Alderpeople instead referred the proposed U2 zoning district amendment to the Rules Committee for further review.
The previous council voted 5-4 to approve a two-year pilot program in November 2019, which would have allowed the University to host six single-day events and one multi-day event each year, with crowds of up to 3,000 people outdoors and 7,000 indoors. The program was met with widespread opposition at the time, particularly from 7th Ward residents who lived in the vicinity of Welsh-Ryan.
The onset of the coronavirus pandemic sank any plans to host professional events for the next year and a half. And with the pilot set to expire on Dec. 31 of this year, the University is seeking a 1-year extension to the amendment.
Residents will have free access to Evanston beaches on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays starting this summer.
City Council was initially set to vote Monday on a resolution proposed by Ald. Devon Reid (8th) discontinuing the sale of beach tokens and refunding tokens already sold, which would have made Evanston beaches free seven days a week.
Alderpeople unanimously voted for an amended resolution after a contentious debate that lasted multiple hours and included a suspension of procedural rules. The city will also develop a budget to allow all residents free access to Evanston beaches every day during summer 2022 and beyond.
“We don’t charge for access to any other (public) place,” Reid said. “What they’re paying for is to keep Evanston residents who can’t afford to frequent our beaches out.”
City Council members moved forward on a proposal that would mandate big box employers to provide a substantive payout to frontline employees during the pandemic.
The ordinance, requested by Ald. Devon Reid (8th), would require retailers with over 500 employees nationwide to retroactively pay essential Evanston workers an additional $6 for every hour worked during Phases 1 through 3 of the state’s Restore Illinois program, and $3.50 for every hour worked through Phase 4.
The proposal was brought to City Council only two weeks after Reid first requested the ordinance. City staff declined to issue a recommendation on whether the ordinance should proceed, citing a lack of time to conduct research and analysis or solicit public input.
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Beaches to be free three days a week for residents
Evanston s City Council voted Monday night to make access to all beaches free for residents on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays this summer.
Devon Reid displays a chart he said children had made for him to illustrate what he said would be the minimal budget impact of making beach access free.
After a raft of claims that charging for beach access is racist, Evanston’s City Council voted Monday night to make access to all beaches free for residents on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays this summer.
Ald. Devon Reid (8th) had demanded the complete elimination of beach charges for residents. Parks Director Lawrence Hemingway said he wasn’t opposed to eliminating tokens, but that to do so immediately would blow a $1 million hole in the budget Council had adopted last fall. Reid offered no proposal for how to make up the lost funds this year.