Bill Smith's blog

I got a call from Linda LaFianza of the Evanston Republican Organization yesterday.

Or to be more precise, I got a call from her voice.

Junad and Mimi have raised concerns about my decision to start letting people comment on Evanston Now stories without using their real names.

Evanston Now is running on a new webserver and upgraded software this morning.

OPINION: While we wait to see how the dueling referenda about the future of the Civic Center turn out, here's a suggestion for our aldermen about what to do next: Fix the roof!

As residents of Evanston's Central Street corridor get ready for the next planning session for the area on Thursday evening, March 29, they may want to check the planning documents available online at the city's web site.

Chicago architect Helmut Jahn, best known in Evanston for his 1984-vintage, glass-clad 1007 Church St. office building, is making news in the Chicago Tribune today for an affordable housing project -- a single-room occupancy building he designed for Mercy Housing Lakefront that is just opening on the edge of the old Cabrini-Green housing development.

The Journal-Sentinal reports that AT&T is starting to roll out its new U-verse video service in the Milwaukee area, despite a lawsuit filed by local municipalities challenging the company's contention that it doesn't need a franchise agreement with the towns.

Officials in Seattle, the Seattle Times reports, are considering boosting building height limits for developers who agree to make major contributions to an affordable housing fund.

Evanstonians looking to learn more about troubled town-gown relations could combine their research with a Florida vacation this month.

Thank you for reading Evanston Now over the past year -- and a special thanks to all of you who have shared your news and views on the site.

Evanston's Next Theatre company is recruiting members of the Evanston and Rogers Park communities to participate in creating a performance piece focusing on development, housing and the future of communities.

It's turning out to be a rough holiday season for symbols in downtown Evanston.

You'll probably remember that the Fountain Square Christmas Tree blew over a few weeks back and needed radical surgery to get it ready for its debut at the tree lighting ceremony.

Well the Hanakkuh menorah was lighted in the square this weekend, and while walking by on Sunday I noticed that it is somewhat the worse for wear as well.

Evanston Township High School's annual student-written musical, YAMO, wrapped up its 48th season Saturday before a near sell-out crowd. The Daily Northwestern reports the performers were jubilant at their success.

It's wonderful that the Woman's Christian Temperance Union has chosen to preserve an Evanston streetscape from the Victorian area.

Folks who've been following Evanston Now's stories about downtown landmarks over the past couple weeks have reason to wonder what's been happening with the data.

When I first posted the landmarks story on June 28, I concluded, based on my own tally from the printout of a seven-page spreadsheet provided by the Preservation Commission, that 18 buildings downtown are landmarks.