Tucked into the bottom left corner of Evanston’s 4th Ward, a looming stone building with towering windows sprawls across 130,000 square feet. Behind its sliding glass doors, visitors can find two ice rinks, a gymnasium, an indoor track, art studios and a library. Outside its halls lie three turf fields and a community divided.
In his last week in office, outgoing Mayor Steve Hagerty awarded five Keys to the City, which he announced at the final convening of the 80th Evanston City Council meeting Monday.
The Key to the City, which is issued every four years, is the highest honor the mayor can bestow on an Evanston resident or organization, Hagerty said.
While the event normally takes place in Council chambers with the family and friends of the award recipients, this year, as part of his final week as mayor, Hagerty held small gatherings in the chambers with the organizations and individuals to present the keys.
Evanston Now
Takes money for hockey club s Crown Center use, rejects test of professional events at Welch-Ryan.
The Crown Center. (Barbara Freeman photo)
Evanston aldermen this week voted to accept $1 million from Northwestern University to let the school’s ice hockey club use the new Robert Crown Center for the next five years.
But they also effectively revoked an agreement to let the school test generating additional revenue by hosting professional athletic events at its Welch Ryan Arena.
During discussion of the Crown Center deal Ald. Tom Suffredin, 6th Ward, complained that a letter sent to the university by the Friends of the Robert Crown Center when the school made the first one-third payment toward the agreement described the money as a donation rather than a payment for services.