1996 Newspaper Articles

The Evanston Review (Pioneer Press), the Evanston Clarion, the Evanston Beacon and N.E.W. Community Watch published letters by residents and 7th Ward alderman Stephen Engelman regarding NU's 1996 pro-tennis proposal.

Community Watch [N.E.W] May 1996, Volume 1.3

Engelman Opposes Tournament

Opponents of the Ameritech Cup tennis tournament won an important ally April 25 when Seventh Ward Alderman Stephen Engelman formally announced his opposition to bringing the tournament to Welsh-Ryan Arena.

He also announced that the city Planning Commission will vote again in May on whether it looks favorably upon bringing the tournament to Evanston.

Engelman told about 50 people at the home of Carol Wells and Jerry Callahan that although he will fight to turn the tournament away, he cannot guarantee success. He said residents must pressure all eight aldermen and Mayor Lorraine Morton.

He made the following suggestions:

• Call every alderman and state your case.

• Write every alderman; keep the letter to less than one page.

• Get other Evanston residents - friends, relatives, business acquaintances - to call and write their alderman.

"You have to convince them the issue affects their ward," he said.

Some aldermen, he said, seemed transfixed by the glamour that they think the tournament will bring. They also believe that the tournament will bring economic benefits, though Engelman said he will show them an economic study that indicates that the benefits will be negligible.

Engelman's biggest concern: that once the city allows one pro event, it won't be able to stop others.

"The city is obligated to not act arbitrarily" in zoning matters. "As soon as you allow one pro sport, then you open the process up, and you have some judge deciding for you.

"If you say no to pro sports, you never give the judge that chance. The city could lose control. It is something the other aldermen should be interested in."

Other aldermen, he said, do not know the history of pro sports in Evanston: how a trickle of pro sports became a flood. When the city tried to say no, it was sued. The lawsuits lasted 10 years and ended up at the state Supreme Court.

The City Council will hear discussion about the matter at 8 p.m. before its May 6 meeting. It will probably vote on May 20.

In between, the Planning Commission will again take up the matter. The commission's job is to make recommendations to the council. In February, it voted against a favorable recommendation, but it did not issue any recommendation. It will do so at its May 13 meeting.

To Alderman, Pro Tennis is a Bad Precedent

Stephen Engelman originally pledged to oppose the tournament in the following letter to a constituent: April 12,1996

Patricia Sherry-Crews

Fincara 1700 Central Street Evanston, IL 60201

Dear Ms. Sherry-Crews:

"Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the application to allow the Ameritech Cup Tennis Tournament at the Welsh-Ryan Arena. Like you, I oppose the expansion in the use of the Dyche Stadium complex for professional athletic contests.

“The athletic facilities were built as a legitimate adjunct to the educational discipline of Northwestern University. However, its location in a predominantly residential neighborhood is an anomaly resulting from infill development over many decades. While people who may have bought their homes near the complex anticipated a few amateur athletic contests, they never bargained for proximity to professional sporting events. While a women's tennis tournament may appear to be benign; its allowance would eventually make it easier for other events which would have a more drastic impact upon you, your neighbors, and the residents of the Seventh Ward....

". . .Thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention. I hope you will continue to inform me of your positions on matters which affect you and the other citizens of the Seventh Ward."

Sincerely,

Stephen B. Engelman, Seventh Ward alderman

Evanston Review and the Clarion

Dear Neighbors:

We live on Jackson Avenue, and, like many residents, have been hearing a lot about the proposal to permit the Ameritech-sponsored professional tennis tournament to take place at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

You're probably also aware of this proposal. I know you also probably have many demands on your time. I hope, nevertheless, you can take a few minutes to scan the enclosed letter regarding this plan that my husband and I have written and are sending to the Evanston Review and the Clarion.

Some of you may think the tennis tournament is a great idea, some may not. In any event, the proposal raises serious questions that deserve serious consideration by both the city and ourselves.

The Evanston Zoning Board of Appeals will be holding a hearing on this matter 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27 (tomorrow), at City Hall, 2100 Ridge. It seems only sensible for as many of our neighborhood's residents as possible to attend and let their opinions be heard on this issue, which has potentially far-reaching implications for the Dyche Stadium area.

Thanks for your time, and hope you can make the hearing.

Elizabeth Lynch Jim Lynch

The Clarion (March 1st) and the Pioneer Press (March 7) published the following letter

Clarion and Pioneer Press 3/1/1996 3/7/1996

Re: ZPC 95-0004-T; A petition by International Merchandising Corp. to amend Sec. 6-15-6-3/The Evanston Zoning Board of Appeals

To hear its backers tell it, the proposal to hold the Ameritech Cup tennis tournament Oct. 28 through Nov. 3 at Welsh-Ryan Arena SOUNDS like a neat idea. Tennis has an upscale following. Day-trippers will shower retail largesse on Evanston. As for the traffic impact upon a quiet, residential area ~ a couple of No Parking signs, a couple of shuttle buses, and problem solved!

What's not to like?...a lot.

To hold its tournament, the organizers need a loophole in the city's University Athletic District rules. These rules specifically forbid professional sports events at the Dyche Stadium complex.

The distinction between collegiate and professional events is not idle. College events take place in a limited context: Northwestern University's competition schedule. They draw a more concentrated, more easily defined audience. Moreover, college students, should they get out of hand, are accountable to the University.

Professional events bear no such restrictions. Once the door is open to booking pro sports events, they can take place any time the arena or stadium is free and the profit motive is urgent. Their fans come from greater distances, are less likely to be concerned about being good neighbors, and are less likely to feel accountability for rowdy behavior.

Of more immediate concern is the traffic nightmare this tennis tournament will unleash. There will be daytime and evening matches. The neighborhood is poised between two unappetizing alternatives: Cars could park up the streets all week long; or residents could listen to the constant roar of shuttle buses, which organizers say would be needed to transport fans on most days of the tournament. The buses will invade a neighborhood of narrow streets, single family houses, small children and an elementary school whose classes will be in session during the tournament. Disruption promises to hit fever pitch on tournament Thursday, which is also Halloween.

The scene: Daytime tennis fans are clogging the streets trying to leave. Nighttime tennis fans are clogging the streets trying to arrive. Parents are hurrying home so they can take their kids trick-or-treating. And their children are scurrying to get home so they can start knocking on doors. Meanwhile, buses are hurtling down narrow roads like Jackson Avenue and Lincoln Street. It's hard to say who will get the treats in this Halloween nightmare, but it isn't hard to say who's being tricked.

Why, given these serious pitfalls, is the Chamber of Commerce so excited about this tournament? Their reasoning simply doesn't add up.

Is it the tax revenue? The Chamber believes the city can really use the $145,000 in sales tax revenue the tourney will generate. Perhaps so, although the city recently had no problem forfeiting nearly four times as much ~ $450,000 left over from the library's building fund - to earmark it exclusively for library programs. It seems that by merely holding onto that money for its general budget, the city wouldn't need to host a tennis tournament.

Is it an influx of jobs? In a city of 70,000, the "total of 53 full and part-time jobs" the tourney is supposed to generate is hardly substantial. The Feb. 25 Chicago Tribune advertised 82 jobs in the city of Evanston.

Is it the free-spending visitors? We are told that the tennis tournament will attract "an upscale audience." They may be upscale, but they won't be spending much in Evanston. The Chamber estimates that apart from hotel expenses, 50,000 fans will spend $627,000 here -- about $12 apiece. That's a T-shirt.

Clearly, this is no bonanza for Evanston. The revenue is trivial compared with the disruptions the event will cause. So why all the fuss?

Fortunately, the Chamber of Commerce supplies an answer: The tournament "brings added value to our city." What is added value? What economic value does Evanston derive from a high profile? The obvious explanation is this: By attracting this professional tournament, the city can lure other professional events here, too.

The tennis tournament is the lever that opens this city, just a crack, to professional events. But the Chamber of Commerce realizes that once levered open, some doors are hard to slam shut. Once the city says "Just this once," it will be easier and easier to say, "Just once more." With the tennis tournament as an upscale wedge, we can expect more and more events, and there is only one place they can go: Our neighborhood.

Expect to see more litter in your front yard. Expect to see more buses bearing down on our children. Expect, in short, more disruption.

A Chamber of Commerce brochure describes our neighborhood as "a quiet, village setting." We urge the city not to allow the Ameritech tennis tournament to become the precedent for a practice that will inevitably shatter that quality in our community.

James and Elizabeth Lynch

Pioneer Press March 7, 1996

Arena Serfs Retell Fairy Tale with a Twist

Once upon a time, there was a quiet Hamlet on the north side of a busy town called Evanston. Its houses were well-kept and there was a church, well-attended. Then, one day, a great university put up a Dyche right in the heart of the Hamlet. Now, as we all know from the story of the Little Dutch Boy, dikes are built to keep water from flooding towns and cities.

But now, listen carefully, for there was something very different about the Dyche that the university built. It was designed to bring floods into the Hamlet, not to keep them out. These were floods, not of water, but of people. The Dyche was a stadium to see contests of university athletes. And so the Hamlet was awash with people, cars and buses and the noise of them as they flowed and ebbed to and from the stadium with each event.

The university also built a smaller Arena, which also brought people in briefer flash floods.

While the people inside the Dyche were made happy, the neighborhood people were made sad. Besides picking flowers from their gardens, they now had to pick up empty cans of Coke and half-filled bottles of beer. It was very sad indeed to see a well-dressed young woman waiting in the alley while her well-dressed young escort relieved himself of all the beer he had drunk, onto a garage wall.

All this was sad, but was made more tolerable for the Hamlet people when the City Council passed a Commandment that shored up and reinforced the Dyche and Arena walls so they couldn't spring any further leaks. They told the university: “Thou shalt not have any professional use of the Dyche and the Arena."

Reassured, the people of the Hamlet absorbed the encroachments with reasonable patience since they were limited in number and predictable. Then one day, Sir Young Lad of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce rode into the Hamlet and said, "Good people, I have good news for you. A wonderful opportunity has knocked on my chamber door for you. A Company called Humongous wants to bring a professional world class athletic event to the Arena every year. This event is to last for seven days and seven nights.

One neighbor asked, "How, will this benefit us, pray tell?"

"Well," Young Lad beamed, "you have been given a chance to sacrifice your neighborhood for the better good of all Evanston."

A neighbor responded, "I don't know why, but sacrificing this Hamlet somehow just doesn't appeal to me."

Another said. "Once you open the door to this Opportunity, it's much too easy for others to coattail through it."

"Golly gee," Young Lad earnestly said, "it's just for this one company, honest. Just for this one event. Never, never for any others. We promise, promise. We will never again join with the university to use the Arena or even the Dyche for any other swell, prestigious income-producing event — even though it's the noble job of the Chamber of Commerce to attract swell, prestigious, income-producing events into Evanston."

A neighbor asked, "What protection would we be given?"

"All we have to do." Young Lad responded, "is to ask the City Council for a Special Use Amendment so the Commandment will read, "Thou shalt not have any professional use of the Dyche and the Arena — except this one, we really mean it."

One neighbor commented. "I'd say it should be called a Special Mis-Use Amendment and with any further exceptions, a Special Ab-Use Amendment."

Young Lad went on, "This is how the City Council could make the change." From a Council toolbox, he raised aloft a large drill bit labeled, "Amendments." Then, from his own satchel bag, he drew out a bit labeled "No. 1: Humongous Company bit — Arena Walls." He demonstrated how easily the bit could be fixed into the drill.

Some of the people from the Hamlet were sure they had heard clanking of more bits in the bag.

They all said, "Let's see what the City Council has to say about this!" and off they went.

To Be Continued.

Valerie and Arthur Kovitz

Clarion April 12, 1996

Serving to a Brick Wall?

The request for a zoning special use for a professional tennis tournament in the Dyche Stadium area of Evanston may hit a brick wall at a zoning appeal board hearing Tuesday, April 16th.

Neighbors who almost uniformly oppose the tournament are coming equipped with approximately 300 signatures on an opposing petition. Traffic, parking, peace of mind and property values are on the minds of residents.

The newest issue to come up is the issue of safety. Ronald Brumbach, president of the Evanston Fire Fighters Association appealed for a hold on any approval until the department can complete an examination of safety and response time.

Perhaps more telling is a separate opposition petition with the signatures of 64 business owners from the Central Street Business District. Many of these when questioned by the Clarion said that not only would the tournament not benefit them but that they would sustain losses due to traffic and parking problems. A number of these business owners also expressed resentment that the Chamber of Commerce was promoting the tournament without consideration for their position.

In The Clarion's interviews one concern was raised above all others, a deep suspicion of Northwestern's motives, the feeling that okaying this special use would let the two thousand pound gorilla get its foot in the door, that more and more requests for professional events would follow and be harder and harder to legally prevent.

Clarion Readers Forum April 26, 1996

Opposition to NU Profits

at the expense of the City

We write to express our very strong opposition to the proposal to re-introduce professional sports activity to the Northwestern University athletic complex. As residents d this neighborhood for nearly 30 years, we vividly recall the turmoil caused by the single Chicago Bears game at Dyche Stadium in the early 1970s. During the collegiate football season, we and our neighbors regularly encounter severe parking problems, and are unable to gain access to our alley. It is locked, presumably to prevent outsiders from parking illegally, or using the alley as a thoroughfare. I assume someone could calculate the costs of assigning police personnel to patrol the neighborhood and control the excessive traffic. We're sure those costs are hardly recovered by the parking tickets they routinely hang on the many illegally parked cars.

Given Northwestern's continued enjoyment of tax exempt status and the false (or at best unrealistic) promises to the City concerning the Research Park, we feel it is the height of arrogance for the University to now seek once again to amass further profits for itself at the expense of the city and its residents.

Respectfully,

Frank and Paula K. Tachau

Clarion Readers Forum April 26

To Mayor Morton...

The members of our 1410 Central Street Corporation have asked me to write to you because we are very concerned about the proposal to have a professional tennis tournament on the Dyche Stadium property, just across the street from our cooperative apartment building, owned by eighteen shareholders. At present, with all the intercollegiate sports events and other programs like school and university's graduations and trade shows, we have a big problem with parking, even for cars carrying Evanston parking stickers. Too often this section of Central Street has signs prohibiting parking for many hours, and many of the resident/shareholders cannot find parking places, nor can friends who hope to visit us. Also, the building's repair men, the lawn care employees, and other service people are hampered in doing their work because of no-parking rules and large crowds coming into the area.

In our immediate neighborhood are a fire department, Evanston Hospital, two train stations; the traffic on Central Street is very heavy; and the noise of the ambulance horns, the fire truck sirens and crowds and automobile horns is very disturbing. People attending events on the stadium property feel free to use our own property, attaching bicycles to young trees and to our stair railings.

We should like to continue to live in Evanston, a place we like very much; but Northwestern's use of its property is making life on Central Street increasingly unpleasant during a large part of the year. We ask that Northwestern's proposal to schedule a tennis tourney be denied.

Sincerely yours,

Anna Dymczynski, President,

1410 Central Street Corporation

Pioneer Press April 25, 1996

Council should back arena neighbors

As you are aware, tournament organizers are trying to put the Ameritech Cup Women's Tennis Tournament into the Welsh/ Ryan Arena of Northwestern University in late October.. As I know you are also aware, there is an absolutely overwhelming dissatisfaction by the neighboring residents and businesses concerning this proposed action.

Not only is it against Evanston zoning law; if allowed, it will set a dangerous precedent — one which Northwestern University has been trying to achieve on and off for decades — leasing their facilities for pro-sporting activities.

Why is this such a concern to the neighborhood residents?

Fact 1: When a whistle blows on the field of Dyche Stadium (without the aid of an amplification system) 300 to 400 private residences at a minimum can hear it due to their proximity to the Welsh/Ryan-Dyche Stadium athletic facilities and its parking lots. What is important here is not the sound of the whistle, but he fact that within 200 yards in any direction of this sports complex, residents hear "everything."

The bottom line: Taxpaying residents are extremely close on all sides of the complex.

Fact 2: The organizers, Northwestern University and/or the Chamber of Commerce, have indicated that only 70 event-days take place in the complex a year. With the addition of the tournament, 83 event days will now take place. Is this too much to ask of the immediate neighbors? I think so.

Finally, and most importantly, I would add another 20 to 30 days minimum to the 83 event days (for a total of 103 to 113 days) that is the true number of days that immediate neighbors are impacted by events that occur at the complex. Event setup and post-event cleanup add noise, trash, litter and local street congestion to the disruption of the neighborhood, and should be considered in the total equation.

Fact 3: No matter what process is employed by IMC, Northwestern or the city of Evanston, when events occur at the athletic complexes, I have trash in my yard, and no one picks it up but me. I live 100 yards away. I feel real sorry for the folks who border the complex.

Fact 4: No matter what process traffic engineers employ, the traffic around the stadium is horrendous — especially for larger events. Any increase of events (for pure profit purposes) is a "slap in the face" to neighboring residents.

The Jackson Avenue/ Rosalie Street/Asbury Street neighborhood directly south of the stadium is still fuming as a result of the plan employed by Evanston to route football fans by bus. What used to be relatively quiet neighborhood streets — even during football games — became a school bus Roller Derby last fall.

Fact 5: Noise. Not only do we have to put up with revolving our lives around the athletic complex during event days, if the tournament is approved, we will have to now put up with people walking through our streets, opening and closing car doors, honking and yelling alter 11 p.m. at night. And no matter what is promised, you cannot guarantee that this would not happen.

Fact 6: No matter what parking rules you employ, people park in the street. Especially people who have no plans on returning and do not care if they get a ticket.

You can have signs, personnel and warnings all you want, but in the end people will park on the neighboring streets. My neighborhood already deals with parking problems with the densely populated buildings on Central. Add new restrictive rules on event days, and/or just letting people park anywhere, compounds the problem.

Sure, Evanston police come by and give tickets on occasion. However, all this does is add more revenue to the city. The residents still have to deal with cars and the problems they generate.

Fact 7: Street Cleaning. Because of the parking problems, the shutting down of streets during football, and the additional guests staying in the neighborhood who have cars, our streets seem to never get cleaned. Jackson Avenue, in particular, always has cars parking on it during street-cleaning nights. Sometimes they get tickets and sometimes not.

In all cases, though, the city bypasses cleaning it. Case in point: Piles of leaves that were in the street in the middle of October 1995 (during the height of the football games) remain there today. Jackson Avenue was never cleaned during October.

Where are the city services? If streets cannot be cleaned due to cars illegally parked, tow them and then clean the street. Do not just ignore it.

Fact 8: The neighborhood had to deal with football games in the fall. We accept this. We always have. Now, in addition to the three scheduled games in October 1996 (three weekends out of four), IMC, NU and the Chamber of Commerce are asking residents to put up with seven more days of events in October, including the last and fourth weekend of the month. A bit too much to ask as far as I am concerned.

Pity anyone who has to have an open house for selling purposes in October.

Fact 9: Northwestern University has a history of trying to retain professional events. Who is kidding whom about not setting a precedent.

Whether the special-use provision is allowed or not, if Ameritech gets its tournament the precedent is set — especially with the Zoning Board. To hear the board say it does not have to strictly abide by the zoning rules when they make decisions leads me to believe anything is possible in Evanston.

Maybe that explains why Evanston is getting taller and taller buildings, more congested strips and shopping malls and more trash on the streets due to the plethora of fast-food franchises. Reminds me of an i early Rogers Park.

Have you looked at Dodge Avenue lately? Remember how much quieter and cleaner it was in 1980. I do not want the Central Street area or the NU athletic complexes to turn into a Dodge Avenue. When zoning changes are routinely allowed, after a while the character of neighborhoods change. How will our neighborhood be in the year • 2005? I do not know, and you cannot predict it either.

So, as a 20-year tax-paying resident of Evanston, I am confused. Why is Evanston and its Chamber of Commerce in cahoots with IMC on this proposal, when it knows the residents do not want it?

Why is it fighting the people it is supposed to represent? I will bet anyone involved that if Evanston were to conduct a "special vote" and ask the people to come out and judge whether they thought the idea to have this tournament was good for the city (keeping all of what I have said above in mind), you would have thousands of "no" votes and Mr. Perman's "yes" vote.

From the get-go, neighboring residents saw a canary feather in the mouth of both Northwestern and the Chamber of Commerce. In addition, from the get-go, I was personally offended by the fact that outside personnel (IMC) and the chamber were trying to lead me to believe they were concerned about my concerns.

And now, the Zoning Board. With their manipulation of their due process by leading IMC down the yellow brick road and their voting process, I have no faith in the current system or their sincerity — except for the members who voted against the original vote.

There seemed to be a serious conflict of interest with this board. I wonder how the Wilmette Zoning Board would have voted on this issue if they were asked to intervene. In passing the measure by tacking on some nebulous conditions that cannot be guaranteed and which do not address the true issue was a sham.

Further, it put the responsibility of meeting the conditions on the organizers to work with the neighborhood.

If this measure is approved when voted on by the council, council members will have to answer to a large portion of Evanston taxpayers. If they vote "yes" or "yes with conditions," there will be no words that will restore my faith in the council's decision-making process.

If they vote "no," they will have done what most city councils would have done to represent residents.

I urge all city council members to vote "no" on this measure. Evanston should strive for economic development as needed, but not at the expense of its character, its values and the people it represents.

David Berg

Clarion Readers Forum April 26, 1996

Slick Richnu and the Zoning Hurdle

Suppose a friend, let's call him Slick Richnu, came to me to gloat about a great deal he had. Knowing I have been a real estate appraiser for 25 years he was sure I would find it exciting. He had a piece of real estate improved with a sport's complex that would currently be classed as a non performing asset. That means the net income from the real estate is not sufficient to cover maintenance and operating costs. But, he had just cut a deal to rent the complex to potential users for up to 25% below market rent charged by other complexes nationwide. Further, he could get a minimum 10% return on investment essentially forever. Of course, I would say, "That's impossible. It must be a scam!" And under ordinary circumstances that would be true. However, Slick has a guaranteed exemption from all property taxes on the property which cost millions to construct.

This is exactly the deal Northwestern has on its sports complex. This deal has the potential of being worth millions to the University if they can just get past one small hurdle called zoning. In the private sector, a developer would pay millions for this kind of deal, and our city government is attempting to give it away for a few parking concessions. Perhaps that is part of Northwestern's strategy to keep the residents and city arguing over parking and traffic with little focus on the issue.

Currently Northwestern has a large piece of non performing real estate which would generate greater net income under almost any alternative use. Since they can't very well tear it down (especially since the football team started winning), the only choice is to try to increase net income by renting the complex to others. From a real estate valuation standpoint this makes perfect sense. However, since the property is owned by Northwestern University, the concept is grossly unfair since the playing field (no pun intended) is not level. Because the University pays no real estate tax it would have an unfair advantage in the marketplace. Shame on Northwestern for trying this. And Shame on the city for considering change in the zoning laws which should protect the residents. When the city bought-in to the Research Park deal which had little possibility of benefiting us, the residents, I thought NU could never top that performance. But this deal seeking pro sports has potential to dwarf even the Research Park debacle. Sincerely,

Jerome G. Zapszalka

Evanston

Beacon Vol. I, issue 6 April 1996

Why Stadium Neighbors Oppose the Ameritech Tennis Tournament

You can argue ad infinitum the specifics regarding the Ameritech Cup women's pro tennis tournament proposed for Welsh-Ryan Arena in October.

You can talk about parking and traffic impact, about the supposed economic benefits.

But all that, while interesting, misses the essential question:

Why on earth do we want to return professional sports to the Dyche Stadium/Welsh-Ryan Arena complex?

Why on earth is our city thinking about re-opening a loophole it painstakingly closed two decades ago?

Let's not mistake the true issue here. It has nothing to do with the specifics of this tennis tournament. It has everything to do with precedent. Right now, the U2 zone (that's Dyche and Welsh-Ryan) is limited to nonprofessional sports. That distinction is not idle. In fact, in 1978 the Illinois Supreme Court agreed that the differences between collegiate and professional events are important, and that Evanston has a right to take them seriously.

Long-time residents of the Dyche Stadium neighborhood vividly recall the days before our city put its foot down. They remember the disruptions that accompanied a Bears exhibition game. They remember that Northwestern nearly signed a contract with the Bears for an entire season of home games at Dyche. And that Northwestern fought a bitter battle to assert what it considered was its right to schedule any sort of event it pleased in our neighborhood.

They may even remember that 20 years ago, a women's professional tennis tournament was canceled at the arena over zoning concerns.

It's hard to see why city officials would believe that a "one-time exception" for the Ameritech Cup won't result in legal challenges from other professional sports organizations seeking to use the arena and stadium. No one can guarantee such legal immunity.

And that, once again, is the point. The point is not logistics, upscale patrons, pie-in-the-sky economic indicators. The point is precedent. The point is about refusing to back off from a hard-fought principle.

The point is that the city should not allow pro sports in the U2 district.

Period.

Jim Lynch

Pioneer Press May 2, 1996

Too-minimal Gains in Tennis Proposal

We are writing in opposition to thie proposed zoning change to permit professional indoor tennis events at Welsh-Ryan Arena in order to allow the Ameritech Cup to be held there. The commencement of professional sports events at Welsh-Ryan would unreasonably burden North Evanston while only nominal economic benefit would accrue to the city as a whole.

We have heard throughout the Planning Commission and Zoning Board meetings that this is a single event, whose prestige justifies the additional inconvenience it would cause. It is not. The neighbors who object to the plan have been viewed as alarmists, over-reacting to an insignificant change to the present use.

But our opinion — that the proposed zoning change would open the door to additional professional events — is not unfounded. History aside, the legal effect of adding professional indoor tennis events to the list uses at the arena would make it difficult to deny special-use permits to other women's or men's professional tennis events.

Even more significantly, other professional sports promoters requesting zoning changes and special-use permits will be harder to oppose.

There is a clear distinction between professional and amateur sports, recognized by the Illinois Supreme Court in the 1971 lawsuit between Northwestern and the city of Evanston. The distinction may be subtle, and perhaps indefinable, but it is there.

The introduction of one type of professional sports to the U2 area will make it considerably more difficult to oppose subsequent requests for other professional events. Where, for instance, is the defensible distinction between the college basketball games to which the tennis tournament has been favorably compared and a minor league basketball game?

Once the readily identifiable barrier between amateur and professional sports has been breached, it will be harder to legitimately apply the planning and zoning standards to distinguish among various professional sports.

Zoning can only be used to regulate uses on some rational basis and not arbitrarily or improperly. Attempts to permit only limited professional sports within the U2 district may lead to expensive lawsuits by promoters against the city of Evanston on the grounds that the zoning authority of the city is being applied in an arbitrary and irrational manner.

The general public in Evanston, like the immediate neighbors of the stadium complex, has been willing to accommodate Northwestern as a part of living in a diverse community; we are less interested in graciously acquiescing in a for-profit endeavor that brings great profits to the promoter and | the university, but little benefit back to the community.

Amy L. Abrams, Arnold S. Graber

Pioneer Press May 16, 1996

Springtime Sow Job on Tennis Proposal

The Guest Essay in last Thursday's Review by Jonathan Perman (executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce) about the Ameritech Cup Tennis Tournament was interesting. I got the distinct ; feeling that Mr. Perman feels that we who live in north i Evanston are a small bunch of antibusiness cry babies needlessly voicing our concerns about holding this tournament in Evanston at the end of October.

According to Mr. Perman, the tournament will bring "an elegant, upscale crowd" (to Evanston); we will have "extensive national and international media coverage"; "thousands of people will come to our city,. stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants and discover our stores" even "hire our local businesses."

Marketing Evanston's wonderful qualities is what Perman is paid to do, and I'm sure does quite well. However, there is a difference between marketing our town's virtues and a snow job offered to its residents:

• It seems to me we have upscale and elegant residents who already live here.

• National coverage means media attention. Do we really want the heavy citywide traffic congestion from the numerous buses and automobiles blocking our intersections or parking for free in our neighborhoods (remember the NU-Wisconsin game?)?

• How do you know these people win eat or shop locally? I would guess most of them will eat or shop in places they have heard about in Chicago. Probably most will stay elsewhere (I mean how many rooms does the Omni-Orrington or Holiday Inn have available?)

• Northwestern University is a not-for-profit entity— what is it doing with a for-profit venture? Hey, if it wants to do other for-profit ventures, maybe NU could pay taxes as well.

• Changing the zoning always opens the door for future challenges.! Maybe the Bears won't play in Dyche Stadium — how about stock car races or rodeos? (Who chooses the event once the zoning is changed?)

No, Mr. Perman, we who live in the neighborhood don't want cars parked across our driveways, people drinking wine on our lawns, tinkling in our alleys (upscale people tinkle, I think), or maybe, (God forbid) the errant elegant person breaking into our homes.

We don't want buses and cars clogging Evanston so emergency vehicles have trouble getting to the hospitals at either end of town. Not to mention the average Evanston Joe or Jane trying to go to work, shop, take kids to school or other ever-so-mundane activities.

As a reminder, year round we who live in Evanston pay taxes, shop in Evanston (and pay the parking tickets), dine in Evanston restaurants, hire local business folks.

• So take off your sunglasses, Mr. Perman. The razzle dazzle of the Ameritech Cup Tennis Tournament isn't so blinding in the ordinary, everyday sunshine. Besides, winter is over and snow jobs are out of season.

Susan Roupp

Evanston Beacon Letter to the Editor

No Pro Tennis at Welsh-Ryan Arena

It is unthinkable that our city leaders should consider sacrificing our neighborhood as another casualty to NU desires and the allure of some additional sales tax dollars. We do not pay the high property taxes we do (anywhere from $11 to $22 a day) and expect to suffer such diminished use and enjoyment of our property due to traffic congestion, litter, noise and loss of parking to an ever increasing number of events at nearby Dyche and Welsh/Ryan.

As it is we are already like prisoners, locked in our out of our neighborhood during football events. Basketball games cause us to lose the use of our street parking until late at night when rowdy fans come to claim their cars, shouting and banging car doors. To open the legal door to pro events is to force the involuntary conversion of our otherwise peaceful neighborhood into indentured servitude to two slave masters — the city and NU. There is absolutely no upside to this neighborhood from pro events, only downsides

. Clearly NO ONE seems to be interested in using university parking as long as there is a possibility of parking on the street. There is usually a cost to university parking while street parking is free. But even if university parking were free, an open spot on a nearby street such as ours (1 block from Dyche parking) is immediately claimed, saving the prospective fan waiting in line to get in or out of a parking lot. For the few who might actually consider paying the ticket for illegal street parking, some consider the ticket cost a fair trade for not having to cope with lot parking

Parking restrictions are meaningless. We routinely observe fans parking next to fire hydrants, driveways or crosswalks as well as tight against someone else's bumper. For some reason such street parking fans all seem compelled to clean their cars (probably because they had to come early to get the street parking and need to kill time) and throw bottles, bags and various debris on our front lawns.

As a former Central Street business owner, I routinely lost business (up to 50% on a Saturday) when a NU event curtained traffic or parking in the area. So while the city tallies expected increased sales tax receipts from pro events at NU, they had better subtract the losses from neighborhood businesses who suffer on such days

According to Jack Freeman of NU, about 70 events are held per year in the Dyche area. An additional 13 events would represent an increase of 19%, substantial by any measure. Further, if the 70 events noted by Freeman were on separate days, that would mean that for 19.2% of each year we, the Dyche-Welsh-Ryan neighbors, are already seriously inconvenienced. To add an additional 13 events brings us up close to 1/4 of each year to be inconvenienced. ANY approved pro event would only be the first of others to follow.

Spare us, please. NO PRO SPORTS!

Barbara Zapszalka

Dick Manger from the Corner store on Green Bay Rd. also protested the tournament. He also was quoted in an article by the Tribune in April 18, 1996

Clarion May 10, 1996

Voice of the Nay Sayers

As long-time residents of the Dyche Stadium neighborhood we want to voice our opposition to the proposed Ameritech Cup tennis tournament. We already have to watch the NU games calendar for game days, nobody can visit us as there is no parking on Isabella Street starting at 10 a.m. and other streets are jammed for a mile around. Our alley is barricaded which keeps fans from parking in front of our gate but also restricting access to our garage. Plus— the noise, the traffic jams and the discarded trash. Professional games should not be allowed in a U2 district.

Vera and Lloyd Cousins

Eva and Helmut Wagner

Isabella neighbors

Clarion Readers Forum May 10, 1996

Can 80 Businesses be Wrong?

How much traffic, congestion, litter and noise can a business district and a neighborhood tolerate?

The Evanston Chamber of Commerce has been promoting the Ameritech Cup Professional Tennis Tournament to be held at Northwestern's Welsh Ryan Arena. This event being promoted by the Evanston Chamber of Commerce is pure folly. It is a direct slap in the face of all the merchants in this area and a pure affront to the stadium neighbors.

The storefront businesses have been the "heart & soul" of Evanston for generations and now the Chamber of Commerce has decided that we are no longer important to Evanston. I have lived and conducted my business in this town for almost 27 years and I have never seen so many vacant storefronts in downtown Evanston. The Chamber of Commerce would be better off working to bring business to Evanston that would provide much needed revenue to the city instead of promoting a professional tennis tournament at our expense and to the" detriment of the stadium neighborhood.

When did someone decide that we needed professional sports in the Dyche Stadium neighborhood? We all thought this was rejected a long time ago and now it's showing its face once again.

They tell us this is a one-time event.

Don't believe it for a minute. This event will not produce revenues because the Central Street/Green Bay Rd. businesses will lose business. Any time there is an event at the Dyche Stadium complex, business takes a 'real dive.' Football and basketball games are a fact of life and we accept this but we don't need more and more congestion. We must have reasonably easy access to the business district.

Anyone who has traveled through the intersection at Green Bay Rd. & Central St will testify that it is slow going and gets even worse as the Metra reconstruction work progresses. Traffic is reduced to one lane and this work will continue through the fall season. Do we really need another sports event in the neighborhood?

A total of 80 businesses in the area have signed a petition opposing this event. Who do the Chamber represent if not these 80 businesses? Whose interests are being served?

The last quarter of the year is extremely important to retailers. If we are to compete with the ever increasing amount of malls and strip centers, it is critical that congestion be kept to a minimum.

Central Street is not the only affected area—traffic passes through all neighborhoods. There are no expressways that pass by Dyche Stadium with on and off ramps. Remember, most of our streets are only two lanes.

Evanston neighbors...help us! Support us! Call your alderman.

We don't need professional sporting events in the City of Evanston.

Richard Manger, The Corner Store

Pioneer Press May 16, 1996

Tennis Tournament an Economic Loser

I want to respond to last week's guest essay by Jonathan Perman regarding pro tennis at Northwestern. Despite his assurances, the proposed tennis tournament sets a very dangerous precedent: Currently all pro sports are banned at Northwestern. If this tournament were allowed, what's to prevent pro soccer (when Chicago gets a team), women's pro basketball, the Bears (when their Soldier Field lease expires), or even roller derbies from petitioning to play here? Do we really want more congestion on our streets and parking areas?

Evanston is now seen as a first-class university town with beautiful neighborhoods, intelligent and diverse residents, and a healthy business climate. Mr. Perman says this tournament would enhance Evanston's image. He's wrong. Evanston would not be featured by this tournament — its corporate sponsor, Ameritech, would. The enduring image of this tournament would be increasing hoards of T-shirt vendors hawking their wares on our streets. Oh, and the hot-dog stand would do a good business.

Mr. Perman sees a huge economic benefit from the tournament. This is a sham. I looked at how he made his estimates. He made too many errors to mention.

Among them:

• His estimate of tourists staying in Evanston hotels is greater than the actual number of existing hotel rooms, by a wide margin. (Maybe they will sleep in the lobbies.)

• He misused a study, which applies only to large metropolitan areas, to estimate new jobs generated by the tournament — there will be no new jobs.

• He used the entire Illinois sales tax rate of 8 percent instead of Evanston's 1.25 percent rate.

• He ignored his own parking expert, who testified that Central Street businesses would suffer lower business during the tournament.

• He completely ignored significant costs — for example, the value of time lost to traffic congestion and reduced property values (and property taxes).

Evanston is a beautiful, diverse old residential and university town. It is not — nor should it be — a center for corporate greed.

Ameritech wants to come here to market itself, not to bring anything lasting or worthwhile to Evanston and its residents.

This tournament is a real economic loser. It would bring more costs than benefits. You should urge your alderman (before May 20) to vote against it.

Timothy Guimond

Evanston Review May 16, 1996

The Case Against Pro Tennis

Those of us on the “nay” side in the debate over the Ameritech Cup professional tennis tournament find it all too tempting to methodically point out what's wrong with the tournament's logistics and its proponents' sunny assumptions.

We have so much tempting material, after all. The Chamber of Commerce's economic study (just for starters) is an exercise in blowing smoke, as can be discerned by its utter lack of concrete evidence. It was the chamber, after all, that sent a "fact sheet" to Central Street merchants that said, "Economists can twist numbers and forecasts to mean just about anything." With such trenchant analysis from the chamber, it's no wonder there is such a stunning dearth of support for the tournament among Central street businesses.

But centering the argument on the tournament itself ignores the essential question in this debate, which is not whether Evanston should host a pro tennis tournament.

No, the issue is bigger than that, involving all of Evanston, not just our neighborhood.

It is about how our city's government views Evanston's past, and whether it sees it as a lesson for its future.

It is whether Evanston should jettison decades of zoning protections.

It is whether Evanston's city officials should throw control of the city's zoning process into the hands of the courts.

These significant questions do not trouble Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce. Perman, in his guest essay last week, trots forth the tired old argument that we citizens mustn't worry; the zoning amendment proposed for the convenience of the Ameritech Cup organizers is terribly specific and applies only to this one particular case.

A careful reader will notice that Perman leaves untouched the question of whether someone — anyone — could legally challenge anyone's specific, exclusive permission to hold a pro sports event at Northwestern's athletic complex.

The answer is, they can. And they have.

In 1970, the Chicago Bears sued the city, attempting to force Evanston to allow the team to play in Dyche Stadium. The cornerstone of the Bears' case, which ignited years of costly legal battles, was that the Dyche/Welsh-Ryan complex had previously been used for pro sports. And what pro sport were they thinking of? If you guessed pro tennis, go to the head of the class.

Some argue that we no longer stand in danger of the misery (not to mention the astronomical police and traffic control costs) inflicted before the city closed the pro-sports loophole. They argue that the landscape of pro sports has undergone enormous change since the 1970s.

They're right — the pro sports arena has changed mightily. Three cable channels beam sports events and news around the world, around the clock. A proliferation of sports like volleyball, that once were college-yearbook material, now have their very own pro tours and scramble for a piece of the audience pie, muscling out grizzled contenders like tennis. Minor league teams like the Kane County Cougars and Chicago Wolves are booming, beneficiaries of out-of-sight big-league ticket prices.

For a taste of what this implies, ask the neighbors of New Haven's Yale Bowl complex. Shortly after pro tennis made its debut at the Yale Bowl, somebody decided minor-league baseball might be great there, too. The result: All of the homeowners who asked got their tax assessments reduced, which must thrill the city of New Haven to no end.

So while we may not need to worry about the return of the Bears, there is a brave new world of possibilities to worry about.

Possibilities not dreamed of in the 1970s, when the city eyed the specter of a thriving neighborhood blighted because of indiscriminate, ill-considered use of Northwestern's facilities and said: No more. Collegiate events, of course. Community events, we'll consider. But we draw the line at pro sports. We have a right to draw a line, and we will do so because it is in the best interest of our city.

It's not an unreasonable line to draw. The Dyche Stadium neighborhood contains more than 140 homes built well before the sports complex came along, ^e are not talking about bird-brained builders who clustered homes around a stadium — we are talking about a tax-exempt stadium that was plopped down in the middle of a taxpaying residential neighborhood.

The city had zoning regulations in the 1920s, when Dyche was built; it also understood the importance of protecting the neighborhood's integrity. Northwestern seemed to agree when William Dyche (in 1925!) assured the city that the athletic complex would only be used for collegiate sports.

More than 70 years later, here we are, another generation of homeowners patiently explaining again that a promise was made, a line drawn, a danger foreseen. I know that my husband and I and our neighbors are not the first residents to sift through documents, comb musty city directories, listen to hours of testimony at city meetings. We may not be the last — especially if this zoning change goes through. Dodging the pro sports prohibition at Dyche/Welsh-Ryan seems to be a sport of its own, though not for Evanston taxpayers.

So in the end the tournament issue is not about claims of economic bonanzas — which are pitiful even if you're looking at the Chamber of Commerce's best twist. It's not about sad delusions of glamour. (Last year's Ameritech Cup titlist was Magdalena Maleeva — heard of her?)

This issue is not about whether opponents can demonstrate that the tournament doesn't meet the city's zoning standards. (We have.) Nor is it about whether the organizers have presented convincing evidence that they can smoothly move their fans in and out of the area. (They haven't.)

It is about how our elected officials feel about the integrity of Evanston's zoning laws, and whether they wish to see control of Evanston zoning decisions pass to a judge in Chicago or Springfield.

It is about whether they are willing to auction off — for a bargain basement price — that legal integrity, that local control.

Elizabeth Lynch is a resident of north Evanston.

Tennis Tournament Not What City Needs

I am troubled that the U2 zoning ordinance — over which the city and Northwestern University fought all the way to the Supreme Court of Illinois in the late 1970s — may be changed to expand the special uses of the Dyche Stadium/Welsh-Ryan Arena complex.

This is a change unlikely to help the city or any of its residents. Evanstonians from all parts of the city travel on Central Street or Green Bay Road routinely to obtain medical care, buy groceries, commute to work or go to the movies. How this group, which much number in the thousands, will be disturbed by the seven-day Ameritech Cup tournament deserves consideration before the City Council votes.

Evanston Hospital, the Medical Services Building at 1000 Central St. and the Cos Building all lie within four blocks of the U2 zone. Green Bay Road, two blocks west of Welsh-Ryan, is a thoroughfare to and from all the North Shore communities. (The tennis promoters IMC called the North Shore suburbs their "primary market.") The intersection of Central and Green Bay is crossed by hundreds of Metra commuters each day, and thousands of Evanstonians shop at Jewel and Dominick's on Green Bay. The Evanston Theatres are located one block west of Welsh-Ryan; their patrons use the west parking lot (an arrangement that will be suspended during the tournament, according to the promoters' parking plan). Where will they park?

Thirteen years ago a traffic study revealed that 20,000 vehicles each day cross the Central-Green Bay intersection. The promoters estimate the tournament will bring in from 285 to 572 vehicles, plus 40 or 50 school buses on weekdays between 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and from 1,150 to 2,300 on evenings and weekends. This presents no parking problem, they say, because tennis fans "come and go." Parking is only part of the problem as I see it. If 285 or 572 vehicles "come and go" even twice, each car is on the streets four times. During mid-day, the streets in the Central-Green Bay area would carry 1,140 more cars on Monday, and this number would grow to more than 2,000 (plus 80 or 100 school buses) by Friday. Evenings and weekends, their predictions put 4,600 to 9,200 extra cars on the streets. Now, what if — despite the Zoning Board of Appeals' condition that IMC/Ameritech provide free parking — those drivers decide to search through unfamiliar streets for curbside parking? We may not have gridlock, but we'll certainly have noticeably heavier traffic, solidly parked streets and more inconvenience for seven straight days.

On Feb. 26, IMC/Ameritech was directed by the Zoning Board to present a traffic study. They did not do so. They offered only a cumbersome plan involving parking permits that offered no assurances except that the residents and their guests would be disrupted. In fairness, I believe that, short of barricades, nothing will prevent Dyche Stadium/ Welsh-Ryan Arena crowds from seeking the convenience of on-street parking.

Using Welsh-Ryan Arena for an increasing array of special uses is not just a neighborhood issue. This tournament will disturb thousands of Evanston residents who, although they don't live in the neighborhood, travel our streets routinely. The added traffic and other nuisances from this event are sure to make Evanston just a little less livable. Is that what the city needs, especially when the benefits the promoters depict are greatly exaggerated and far from certain.

Evanston residents who dislike congested traffic and an absence of parking would help themselves by calling their aldermen and the mayor to protest this change.

Marylin D. Weber

A different issue: Illegal Car Racing on the U2 West Lot

Pioneer Press August 22, 1996

Improper Use of Northwestern Lot

Northwestern University apparently rented the parking lot west of Dyche Stadium to Mercedes Benz for the purpose of allowing potential customers to drive a Mercedes car through a test course set up in the lot.

This is not a test drive on city streets, but a challenge to drivers: twists and turns, sudden stops and "floor to 50" back stretch (western edge of lot bordering on a tree-lined alley). The NASCAR test drives began on Friday and continued through Sunday. In fact, as I write this note, I get to listen to screeching tires and rapid acceleration ' of expensive cars with novice drivers. With my property tax bill in hand and racing car noises in the background, I am reminded of what a good neighbor Northwestern University is.

I have called the Evanston police (can't help, Northwestern University issue); Northwestern University Public Safety (joke); and Jack "The Pager" Freeman of the Northwestern University Athletic Department Facilities. The net result was that nothing could be done.

I am writing to express several concerns.

First of all, Northwestern University's apparent ability to use the lot for whatever purpose:

• Having recently gone through the Ameritech Cup false start, I would have thought the university/city/ I alderman, would have been a bit more sensitive to the neighborhood. How is it that Northwestern can rent out its lot for an event that clearly has nothing to do with academics or collegiate athletics? In fact, it is a blatant commercial event to sell cars — even on a Sunday. The scheduling of this event seems like real "in your face" behavior on the part of Northwestern — don't let us have our tennis tourney, see how you like this.

• Other seemingly benign events that use the Northwestern University property, such as home shows, etc., warrant public hearing notifications. To my knowledge, no notice was given for this event; it just happened. I quite frankly cannot believe that Northwestern has the latitude to use the parking lot for such purposes. It fails the sensibility test of what the community intends for proper and acceptable activities on any property in Evanston.

Second is the issue of safety:

• The Northwestern University motor speedway back stretch is the 50-mph straight-away. The signage directs test drivers to "floor to 50." As it happens, the straight-away parallels, perhaps 15 feet away, the tree-lined alley that serves the neighborhood. The organizers have strung yellow barrier tape through the foliage at adult height, approximately four feet above the ground. Unfortunately, this too-high yellow plastic border would do nothing to warn or prevent a youngster from coming through the bushes into the straight-away. There are no other warnings or barricades, such as bales of hay. I pointed this out to one roving safety person — an overweight man in a van. This would clearly be a good approach to avoid a young child from being knocked off by a novice driver in a power test car on a below-average street surface.

• To my knowledge, there is no street in Evanston that allows a speed of 50 mph. How is it that a sign on the Northwestern University Motor Speedway back-stretch is "Floor to 50"? Do we now allow speeding cars on Northwestern property immediately adjoining a public alley?

Fred D. Watson

On the morning of Saturday, August 10th, NEW neighbors whose property borders the parking lot west of Dyche Stadium woke to the sounds of cars racing. To the residents’ surprise, Mercedes Benz had rented the stadium lot to showcase their new models of luxury cars. Silvia Kusaka, the president of NEW, immediately started to get calls for aid to stop a nuisance and a potentially dangerous situation. The neighbors’ concerns were not unfounded. The cars were testing acceleration times and handling all along the border of the parking lot. Neighbors were told the drivers were not professionals and that the event had been OK'd by Northwestern.

Silvia phoned several different law enforcement agencies only to be told there was little or nothing they could do. Our resident expert on zoning matters was called to review the zoning ordinance. He explained that the city would need to issue a Certificate of Zoning Compliance in order for this event to take place. After reviewing the City's Zoning Ordinance, he further stated that this use was not listed under permitted or special uses for this property.

Monday morning I informed Alderman Engelman of the situation and started calling Mr. Alterson, the city's Zoning Administrator. After half a dozen calls with no response, I finally got hold of a Mr. Wolinski, He was surprised to hear of the use of the parking lot and told me he was reasonably sure no Certificate of Compliance had been issued for the event. He would check into it and get back to me.

On Tuesday Mr. Wolinski phoned to say that there had been no permission granted by the city and the use did not meet zoning requirements for the west parking lot. He had informed Northwestern's attorney who was unaware and surprised to hear about the event.

Northwestern was issued a warning letter stating the section of the Zoning Ordinance that was violated and told that, "Failure to remedy this situation will result in the Zoning Administrator issuing a citation."

NEW believes this should put an end to these trials.