A group of Evanston residents published a news release on Nov. 30 announcing their Field of Schemes campaign rallying against Northwestern University’s proposal to rebuild Ryan Field.
“In the face of Northwestern University’s plan to profit off its proposed (use) of Ryan Field for commercial events, while hiding the true costs to the surrounding communities, a group of residents today announced the formation of the Most Livable City Association,” the news release said.
The MLCA’s news release said Northwestern’s proposal to increase the number of large-scale events, such as concerts, creates a slew of complaints that could negatively impact the area’s quality of life. The group says the new stadium would impact traffic flow, increase noise and light pollution, increase the number of intoxicated drivers and allege local residents would avoid the area on event days due to high congestion. Among these complaints, MLCA in its statement expressed frustration on how Northwestern is not contributing toward property taxes — something the group says is a burden to Evanston residents.
“The Ryan Field proposal will change our community drastically. We don’t want to become Wrigleyville — I’ve lived there, done that,” resident Fiona McCarthy said.
McCarthy said that because Ryan Field is in the heart of a residential neighborhood, unlike other university stadiums, it causes unique issues for those living in the area.
“When we moved here we knew there would be a handful of home games,” the resident said. “We did not know Northwestern, a nonprofit university, would try to rezone the stadium to profit from massive, alcohol-fueled concerts and nighttime entertainment. The safety of children in our neighborhood will be at risk.”
Northwestern representatives said the stadium’s impact will not come close to achieving the same level of congestion nor number of events that Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood experiences.
“We are talking about 10-12 events a year at Ryan Field in addition to seven annual football games, which is roughly 18 events a year or approximately 5% of the calendar year,” Northwestern said. “This is much different from the Wrigleyville experience with over 80 events in a year. The university is not trying to turn Evanston into Wrigleyville.”
The university has previously shared its plan to address these noise and light concerns. At a ward meeting hosted by Councilmember Eleanor Revelle earlier this fall, Northwestern’s Project Manager Steven Himes, who also worked on the 2018 Welsh-Ryan Arena renovation, said the stadium’s design will help curb these problems.
The university also said these additional events will help the stadium generate enough revenue to sustain itself.
“The stadium would have partial facades that are partially enclosed on its vertical surfaces — not entirely but partially — and then there is a 360 degrees canopy extending from the perimeter over the seating bowl that will help reflect sound into the stadium to contain that sound,” Himes said.
The news release listed residents David DeCarlo, Fiona McCarthy, Andy Berman, Laurie McFarlane and Marie Schirmang as MLCA’s founding members. DeCarlo said the organization formed after attending Revelle’s recent ward meetings discussing Ryan Field and the group is in the process of obtaining a nonprofit organization status.
“The association started forming … after 7th ward meetings hosted by Councilmember Eleanor Revelle — (intended) for the community to provide feedback to Northwestern University — made it clear that Northwestern was not really listening to our concerns,” McCarthy said.
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.