Evanston voters re-elect Daniel Biss as mayor, per unofficial results
Evanston voters appear to want to keep the momentum going on a number of issues in the city, including Ryan Field, reparations, Envision Evanston and others, by retaining the incumbent mayor, unofficial Cook County Clerk's office election results show.
Mayor Daniel Biss declared victory over challenger Jeff Boarini after unofficial results showed he had captured about 60% of the vote to about 40% for Boarini.
'I want to thank Jeff for running, for giving the community a choice, for making points and bringing forward issues that I think we'll all be better off for having discussed together,' Biss said to his supporters at an election-night campaign gathering.
With 100% of Evanston's precincts tabulated in the April 1 election, unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk's office show incumbent Evanston Council Members Clare Kelly, Krissie Harris, Bobby Burns, Jonathan Nieuwsma and Juan Geracaris leading in their races. City Councilmember Devon Reid (8th) was the only incumbent to be losing Tuesday night, unofficial results show, to former Evanston Land Use Commission Chair Matt Rodgers.
City Councilmember Tom Suffredin was showing about a 9% lead over his challenger Candance Chow for the hotly contested 6th ward race, unofficial results showed.
Newcomers Shawn Iles and Parielle Davis were also in the lead for open seats in the 3rd and 7th wards, respectively.
In his next term, Biss will face big issues in Evanston, including charting the future of the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, continuing to oversee Ryan Field and dealing with a K-8 school district, Evanston-Skokie District 65, in dire financial straits.
The next City Council's first big items will include the consideration of Envision Evanston, the city's comprehensive 20-year plan and an updated zoning code, which received heavy pushback from Evanston residents in the months leading into the election.
Previously, Biss campaigned hard for the Envision Evanston plan, but the city had to dramatically slow the pace of the project due to dissenting voices.
'Envision Evanston 2045 was a tough issue in this campaign,' Biss said. 'To those who are concerned about some of the changes we've been discussing, I hear you. I respect you. I appreciate that your voice is just as critical as every other voice, and that's why we slowed this down. That's why we created opportunities for more discussion and more engagement.'
'I need to say that every voice counts equally and so to those of you, or those maybe not in this room, who would say, 'Hey, nobody is asking for this,' I say simply, 'you are wrong.''
'You don't know my friend, Katie, who, when you ask her how she feels about Evanston, she says, 'The thing I love best is the new bagel shop in my neighborhood, and I just want more people so there can be more customers for more small businesses like that,'' Biss said.
'And you don't know the couple whose door I knocked on a couple months ago in the Fourth Ward who are way too busy with their multiple jobs and their small child to even really be paying attention to municipal politics at all.
'But when I ask them what's on their mind, they said, you know, we live in this two-unit building, and it was so hard for us to find something like this in this town… Could you do something so we could have more of those in this town?'
Biss, a former state representative and state senator, has maintained that he will not seek higher office during his next term as Evanston mayor.
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Residents can comment on Envision Evanston, which would increase density, before it heads to City Council
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'In my informal conversations with some other members of Council, there is an appetite to have town halls once we get into the Zoning Ordinance and the details,' Rodgers said. Throughout the drafts and public meetings regarding Envision Evanston, it has been mired in controversy. Opponents have organized public comment sessions against the city's planned densification that could change the cityscape downtown and in their own neighborhoods, and advocates have insisted that more businesses and housing in Evanston will make the city more affordable and energy efficient. Those points of view have been expressed in conversations about a proposed 31-story apartment building in downtown Evanston, which would be the tallest residential building in Cook County outside of Chicago, and in the selection process of a pick for a vacancy on the city's Land Use Commission. 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Residents can comment on Envision Evanston, which would increase density, before it heads to City Council
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The 8th Ward will have its meeting on July 10, with plans in the works to have councilmembers from the 3rd and 9th Ward join. Rodgers said he and 6th Ward City Councilmember Tom Suffredin are considering a combined 6th/8th Ward virtual meeting. 'Some of these are Zoom discussions, and a couple are using the world cafe model with the League of Women Voters as moderators, so there will be different opportunities to gain public input,' Rodgers said. Separate from the comprehensive plan is a plan to update the city's zoning code. Both were meant to be approved by the City Council as a package with one guiding the other, but those plans were derailed after pushback from residents who wanted the city's zoning code to continue to allow single-family homes and prohibit duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes (two-, three- and four-flats) from being built on certain blocks. 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