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Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on October 24, 2011 at 9:50am

Thanks for the heads up!

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on October 24, 2011 at 11:54am

Streaming live here:

http://www.cityofevanston.org/social-networking/live-streaming-gove...

 

These long-winded city council meetings are much easier to watch from the comfy sofa with a glass of wine in your hand.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on October 24, 2011 at 1:15pm

Will you give us your impressions after?

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on October 24, 2011 at 5:46pm

The discussion and vote finally came up near 11:30 PM.  The motion to go ahead and apply for the TIGER grant PASSED (Yay!) seven to two. 

The two dissenting votes, by Aldermen Wilson & Burrus were strictly on financial terms: Wilson (my alderman) is an avid cyclist and says he's thrilled with the idea of the revamp of Church Street, but both dissenting aldermen are afraid of the City taking on millions more debt, which will happen if the state passes the grant as well. The analogy Burrus gave was if you get a grocery store coupon for 30 per cent off, you still have to pony up the other seventy per cent to buy the item.

All of the discussion leading up to the vote, led by Marty Lyons, Evanston's financial manager, was a dry discussion of the numbers--bicycles weren't even mentioned.  There was discussion of various funding scenarios as it's unknown exactly how much Illinois will pick up of the total tab.  TIF funds were discussed as stopgaps if the state funds less rather than more.  Discussion as to whether the state would take ownership of the road as a state highway, etc.

Here's the Evanstonnow summary:

11:21

SP2 - TIGER III Grant Application Monday October 24, 2011 11:21

11:25

Assistant City Manager Marty Lyons says have identified where can get the money from other city sources to cover the cost for first year of the grant. Says can prioritize projects over the next few years. Monday October 24, 2011 11:25

11:26

Says state is unwilling to make a firm commitment to also provide part of the funding -- but that they're supportive of the plan and may be able to come through with the funding. Monday October 24, 2011 11:26

11:29

Wilson says he can't support the project because the funding isn't budgeted for. Monday October 24, 2011 11:29

11:30

Burrus says she can't support it either because of the borrowing involved. Monday October 24, 2011 11:30

11:31

Vote approved 7-2. Wilson and Burrus vote no.

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on October 24, 2011 at 7:11pm

Yeah, the plastic bag ban has been knocking around for a year or so.  It seems like a good idea, but it's kind of like the smoking in bars and restaurants ban a few years ago--it didn't really work until the entire state went for it.  Before then, customers just moved down the road to avoid the ban.  A lot of folks think if Evanston bans or taxes plastic bags, Evanston shoppers will just drive to Chicago, Skokie or Wilmette to shop, a losing proposition all around.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 26, 2011 at 9:00am

It seems like having stores give an incentive for the use of re-usable bags (like a 5 cent discount per tote bag) works better than banning plastic.  around our house, we have a lot fewer plastic bags than we used to, because we use canvas or other tote bags or bike panniers for most shopping trips.  The bags we do get are usually used for kitty litter box clean-up.

I'll be curious to see the plans for the Church St. revamp.

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Permalink Reply by Jared on October 26, 2011 at 10:28am

San Francisco bans plastic bags to some extent.  You get paper instead.  Never could figure out what to do with them when I got home. Plastic bags on the other hand are easy to reuse.

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on October 26, 2011 at 4:11pm

An interesting conundrum: the thin single use plastic bags are made here in America and employ many Americans in their manufacture.  The multiuse heavy shopping bags are all made in China.

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Permalink Reply by John Wirtz on October 27, 2011 at 5:48am

SF also bans Happy Meal toys, so I'm not sure they're a good barometer for normal or reasonable.

 

Regardless, isn't this supposed to be a bike lane thread?  Is there a plastic bag thread somewhere else on the site?

Jared said:

San Francisco bans plastic bags to some extent.  You get paper instead.  Never could figure out what to do with them when I got home. Plastic bags on the other hand are easy to reuse.

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