chris_hart's blog

Yesterday, Aldermanic candidates within the City of Evanston participated in the League of Women Voters’ forum held at our Civic Center. The 6^th Ward candidates continue to offer a model of civility that we hope transfers throughout the City and to the new Council. While many of our views are in alignment and reflective of the majority opinions of our constituents, there are important distinctions among the candidates in terms of approach to service.

We would like to invite you and your family to come by and meet Chris, a candidate for Alderman in our 6th Ward.We believe the election on April 7th must result in selecting an Alderman who will put community first when making local decisions on our behalf. We hope you will join us to hear Chris’ ideas for serving in this manner. We look forward to seeing you!

Thursday, March 5, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Hosted by Sarah Silins, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Kim Ferrer

3433 Clifford Street (Hillside)

During the month of March, we will periodically be sending updates from our campaign journal - a quick and easy way for us to stay connected in the month prior to our Consolidated Election on April 7^th. 

I wanted to extend a personal thank you to the Central Street Neighbors Association and its leadership for last night's Aldermanic Forum.

My decision to become a candidate for Alderman in the 6th Ward was largely based on a desire to strengthen and deepen involvement on a community level.  It was a hope to bring fresh perspectives into our conversations...and bring a new attitude to encourage productive exchanges. As with all conversations, the requirement is respectful engagement from all parties so that they can be useful and productive. 

We would like to invite you and your family to come by and meet Chris, a candidate for Alderman in our 6th Ward, on Thursday, March 5 or March 12, 6:30 - 8:00 pm.

It is with excitement that we inform you of our campaign web site launch – you can access it at www.hartofthe6thward.com.

The Master Plans of the City of Evanston are meant to reflect collaborative planning with citizens, businesses and institutions -  a concept integral to the City’s culture.

The current City Council has approved a budget that projects a small General Fund surplus without a property tax increase.

But getting there required actions that will dominate the agenda of the Council to be elected on April 7^th:

Madam Mayor and Members of the Council
 
Thank you…for the many long hours you’ve spent, along with the city staff, working on budget development and the current budget proposal. As citizens, we can only try to understand what it means to take on these responsibilities in a time of incredibly hard choices. But what we can imagine are the difficulties of facing an unhealthy budget situation on the one hand … and on the other hand, asking a financially injured community to take on additional burdens.     
 

I had the opportunity to attend this past weekend’s 2009-2010 budget workshop conducted by City staff for both the City Council and interested citizens. The work and effort put forth by the staff along with their involvement and willingness to address all comments and questions should certainly be commended.

The “workshop” did not lack data, information and knowledgeable staff. What it did lack was a central question.

Here are a few highlights: