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The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, February 9, 2016
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Portrait of a Ward
PROGRESS DESPITE PERCEPTION 5th Ward residents say negative image overshadows growth
Leeks Lim/The Daily Northwestern
HOUSING HARDSHIPS Homes line the block of Dodge Avenue between Church Street and Lyons Street in Evanston’s 5th Ward. Residents identified access to affordable housing as an issue in both the ward and the city at large.
By ROBIN OPSAHL
the daily northwestern @robinlopsahl
Colette Allen acknowledges the 5th Ward has problems. Other residents and community leaders agree — safety and economic inequality have been issues in
the 5th Ward for decades. Those problems, however, are being tackled head on by 5th Ward residents, said Allen, who currently works in the ward and spent her childhood in the area. Like any community, the 5th Ward has some good attributes and some that need more attention, but she said residents are proud of their home and consistently work
to improve it. “As someone who’s a second-generation Evanstonian, I can say certainly we don’t see our community that way,” Allen said regarding negative perceptions about the ward. “We see it as a community with a rich history and that has a lot of services and opportunities.” Evanston’s 5th Ward — bordered by
McCormick Boulevard to the west, Church Street to the south and Noyes Street to the north — encompasses low-income areas, but it also contains areas near Northwestern where students and primarily uppermiddle class families live. Residents and community leaders in the 5th Ward said they feel the reputation of their ward is marred by economic woes and violence,
and that community-wide efforts to increase the area’s liveability and opportunity are often overlooked.
Putting down roots
Allen grew up in Evanston, and her family moved to the 5th Ward when she » See 5TH WARD, page 6
Step Up starts open City tables student housing project Council postpones decision on new residence training sessions Workshops available for individuals as well as groups By BENJAMIN DIN
daily senior staffer @benjamindin
Northwestern’s bystander intervention program, Step Up, is on track to relaunch this quarter with open trainings beginning Thursday, which individuals can sign up for. This quarter, NU is bringing back the workshops, which train students, faculty and staff on safe and effective intervention when they think someone might be in danger in a situation such as alcohol abuse, hazing and sexual assault. The program will be led by Noor Ali, assistant director for social justice education within Campus Inclusion and Community and Paul Ang, coordinator of men’s engagement at the Center for Awareness, Response and Education. Previously, those interested in being Step Up-trained used to have to sign up as a group of about 10 people. Although groups can still request workshops, Ali said she realized this excluded individuals who wanted to go through the program. “We get a lot of people saying, ‘Hey, I want to get Step Up-trained,’ but they
don’t have a group,” she said. “We figured, ‘OK, let’s have a training where people can just sign up.’” Although no trainings have been conducted yet this quarter — the focus has been on spreading the word about Step Up and preparing assessment materials — Ali said students, faculty and staff can now sign up for open trainings. Thursday’s training, for faculty and staff, will be followed by a Feb. 19 training for students. In an effort to increase the number of facilitators — especially students — to lead Step Up trainings, Ang said there will also be a “Train the Trainer” session for people who have been Step Up-trained and are interested in conducting workshops for others. “Traditionally we had a lot of faculty and staff that were trainers,” he said. “Ideally, both Noor and I thought it would be great to have some students as well.” The program, which began at the University of Arizona, was brought to NU in 2012, but was on hiatus for the 2014-15 school year due to a change in staffing. To prepare for the relaunch, about 10 people who had previously been trained as facilitators went through a “refresher training” in the fall, Ali said. The trainings are 90-minute sessions split into two parts focused on teaching people how to intervene and practically apply the skills and knowledge learned » See STEP UP, page 6
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
By ELENA SUCHARETZA
the daily northwestern @elenasucharetza
A proposed apartment rental project at 831 Emerson St. was tabled to stay in the Planning and Development Committee on Monday night The project, which received unanimous approval in the Design and Project Review Committee in early November, was postponed for further discussion until Feb. 22 due to a request from Ald. Judy Fiske (1st) to discuss the project further with developers. She said developers did not directly request to have the meeting postponed, but an email from their attorneys communicated the desire for developers to hold a neighborhood meeting about the rental project to clarify issues for residents. “It makes more sense to postpone discussion where we know we will keep the project in committee rather than vote on a project that could be changed,” Fiske told The Daily. “This way there is clarification and everybody knows what’s going on with the project.” The proposed project at 831 Emerson St. is intended to be a large-scale private apartment complex geared toward Northwestern students. Situated near Sherman Avenue and Emerson Street, the project would break from some Evanston zoning requirements, including building height and the number of units in the project. Although
Zack Laurence/The Daily Northwestern
PROJECT TABELED Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) attends a City Council meeting. Rainey and other aldermen raised concerns about moving forward with deliberations about a proposed building project at 831 Emerson St., and Council ultimately decided to hold off on discussion until the Feb. 22 Planning and Development Committee meeting.
zoning requirements allow a building to be at most 97 feet high with 169 units, developers of the Emerson project proposed a 126-foot building with around 260 units. Multiple residents expressed frustration about the project, citing potential
issues such as noise, increased traffic and whether the building was essential to the community’s development. Evanston resident Elizabeth Luby said the concept of a “private » See 831, page 6
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