attend are asked to call 866-2916. Alderman Wynne asked to speak because many South Blvd. Beach neighbors were present. She referred the closure of South Boulevard Beach weekdays for reconsideration to the Human Services Committee, the committee that has jurisdiction over parks and recreational facilities. She asked that this matter be placed on the Monday, April 7 agenda for consideration; suggested they need to look again at the numbers, determine the cost and impact to the community. She thought they would be successful. In response to Mayor Morton's query about when residents would know the outcome, Alderman Wynne said March 24, 2003 this matter would be on the Monday, April 21 City Council agenda and to call her if they have questions. Mayor Morton proclaimed April 2003 Alcohol Awareness Month City Clerk Mary Morris announced Tuesday, April 1 is the Consolidated Election to elect members to boards of School Districts 65 and 202; Oakton Community College; Ridgeville Park District, Lighthouse Park District and Skokie Park District. Polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. Persons who will be out of Cook County or serving in an official election capacity can vote in -person absentee in the City Clerk's office through Monday, March 31 and from 9:00 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 29. Special Presentation by Chicago Transit Authority: Proposed North Suburban Bus Service Improvements Mike Shiffer, vice president of Planning & Development, announced that the CTA has experienced five years of ridership growth and, as a result, are looking at how to reinvest in the various communities they serve. They were not looking on a route - by -route basis, instead at communities on a regional basis. They have focused on Evanston/Skokie/West Rogers Park and put together a plan based upon work done in previous studies, which include the Downtown Evanston Transit Oriented Development Study, sponsored by RTA with Metra, Pace and CTA participating. The plan they were presenting also was based upon the Transportation Opportunities in Evanston Study, done by the Evanston Transportation Futures group. The plan represents significant work done by CTA staff in service evaluation, where staff rode busses, worked with drivers and counted passengers. The goals have been to respond to community requests, and in a sense, this represents a response to community requests. The other goal was to improve access to employment by linking "traffic generators". A traffic generator could be a shopping center, place of employment or high -density housing development. Their goal, as a transit agency, is to increase the number of customers using their service. At this juncture, CTA is in a position to make an investment in the Evanston area, and this proposal represents a net investment. He introduced Mary Kay Christopher, general manager of Service Planning, who would focus on adjustments that have been made to this plan since the most recent public meeting. Ms. Christopher showed a map of CTA current service in Evanston and Skokie, which has been the configuration of service in Evanston for 30 years. Their proposed restructuring of service they believe will improve service to a substantial portion of residents and employees. In an effort to follow the two studies mentioned previously, this plan proposes to concentrate service on main traffic arteries, increase bus frequency, provide service across municipal boundaries and connect major traffic generators. In December 2002, CTA staff began meeting with community representatives to present their ideas. Prior to the March 12 community meeting, they met with elected officials, City administrators, Representative Julie Hamos, Pace, representatives from ETHS and Northwestern University, Chamber of Commerce, and the Evanston Transportation Futures group. Additionally, they met with representatives from Skokie and the 50`h Ward in Chicago. They received good feedback and amended their proposal to incorporate as many of those suggestions as possible. She reviewed changes and showed a revised map of the plan, starting with a new route, 200, which will operate on Main St. from west Evanston at the Main Street Shopping Center to the Metra and Purple Line stations. This would operate during weekday rush hours and the schedule will coordinate with Metra trains, which run less frequently than Purple Line trains. The next change was to accommodate ETHS students from the Ridge corridor while still serving the commuter market on Dodge. In the morning, the 206 will operate from the Howard station west to Ridge and pick up students along Ridge to Lake and drop them off at the high school then continue north on Dodge to Simpson, Ashland, Green Bay Rd. and Central St. On southbound trips the 206 will pick up students along Central, Green Bay, Ashland and Simpson and drop them off at the high school — the route will continue south on Dodge picking up commuters going to the Howard station. In the afternoon the route will make the opposite loop, dropping commuters from the Howard station off on Dodge before picking up students going to north Evanston. On its return in the afternoon, the 206 will pick up high school students and drop them off along Ridge. A change to the 93 route was requested to connect Emerson with the Dodge/California corridor. The original 93 proposal had the 93 travel north to Church, and now will continue north to Emerson, then turn east to Maple and south to the Davis Street station. The schedule on the 93 will be timed to coordinate with Metra trains. The proposed changes to the 93, complements the suggested change to the 205. On the 205, a request was made to provide better connections between the Chicago Avenue corridor and ETHS. The new routing proposed for the 205 is to travel east/west on Church as opposed to Emerson. Under this proposal the 93 will operate on Emerson and the 205 will operate on Church. All the changes affecting the high school allow for separate March 24, 2003 boarding areas at the school to prevent large congregations of students at one bus stop. The last change shown on the map is to the 205. hi the original proposal, the 205 would travel along Golf/Emerson west of Dodge. Based on comments received from the Hill Center the map reflects routing of the 205 north on Dodge, west on Simpson to Bridge and then southwest on McCormick to Emerson/Golf The return from McCormick onto Bridge requires a change to the curb radius for the bus to safely make the turn. The City has informed them that street construction is planned there this summer and the CTA will coordinate with the City and revise plans accordingly. Ms. Christopher believed that the CTA had addressed the major comments from the community and incorporated them into this new proposal, except for those requests for busses to remain on residential streets, which are not appropriate for CTA operations and cannot be included in their plan. She thought most people would agree that LTA's current bus system is outdated and does not work. From LTA's perspective they need to improve productivity and efficiency of routes to better serve their customers and increase ridership. The CTA is ready to take action now to make improvements and reach mutual goals. In response to recent studies such as that produced by the Transportation Futures Group and the RTA, and to respond to community development, CTA with input from local officials, schools, businesses, community leaders and the community has developed a proposal that they believe will provide faster and more frequent service to more destinations and increase ridership. During the 180-day study, CTA will actively seek public input and participate in additional community meetings. The CTA does not request that the City Council endorse the specific proposed routes. They propose to use the trial period to partner with customers and community members and continually evaluate the routes. Thus, the proposal they showed that day was not final. As they look to improve service in Evanston it was essential that they do so with the support of City officials and requested City Council support for the following: • the need to improve service for those who live, work and shop in Evanston; • the opportunity to increase transit ridership leading to less traffic congestion and improve environmental quality • additional study and testing of route service alternatives with continued community involvement Alderman Bernstein stated City Council members received a letter from Pace confirming that $100,000 was available for a regional study. Would the CTA participate in that study to better coordinate services? Ms. Christopher said CTA would be happy to participate. Alderman Moran thanked the CTA for being there and for prior efforts; said many suggested changes were positive. He said two major areas the CTA has focused on have been pointed out to them. One particular change suggested will disregard these points of emphasis. They talked a lot about enabling students to get to ETHS. The principal method of public transportation for ETHS students from northwest Evanston is about to be eliminated experimentally. That is the 203 bus that goes down Grant St. He did not think the proposal looked after their interests. He noted the CTA had emphasized promoting public transit for employees. He said two major institutions, Swedish Retirement Home and the Presbyterian Homes, both located on Grant St. will be shorted through elimination of the 203 bus. Two important constituencies in both institutions are being disregarded. One is employees. He said a report by Nancy Flowers, senior citizen advocate with the Health & Human Services Department, pointed out the extremely competitive nature of employment in senior citizen facilities and that a large percentage of those employee groups use busses. If they are not served through elimination of the 203 bus, it would put a lot of pressure on those institutions. The other aspect concerns residents of those institutions, who use public transportation, are of advanced age and, unlike some younger people who will have to hike to either Golf or Central, will not have an easy time walking several extra blocks. Through elimination of the 203 bus for those in the southern part of that service area, when they go to Golf Rd., many will want to take a bus east on Golf, which is a wide, fast moving street that has only one traffic light for a considerable distance at Central Park Ave. Students and senior citizens who want to travel east will have to walk across that street. He did not want his remarks to be considered hypercritical over the larger expanse of changes they propose. He stated elimination of the 203 bus is a significant reduction in service to those constituencies CTA emphasized in their presentation and he found that to be somewhat troubling. He also heard for the first time that evening that the CTA now considers it inappropriate to go down a residential street. He recalled that in 2002 there was a significant community discussion about frequency of the 203 bus with different schools of thought on that by those who live within routing of that bus. There were well -attended meetings at the Presbyterian Homes about reduction of 203 service. He suggested elimination of 203 bus service would be a severe blow to those institutions and areas. While the CTA has described the proposal as experimental, he asked that CTA keep an open mind in terms of reducing service by eliminating the 203 and to keep that in mind when they come back in six months. March 24, 2003 Alderman Tisdahl noted the 203 bus goes through a portion of the 7d' Ward. She walked up/down Grant St. asking people what they thought including the part of Grant that is narrow. All with whom she spoke agreed that the 203 bus provides necessary transportation for students going to ETHS. She suggested to one student that he could walk to Central St. or Golf Rd. The student plays two musical instruments and carries them to school daily. She suggested if the CTA removes the Grant St. bus that when they look at their experiment to talk to ETHS students, don't talk to those who don't ride, but those who have been displaced with more cars going to the high school. What has come across is how important bus transportation is in Evanston. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he was unable to attend the public meeting but previously met with the CTA. Residents in the 2nd Ward submitted a petition to the CTA asking that they make certain modifications with the speed or size of busses going through the Fowler corridor from Main to Dempster, because their homes were getting damaged from vibrations the busses created and that has occurred over a long period. His first communication to the CTA went unanswered. He understood that at the public meeting the petition was used to say that he supported this reduction of services. He stated that he does not support reduction of services to residents and that the petition was an attempt to service residents and protect their homes. He understood that on some routes ridership is low and thought they were putting the cart before the horse. While they are getting ready to embark on an experiment, Pace is proposing a period of study, a period where CTA, Pace and City officials can come together, look at services to the City and figure out how to best coordinate them to best serve residents. The study will go forward while there is an experiment. He thought they should look at the two services to see how they can be coordinated to maximize service to residents, then implement a period of experimentation. He said there are a number of ideas not incorporated and certain sectors where ridership is low. Some have suggested smaller busses even if less frequent bus service. Certain sections will be left underserved, particularly those who ride the 202 because Fowler Ave. will be totally eliminated, Fowler to Dempster, to Pitner to Church St., then certain sections of Emerson will be underserved too. As well intended as the proposal is, he wanted to see greater discussion over a period time, then implementation of an experiment. Alderman Kent said this proposal is much better than the first one and thanked the CTA for incorporating some suggestions dealing with the 5d' Ward. Weekend service is an important aspect and he asked what weekend services are proposed? He was concerned about people who live in west central Evanston behind and just north of ETHS being able to go seven blocks to the shopping center at Dodge/Dempster. Mr. Shiffer responded that Saturday and weekend service would remain the same. The 93 would have Saturday service with the last trip at 9:45 p.m. Saturday service on the new 201 to the Ridge corridor and Northwestern University and Old Orchard. Alderman Kent looked at the 205, specifically because of people who live at Over the Rainbow. He uses the 202 bus, which is being eliminated. While he enjoyed that bus not going down Hartrey/Fowler, and many of those riders live in neighborhoods without access to cars and students who go to Lincolnwood, King Lab and Washington schools, which is important. The new 205 will stop at a facility that has severely handicapped persons. He has not seen handicapped accessible busses in Evanston and the busses on Fowler and Emerson seem to be older and asked how that would be addressed. Ms. Christopher stated that all busses on all routes in Evanston now and in the future are accessible. Some of the fleet may be older with lifts as opposed to being a bus that lowers. Alderman Newman asked the CTA if they had met with NU before they put together the proposal? Ms. Christopher stated the CTA put together ideas, then met with NU. He asked if NU said they would continue the shuttle bus? Ms. Christopher said they were still meeting with NU and NU has not said one way or the other. Alderman Newman said it sounded as though the CTA hoped that NU would not continue the free shuttle bus. He said the CTA had taken the loop out at Noyes/Foster. Now there is service for students on Sheridan Rd. provided free by NU. For students to ride the new 201 route, they will pay $1.80. The route cannot pick up any additional riders unless NU eliminates the free shuttle. He said if a student is given a choice to go to Central St. for free or pay $1.80 each way, they will choose to ride free. Ms. Christopher agreed if the shuttle bus is frequent enough. He said they have taken service from Noyes/Foster with 1900 Sherman (200 senior citizens) and 2300 Noyes Court so the bus can be on Sheridan Road, where there already is service. No elected representative will agree with this proposal. They are eliminating service to 400 seniors and providing service where they might not get more riders, which made no sense to him. He said many of the senior citizens use walkers so they cannot go upstairs and it is harder for them to walk two blocks to Sheridan Road than the students. He said the loop needs to come back into the system. He thought they were having meetings with NU to try and get them to reduce service and why would they do that? Evanston needs more transit service. The proposal did not seem to be in the interest of the community and won't improve transportation. He thought all it would do is encourage NU to stop running its shuttle service and cause students to pay $1.80 each trip. He explained that Evanston is a diverse community and the poorest people here need a way to get around. When they say that senior citizens are out, it was not March 24, 2003 something representatives can support. He hoped it matters to the CTA. He knows they are working hard to spread dollars, but they were not improving transportation for anybody. The CTA was only increasing their own numbers and not improving transportation for people on Sheridan Road. He did not want the discussion to go on where one part of his constituency where the CTA encourages NU not to offer a free shuttle so students have to pay $3.60 roundtrip and the other part gets nothing. He could not support the proposal because in the interim the CTA will take service away from people who rely on it. The CTA will make his son, who takes the 201, walk further which he accepts. He said this was not fair to somebody 82 or 92 years old. He asked City Manager Crum to obtain a letter from Representatives Schakowsky and Hamos and Senator Schoenberg. He noted this proposal would make it harder for senior citizens and did not find that acceptable. Alderman Wynne had asked to what degree this plan is experimental and was told that changes would be made to accommodate mistakes. She asked how and when modifications would be made, if they find changes are not working? Would that be done during the 180-day trial or at the end? How will they gather information from the community that re-routing was not a good idea? Ms. Christopher said the analysis is done by surveys on routes during the experimental period and the CTA will have meetings here. The CTA gets feedback through surveys and are actually on board asking riders questions. Alderman Wynne said if they are only getting information from people who got on the bus, what about the people they may have lost? Ms. Christopher said that was the reason for community meetings. Alderman Wynne noted there are many user groups here and asked the CTA's technique to get more community input? Ms. Christopher said two meetings were planned between June and the end of the experiment and they were always willing to come and talk to groups who invite them. Alderman Wynne asked at what point the CTA would make modifications to the plan? Ms. Christopher said the CTA would not leave something in that was awful and would do an emergency reroute. They must have the CTA Board make those changes. While the board does not have to make an emergency change, soon after the change is made, the board will have to act. They hope to wait until the end of the six-month period, make changes, and then conduct another experimental six months. Alderman Feldman understood during the experimental period the CTA planned meetings to help them evaluate how the plan is being accepted and in addition, if there was a mistake, there would be a possibility of changing a route quickly. He thought what the CTA was hearing from Alderman Newman and others was that they were making a big mistake. It was hard to understand, if they are listening, what further kind of pleas they would need to provide needed transportation services for senior citizens who depend on the CTA to even go shopping. He said a person with a walker with snow on the ground would find it impossible. If the CTA understand that hundreds of senior citizens are going to be affected by this in a way that dramatically diminishes their life, why isn't this proposal changed? He cannot believe they would do this to accommodate young, athletic NU students. He suggested if they want to understand and went to these homes they would find all they heard was correct and was probably politely understated. He said this proposal is a dramatic diminution of the quality of life for those people and the CTA cannot be a part of that. He thought they were thinking of people in the taxicab program, however, this proposal is an immense mistake for the community. Alderman Rainey asked if any member of the CTA Board of Directors was present or at the public meeting? No. The CTA staff takes back all information. Alderman Rainey asked if these changes have been presented to the board? No Alderman Rainey asked when the board meets and when will this proposal be presented? Ms. Christopher stated the board meets the first Wednesday of every month. Alderman Rainey asked if these changes could be presented at any meeting so there is no rush to present the proposed changes? Ms. Christopher responded they are on the agenda for the April board meeting and if they won't present at the April meeting they won't have a decision so they won't be able to write the schedules to get the service implemented for the summer. Alderman Rainey suggested this could be done in the following month. Ms. Christopher explained they could not implement these services in the summer if they went to the May board meeting. Alderman Rainey asked why the urgency to implement in the summer? She thought they were missing how this actually happens and it was important to understand that. She said that changes in routes create chaos. Mr. Shiffer said they were there was to garner input. He explained that the CTA does rider schedules four times a year for the entire system and the best time to institute a change is the "summer pick." That way they have good weather when routes are changing, schools are not in session and it is easier for people to adapt to a travel pattern in the summer than in the fall or winter. The rationale for presenting this to the CTA Board in April and, it is not officially on the board's agenda, would be to write schedules for the summer. That was why they were there at this time. It was not a simple matter of deferring by a month. He said they don't want to deprive senior citizens access to shopping and home. The CTA believes that is critical. What they are March 24, 2003 trying to do is enhance service and they look to all their services, including para-transit service to accommodate as many customers as they can. All know they have 40-ft busses that run and smaller para-transit vehicles plus other available options. They are trying to accommodate with respect to the existing 40-foot passenger bus routing system and looking at that initially. They also understand there are calls for additional studies, want to respond those and, at the same time, do the best they can. Alderman Rainey asked where, when and what time the CTA Board of Directors meets and for a list of directors' names? She said many of them would like to attend that meeting and attempt to influence the board if they are presenting the changes presented that evening. Ms. Christopher responded that the CTA Board meets in the Merchandise Mart, 7 h Floor on April 2 at 1:00 p.m. A board committee meets prior at 11:00 a.m. with no public comment. A list of board members would be provided. Alderman Rainey encouraged them not to present the proposal to the board. Ms. Christopher expected a decision to be made by the end of this week. Alderman Newman said the para-transit service was mentioned at the meeting he attended and he asked the CTA people to talk to senior citizens about that. He heard that service has many problems. He was willing to go to Noyes Court and to 1900 Sherman with staff and sit with seniors to try to work something out. If the CTA service is not satisfactory, is there a commitment to make it better? He thought there was a problem with the process; noted they have meetings with NU but have not met with seniors directly. He was willing to meet so they could discuss alternative service and work together on it. He thought to put this proposal into effect was counter -productive because the deal is not worked out with NU yet and no guarantee they will improve ridership. He asked the CTA to take that out now and schedule more meetings. Alderman Newman wanted to leave the Foster/Noyes loop in the discussion phase and not put it into effect; meet with residents of 1900 Sherman and Noyes Court and be at meetings the CTA has with NU. He wanted a fair process. Ms. Christopher stated this was the first direct comment she had received like that and it was too late to change their plan. She explained CTA staff has worked on this for three months, had received many comments and adapted them to the plan they presented. Alderman Newman asked, then, why were they there? If it is too late why have a discussion? Mr. Shiffer clarified said if they were going to take a plan to the CTA Board this plan would be the one. The decision is whether they take this plan to the board as an experiment or not. As part of the experiment, they could put the loop in but cannot adjust the plan now before is goes to the board. However if no one wants to support this as a 180-day experiment, then it will not be taken to the board. If there were support for a 180-day trial where they experiment with routes, they would work with aldermen and constituents on issues such as that to determine whether that was correct to do. Alderman Newman confirmed if Council voted not to accept the plan, they would not go to the board. Alderman Newman moved to recommend that this plan not be presented to the CTA Board and that they continue to have meetings with the CTA staff so they can effectuate a cooperative effort between the City and the CTA to improve service, work with all here and present a plan to the board at a later date. Seconded by Alderman Moran. Mr. Shiffer clarified that this is the option now. Coming back to revisit Evanston will not occur on a continuing basis. If the proposal is rejected it won't be brought to the board and they would revisit Evanston but could not guarantee the timeline. Alderman Newman asked if before recommending any new proposal to the board they would revisit Evanston? Yes. Alderman Feldman wanted to understand this. Mr. Shiffer was saying this Council has to accept the plan exactly as it is or to reject it. They have worked on it for three months and cannot change it now. Mr. Shiffer said they were not saying they could not change it now. The plan as presented to the CTA Board, if it were presented at the April meeting, would be difficult to alter due to the level of analysis that takes place. If it is a matter of rerouting a bus for a couple of blocks, that is one thing, but if there are major re-routes there are major cost calculations that go into that. The amount of work that it takes would go beyond the deadlines they need to meet to present at the April board meeting. They were saying the proposed experiment and initial configuration of that experiment was open to feedback during this entire period; have taken all suggestions into account as they have developed this as they will continue to do. However, if they were taking something to the board in April, it would be difficult to significantly alter this plan. They cannot make a commitment on when they could revisit because of many other demands on their time with limited staff in the metropolitan area and could not commit to return in six months with a completely new plan. He stated this is the plan for now and the CTA could work with the City on it but it would be difficult to say they could continually revise it. They don't want to go where people don't want them and don't want to change services people don't want changed, but they are trying to enhance service for all. March 24, 2003 Alderman Feldman asked what changes were made to the plan as a result of the March 12 public meeting? Ms. Christopher said the one change, not raised prior, was the Hill Center change. They had received comments about no service on Main St. prior to that meeting. He said it was not enough to hold meetings and hope that people come. There are people who cannot come. There are recognizable constituencies such as the homebound, elderly, etc. He saw that they have responded to those they have heard from, but not to those they have not heard from. That constituency is an important part of this community and he hoped there would have been outreach to those institutions to allow for that. He said the CTA gave them no choice and he could not support the reduction of service this proposal implies. Alderman Rainey encouraged the CTA to read the memo from Nancy Flowers, who did an excellent analysis of service changes and their effect on senior care homes in Evanston. She feared in voting to reject the proposal that Evanston could fall off the LTA's radar screen but realized that CTA had agreed to meet with Pace and Evanston and was grateful for that. She thought by delaying this proposal that the CTA, Pace and City working together could probably come up with a better plan. Alderman Bernstein was concerned about the CTA's availability to work with Pace and would they be able to coordinate with Pace? At the March 12 public meeting he became aware of services about which he had no knowledge so apparently there are many methods of transport all of which should be coordinated. He recalled at the March 12 meeting the CTA deferred to Pace for east/west transportation and enhancing north/south. Absent conversations with Pace, he was not sure how they could make that determination. If CTA based their analysis just on ridership they omit those people who are unable to be riders. He asked CTA if they could commit to Evanston? Ms. Christopher understood the Pace study will be done by a consultant so the LTA's requirement would be to give expert advice and whatever data they have. That would not be a drain on their resources. Alderman Wynne was hearing that if they don't accept the plan then, the CTA may not return for five years. She thought there were useful things the CTA had done and were they saying all the work they have done will be put aside? She said what they were asking for was the same thing they would do if Council accepted the plan. They would put something in place, then make changes. They (Council) was saying don't put something in place but continue to make some changes to the plan. Why would they decide to put aside all the work they have done when they have already said if they put the plan in place they would be looking at all the routes and making changes? Council was saying they already see problems with these routes, make changes, then put some of this into place. The CTA was saying they would be back. Mr. Shiffer said the work that was done was diligent and good and they did not want to set that aside. They were saying they could not make a month -to -month commitment to come back and forth. They would revisit this in an appropriate venue and were not looking at a five-year time horizon. He could not commit the entire planning staff of CTA to work exclusively on Evanston routes for the next months. Instead they have an agenda, a number of other regions they are looking at in a sequence and need to be able to responsibly allocate those resources as they allocate resources for transit for the region. Alderman Wynne recognized they had already allocated valuable staff time to the plan. She asked what happens if they don't present the plan to the CTA Board? Mr. Shiffer stated it would be revisited. They would continue to work with folks to revise the plan accordingly. If they want to institute a major service change they want to do it in the summer, not winter or when schools are in session. Alderman Wynne said the earliest revisit would be a year from now. Mr. Shiffer said that was possible. He explained it would be illogical to implement a major service change in the winter. He could not make a commitment to be back next year because of where the Authority stands regarding its resources. They could not make a commitment but were not saying they would never revisit this. They believe the plan is a significant step towards the future of transit in Evanston and would not throw it away and believe it is valuable. Alderman Wynne thought they heard some positive things from Council and urged them to make some additional changes. Mr. Shiffer said they recognized that; said the point about making small changes is why they call the plan a 180-day experiment. They cannot make changes up until board meeting day due to the effort it takes to calculate the costs and do the traffic engineering if they are going to adjust services. The CTA's proposal is to take this plan forward as a 180-day experiment and continue to work with the City and community to adjust the plan during that experiment. The problem with not going ahead with the six-month experiment, then they have to wait, perhaps, another year before they revisit this and cannot make guarantees that they will have the resources for transit investment. Mr. Shiffer stated the CTA was trying to improve transit services and not trying to take anything away. They understood that by reallocating this, some people gain more service and some lose service. They were trying to get the greatest good for greatest number of all constituencies. Alderman Feldman confirmed that if the Council accepts this plan and it goes before the CTA Board, during the 180-day period they would work with Evanston and constituency groups to alter the plan. He asked if changes were possible during the 180-day March 24, 2003 period? Yes Alderman Feldman asked how soon after the plan is implemented can they begin the process? Mr. Shifter said the process could begin almost immediately. They could have meetings two -three weeks after the new service begins. They would not want meetings before the service starts. Experience has shown when services are changed there is usually a "working in" period where people are getting used to new travel patterns. Generally speaking, they want to wait a few weeks for travel patterns to settle before obtaining the kind of feedback they need to make changes. Alderman Newman acknowledged there are good parts to the CTA plan, but once the plan is in effect, they have to go back to the CTA Board; urged they get the plan "right" and take it to the board once and not place the burden on Evanston to go back to the board. He said they would continue to work with the CTA, recognized the CTA has limited staff and if it takes a year — they will get it right. If they don't accept the plan, nobody would lose service for any period of time. Service just would not be improved. He would rather not have people lose bus service. Alderman Newman restated his motion. He moved not to accept the plan proposed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), continue to work with them, use the work they have already done to improve service and come back at a later date convenient for their staff. Roll call. Voting aye — Moran, Tisdahl, Rainey, Feldman, Newman, Jean -Baptiste, Wynne, Bernstein, Kent. Voting nay — none. Motion carried (9-0). CITIZEN COMMENT: Calvin Smith, 1340 S. Fairfield, Chicago, goes to a private school that was scheduled to move on Pratt/Kedzie in September 2003. The route 11 bus would go to Howard/Kedzie and stop at Pratt where the 96 bus used to be. He looked for the 93 bus to the Skokie industrial park to extend north on Dodge for longer service for those who travel from Evanston to Chicago. The 96 bus should have stayed in service on Kedzie. He wanted to help his school because they won't have enough public transportation. George P. Mitchell, 1229 Emerson St., president of Evanston NAACP, spoke on behalf of members who rely on public transportation, those who want to take advantage of public transportation seven days a week. He also echoed sentiments of those, frequently the less affluent, who rely on public transportation for jobs, shopping, entertainment and the ability to petition government. He stated public transportation is a necessity in the community and can be the only source of mobility for many and is essential for commerce. The overarching reason for its being is service. He knew that bus service must be efficient to be reasonably priced. He asked about the focus on service. Riders have expressed concern about eliminating the 202 and 203 in favor of expanding service on other lines. It appears the proposed changes in the CTA bus service are focused upon competition with Pace rather than beneficial service to all Evanston residents. Many feel the bus service here is only to move people to/from rapid transit lines and major commercial areas such as downtown. This change adds Old Orchard to the equation at the expense of underserved parts of the community. Evanston needs the services of the 202 and 203 and they need to be expanded. He said it makes sense to support some regional planning to have better routing throughout the community before they get into competitive routing. At the last meeting there was information about Pace financing a planning process, which they should take advantage of. He congratulated Council on their previous actions. Lee F. Schroeder, 6912 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, said there was always a stop at Howard and then they went on to Linden. The CTA runs trains at night with a lot of bums riding who should be taken off. Alex Sproul, 646 Judson Ave., represented the Chamber of Commerce as chairman of the Transportation Committee and was also member of Evanston's Transportation Future, was disappointed about what was happening. Both groups he represents favor changing the system to increase ridership. He thought the CTA had come up with a plan that will do that and does it at the cost of deleting certain services. His groups have not had a chance to fully digest what was presented that evening. He recommended that the loop Alderman Newman spoke of be restored and sounded like a change that could be made before April 2. Other changes would be more complicated. He urged the CTA to go ahead with its plan with the understanding that over the next few months, they would proceed with the Pace planning. He announced a meeting of Evanston's Transportation Future the next evening at 7:00 p.m. at the library. All were invited because they propose a community -wide process for a broader look than what the CTA has done with Pace being the March 24, 2003 leader. Pace will be there and will be urged to lay out a process. It seemed to him the cordial thing for Pace to do was to invite the CTA to participate in this process and the cordial thing for the CTA to do was to respond and participate. He hoped in that process they would get an evaluation of the CTA plan. This is a reversal of what the Chamber has said. Gladvs Brver. 550 Sheridan Sq., Environment Board member and their representative to Evanston's Transportation Future, said Evanston's 2000 Comprehensive General Plan has chapters on transit systems and the environment. One goal is high levels of safe, affordable transit service throughout the community as an alternative to automobile usage. The plan is to reduce traffic congestion and promote clean air. Evanston's Transportation Future is concerned with a sustainable future for Evanston. They are working toward the same surface traffic objectives and reduced automobile use. The CTA had, in the beginning, tried to provide a good bus system here and she commended them for the changes they made after the last public meeting in response to citizen comments. She appreciated that on the new 200 route, they intended to coordinate CTA and Metra train lines. However, the CTA, in its original plan, has failed to coordinate with Pace to see how they might work together to build a better bus system. She saw an example of how lack of coordination affects the environment, which is the size of busses on city streets. Air pollution is caused by bus exhaust. A Class A bus that holds more than 35 people expels 6.1 lbs. of carbon dioxide per mile. By comparison, a Class C bus that holds 25 people expels 10% of a pound of carbon dioxide per mile. Figures are from the Federal Transportation Administration database. She suggested large Class A busses are not needed on some suburban routes. CTA, Pace and the community should look at where large or smaller busses are needed and where each type is appropriate. Smaller busses on residential streets will produce fewer complaints. She was not there to advocate for specific planning or routes and recommended a broader community based planning process before the CTA plan goes into effect. Sharon Feieon, 1125 Colfax St., founding member of Evanston's Transportation Future said their goal is to make Evanston convenient to get around without a car. She was glad the CTA is interested in changing service here and they were responsive to comments made last week. It was clear that Council was not involved in the process and she felt proud of being an Evanstonian and of the Council. They raised many good concerns about the changes and a need to do more work on the bus plans. She felt the CTA has made a lot of progress on the process and they should stay involved. She thought Pace was serious about putting together a planning process. She said they need to make sure Pace does that and it is a good process. She thought the work done on Chicago Avenue and bike planning were a good community planning process where many people shared ideas and got involved. That is needed for the busses. There is a great opportunity to have a better bus system that more people will use. She noted NU provides four routes with frequent service for students. It would be interesting to take the CTA routes and overlay the Levy Center Bus route, Park District route, the Y after school busses, the Evanston Hospital shuttle and put it together to create something great. Debbie Hillman, 1118 Sherman Ave., thanked Council for their decision; was grateful for a unanimous decision supporting citizens. She thanked the CTA for tweaking their original plan, but once again saw it as a backward process as she thought it should have started with citizens. She also supported the Pace planning proposal; suggested they need to take a more comprehensive and regional look at the process. Whatever the CTA and Pace put into place will be there for a long time even though it is called "experimental" and worth doing right the first time. To show how complicated the process is, she sent a three -page document to the CTA about the original plan in which she said that elderly residents living along the Chicago Ave. route cannot be expected to use the rail substitute as proposed. She is as a non -car owner and appreciated the closeness of the Sheridan Rd. route. Senior citizens and others would like to use facilities at NU, which shows how complicated this issue is. Another complicating issue is parking in residential neighborhoods and goes back to elimination of the Main St. route. What they have seen in the Nichols neighborhood/Main St./Dempster as well as on Central St. near the Metra station is commuter parking on residential streets, a growing problem. The CTA proposal has not taken this into account. Instead of removing a Main St. bus, why not extend it into Skokie, which could eliminate commuter parking on residential streets. She urged all to get involved in the Pace program. Rav Bauer, 2000 Grant St., commented there were many agendas playing out that evening. He lives along the 203 bus route and gets shaken out of bed daily at 6:00 a.m. with one passenger on the 203 bus. He sees some 20-30 students use the bus and one bus takes them all. Four -six busses an hour are not needed for students. He sees the bus that goes to the Swedish Retirement home and Presbyterian Homes, with between 13-17 persons riding it at 6:15 a.m. He said the large Class A busses travel a 25-foot wide residential street. With parking on the south side of Grant, they cannot get a car and bus to pass at the same time. He said there are ruts in the parkway. Emergency vehicles that have to go through jump 10 March 24, 2003 the curb and there are legendary games of "chicken" that go on between cars and busses on Grant Street. He noted there are numerous sides to the story that perhaps aldermen are not aware of. Cameron Davis, 114 Kedzic St., executive director, Lake Michigan Federation expressed thanks to Alderman Wynne for committing to try and find a way to keep South Boulevard Beach open. He said Evanston's lakefront is one of its most valuable assets. Closing any beach should not be an option. This is not a ward issue — the lakefront and beaches are one of the reasons people choose to live here. In terms of cost/benefit, he spoke not just to the decision to close South Boulevard Beach for immediate purposes, but also to the long-term issue of whether they should ever consider closing beaches in the future for cost cutting. It was important to remember that a lot of property values in Evanston, not just those close to the lake, derive those values because of proximity to the lake and the ability to be able to visit public beaches. When thinking about the costibenefit of closing beaches, think about what is done to property values in the long run when people cannot access beaches. He saw a double jeopardy issue when beach token prices are raised, yet beaches are closed to cut costs. It seemed that somebody was not looking at the whole picture. A question it raised in his mind was where do token fees go? He reported the Lake Michigan Federation has a Volunteer Task Force, which intends to address issues like this around the Chicagoland area. They meet April 7 at 6:00 p.m., 220 S. State St., 191h floor, Chicago. Website is www.lakemichigan.org. Georee Martin, has lived here for 65 year and has ridden the busses for 54 years. He said that now the CTA wants to take half of the bus routes away, which he feels they should not. He wants to keep the 201route going on Noyes to Ridge and Foster to Sherman by senior citizen housing. He thought it was a disgrace and hoped it wouldn't go through. He thanked Council for what they said about the proposed bus service because he agreed 100%. Mimi Peterson, 748 Wesley Ave., commented on the lease agreement with NU for a temporary fire station at Ryan Field at a cost of $30-35,000 paid for by the Foreign Fire Tax Board; thanked the board for its generous contribution to northeast Evanston residents. She said it was unfortunate that Evanston has known for years that the reconstruction of Station #3 was going to occur and made no interim plan and was amazed that no Council member or staff had the foresight to consider fire service in the 7th Ward. She was sorry the 71h Ward alderman was not present (at that time) to hear her comments. She found it outrageous that NU had the audacity to request a payment from the City for use of their property to enhance services they receive free. She referred to the April issue of Chicago magazine, which highlights town/gown issues in Evanston for more than 100 years. As an organizing member of the Fair Share Action Committee she reminded aldermen that the prevailing opinion of Evanston residents was that NU had not contributed enough to the City. She stated that as the largest employer and landowner in Evanston, NU has a moral obligation to help provide City services. No financial support for staffing, equipment, maintenance or general upkeep is provided. NU's existence here causes a burden to taxpayers. Here is an opportunity for NU to contribute to its host community and not a request for a blank check. There is no better opportunity for NU to show its good will to residents than to incur the costs of establishing this interim site to better provide them with free services. Alderman Moran (also absent) has said that a lot of people don't want to find a solution to this issue because it is such a handy tool politically. She asked who is the beneficiary and who is using that tool? In the past few years there have been numerous ways to make token gestures to residents that would go a long way toward a solution -oriented path. Bettv Ester, 1806 Grey Ave., said the Council vote cast that night only put off something they will have to face in a year or two --bus cuts. She said they talked about different communities not served and not in the "mix." The west side residents in the 5th Ward were not at the table when the surveys were done and will not be at the meeting of the Transportation Futures Group because, when the meetings are downtown at the library, after 9:00 p.m. there is no bus service. She urged them to come to Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center so the residents can have a voice. Last year on September 30 there was a hearing on adding source of income protection to the Evanston Fair Housing Ordinance. She reported that Representative Yarborough presented this at the House Committee and it was passed out of committee to be added to the Illinois Human Rights Commission Act. She asked all to call their representative to vote for that. For information call 312-347-7600, the Lawyer's Committee for Better Housing. Rhonda Present, 546 Michigan Ave., said she and her five-year old daughter are daily visitors to the South Boulevard Beach. She was pleased the closure of the beach would be revisited; noted a goal of the Human Services Committee meeting was to look at the numbers again. It has been said, a reason for closing the beach, was that it is least used of 11 March 24, 2003 Evanston beaches. When she spoke to staff, she asked if they were looking at this in terms of square footage because that beach is the smallest of the five beaches. In looking at 11,000 people using that beach they need to look at its size as well. Many families who use that beach have young children and come there because it is quiet and better for toddlers. Many are too young to purchase tokens so they are not counted. She asked how much would actually be saved by closing this beach. An article in the Evanston Review stated $9,000 would be saved. Tonight they heard from Alderman Wynne that figure is $4,000. She suggested a better job of research and looking at numbers before making decisions. She stated the neighborhood was hit hard by the loss of the Dominick's store on Chicago Avenue and would lose another major community asset if this beach were closed. She said there is much development here with an opportunity to view the beach as an asset, promote it and increase the number of tokens sold. Michael J. Wonderlich, 490 Sheridan Rd., moved here seven years ago because they loved diversity, style of life and the beach. The real estate agent assured them that having the beach there was a draw when they wanted to move to another location. They wanted to live here because they enjoyed the community, which was creative in solving problems. He was disappointed to see that one of the ways to save a few thousand dollars was to close one beach five days a week, instead of sharing the burden across all beaches and, perhaps, closing one beach one day and another beach another day, etc., so that South Boulevard would only be closed one day. Maureen Glasoe, 901 Hinman Ave., thanked Alderman Wynne for her response and said having the lakefront and beaches was a primary reason to live here. She understood that in lieu of lifeguards there would be somebody at the beach during the day to keep people out of the water. With all the development going on here, she thought turning people away in that way was counter -productive. Laura Bangs, 515 Lee St., goes to Lee Street and South Boulevard beaches; said South Beach has a different feel to it because it is a little more secluded. She said if they continue building high rises and bringing people in, that has an impact on beaches and they cannot afford to close one. She said there were better ways to find the $4,000 than to close a beach that is a gem. She sees signs on the El that urge people to move to Evanston and step away to the beach. People don't realize that one of them is going to be gone. She thought the beaches are a huge draw. She was feeling discouraged and did not know if there were other opportunities for citizen comments and heard about this on the grapevine. To have the beach there and not be able to go into the water during the week and only swim on the weekend (she uses the beach during the week) was unacceptable. She was worried that people will start bringing their dogs over instead of using the dog beach. She thanked Alderman Wynne and said it needs to be revisited. Richard Meher. 482 Sheridan Rd., has lived here since August 2002 and found the quality of life excellent and the beach is a large part of quality of life. This was his first time to a Council meeting and he was impressed with the process. When people heard about closing the beach last week, they canvassed the streets, talked to people they never talked to before and the overwhelming response was that people were not aware of this. How dare they do this! The typical response he got was that their elected representatives were non -responsive and uncommunicative. So he was ready to do battle, but he saw in the CTA meeting that Council was very responsive and listened to constituents. He thought that was a remarkable demonstration of democracy at work. He asked Alderman Wynne to give them a firm commitment that she will fight for them. Ramona Meher, 482 Sheridan Rd., started the petitions and flyers; thanked Alderman Wynne for taking the decision back to the Human Services Committee. She was grateful to all who came, signed petitions and sent flyers to keep South Beach open. She requested that the South Boulevard Beach cut be restored for swimming seven days a week. The closing of this beach would diminish the quality of her life and lower her property value. If budget constraints limit beach access, their group requests parity with all other beaches on a rotating basis one day each week. She thought the cost to close the beach is about $4,000. She said about 500 people live nearby and that means the average tax paid is about $4,000 a year so that two block area represents about $2 million. If the area were expanded six blocks, that would be $4 million. She was sure they could find $4,000 within the $4 million. She was concerned about residents of south Evanston really being heard and this was an opportunity for all of them to get to know one another better and to form a voice for south Evanston. She spoke with real estate agents, shop owners, property owners and over 100 citizens. Not one person knew about this decision, which she found shocking. 12 March 24, 2003 Dr. Peter Demuth, 476 Sheridan Rd., expressed his consternation over closure of South Boulevard Beach on weekdays during the summer due to budgetary concerns. A small irritation is the increase in the price of beach tokens. He pays without complaint because South Beach is an important part of life that makes living worthwhile. That was the reason for living across the street from the beach when he and his wife moved here from Baltimore in 1998. They love living there, take their two year old there whenever they can so he can point out the water his son will play in the summer. As south Evanston residents they have lost their local Dominick's with no provisions for a convenience store in that block. Now the City is considering beach closures on weekdays. Many reasons for living in the neighborhood are being taken away. He said they soon may not be able to walk to the beach and cannot walk to a food store. He likes to walk. They can walk to Dominick's in Rogers Park, which does not benefit Evanston. He and his wife pay good taxes here and one of the best benefits is the beach across the street. While closing the beach may help balance the budget, it is a disruption to one of the main pleasures in their lives. He wanted them to think that the cost of three-four lifeguards would be a small number in the budget that they could fill by cutting somewhere else that would not affect the quality of life of residents in this corner of the City. He asked Council to reconsider other options and, he if has to pay more to keep the beach open, he was willing to pay his fair share. Susan Blatz, 2300 Grey Ave. (facing Grant St.), said she participated in discussions about the Grant Street 203 bus ten years ago. The same issues were brought up. The only thing missing was the CTA person who laughed at their concerns. She wanted to talk about the impact on residents of these enormous busses that don't belong on residential streets. They hit cars. The noise is a roar, vibration shakes the house and cracks the plaster. The busses are mostly empty. Students fill up a bus in the morning and afternoon. She has observed every single bus and 90% were empty. She saved the numbers and threw them away thinking nobody would ever look at them. Occasionally they get a bus driver who plays chicken. There is damage to the parkway as the busses turn up Grey Avenue and onto Grant Street because the intersection is too small. Busses regularly run on the parkway and leave trenches on it by her house for which she is held responsible by the City. She fills in the trenches and plants grass seed. Residents should not have to put up with the pollution. The mother of a high school student and the fact that students need to ride the bus and cannot walk three blocks is a specious argument. She was sensitive to the fact that there are senior citizens and believed they need access to bus transportation. She urged a loop be put in at 1900 Sherman but don't throw out the entire plan. She asked Council to be sensitive to residents who for many years have put up with something that does not belong in the neighborhood. CONSENT AGENDA (Any item marked with an Asterisk*) Alderman Feldman moved Council approval of the Consent Agenda with the following exceptions: Resolution 17-R-03 — Lease for Temporary Facilities for Fire Engine #23; Ordinance 27-0-03 — Increase in Class B1 Liquor License; Request for Building Permit Fee Waiver — 1813 Lyons; Ordinance 30-0-03 — Special Use for 1741 Sherman; and Ordinance 21-0-03 — Special Use for 1729 Sherman. Seconded by Alderman Rainey. Roll call. Voting aye — Moran, Tisdahl, Rainey, Feldman, Newman, Jean -Baptiste, Wynne, Bernstein, Kent. Voting nay — none. Motion carried (9-0). * ITEMS APPROVED ON CONSENT AGENDA MINUTES: * Approval of Minutes of the Regular City Council Meeting of March 10, 2003. * APPROVED - CONSENT AGENDA MOTION AND ROLL CALL (9-0) ADMINISTRATION & PUBLIC WORKS: * Approval, as recommended, of the City of Evanston payroll for the period ending March 13, 2003 and the City of Evanston bills for the period ending March 24, 2003 and that they be authorized and charged to the proper accounts, summarized as follows: City of Evanston payroll (through 03/13/03) $1,867,240.63 City of Evanston bills (through 03/24/03) $2,782,198.54 13 March 24, 2003 * APPROVED — CONSENT AGENDA MOTION AND ROLL CALL (9-0) * Approval of the lowest responsive and responsible bid of Schoenbeck Corporation for the Merrick Rose Garden Renovation Project at a cost of $275,014.07 (funding with 2000/01, 2002/03 and 2003/04 GO bonds). * APPROVED — CONSENT AGENDA MOTION AND ROLL CALL (9-0) * Approval of the lowest responsive and responsible bid from National Power Rodding Inc. for Heavy Cleaning of 60-ft. Sewer Pipe at a cost of $24,950 (funding is the Sewer Fund). * APPROVED — CONSENT AGENDA MOTION AND ROLL CALL (9-0) * Approval of the State of Illinois low bid from Bob Ridings Inc. for a Ford F250 4x4 pickup truck for the Public Works Department, Traffic Division, at a cost of $21,788 including delivery and extended warranty. * APPROVED — CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) * Approval of the State of Illinois low bid from Bob Ridings Inc. for a Dodge cargo van for the Public Works Department, Parking Division, at a cost of $20,279 including delivery and extended warranty. * APPROVED — CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) * Approval of Change Order #1 with Pedersen Construction for Phase II Beck Park redevelopment at a cost of $10,611, increasing the total contract amount to $409,061. * APPROVED -CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) * Special Event — Custer Street Fair — Consideration of a request from the Custer Street Fair Organization to hold the 31st annual Custer Street Fair on June 21-22, 2003 on portions of Custer Ave., Washington St., and Chicago Ave., various sidewalks and St. Paul and Eiden parks. * APPROVED — CONSENT AGENDA MOTION AND ROLL CALL (9-0) * Snecial Event — Fountain Sauare Art Festival — Consideration of a request from the Chamber of Commerce to hold the annual Fountain Square Art Festival on June 21-22, 2003 on Church St. and Sherman Ave. in the downtown area. * APPROVED -CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) * Resolution 16-R-03 — Snecial Event: Rickv Bvrdsong 5K Race — Consideration of proposed Resolution 16-R-03 to approve closure of a portion of Sheridan Rd. from Lincoln St. to Forest Ave. for the 4 h annual Ricky Byrdsong 5K Race on June 29, 2003. * APPROVED -CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) * Ordinance 22-0-03 — Special Assessment #1453 — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 22-0-03, which approves Special Assessment #1453 for the alley paving north of Greenleaf St., east of Dewey Ave. * MARKED INTRODUCED — CONSENT AGENDA * Ordinance 23-0-03 — Special Assessment #1454 — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 23-0-03, which approves Special Assessment # 1454 for the alley paving north of Jenks St., east of Poplar Ave. * MARKED INTRODUCED — CONSENT AGENDA * Ordinance 24-0-03 — Special Assessment #1455 — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 24-0-03, which approves Special Assessment # 1455 for the alley paving north of Hartzell St., east of Lawndale Ave. * MARKED INTRODUCED — CONSENT AGENDA * Ordinance 25-0-03 — Special Assessment #1456 — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 25-0-03, which approves Special Assessment #1456 for alley paving north of Simpson St., east of Darrow Ave. * MARKED INTRODUCED — CONSENT AGENDA 14 March 24, 2003 * Ordinance 26-0-03 — Special Assessment #1457 — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 26-0-03, which approves Special Assessment #1457 for alley paving north of Park Pl., east of Lincolnwood Dr. * MARKED INTRODUCED — CONSENT AGENDA * Ordinance 31-0-03 — Creation of a Class W Liauor License — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 31-0-03, which creates a Class W liquor license for live music venues in the Downtown Core District. * MARKED INTRODUCED — CONSENT AGENDA HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: * Resolution 4-R-03 — Noves Cultural Arts Center Leases — Consideration of proposed Resolution 4- R-03, approval of the Noyes resident artist leases for 2003/04 and authorizing the City Manager to sign the Noyes Center agreements for the rental spaces. * APPROVED -CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) OTHER COMMITTEES: * Approval of Contract with Evanston Fire Fighters Association — Consideration of approval of two- year collective bargaining agreement between the City and Evanston Fire Fighters Assn., Local 742 IAFF, for the period March 1, 2003 through February 28, 2005. * APPROVED -CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) * Resolution 14-R-03 — Amendment to Council Rules Regarding Human Services Committee Membership Reauirements — Consideration of proposed Resolution 14-R-03, which amends paragraph 9.5, Rules and Organization of the City Council, regarding Human Services Committee membership requirements. * APPROVED -CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) * Resolution 18-R-03 — Amendment to the FY 2003-04 CDBG. HOME and ESG Programs — Consideration of proposed Resolution 18-R-03, which amends the City's One Year Action Plan for FY 2003-04 to adopt the actual 2003 HUD allocations for CDBG, HOME and ESG programs. APPROVED -CONSENT AGENDA MOTION & ROLL CALL (9-0) APPOINTMENTS: Mayor Morton asked for introduction of the following appointment: Joan Hickman Commission on Aging 1614 Main St. * APPROVED - CONSENT AGENDA REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES ADMINISTRATION & PUBLIC WORKS: Resolution 17-R-03 — Lease for Temoorary Facilities for Fire Engine #23 — Consideration of proposed Resolution 17-R-03, which authorizes the City Manager to sign a lease with Northwestern University for temporary fire station facilities for Fire Engine #23 in the parking lot east of Ryan Field during construction of Fire Station #3 (fund source is Foreign Fire Tax Board). Alderman Feldman moved approval of Resolution 17-R-03, with the lease amended to spell out that the $5,000 cost will include all costs for site preparation and office equipment relocation. Seconded by Alderman Rainey. 15 March 24, 2003 Alderman Rainey stated that fire response time should be the same throughout the community even though there is reconstruction of Fire Station #3 that serves the 7th Ward and NU. She was grateful to NU for allowing the City to use the parking lot and storage facility to house the fire truck, but was not grateful for the cheapness of the NU in requiring the City to pay $5,000 for the term of the lease, relocation of all equipment and certain other expenses NU will incur to move their equipment from the shed to another location. She was certain that many people here do not realize that NU pays no real estate property taxes, which means fire and EMS services are delivered to NU free. All taxpayers pay Northwestern's share for fire service they receive. NU could have been generous in allowing the use of this facility without charging the City to relocate their equipment. The Foreign Fire Tax Board is paying for a sewer connection, the trailer for firefighters to live in, everything and it is not costing NU a cent. The only cost to NU is the cost of moving their equipment. She regrets having to cast a shadow on this wonderful opportunity, but NU could have come through on this. She would vote for it and hoped all would. She understood Alderman Tisdahl got the lease down to $5,000, which she appreciated. Alderman Tisdahl thanked the firefighters who solved a major problem in the 7th Ward; delighted that fire response time will be the same as elsewhere in Evanston. She said that NU has been helpful in providing a place to keep a fire engine, which was needed and appreciated their stepping up and doing their share to resolve this problem for all. Alderman Newman congratulated Alderman Tisdahl on working this out. He said the decision to retain Station #3 on Central Street is a tremendous benefit to NU; citizens will pay $3 million to rebuild the station. He recalled a fire at Seton Hall; said there was an effort by staff to improve fire safety on campus and have been successful to some extent. The overall goal has been achieved in maintaining the great service not just in the 7th Ward but in the 1st and 5th wards. The lease payment comes from the Foreign Fire Tax Board fund that firefighters control and who are dedicated to quality fire service. Nobody is making them pay this, but they are paying for the benefit of the entire community, which shows a collaborative effort between people who work in the department and staff. He thanked all for their efforts. Alderman Bernstein thanked the Foreign Fire Tax Board for stepping up to the plate on behalf of citizens. He noted the firefighters could use this fund to buy exercise equipment or whatever they choose. Today they chose to serve citizens as they do daily and thanked the board. Roll call. Voting aye — Moran, Tisdahl, Rainey, Feldman, Newman, Jean -Baptiste, Wynne, Bernstein, Kent. Voting nay — none. Motion carried (9-0). Ordinance 27-0-03 — Increase in Class B 1 Liquor Licenses — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 27-0-03, introduced March 10, 2003, which increases Class B 1 Liquor Licenses from 4 to 5 with the addition of Westwind Unlimited, dba Bill's Blues Club, 1029 Davis St. Alderman Feldman reported this item was held at the request of the applicant. PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT: Reauest for Building Permit Fee Waiver — 1813 Lvons — Consideration of a request from Econ Housing Group for a waiver of building permit fees totaling $6,174.80 for an affordable duplex. Alderman Wynne reported this item was held in committee. Ordinance 30-0-03 — Special Use for 1741 Sherman Ave. (Tvpe 2 Restaurant) — Consideration of a recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals to grant a special use for a Type 2 restaurant (Gary Poppins) at 1741 Sherman Ave. Alderman Wynne reported this item was held in committee. Ordinance 21-0-03 — Special Use for 1729 Sherman Ave. (Type 2 Restaurant) — Consideration of proposed Ordinance 21-0-03, introduced March 10, 2003, which approves a recommendation of the 16 March 24, 2003 Zoning Board of Appeals to grant a special use for a Type 2 restaurant (Subway's) at 1729 Sherman Ave., subject to conditions. Alderman Wynne reported that the committee defeated the Zoning Board of Appeals recommendation (5-0). She moved rejection of the ZBA recommendation for a Special Use for 1729 Sherman Ave. Seconded by Alderman Feldman. Alderman Rainey reminded Council that recently she pleaded with them to reject a special use for a Subway on the 300 block of Howard Street due to horrible litter, social problems and crime problems. While her request was ignored, based on information from personal relationships with the owner or managers or Subway in general — problems have continued at that building. A terrible battery occurred at that location, where people got out of a car and beat up a person standing there. An argument made to her, to pass the special use was the Subway shop in downtown Evanston and that it was a wonderful example of a Type 2 restaurant that was run responsibly. She wanted Council to show the same respect for the same kind of problems that are in other wards when special uses are granted over the objection of the alderman who knows better about isolated sections of their ward. While not on the P&D Committee, she did not have the advantage they had in dealing with this matter, but thought they would live to regret granting a special use to the Subway on the 300 block of Howard. She asked them to be more sensitive when she comes before the committee. Roll call. Voting aye — Tisdahl, Rainey, Feldman, Newman, Jean -Baptiste, Wynne, Bernstein, Kent. Voting nay — Moran. Motion carried (8-1). CALL OF THE WARDS: 61h Ward. No report. 7th Ward. No report. 81h Ward. Alderman Rainey said in reference to Alcohol Awareness Month, that the Mayor had read the dangers to youth of alcohol. She had sent a letter to Council and Mayor requesting that the Mayor begin conducting hearings for the purpose of considering revocation of The Keg's liquor license. She said they could not sit and acknowledge Alcohol Awareness Month when a licensee has been found guilty of serving alcohol to 15 minors the same evening. She thought at some point they have to draw the line and was not interested in holding this person up as an example, but interested in providing the same sanctions to all who violate liquor laws. She hoped the Mayor acts in a responsible way as liquor commissioner. She was told she was barking up the wrong tree because the liquor commissioner has the sole right to do as she chooses. Her response was as a citizen and taxpayer, she has every right to petition an elected official, to her, the Mayor. She stated the City's liquor licenses cannot be held up to ridicule. If these laws are not enforced, they might as well tell people to open up "no license required." She noted the City spends more time on violators of litter laws than they do with the liquor ordinance. Pt Ward. Alderman Newman was not sure the liquor license was within the purview of the Mayor. He remembers the case on Chicago Avenue and he wanted a copy of the liquor ordinance. First Assistant Corporation Counsel Herb Hill stated that the Mayor has sole control over issuance or revocation of alcohol -related licenses as Liquor Commissioner. He congratulated FAAM, Mr. Logan and Mr. Bell for 35 years of service to young African -American boys and noted that they have expanded their service to include young African -American girls and every other race. He reported aldermen counted 16-18 special uses within a block on Sherman Avenue. During the committee meeting they learned there are no inspectors available on weekends for downtown. They also learned of overflow of garbage cans on Friday, so this is more than a weekend pickup program. To effectively deal with the program they were reluctant to take away inspectors from the rest of the City, otherwise, there would have to be a budget item. He said when Jamba Juice was given a special use, they promised to clean up anything within 250-feet of their property. He loves Jamba Juice, but they are the worst violators. Refuse in front of Jamba Juice on weekends is over two -feet high with cups. Nobody is out there and refuse is blowing all over the street. He asked Mr. Crum to ask Jamba Juice to come in for a meeting, does not want to fine them, but make them aware of the promise they made. If there are no weekend 17 March 24, 2003 inspections, they have to enforce the ordinances by directly contacting these Type 2 businesses. He asked for a report. 2°d Ward. Alderman Jean -Baptiste reminded all that school board elections are coming up with some good candidates and they can validate the process and vote because it is important for the future of their children. He asked for cleanup at Dodge/Dempster. In looking at the entire City he suggested the Task Force needs to broaden their study to look at what is being done overall. In the 2nd Ward at Asbury/Emerson or Church/Dodge the City is filthy and they need to find a way to clean it up. He asked the Task Force to report back. 3'd Ward. No report. 4th Ward. Alderman Bernstein congratulated the Wildkits coach and players who were in the Final Four state AA basketball tournament. He reported that the Inclusionary Housing Task Force, a group proposed by the Housing Commission, had met and noted that inclusionary housing refers to affordable and accessible housing. The group's members are from the Housing Commission, CD Committee, affordable housing providers and for -profit developers. The Housing Commission has procured services of a facilitator for free, who opened his eyes as to some of the issues surrounding affordable housing. The Task Force will meet on March 27. He thanked Donna Spicuzza, staff and invited all to attend. He related that the CD Committee hears about the need for affordable housing and programs are few for that purpose. Hopefully future developments will address this need. He called upon the City Manager to enforce City ordinances. He was sure the Mayor would conduct a hearing on The Keg and was gathering data as to what transpired that evening; said they can expect nothing less from people who were given the privilege of special zoning relief or licenses to sell alcohol. He said a special use is a privilege and along with it are requirements imposed on the proprietor and one is a litter collection program. He said when one walks around the City where there are Type 2 restaurants, one sees the purveyors are not doing their jobs. He had no problem with pulling the licenses of businesses that have been given a privilege and are not holding up their end. He proposed a "carry -out" fee, a service fee or tax on products removed for consumption off premises. Alderman Rainey raised a point of order; said two years ago a litter license for fast food restaurants was proposed. Such a license was proposed by Mayor Daley and has just been found unconstitutional. Alderman Bernstein reiterated the importance of voting April 1; said the budget process went on for months, yet some residents, who will be impacted by closure of the South Boulevard Beach, were unaware even though it was reported in all the local newspapers. For every property tax dollar, 670 is spent by the individuals they will elect April 1. He wished Godspeed and safe return soon of U.S. troops. He congratulated those who received police awards and asked in the future that Council be present when they are given. 5th Ward. Alderman Kent said the Westside Residents Association had met with the Housing Commission and spoke about their ideas for affordable housing and their intent to become a Community Development Housing Organization. He was sure all had received a long list of boarded up homes. Currently there are 28-30. When he was a new aldermen there were 25. He thought many of these are senior citizens who are losing their homes to predatory lenders. They will be back with a proposal and he hoped for Council support. Alderman Kent asked the City Manager to have streets swept or 12 brooms to clean up Church/Dodge and some sections of Emerson. He noted April 26-27 is Trashbusters' Weekend and they will have large dumpsters in the 5th Ward. Block clubs are meeting because there is so much litter everywhere, especially in vacant lots. He made a reference to the P&D Committee to move un Item (PD3) buildine demolition current Citv authoritv for the next meetine. Currently there is no protection for neighborhoods. Somebody can purchase a building, apply for a 18 March 24, 2003 demolition permit and tear down the structure. He wants to look at heightened scrutiny to prohibit that from happening. He knows that some believe an obstacle like that slows development and speaking for the 5th Ward, they are seriously in trouble with affordable housing. Alderman Newman asked the City Manager whether the recent 3:00 a.m. liquor license can be repealed at the end of one year. 91h Ward. Alderman Feldman was heartened by the P&D Committee votes to deny the Type 2 license. He reminded Council one of the standards involved has to do with cumulative effect. Council's job is to look at any application with that standard in mind. He said it was increasingly difficult to look at Sherman Avenue and other places downtown without having that glaring standard in one's face. He was pleased to hear there was a Chamber of Commerce and Evmark effort in that regard. He noted two spaces coming up there and it seemed the kind of tenant there would reflect the kind of street it is. They have to pay attention to it and cannot turn it over to that kind of use. He implored the P&D Committee to look closely at any Type 2 application. It is not enough that somebody wants to come into Sherman Ave. Mayor Morton announced that there would be a Special City Council Executive Session on litigation at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 31. There being no further business to come before Council, Mayor Morton asked for a motion to adjourn. The Council so moved at 12:20 a.m. Mary P. Morris, City Clerk A videotape recording of this meetine has been made Dart of the permanent record and is available in the Citv Clerk's office.