formerly citizens' greener Evanston
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?
We need to make strategic investments on our facilities. There is a narrative that climate action is expensive to do. Besides being the right thing to do, a lot of the proposed energy efficiency changes can also save us money. We need to have a plan for all city owned property.
The majority of the carbon footprint for the city is in residential homes that we do not control. The Green Homes pilot program can be an important part of the community’s climate action efforts. I think that it is really important to build the capacity of local contractors so they know how to do the work of building electrification and energy efficiency. We need to create a homeowner playbook to make it easier for homeowners to make these changes. I know from experience it can be daunting and hard to know how to start. We need to facilitate making these energy efficiency changes easy and not complicated.
Phasing out natural gas is a change that we need to do.
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'm an avid cyclist for recreation and transportation. Weather permitting I like to run my local errands with my bike. I have a cargo bike that I used to use a lot to haul my kids around when they were younger. I was gifted an E-bike motor for it and once I finish the install I hope to use that as my main vehicle this year.
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?
Long term I would love for there to be protected bike lanes on Main st west of Ridge. I also think the Dodge Ave bike lanes could be protected as that is a key commuting route for high school students. In the near term I've spoken to City Manager Stowe about the possibility of improving the Hartrey pedestrian and bike infrastructure. The West end of the 9th ward has disjointed sidewalk coverage, a lack of crosswalks and their access to Sam's Club, Food 4 Less, the Aux, Aldi, etc.. is limited to car access for the most part. I have liked when Custer by Main St. is closed for outdoor dining and Main st. closures for festival and events have been very popular.
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?
I support the Metropolitan Mobility Act to bring CTA,PACE, and Metra under one umbrella. It's up to Council to advocate for their constituents and hear their needs. One of the biggest complaints I have heard is frequency and reliability of service. This affects the working class people the most as many rely on public transportation to get to their job. This is especially important for people who work late shift. Our Mobility and Coordination Coordinator Sarah FioRito has done a good job of starting the conversation with CTA about expanding service. I think bringing additional stops to the yellow line would allow people to use public transit and cut down on driving. It could also spark mixed use development and make resources more accessible for residents.
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?
There is not just one thing that will "fix" the housing or climate crises we are in. It's really all hands on deck and we have to be doing all we can. We need to allow for more density near public transit. We need to increase our housing supply and have more types of housing available. The way people want to live now and in the future is different that in the past and we have to account for that. Also most people would gladly walk or bike to things if it was easy to do so and I think it's important to set a course for making our city easy to navigate on foot, bike, or electric scooter, etc.. I would also like to see more opportunity for small shops and retail to be accessible in neighborhoods. We have to get rid of parking minimums. We have wasted so much money building parking instead of housing. I am also committed to better use of city property and working take some of our surface parking lots and work with developers to build housing and mixed use retail on those sites. I support the elimination of single family only zoning. I live in a single family home and have 2 and 3 flats down the street from me. It is not a big deal. I love my neighborhood and the mix of people in it. One of the reasons the 9th ward is probably the most racially and economically diverse parts of town is because we have that mix of housing.
