The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, April 10, 2019
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Evanston property assessments rise Residents, property owners worry tax bill will increase By CASSIDY WANG
the daily northwestern @cassidyw_
Julia Esparza/ Daily Senior Staffer
Robert Crown Community Center, 1701 Main St. Construction on the complex now totals more than $53 million.
Residents protest Crown cost
Concerns raised about potential tax burden of new community center By EMMA EDMUND
the daily northwestern @emmaeedmund
Evanston residents used public comment time at Monday’s City Council meeting to protest the cost of the new Robert Crown Community Center, voicing concerns about the tax burden on residents and urging aldermen to reconsider some financial decisions. During the meeting, aldermen discussed and voted to raise
the debt ceiling and introduced an ordinance to authorize bonds issuance that would help fund the Robert Crown. The project now totals more than $53 million and includes a library branch and turf field. Evanston resident Misty Witenberg worried there were not enough community meetings to discuss the issue, and said the public was not given enough space to voice its opinions. She also said the media releases she received did not give her enough notice to be heard in a public
setting. “Let’s not pretend that this project is not for the very wealthiest in Evanston, whose children ice skate, play hockey and attend the private schools that get first access to these facilities,” Witenberg said. “It’s subsidized by our most vulnerable residents through budget and service cuts, and our increases in property taxes and fees.” 9th ward resident Lenny Lamkin, who identified himself as a low-income senior citizen, raised concerns that he would be
unable to afford the direct annual tax that would pay the principal of and interest on the bonds that include funding for Robert Crown. The authorization for the levy and collection of the tax would be provided through the bonds issuance ordinance the Council is set to consider April 22. “We need a new Robert Crown Center,” Lamkin said. “It was out-of-date when my kids, who are now in their 30s, » See PROTEST, page 6
Both residential and commercial property values have increased in the recent reassessment period, causing many residents and commercial property owners to worry that their 2020 tax bill will increase. Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi completed the assessment for Evanston, along with New Trier Township and Norwood Park Township, for the first time this reassessment period, which comes every three years. The median percentage of assessed Evanston residential property values increased by 9 percent since 2016. In a response to residents’ fears of future financial uncertainty, Scott Smith, the chief communications officer of the Cook County Assessor’s Office, said the assessor’s office is striving to publicize evaluation methods and be transparent with residents by holding public meetings — which the office has not done in the past. Smith said residential assessments generally rise with
increases in market value. The residential assessments were up around 25 percent, which corresponds to a 23.5 percent increase in market value, Smith said. “The problem with doing triennial assessments, we only do this part of the county once every three years,” Smith said. “So you’ve got three years of market forces that are happening between the last time you got an assessment notice from us and now. But you look at the average increase in market value, the assessments are roughly going up the same amount.” Another explanation for the increase of property values could be the change in capitalization rates, or the ratio of income produced by a piece of property and its original price, which is used to determine a property’s value. Small variations in the cap rate could significantly change the property’s value; Smith said there were errors in determining cap rates in the previous assessment. “The capitalization rates we used the last time Evanston was assessed were out of sync with industry standards,” Smith said. Assessors looked at comparable properties across the country that had cap rates that were far lower than the rates the office had used previously, he said. To » See ASSESSMENTS, page 5
How wealth can help admissions
Dobbel launches ASG campaign
daily senior staffer @birenbomb
the daily northwestern @jalan_atul
By GABBY BIRENBAUM
When Christian Reyes expressed an interest in applying to ten colleges, his college counselor at J. Sterling Morton East High School in Cicero, Illinois, where over 90 percent of students are low-income, was not supportive. The counselor told the current SESP senior that applying to any more than one community college, one junior college and one state college was excessive. Meanwhile, three years later in Washington, D.C., at Sidwell Friends School, an elite prep school where annual tuition exceeds $40,000, Anna Cork knew she was allowed to apply to a maximum of only nine schools. Students are capped at nine for fear of increasing intra-school competition among students applying to some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges. Last month’s college admission scandal, in which wealthy parents were indicted for their involvement in a scheme to cheat on college entrance exams and bribe athletic officials, has ignited a conversation about the deep-rooted inequities of higher education access.
Both Reyes, a first-generation college student and co-president of Quest+, and Cork, a Weinberg freshman, ended up at Northwestern. But their admissions paths were vastly different, an illustration of the advantages money can buy in the admissions process.
The Dollar Advantage
Though no bribes were offered and no athletic pictures were photoshopped, Cork had advantages in the college admissions process all the same. Sidwell employs three full-time college counselors to handle classes of approximately 120 seniors, assigned during a student’s junior year. Cork’s counselor helped her pick schools, displayed testing and grade data to ensure that her choices were realistic and edited her college essays and supplements. Cork said having a college counselor was immeasurably important to her admission to Northwestern, and also noted that her high school had a vested interest in her success.The school’s prestige is contingent on its students’ success in the college admissions process, she said, so the counselors take their jobs very seriously. » See WEALTH, page 6
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
SESP juniors Izzy Dobbel and Adam Davies running uncontested By ATUL JALAN
SESP juniors Izzy Dobbel and Adam Davies on Monday announced their candidacy for Associated Student Government President and Executive Vice President, respectively. The pair are currently running uncontested, though the candidacy announcement period will run until Tuesday night. The last time a candidate ran unopposed was 2017. Dobbel is the former vice president of A-status finances. During her term, she spearheaded the ASG response to the University budget crisis, in which approximately $26,000 was allocated to affected groups, and led an overhaul of the student group funding system, which replaced the current A- and B-status division with a five-tiered, event-based system. She also implemented the acceptance of Venmo as a form of payment for events put on by certain student groups. Davies is the current Secretary for Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault and serves
Source: Jason Kwon
SESP junior Izzy Dobbel and her running mate Adam Davies, also a SESP junior. The two are currently running uncontested for ASG President and Executive Vice President.
on the Gender Queer, NonBinary, Transgender Task Force, which was founded in part due to Davies’ work within the University. Davies also led a protest against Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a fraternity on campus, following multiple reports of alleged sexual assaults and druggings at the fraternity house and
worked to increase the number of gender-open bathrooms on campus during their time as the Rainbow Alliance senator within ASG. “Our overwhelming theme is finding ways to bring justice and a voice to people who are marginalized on campus,” Davies said. “That could be space allocation for dance
groups or a house for LGBTQ students or course affordability so that everyone can take the courses they need to take on campus.” Their campaign will focus on three pillars: health, community and academics, Dobbel said. The goal, Dobbel explained, is » See CANDIDATES, page 6
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