We endorse Barnaby Dinges for mayor of Evanston.
In the midst of a recession and a budget crisis, Evanston is lucky to have two fantastic candidates for its top position: Dinges and Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th). We believe that either one would do a good job and improve the city.
But Dinges's innovative mind, communications background and activist mentality makes him the best candidate for mayor.
Dinges, a 50-year-old owner of an issue advocacy firm who has run a grassroots campaign, offers several sensible solutions for the city's future.
Throughout the campaign, he has offered new, creative solutions to the city's problems-from a proposal to make downtown parking free after 5 p.m. to a "shopapalooza," where city business owners can meet with students to improve the rapport between them.
He has also made common-sense suggestions, such as pushing to start city meetings on time and reaching out to Northwestern to find mutually beneficial solutions - a pragmatic approach to town-gown relations that seems refreshing after years of tension between the two entities.
While some of his proposals have been criticized, revealing a measure of naivete and newness to government, the fact that he is offering new solutions is important for a government that has struggled in recent years.
Tisdahl's experience in that government is a double-edged sword. While her six years as alderman and her earlier position as president of the Evanston Township High School Board of Education are unquestionable assets, and her grasp of the issues is the best of all the candidates', we feel that her insider status could also constrain her to continue the same policies that have landed Evanston in its current state.
Tisdahl's tenure as alderman has overseen some troubling developments, from the pension crisis to an increasingly awkward city-NU relationship. We give her credit for initiating the city's investigation into its actuary, which brought the full impact of the crisis to the public's attention. But by that time, it was far too late to do anything but react to the looming ($145 million) gap in pension funds.
Tisdahl also has an incredible amount of connections to state and national officials, and is banking on those relationships to bring federal stimulus money to Evanston. We do see a great positive to being on a first-name basis with people like Sen. Dick Durbin. But while we are confident enough in her political skills to encourage her in her lobbying endeavors, federal aid is hardly a cure-all for the city's budget woes, and Dinges' solutions seem more creative and proactive.
The tipping point for our decision between Tisdahl and Dinges might well have been the candidates' respective attitudes toward NU. Dinges has said he will make town-gown relations a top priority. His candidacy offers the possibility of a positive relationship constructed through mutually beneficial projects. Tisdahl, on the other hand, stood on campus last fall and said the city needed "cold hard cash" from NU. The morality of NU donating to Evanston is debatable, but its feasibility is not - NU has its own budget woes, and it has never seriously considered giving money to Evanston in lieu of the property taxes it does not owe.
The two other mayoral candidates, Stuart Opdycke and Jeanne Lindwall, are each individually impressive. Opdycke has his priorities straight and has proposed specific solutions for the budget crisis. A lifelong Evanston resident, he is in touch with the community and personable. But Tisdahl outmatches him in experience and Dinges outmatches him in energy.
Jeanne Lindwall, an urban planner who serves on the Plan Commission, has an impressive resume, but we worry that her solutions are not specific enough and that her experience, largely limited to planning, is too narrow.
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