1/23/10 City Council Budget Workshop Meeting
January 24, 2010 at 10:24 pm 1 comment
Below is a brief update of Saturday’s (1/23/10) Evanston City Council Budget Workshop meeting as it related to the potential budget cuts for the Ecology Center:
- Approximately 6 or 7 people spoke publicly as supporters of the Ecology Center. About 2 or 3 times that many spoke on behalf of the branch libraries, but the Ecology Center seemed to be a strong second after the Libraries as far as supporters in attendance.
- Towards the end of the meeting, the mayor conducted a straw poll of the aldermen on the items in the additional proposed $1.5 million in cuts. Before proceeding on the straw vote, the Mayor said to keep in mind that this was a straw vote, and that “it ain’t over til it’s over” – meaning that straw votes are not final votes and could change before a final budget is decided upon. The straw poll ultimately did not record a vote – yea or nay – for every alderman, but the very first item addressed in the straw voting was the Ecology Center, and after hearing from many of the aldermen, the Mayor indicated that a majority of the aldermen wanted to remove the Ecology Center from the list of the $1.5 million cuts. 4 or 5 aldermen explicitly said they wanted to remove the Ecology Center from the list of additional cuts being considered. Not a single aldermen expressed support of the Ecology Center cuts.
- The next meeting where cuts will be further discussed will be Monday, 2/1 at 7:00pm. It sounds like other council business will be addressed first, and further budget discussions will occur afterward. The EEA will need to determine who will be in attendance from the EAA for this next meeting. At this meeting, they will decide on what other near term budget meetings need to be scheduled to complete the budget process on time.
- The Final City Budget Council Meeting where the budget is to be voted on is scheduled for 2/8.
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sigrid pilgrim | January 25, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I have been an Evanston resident since 1966. My children have enjoyed the programs at EEA and I have taken my grandkids there as well to see and pet the animals and learn.
The EEA’s activities are more important now than ever – given the economic situation many families who might perhaps consider sending their kids to an out-of-town summer camp, may want to use the excellent programs the EEA offers, closer to home.
How are we to protect our environment if we do not engage our youngsters in learning about it, the beauty and intricacies of nature, if all we do is let them watch TV and play electronic games.
EEA and its programs – from the victory gardens to the canoe trips on the canal, the opportunity for youngsters to care for animals, and the many other summer camp opportunities – including for children with special needs – is what makes Evanston such a desirable city to live!
Surely – there must be other cuts to cover the deficit the programs at EEA incur….it doesn’t seem that much considering the high budget expenses of other programs such as the Geographic Information System???
Please do everything possible to keep EEA’s programs alive.
Sincerely – Sigrid Pilgrim