Mayor Tisdahl Addresses Call For Free Beach Tokens

The debate over the ability of Evanston residents to have access to the beach without a charge is a hot one, but the answer is pretty simple according to Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl.

“If you can’t pay for them, there are plenty of ways to get them,” said Tisdahl, noting that the policy has been amended several times dating back to when she served as a city alderman. “Most people will go in, buy a token, get what they need and pay for it. But those who can’t have multiple ways to access them that don’t include filling out forms or proving that you make a certain amount of money. It was important for us to not have barriers like that.”

Local organizations that have the beach tokens include Y.O.U, Childcare Network of Evanston, YMCA, Family Focus, YWCA, Center for Independent Futures, Ted Fund, District 65 Family Center and District 65 Early Childhood Center.

If someone wants them, all they would have to do it show up with an Evanston ID, no questions asked. The city’s Rec Room also has them at a reduced price - which will come at half-off come August.

Also on Patch: Free Beach Access is What Evanston Residents Would Like To See Most in Facebook Poll

But there are no plans to initiate a plan to make beach access completely free. Tisdahl said roughly $700,000 a year comes from beach token sales, all of which is used to pay lifeguards.

“I’d love to have free beaches, as I’m sure everyone would, but those lifeguards are pretty darn important,” she said.

One option would be to forego the fee in lieu of raising taxes, but that way “we’d be taxing everyone - and not everyone uses the beaches,” according to Tisdahl.

The city has amended the operation in the past, at times charging everyone but offering a free day in August, giving free tokens at camps for families and providing them for teenagers at area locations to use with their families.

“Every year I meet with the kids at ETHS and they always say they want free tokens,” the mayor said. “I tell them you can get them with your family, but they don’t want to go with their families, they want to go with their friends.”

In response to that, punch cards were instituted so they could “get up to 10 free punches so they could go to the beach with their friends.”