formerly citizens' greener Evanston
(as reported on the candidate's website)
Self-employed renewable energy consultant.
Was on the founding board and later served as president of Citizens’ Greener Evanston (now Climate Action Evanston)
Serves on the task force monitoring progress towards Evanston’s goals of zero carbon and zero waste by 2050.
In 2013 he received the ECF’s Outstanding Volunteer Award for his leadership in a campaign to provide low-cost renewable energy to Evanston residents, an accomplishment that reduced Evanston’s carbon footprint by 15%.
Evanston now has 25 years to achieve its carbon neutrality and zero waste goals as outlined in the Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP), and Sustainability and Resilience Manager Cara Pratt has said the city has already accomplished the “low-hanging fruit” in pursuing these targets.
What climate goals and policies would you prioritize in the coming term? How should the city pursue reduction of building emissions?
Do you support phasing out natural gas use in new construction, and requiring existing buildings work toward carbon neutrality over the next 25 years?
As noted earlier, we’ve made remarkable progress towards our CARP goals, with carbon emission down approximately 40% from our 2005 baseline. But Cara Pratt is right — most of the low hanging fruit has been picked and the work is getting harder.
Some easy wins remain: we’re still working on rooftop solar on City buildings. I am frustrated that it’s taken so long, but once we finally make this happen (Robert Crown will be first, later this year) we’ll reduce our emissions and save money while doing it.
However, we cannot reach our goal of zero carbon by 2050 without addressing emissions from Evanston’s largest buildings. Assuming it’s approved by the current Council, successfully implementing the Healthy Buildings Ordinance should be the number one climate priority for the next several years. The work will begin when the advisory committees are appointed, hopefully in the next month so ago, but the rules and regulations they develop will have to be approved by the new Council.
With a guaranteed revenue stream to support climate action from our good neighbor agreement with Northwestern, future City Councils will have the capacity to build on the work that we’ve done this term.
Nearly 2/3rds of all households in Evanston own one or no cars, and a majority of residents do not commute via car. Each year, more Evanstonians of all ages are walking, rolling, and using bus or train service for convenience, physical fitness, cost-savings, and environmental benefits.
How do you incorporate walking, biking and public transit into your everyday life?
I do all three as much as I can (walk/bike/PT)! Looking forward to city council meetings at 909 Davis so I can walk there.
Academic research and case studies from cities like Paris, Amsterdam, and New York show that reducing car traffic and building protected bike lanes are necessary to meet climate and mobility goals. Plans such as the Chicago Ave Multimodal Project provide an example of how this can be implemented in Evanston.
Where would you want infrastructure improvements, such as traffic calming, pedestrianization/ street closures, and protected bike lanes, to encourage more walking and cycling?
Would love more E-W bike lanes. Another attempt at Complete Street on Greenleaf? Traffic calming (speed humps, bump-outs, etc.) wherever they make sense, especially on school walking routes.
Public transit has seen a major change in ridership trends, with 9-to-5 commuter services falling short of pre-COVID milestones while off-peak and weekend demand climbs despite infrequent and often unreliable schedules. CTA, PACE, and Metra are facing a ‘fiscal cliff’, as federal dollars to keep transit service operating run out by 2026.
While not in the position to solve this problem on its own, what can the City of Evanston do to support existing bus and train service, and how would you want to see public transportation expanded in our city in the future?
At the very least, the City can advocate to the transit agencies for the desired outcomes: service levels, frequencies, etc.
With parallels to Envision Evanston 2045, Minneapolis has modified its zoning code in the past decade to eliminate minimum parking requirements, encourage transit-oriented development, and allow the construction of more “missing middle” housing city-wide. Together, these reforms lead to a stabilization of rent prices, a drop in homelessness, reduced displacement, and increased racial diversity. Environmental benefits were also realized, as more dense and mixed-use developments encourage lower rates of car ownership and generate less embodied carbon from construction.
What changes to Evanston’s zoning code, such as the ones listed above, would you support in response to the housing and climate crises?
I support the objectives of Envision Evanston 2045 as a means to address our housing crisis as well as for environmental reasons. This includes increased housing density throughout the city: in the neighborhoods via up-zoning, downtown with more residential construction, and along transit corridors. I co-sponsored the motion to eliminate parking minimums. Having said all this, I want to make sure we're doing proper due diligence to get the details right and avoid displacing residents from lower income neighborhoods.
