Evanston Earmarked For Millions In Illinois Capital Bill Funding

EVANSTON, IL — The $45 billion infrastructure funding bill passed by lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker last week includes millions of dollars for projects in Evanston. The "Rebuild Illinois" plan is the most significant state capital bill since the $31 billion "Illinois Jobs Now" plan introduced by former Gov. Pat Quinn a decade ago.

Passed by lawmakers in the closing hours of the spring legislative session the 362-page bill includes at least $3.5 million set aside for projects within Evanston, including nearly a million dollars to help cover the cost of building a new theater and a quarter of a million more to restore the wooden doors on a historic landmark.

Because hundreds of millions of dollars have not yet been allocated to specific projects, Evanston is likely to wind up seeing significantly more over the course of the six-year spending plan.

All Democratic state representatives in Springfield were allocated between $3-4 million for projects in their districts and Senate Democrats were each provided with about $6 million, the Chicago Tribune reported. It found the "hastily" assembled bill was rife with "pork barrel" spending, as well as $50 million for unspecified capital grants to be distributed by the Illinois Arts Council — chaired by Shirley Madigan, wife of House Speaker Mike Madigan.

The capital bill is backed by increases in taxes and fees, including $500 million from a doubling of the gas tax, as well as revenues from state's expansion of legalized gambling. According to a preliminary outline of Pritzker's capital proposal last month, the spending will create an estimated 90,000 jobs a year, with the largest share going to transportation projects.

The governor praised the bipartisan passage of the bill by a margins of 95-18 in the House and 56-6 in the Senate. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers.

“After years of neglecting our state’s roads, bridges, mass transit, and buildings, Illinoisans’ health and safety have been jeopardized, and job creation has been hindered," Pritzker said. "Our plan to rebuild our roads, bridges and communities will create hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout our state. The Rebuild Illinois plan will reinvigorate our economy and strengthen our rightful status as the transportation and supply chain hub of the nation."

The final draft of the capital bill, House Bill 62, includes the following grants to projects in Evanston:

$927,500 for Northlight Theatre to help it build a new theater on Church Street in Evanston.

Northlight Executive Director Timothy Evans said the theater was honored to receive the funding from the state in the capital bill and thanking local lawmakers for their support in a statement describing the public financing as kicking off its own capital campaign. It cited a study that found moving the theater to Evanston could bring $56 million in new spending, add nearly $650,000 in new city tax revenue and create the equivalent of 230 full-time jobs in its first five years.

"Our legislators understand the impact of the arts in our community," Evans said. "Not only economically but as a quality of life issue."

Northlight announced last month it has signed an option agreement to buy the building currently housing the Evanston Rocks music hall in the 1000 block of Church Street. The structure would be razed and replaced with a standalone building of up to three stories, where the theater would begin staging performances after its lease at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie ends in 2021.

$750,000 to Evanston for costs associated with building the new Robert Crown Community Center.

The $55 million Robert Crown Community Center, Ice Complex and Library project is currently under construction at the intersection of Main Street and Dodge Avenue. The first phase of the project is due to be complete later this year. According to the city's projections, the debt service payments for the bonds that have financed the project will run about $2.5 million annually until 2043. A nonprofit organization called the Friends of the Robert Crown Center is also raising money towards the cost of the building through donors and partner organizations.

$1 million for a grant to "Our Place Foster Center for costs associated with acquisition of a building" and $500,000 for Family Focus Evanston to go toward "renovating the the Foster Center Our Place building."

It has yet to be decided how the $1.5 million will be used, Rep. Robyn Gabel told the Evanston Review. The nonprofit that owns the building has not accepted an offer from a group of community members attempting to purchase and preserve the former Foster School building, which was designated a local landmark last year but could need more than $10 million in repairs. Chicago-based Family Focus is separately appropriated $150,000 to pay for infrastructure improvements.

$270,000 to the Evanston History Center to "for costs associated with refurbishing wood doors" at the Charles Gates Dawes House, 225 Greenwood St.

Owned and operated independently of the city, the lakefront Dawes House was built in 1894 and was formerly owned by Charles Gates Dawes, Calvin Coolidge's vice president and 1925 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The building, which last year entered the final phase of a $4-million renovation project, was donated to Northwestern University upon Dawes' death in 1951 and designated as a national historic landmark in 1976, according to the Daily Northwestern.

and $202,500 to the Evanston Northshore YWCA to go toward the costs of improvements to a family support center. The details of how the money will be used have not been announced.