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The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, January 20, 2016
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
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Tisdahl selects new alderman By ROBIN OPSAHL
the daily northwestern @robinlopsahl
Eleanor Revelle will replace Jane Grover as 7th Ward alderman, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl announced Tuesday afternoon. City Council will vote on Revelle’s appointment Jan. 25, and if approved, swear her in at the Feb. 22 Council meeting, according to a news release from the city. Revelle was chosen from 10 candidates who submitted their names to fill Grover’s seat after she left to serve as an outreach principal for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Revelle has lived in the 7th Ward for 12 of her 42 years in Evanston, and she has served in leadership positions in multiple local civic organizations, including as president of the League of Women Voters of Evanston, and board chair of the Evanston Community Foundation. In addition, she currently serves as president of Citizens’ Greener Evanston, working to make the city more sustainable. “Eleanor is committed to improving the social and environmental well-being of our community, and will be a dedicated and enthusiastic alderman for 7th Ward residents,” Tisdahl said in the release. Revelle said she already attended many Council, committee and board meetings during her time working for city organizations, and she has a sense of what issues have been central to Evanston residents. Most of her work with city officials in the last few years has been on environmental initiatives on behalf of Citizens’ Greener Evanston, but Revelle said she hopes to branch out. “While these issues are very important to me, I want to broaden my focus from sustainability,” she said. Among her goals as alderman are
improving options for affordable housing, reducing gun violence and creating more room for economic opportunity in the city. Revelle said she wants to highlight initiatives that are already underway but focus on issues that Evanston still needs to work on. “Looking at the city as a whole, there are some big challenges that I’d like to address,” Revelle said. “While Evanston is always getting better, there are areas where I’d like to work with my colleagues on the council that need serious improvements.” Ald. Donald Wilson (4th) said having a new voice on the council will be helpful in moving forward on issues including affordable housing and economic growth. He said a diversity of voices is needed in making these decisions, and the new alderman will be able to bring a new perspective. “I’d say if anything, getting new opinions on these issues gives more credence to what we’re doing,” Wilson said. “Eleanor has been active in the community and will bring in a good perspective, especially having lived in the (7th) Ward so long.” At a meeting with 7th Ward residents last week, Revelle and other aldermanic candidates discussed the sorts of issues the community wanted addressed. Revelle said she was pleased that most of the topics people brought up concerned a larger scope than just one ward. “People were really looking for an alderperson who was not just going to represent the interests of the 7th Ward but really try to make a difference for the whole city,” she said. “I was really heartened by how many people’s comments addressed bigger issues in Evanston.” Revelle said she looks forward to working on tackling local issues, but acknowledged that many problems are already being worked on in the community. » See ALDERMAN, page 7
Zack Laurence/The Daily Northwestern
NUISANCE ORDINANCE City Attorney Grant Farrar talks before City Council. Farrar presented changes to Evanston’s nuisance ordinance Tuesday.
Council talks nuisance homes Two-tier property designation considered By ELENA SUCHARETZA
the daily northwestern @elenasucharetza
City Council discussed Tuesday revisions to proposals for the city’s nuisance properties. City attorney Grant Farrar presented proposed changes to the nuisance ordinance to aldermen for discussion. The ordinance addresses properties that have been the subject of multiple instances of police involvement. He said revisions should reflect a focus on “corrective action” instead of harsh penalties for landlords and tenants. The proposals included a two-tier
to resolving nuisance problems with properties, Farrar said. Tier one properties would include those which have had few or no nuisance calls, while tier two properties would designate those with more extensive histories, based on staff involvement, call volume and inspection history. Around 15 percent of rented properties would qualify as tier two and require a more “routinized” compliance check schedule, Farrar said. Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) voiced concerns over the tiered system. She said the terminology unfairly singles out tenants that are in circumstances that do not allow them to live in “tier one” housing. » See NUISANCE, page 7
Panelists discuss homeless stigmas
Admin says no knowledge of prison investments
Students launched a divestment campaign Tuesday, calling for the University to remove its investments from private prison companies. Called “Unshackle NU,” the campaign is holding a launch event Wednesday in Fisk Hall where members will outline the campaign’s goals and discuss the impacts the prison system has on communities of color, according to the event’s Facebook page. On Tuesday, members of the campaign walked through Norris University Center, clad in all black and connected by a white string. The protestors chanted, “Unshackle NU” as they read off denunciations of the U.S. prison system and called for the University to immediately halt investments. However, Northwestern’s Chief Investment Officer William McLean told The Daily in an email he had not heard about the divestment campaign, and he does not believe the University has investments in private prison companies. Members of the campaign declined to comment Tuesday. This campaign joins two other ongoing divestment efforts by students: Fossil Free NU and Northwestern Divest.
classification system for properties and striking property forfeiture from potential penalties for repeated nuisance violations. “Property forfeiture imposes a real opportunity cost on city staff,” Farrar said. “We wind up becoming property managers. Trying to devote hours and hours and days to take over a property is not rational for the city’s ends.” In November, city officials said there were 11 Evanston properties deemed as nuisances to the community. Farrar said discussion among staff to improve the ordinance to better address property issues has been going on for 18 to 24 months. The tier system design was drawn up based on other cities’ protocols related
By DARBY HOPPER
the daily northwestern @darby_hopper
Jerry Lee/Daily Senior Staffer
CHAINED IN SOLIDARITY Protesters with Unshackle NU walk through Norris University Center to advocate divestment from private prisons. Northwestern’s Chief Investment Officer William McLean told The Daily he was unaware of any University investments in private prisons.
Fossil Free NU was launched in 2012 to demand the University divests from coal companies. Last February, NUDivest sponsored a resolution that passed in Associated Student Government Senate, calling on the University to divest from six corporations the resolution’s authors say violate Palestinians’ human rights. The campaign recently announced a
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
specific focus on pressuring the University to divest from G4S, one of the six companies listed in the resolution and one of the world’s largest security companies.
Jeremy Margolis contributed reporting. — Tyler Pager
Three speakers emphasized the need for systemic change in the way governments and individuals address homelessness at a panel Tuesday night. Around 30 people gathered at Fiedler Hillel to hear two panelists from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and one from Interfaith Action of Evanston discuss their experiences with homelessness at the event, co-hosted by ZOOZ, Points for a Purpose and the Global Engagement Summit. The speakers, who had either worked closely with the homeless or who had been homeless themselves, started the event by recounting their personal experiences with the issue. Charles Austin, special projects coordinator at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said he has been homeless at six different points of his life. “For me, this is my therapy,” Austin said. The panelists focused on the reasons
people become homeless and the failures of public assistance systems. A major topic of discussion was how to talk about homelessness without dehumanizing those who are homeless, with the speakers emphasizing kindness and respect. Susan Murphy, the administrative director at Interfaith Action of Evanston, said she first came into contact with homelessness when she left her longtime role as a stay-at-home mom to become a job counselor at the organization she now leads. “If I was walking down the street and I saw any of you guys and we made eye contact, we’d probably smile and keep walking,” Murphy said. “We’d never see each other again, but there would’ve been contact. But we don’t make eye contact with someone who’s homeless.” The panelists also talked about problems that homeless people can face in trying to obtain state identification to apply for jobs, which often requires a piece of mail requiring a permanent address or a birth certificate, which not all homeless people have. » See HOMELESSNESS, page 7
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