Ald. Bernard Stone, whose North Side 50th Ward would be directly affected by a proposed shopping complex in southwest Evanston, said Tuesday he is so enraged that he would build a ”wall” if he must between Chicago and Evanston to stymie the project.
”This project would be disastrous for my community, and I`m going to do everything I can do to stop it,” said Stone, who already has set up meetings with some city departments to determine what actions can be taken.
Drawing the ire of Stone and his constituents is a proposed $30 million strip mall on the 23-acre Bell & Howell property off Howard Street between McCormick Boulevard and Hartrey Street.
The project, which is expected to get a final go-ahead from Evanston later this year and would be completed in mid-1993, would be anchored by a 275,000-square-foot Target department store. It also would include a grocery where liquor would be sold and some smaller stores.
More Top Picks Best L Shaped Electric Standing Desks
”We`re so mad, we`re willing to do anything to stop it,” Stone said.
”Can you imagine? They want to build an open parking lot with 1,200 spaces just across the street from a residential neighborhood and sell liquor . . . and the city government there wants to allow that,” Stone said.
Among the options Stone said he is considering is building a median strip down Howard Street, which is the city limits in that area, so cars leaving the mall could not cross the street into Chicago.
And just to make certain, he said, he would try to make all of the Chicago streets immediately south of Howard in that area into cul-de-sacs, so cars could not enter the neighborhood there. Finally, a system of one-way streets around the mall also would hamper traffic and damage the project, he proposed.
”I`ll build a divider right down Howard Street, I`ll build a wall between Chicago and Evanston if I have to, so nobody can disrupt my neighborhood,” Stone vowed.
Stone said he has been talking regularly with the North Boundary Homeowners League in his ward, in addition to an Evanston-based group called the Southwest Evanston Associated Residents (SWEAR) to take steps to halt the project.
”For sale” signs already have been planted on several of the front lawns across from the proposed development, and homeowners along Howard in Chicago, many of whom have lived there for more than 30 years, say they are ready to fight alongside Stone-even if his plans seem a bit far-fetched.
”(A wall) is a bit drastic, but that Stone has always been concerned and willing to do whatever it takes for the people in this community,” said Penny Mitsakopoulos, who has lived across from the site of the proposed development for 38 years.
”When I moved here back in 1954 those acres were an asparagus field,”
Mitsakopoulos said, adding that the development would force people from the area. ”Why should anyone be forced to pull up stakes and leave? They are presenting us with a neighbor that I feel will drive down property values in our area.”
For Sarah and Harry Goldman, homeowners on Howard for 35 years, the real concern is increased traffic and the sale of liquor in their immediate neighborhood.
”We were appalled,” said Harry Goldman, who first learned of the project from news reports that were followed by a leaflet distributed by SWEAR. ”It`s a family place. It`s like cutting out a bunch of blocks and saying, `Hey, no more neighborhood.` ”
Attempts to contact the developer of the project, James McDermott of Chicago-based Trident Developments, were unsuccessful.
The Evanston City Council approved the sale of liquor at the mall in December by a vote of 13-2. Evanston officials said they were willing to work with Stone and local residents to ease their fears.