The virtual meeting was called to order by President Chris at 7:30 a.m. on the dot with ringing his bell, followed by reciting Why We Are Rotarians. 

 

The thought for the day was from Paul Brown: “Owning a mistake is greater than faking perfection.”

 

Paul said he found this when looking for ideas for Thoughts, but didn’t know who said it.  He thought it extremely relevant, given current remarks by certain leaders and also our society’s desire to find new ways to include everyone in life’s positive experiences.

 

 

Chris Joyce: Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Canada, has been nominated to be the first female Rotary International President.  She has visited our club several times over the years and Bruce Baumberger knows her well. 

 

Linda Gerber: Global Grant #1984924 was approved by The Rotary Foundation on Aug.7, 2020. This is the first Global Grant our Club has won in a long time. This project is a one-year medical fellowship for cleft repair surgery in Brazil. A partnership between host club RC Campinas-Sul (Brazil) international partner RC Evanston Lighthouse (US), with cooperating organization Smile Train Brazil, this project includes training and capacity building through surgical grants which upon completion, the five scholarship holders will have performed 100 cleft repair surgeries at no cost to patients whose families could not otherwise afford it. The beneficiaries of the project are: children born with cleft lip and palate whose families do not have the resources to pay, and five Brazilian plastic surgeons who will be selected for the training and capacity building in cleft lip and palate surgery. These surgeons will donate an additional 250 cleft repairs in the year following the fellowship. 

 

Strengthen the Work of Rotary through Equity and Inclusion, a special YWCA Equity Institute virtual workshop designed for our members, will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, from 4-6 p.m.

 

Bryant Wallace has been working on a “ Rotary In Business” program. More to come as he builds it out.

 

Bill Glader: The Toast of Evanston fundraiser is in full swing. We have raised a net of $8,500. A new list of donors will be out soon so we know who has contributed. Bill will send out a new version of an email text we can use to enhance our solicitations. The fundraiser is scheduled to end on Sept. 1.

 

Katherine Peterson: The next Club Service Committee meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 a.m.  It is virtual.  Let Katherine know by email if you wish to participate. 

 

Ann Weatherhead: Gave an update on the Joining Forces Housing Group.  Homelessness is increasing and is expected to total 30-40 million by the end of 2020.  The Group has developed a new mission statement and is forming three sub-groups to address this in Evanston.  You can see more on their web site: joiningforces.connect2home.org.

 

Bruce Baumberger: Reminded us to register for the club picnic that is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26, from 5:50 - 8:30 p.m. at Fran Caan's house. Roger Sosa's Cuban band will be playing.

 

 

Steve Goranson - Boasted Bruce Baumberger for helping him get his Adobe files back.

 

Steve Steiber – Boasted Bruce for getting Steve’s sound working on his new computer.

 

Bob Teska – Boasted the new book on Evanston, “Evanston Design for Heritage,” now available at local book stores and Amazon. 

 

Ann Searles – Boasted Kathy Tate-Bradish for hosting the fellowship party at her home last week. 

 

Patrick Mbullo – Boasted our Club for our support of his ISC mask-making program in his home town in Nigeria.  The program was featured in a television spot.

 

Bruce Baumberger – Boasted the Rotary Club of Wilmette for their COVID19 donation of 200 bags with toiletries and other necessities to Evanston Connections for the Homeless. 

 

Chris Joyce – Boasted Linda Gerber for her successful grant award mentioned earlier.

 

 

 

 

We welcomed Paul Zalmezak, who currently serves the City of Evanston as the Economic Development manager.  He joined the staff in 2011 after three years in a similar role with the City of Chicago.

 

Paul's originally from Detroit, where he earned a Masters in Urban Planning degree at Wayne State University and his undergraduate degree in Political Economy from Michigan State University.  He currently lives in southeast Evanston with his wife and two sons.

Paul delivered a PowerPoint presentation on the economic development status today as well as the history of development focus over the last 10 years.  The plan in place was developed and adopted by the City in 2010.  The focus points were:

The development of entrepreneurial businesses was a priority.  Several business districts were formed, including Downtown Evanston, Main-Dempster Mile, Central Street, and six others.  Many transformative initiatives were started by the city, including the actual purchase of properties to be leased to businesses.  One recent notable one was the Howard Street purchase that was occupied by Coralie. 

 

All was moving ahead until the pandemic hit.  The perspective changed with the immediate negative impact on hotels, restaurants, retailers.  This hurt sales tax revenue.  The absence of Northwestern students, faculty, staff, and athletics will continue the pain.  The near term will see continued constrictions with no holiday event bookings, diminished holiday retail sales, and late partial return of Northwestern activity.  The focus now is on removing barriers to survival for local businesses.  This includes altering the sidewalk restrictions to allow more outdoor dining. 

 

At this point, local unemployment is not skyrocketing and despite appearances, vacancies are not spiking.  That said, there have been some notable closings, including Panera Bread, Williams Shoes, and Barnes & Noble. 

 

On the positive side, Evanston will be back.  We are a resilient, creative community and this pandemic has offered the opportunity to, among other things, remove restrictions for businesses to thrive.  Local fundamentals are strong, but improvement will take some time.  Paul is available any time, so feel free to contact him with concerns and suggestions.

 

Questions:

 

Linc Janus – Are there tools to incentivise businesses to locate or stay here?

 

Yes, funding for storefront improvements, sharing hotel tax revenues.  Note that there are no incentives for national chains.

 

Harold Bauer – Do we get advanced notice on business closings?

 

Yes and No.  No warning about the Panera Bread closure.  Seven years warning for Barnes and Noble closing.  It is a mixed bag.  Harold also suggested Paul get in touch with the Evanston Art Center to get local artworks in windows of vacant spaces to make the downtown area more attractive.  Paul will follow up.

 

John Searles – Parking prices are very high.

 

This is a constant concern.  Prices are consistent with other cities around us.  The pricing is also meant to keep long-term parking down so that traffic turnover can happen. 

 

 

 

Marissa Naujokas – 5 years

Barb Miles - 4 years