About Town

Why Evanston's West Side Is Stagnating

Opinion columnist Christine Wolf sits down with Evanston’s City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz and Economic Development Planner Paul Zalmezak to get the story on Evanston’s West Side.

Last week, I wrote about how Evanston’s west side appears to languish behind the rest of the city. This week, I wanted to get some answers. So I met with City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz and economic development planner Paul Zalmezak. Here's a summary of our conversation. Did Dominick’s prevent Planet Fitness from locating at Evanston Plaza? I hear the grocery store has a right to refuse certain properties there. I’m here to tell you: Dominick’s didn’t force Planet Fitness out of Evanston Plaza. According to Bobkiewicz, Planet Fitness changed its mind and went to Main Street Commons—although the grocery store does indeed have a lease giving it first right of refusal for many types of properties, including other food stores and businesses that…

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UPDATED: Boocoo Cultural Center May Close

Financial woes might force the community art center and coffeehouse to shut its doors.

[Updated] The Boocoo Cultural Center and Café might soon close due to financial burdens and is calling on the Evanston community for help. Located at the intersection of Church Street and Dodge Avenue, across the street from Evanston Township High School, Boocoo is a combination coffeehouse, eatery, recording studio, meeting space, live-performance stage, garden, art gallery and music school that opened in July 2007 and lists its mission as “[providing] a safe and nurturing environment in which individuals can explore and express their creative passions.” (Read earlier: Opinion: Do you Boocoo?) Jason Vanhoose, director at Boocoo, said there were several contributing factors to the center’s current fiscal problems. “There has always been a …

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