In 2009-10, I was lucky enough to learn about Participatory Budgeting as a way to promote real democracy. I was doubly lucky to learn from the first PB project initiated by a U.S. municipal official, the 49th Ward of Chicago where Alderman Joe Moore and his wife, Barb Moore, spearheaded the process. Evanstonians know the […]
Evanston, IL
Last month I was asked to draft an editorial for a local magazine (Our Evanston) on sustainability and local foods. It was to be the back-end of a friendly deal — an ad for the Wild Onion Market (a local food co-op) in the winter issue followed by a local foods editorial in the spring issue (to […]
DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS, who pulled the plug on our household television (c.1956) and never looked back. I was 5 or 6 years old, probably in first grade, with an older sister (8-9), younger sister (2-3), and one still to come. Unfortunately, I never got to delve into their deep reasoning. Nor were they particularly […]
An article in the Fall 2021 newsletter (The Kit) of the Evanston Township High School Alumni Association spurred me to reflect on the process of creating a community project, in this case the 12-year old Edible Acre Pilot Project, an urban agriculture project at ETHS. This blog consists of three accounts of the birth and […]
Happy 2022, all. A reminder that this is an ELECTION YEAR and that the Illinois primary is later than it used to be: June 28, 2022 (instead of in spring). The filing deadline is March 14, 2022. The general election is Nov. 8, 2022. It looks like most of Evanston’s elected officials are running again […]
Thanks to Anne Sills for connecting some of us Evanston food & farm folks to a new food security initiative in Evanston that’s just getting started. The initiative (still to be decided and fleshed out) involves one of the local Rotary clubs and a cohort of Northwestern University students in SESP’s Civic Engagement Certificate program […]
Like many high schools and communities around the world, the high school in my hometown is dealing with a set of interlocking crises and confusions that most of us (a) didn’t see coming, or (b) if we did see the complex set of issues coming, we were not well prepared for it. A recent open […]
I had planned for this newsletter to cover:— City manager search: survey due today (Nov. 12)— Local foods: Congrats to new coalition, Evanston Grows — Downtown Evanston’s democracy grab re the downtown farmers market (or why so many decisions seem to be decided before they get to City Council)— Possible new resource for a better leafblower ordinance Unfortunately, I […]