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GETTING THE DEMOCRATS’ ATTENTION: Contact the DNC’s “farm” team?

Recently, I got a fundraising email from an organization called Democratic Municipal Officials. I took it as an invitation to voice my 2022 displeasure with the Democrats directly. Other Democratic voters might also want to contact the DMO and give the Democrats one more chance. For those who don’t know anything about the DMO, they […]

ZERO WASTE STORE closes after 5 months: What happened?

When I read this story in a local news outlet (Evanston Now), my initial questions revolved around the kind of input the owners got from Evanston economic and climate folks before they opened, e.g., from Downtown Evanston, Evanston’s Economic Development Department, Citizens Greener Evanston. Of course it’s possible that the owners (who already owned a […]

LEAFBLOWERS VS. SOIL: Best Climate Tactics for Evanston, IL & Elsewhere

These are the questions that frame my current climate and policy deliberations: How to stop over-producing, over-using, and over-working everything and everyone? How can everyone make a decent living and have a good life, too? What does our form of government have to do with these questions? What does declaring a climate emergency actually mean? […]

UPDATE CITY CODE to assure City Council accountability & shared knowledge base (Letter to Editor, Evanston, IL)

Thanks to the Evanston RoundTable for publishing this letter to the editor that I wrote in mounting frustration at the amount of damage control our City Council inflicts on itself (and the rest of us — voters, City staff, businesses, etc.) as the result of an outdated City Code. An extra thanks to editor Susy Schultz for […]

Evanston, IL POP-UP NEWSLETTER: New City Manager, GPI (economic metrics), Renewed U.S. Women’s Movement

CONTENTS A. New City Manager (with “local foods” bonus)B. Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI): Better economic metric for Illinois?C. Renewed U.S. women’s movement: National convention, webinars, women’s bill of rights TO: — Evanston voters, media, political groups, businesses, activists, institutions— Residents in my neighborhood (Nichols Neighbors)— Some non-Evanston voters with Evanston connections & interests Read in your […]

Evanston, IL POP-UP NEWSLETTER: Participatory Budgeting, Lakefront Misconduct, UBI, Local Foods

CONTENTS: Four new blogs + 2 news items on the following topics:— Local Foods— Participatory Budgeting— Universal Basic Income— Lakefront Misconduct Report TO: — Evanston voters, media, political groups, businesses, activists, institutions— Residents in my neighborhood (Nichols Neighbors)— Some non-Evanston voters with Evanston connections & interests Hi, all —I don’t know how much more energy I’ll […]

Lakefront Staff Misconduct in Evanston, IL: Final Reflections on Investigation & Report

I’m sure most of us in Evanston are relieved to have some closure on the sexual misconduct at City lakefront operations. Knowing how these kinds of trauma work their way through survivors’ lives, I would not be surprised if more information surfaces, even years from now. But having read the report (released in Feb. 2022) […]