At this point this town is so divided the people that are against the Board are so disgusted….and the people that are pro-administration are so loyal that nothing will change their minds. It feels futile to even state facts or data. It’s like screaming into a void. People either care or don’t care but a line has been drawn in the sand an…
At this point this town is so divided the people that are against the Board are so disgusted….and the people that are pro-administration are so loyal that nothing will change their minds. It feels futile to even state facts or data. It’s like screaming into a void. People either care or don’t care but a line has been drawn in the sand and nobody is changing their position. It doesn’t matter what happens. The State could take it over and it would still be someone else’s fault. Aliens from Mars could land saying they heard about this huge Evanston school financial disaster and nobody would blink.
I wish Evanstonians cared about this, but the vast majority don’t. This town is apathetic (voter turnout for the last school board election was a disgrace). I think many with high incomes live here because it makes them feel civically virtuous without having to do anything except pay high property taxes. A thousand dollar a year property tax increase has zero effect on them, and they can cover private school tuition, if needed.
I don’t think it’s just the wealthy people who don’t care. I think it’s pretty universal not to care in this town. Look at aldermanic votes. They are also very low.
I think there's a difference between showing up at the polls and "caring". We need people to care ENOUGH to reflect that in the form of voting, but it's also a matter of having inspiring candidates with a solid blend of vision and responsibility. Many people kind of take it for granted that things will be run well enough until it's right in their face that things are broken. Local journalism can help with that, and Tom's insights are definitely helping to open people's eyes. Hopefully that also leads to people giving more of a shit.
Illinois needs to move our stupid off-cycle municipal elections to November, with everything else. I'm not sure what is gained by having elections in April, besides protecting incumbents.
That's an interesting take, but don't you also think it reduces the influence of November elections on the muni ones? When upwards of billions are being spent on national and state campaigns to drive people to the polls to vote for/against XYZ, don't you feel like the municipal part would be so far down ballot that people would vote more arbitrarily?
for what it is worth, the entire D65 debacle came up at a birthday party I was at. And I wasn't the one to bring it up. This would have never happened two years ago.
At this point this town is so divided the people that are against the Board are so disgusted….and the people that are pro-administration are so loyal that nothing will change their minds. It feels futile to even state facts or data. It’s like screaming into a void. People either care or don’t care but a line has been drawn in the sand and nobody is changing their position. It doesn’t matter what happens. The State could take it over and it would still be someone else’s fault. Aliens from Mars could land saying they heard about this huge Evanston school financial disaster and nobody would blink.
I wish Evanstonians cared about this, but the vast majority don’t. This town is apathetic (voter turnout for the last school board election was a disgrace). I think many with high incomes live here because it makes them feel civically virtuous without having to do anything except pay high property taxes. A thousand dollar a year property tax increase has zero effect on them, and they can cover private school tuition, if needed.
I don’t think it’s just the wealthy people who don’t care. I think it’s pretty universal not to care in this town. Look at aldermanic votes. They are also very low.
I think there's a difference between showing up at the polls and "caring". We need people to care ENOUGH to reflect that in the form of voting, but it's also a matter of having inspiring candidates with a solid blend of vision and responsibility. Many people kind of take it for granted that things will be run well enough until it's right in their face that things are broken. Local journalism can help with that, and Tom's insights are definitely helping to open people's eyes. Hopefully that also leads to people giving more of a shit.
Illinois needs to move our stupid off-cycle municipal elections to November, with everything else. I'm not sure what is gained by having elections in April, besides protecting incumbents.
That's an interesting take, but don't you also think it reduces the influence of November elections on the muni ones? When upwards of billions are being spent on national and state campaigns to drive people to the polls to vote for/against XYZ, don't you feel like the municipal part would be so far down ballot that people would vote more arbitrarily?
Yeah, I'm not sure. I guess it's a tradeoff between turnout and voters who go straight ticket like that. Maybe no good answer.
for what it is worth, the entire D65 debacle came up at a birthday party I was at. And I wasn't the one to bring it up. This would have never happened two years ago.