The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, October 16, 2018
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Aldermen talk 2019 budget concerns Potential layoffs, restructuring are common worries By KRISTINA KARISCH
daily senior staffer @TwitterHandle
Colin Boyle/Daily Senior Staffer
Sophia Bush speaks at a Planned Parenthood Generation Action NU event. The actress and activist spoke to attendees about the importance of their voting power.
Sophia Bush encourages voting
Ahead of midterms, the ‘One Tree Hill’ actress speaks to 70 students By GABBY BIRENBAUM
daily senior staffer @birenbomb
As an unapologetically independent, fun-loving and sexually active character on
the popular teen drama “One Tree Hill,” Brooke Davis showed viewers how to overcome stereotypes and be their best selves. On Monday the actress who played her spoke on campus to encouraged young
people to vote in the November midterm elections. Sophia Bush spoke about the importance of voter registration and reproductive rights on Monday at an event hosted by Planned Parenthood Generation Action
NU and When We All Vote, a nonpartisan nonprofit promoting voter turnout, in Norris University Center. Bush urged the group of around 70 to vote in the » See BUSH, page 6
As City Council gears up for its annual discussion of the upcoming year’s budget, aldermen are facing concerns from constituents and questions of their own. Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd), Ald. Tom Suffredin (6th) and Ald. Cicely Fleming (9th) all shared concerns about potential layoffs and department restructuring. Suffredin said he is confident aldermen will pass a budget at the end of the year, but said it’s unlikely that everyone will be happy with every part of the document. “It’s going to be a balanced budget and no one is going to be thrilled about it,” he said. The city’s proposed budget, published Oct. 5, is approximately $319 million, down about $19 million from last year’s numbers. The initial proposal predicts a $7.4
million budget deficit that has resulted from a combination of general fund shortfalls and new expenditures, which city staff proposes to fill through department restructuring, layoffs and fee increases. City manager Wally Bobkiewicz said on Oct. 4 that the deficit is a combination of three things: a $4.9 million general fund shortfall, a $1.5 million replenishment of recently depleted reserve funds and plans for the new Robert Crown Community Center, which will require an extra $1 million for debt service on borrowed money. Friends of the Robert Crown Center, a nonprofit that is helping raise money for the project, said they are able to pay the city an extra $1 million to fill the deficit. The proposal is currently being reviewed by city staff. To solve the deficit, Bobkiewicz said that staff is suggesting decreasing expenditures by an additional $4.3 million and increasing revenue by $3.3 million. This would come from a combination of » See BUDGET, page 6
Students react to Proposed EFD cuts raise concern grim climate report Potential loss of jobs, Station 4 spark pushback from residents
Major climate crisis predicted as early as 2040 By SUZY VAZQUEZ
the daily northwestern @suzy_vazquez
A repor t ear lier this month by the United Nations that predicts a major climate crisis as early as 2040 if the atmosphere’s temperature increases by 2.7 degrees above pre-industrial levels, has caused concern among Northwestern students. Ninety-one scientists from 40 different countries wrote and edited the report, issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at the United Nations. If governments don’t take the efforts necessary to improve c limate change, the scientists say a crisis is likely by 2040. The consequences include rising ocean levels, food shortages, wildfires and increased poverty. McCor mic k freshman Allison Spring said she found the numbers shocking but the report itself unsurprising. Spring lives an hour north of NU in Mount Pleasant, Wis.,
where Foxconn, a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing company, is building a site near her home that many say has the potential to create many environmental problems for the community. “It ’s easy to say (climate change) doesn’t affect us because we’re so focused on the economic benefits,” Spring said. “ When it ’s in your own local community, and you can see the economic benefits, but you can also see the pollution that it’s causing and the problems that it ’s going to create in the long run. That ’s when it becomes real.” Weinberg senior Aliana Ruxin said the report is another example of science and policy not matching up. Though it reiterates the risks associated with climate change, there’s still seems to be little concern from policy makers or the current administration, Ruxin said. In response to the news, many have pointed out that some regions are already facing the consequences of climate change, although media coverage and scientific » See CLIMATE, page 6
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
By SNEHA DEY
the daily northwestern @snehadey_
Evanston residents have said they are frustrated at the possibility of Evanston Fire Department Station 4 — located in the 2nd Ward at 1817 Washington St. — shutting down due to proposed budget cuts. City officials are considering a $1.2 million cut to EFD, according to the proposed budget for fiscal year 2019, which was released Oct. 5. The proposed budget cuts also would result in the removal of nine EFD positions, only one of which is currently filled. Slower response times are a major concern for residents, especially in a city the size of Evanston. According to the proposed budget, if Station 4 were to close, the nearby fire stations would take over the emergency ser vices. Currently, there are five fire stations, but the closest is a mile away from Station 4. “If you are closing one, will you have more speed? I don’t think so,” said Evanston resident Maxi Illanes, who lives near the station.
Alison Albeda/Daily Senior Staffer
Evanston Fire Department Station 4, 1817 Washington St. Residents are concerned shutting down the station would mean increased response time to emergencies.
In 2017, the department responded to 10,059 emergency calls, according to the EFD Annual Report. In a Facebook post, former EFD Chief Greg Klaiber said Station 4 responded to 1,173 of those calls, which amounts to over 11 percent. Former EFD firefighter Mike W ideman said he was concerned about what the proposed budget is
prioritizing. “Lives are being put on the line,” Wideman said. “I can’t see how an ice skating rink and people’s lives are even in the same picture.” The projected budget deficit accounts for the renovation of the Robert Crown Community Center, which is set to include a new ice rink. The city has designated
$1 million in this year’s budget for the center ’s renovation. However, in a letter from Oct. 11 to City Council, Friends of the Robert Crown Center — a nonprofit fundraising for the center’s construction — said they can provide an additional $1 million for the project, which would cover » See EFD, page 6
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