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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
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City looks at rooftop safety improvements nor the 32-year-old man had ties to NU. The possibility of adding fencing or netting to buildings to make it more difficult for individuals to jump from them received a mostly negative reaction in January from aldermen on the Administration and Public Works Committee.
By Sophia Bollag
daily senior staffer @SophiaBollag
After three incidents in the past six months in which people died after falling from Evanston buildings, city officials are looking into ways to make rooftops safer. Officials are focusing on the Sherman Plaza apartments at 807 Davis St., where former Northwestern student Caleb Dayton jumped to his death in November. Officials plan to draft a proposal to install a fence around the rooftop parking lot and bring it before City Council this summer, city manager Wally Bobkiewicz said. “There remains concern, specifically among the tenants at Sherman Plaza, about the structure there,” Bobkiewicz told The Daily on Friday. “We’re coming up with a new proposal that we think will address some of the issues.” The parking lot currently has a short cement barrier. City officials intend to present a plan to Council in July asking for funds to install a chain-link fence around the entire perimeter of the lot, Bobkiewicz said. Dayton, 22, jumped from the top
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There remains concern, specifically among the tenants at Sherman Plaza, about the structure there.
Brian Lee/Daily Senior Staffer
TAKING PRECAUTIONS The Sherman Plaza complex is one of the tallest buildings in Evanston. Changes to Sherman Plaza and other buildings have been proposed in the wake of several recent falling deaths.
of the 12-story garage on November 12. He had taken classes in the School of Continuing Studies earlier that year. Since Dayton’s death, two other
people have jumped to their deaths from other Evanston buildings. Ten days after Dayton’s suicide, a 22-yearold woman died as a result of jumping from the parking garage at 1800
Maple Ave. Last week, a 32-year-old man jumped to his death from the Optima Views condominium complex at 1720 Maple Ave. Neither the 22-year-old woman
Wally Bobkiewicz, city manager
At the meeting, assistant city manager Marty Lyons presented a research memo looking into possible solutions to the problem of people jumping from buildings. Most communities that had tried to address the issue did so with fencing or netting, he said. At the January meeting, Alds. Ann Rainey (8th) and Delores Holmes (5th) said they opposed installing fencing or netting on buildings. » See infrastructure, page 6
Panel talks race, drug arrests Former ASG head discusses activism
By Bailey Williams
the daily northwestern @news_BaileyW
By haYley glatter A panel hosted by the Democratic Party of Evanston on Tuesday discussed problems with punishments for drug possession in light of racial disparities in arrests and citations in Evanston. “Our goal is to get the conversation going in Evanston,” said Cynthia Cornelius, an Equal Justice Works fellow, who led the discussion. The event, “Drug Sentencing: Is It Time For Change?,” addressed an audience of about 30 people at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 1004 Greenwood St. with panelists from a variety of backgrounds: Kathie Kane-Willis, the director of Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University; Susan Trieschmann, the owner of Evanston’s Curt’s Cafe; Dan Coyne, a law professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Evanston Police Department Officer Loyce Spells.
daily senior staffer @heyhay94
Bailey Williams/The Daily Northwestern
time for change? Four panelists address an audience Tuesday night at a Democratic Party of Evanston panel on drug sentencing. Speakers discussed not only their personal intimacy with the drug sentencing and incarceration situations, but also the racial disparity existing in Evanston arrests and tickets.
Coyne talked briefly about how people of color were more likely to be arrested for drug possession. A handout Kane-Willis created and distributed at the event broke down
incidents of arrests and ticketing in Evanston by race. Between 2008 and 2011, black Americans made up the » See drug, page 6
Bill to unite groups in poverty fight By Paige leskin
the daily northwestern @paigeleskin
State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) has sponsored a resolution in the Illinois House of Representatives aiming to unite the visions of various state groups toward developing an approach that would better fight poverty and hunger in the state. The resolution, first introduced by Gabel on May 8, asks Gov. Pat Quinn (D) to create a overarching
program to spur collaboration between state entities, which could “embolden and empower communities to advance low-cost and high return strategies to help end hunger and poverty,” the bill says. It was assigned Monday to the House’s Human Services Committee. The six Illinois groups mentioned in the bill each focus on different initiatives, including food, community service, employment and economic development. However, the goals of these organizations are fundamentally connected, Gabel
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
said. “I recognized there were a number of committees that had overlapping missions,” she told The Daily. “I think the governor’s office is the perfect place to bring together all those interests. An organized effort will provide the leadership to local (groups).” The bill comes in light of numbers indicating more than 1.8 million Illinois residents in 2012 – 14.2 percent of the state population » See food, page 6
Activist and former Associated Student Government president Jim Lewis spoke to students Tuesday night about his experiences with radical politics and student movements during his time at Northwestern. The talk was held in conjunction with University Library’s exhibit, “Apartheid to Democracy: 20 Years of Transition in South Africa.” During the event, Lewis (Weinberg ’78) highlighted his involvement with the divestment movement that urged American institutions to end support of South Africa’s apartheid system. In a racially tense campus environment, Lewis said his support of an African American student candidate for an Evanston aldermanic office was crucial in cementing a trust between himself and For Members Only, NU’s black student union, during the antiapartheid movement. “It was a more racially divided time,” Lewis said. “The relationship I had developed with the African-American community here sort of came into value because they wanted to see if the white guys in ASG were going to be with them on this thing.” Before becoming involved with the divestment movement, Lewis was part of Student Voice, a group advocating for mandatory course and teacher evaluations, students on the tenure committee and lower tuition. In conjunction with Student Voice, Lewis participated in rallies and a sit-in, during which he was almost arrested. The proliferation of the group impressed
Nathan Richards/Daily Senior Staffer
REMEMBER THE TIME Former Associated Student Government president Jim Lewis (Weinberg ‘78) told stories of his experiences Tuesday with activism and student movements at Northwestern.
Lewis, and he said he was inspired by its mobilization efforts. “We met every night, eventually, and built through the winter and past Christmas,” he said. “It got to where every night at 11 o’clock we would meet in the basement of Shepard Hall. And the group that was 20 became 30, became 40, became 50 through the winter there. Eventually, we got to the point where we had 100 people.” Erik Ponder, co-curator of the library exhibit, hoped attendees would appreciate this level of student engagement and apply it to their lives at NU. “All throughout the country around that time, you had students active and voicing their opinions,” Ponder said. » See lewis, page 6
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