Recent months have seen our community engage in a vigorous debate around the merits and challenges of the new Ryan Field. In the proud tradition of our city, this debate has led to major changes and compromises to the proposal, as any good debate should.
Even with our differences, now is the time for all of us to step back and consider the opportunity that is before us, the benefits, and above all, the price of possibly losing a generational project like this.
The updated proposal dramatically reduces the impact on neighbors of Ryan Field while still allowing for this incredible community asset to move forward for the benefit of all of Evanston. The new proposal adds six nights of concerts per year — essentially 18 hours of music — meaning, it will only host capacity events 4% of the year.
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It limits smaller-scale community events, such as holiday festivals with an ice rink, to 60 days per year and will have 15,000 fewer seats, dramatically reducing traffic and congestion for neighbors.
We believe the compromises above satisfy the concerns of many neighbors who had reservations about the number of concerts at the new Ryan Field.
We ask those who still oppose this project to consider the price of letting it fail and to ask themselves if the remaining modest imposition on them is worth what it would take away from other residents, especially those who are too often left behind.
Minority- and women-owned businesses will lose $208 million of economic opportunity. Currently, underemployed Evanstonians will lose $10 million in private funding that will create an Evanston workforce technology upskilling program to help equip them with the necessary technology, skills and resources to thrive.
Evanston’s business community will lose out on 2,900 jobs and more than $650 million in revenue for Evanston in the construction period alone. Evanston taxpayers will forgo $12 million in fees paid upfront that could help address pending budget challenges without increasing taxes and provide millions of dollars in guaranteed revenue for the city and Evanston public schools annually.
Evanstonians are proud of our city’s quality of life and its commitment to equity and economic opportunity for all. Compromise is the cornerstone of any successful community. With goodwill and continued communication, we can come together as a community and support a compromise that addresses the needs of all of Evanston.
Rev. Dr. Michael Nabors, chairman, Evanston NAACP
Stephen Hagerty, former mayor, Evanston
Turn off lights for the birds’ sake
Chicago is experiencing a massive bird migration right now, and a massive number of bird-window collisions (“About 1,000 birds killed after colliding into McCormick Place Lakeside Center in one ‘tragic,’ deadly night” — Oct. 6).
Building owners must darken their exterior lights and make their windows less reflective to prevent thousands of bird deaths.
Warblers, sparrows, thrushes and more are flying south.
It is all part of fighting climate change — to value all species and do whatever we can to save them. Darken lights, cover or sticker windows and report dead birds to Chicago Bird Collision Monitors at birdmonitors.net.
Barbara Koenen, East Hyde Park
