Should Chicago annex Evanston?

[The Urban Politician]

Okay, lets face it. Evanston has WAY more in common with Chicago than with the other suburbs (with several notable exceptions). So why not join the family and become one of Chicago's famous neighborhoods? One, it will add to Chicago's tax revenue, plus, it will add to the population. Plus, it has good CTA connections.

In turn, Evanston can tap into Chicago's spending power to improve its streets, parks, public spaces, etc

[edsg25]

Okay, lets face it. Evanston has WAY more in common with Chicago than with the other suburbs (with several notable exceptions). So why not join the family and become one of Chicago's famous neighborhoods? One, it will add to Chicago's tax revenue, plus, it will add to the population. Plus, it has good CTA connections.

In turn, Evanston can tap into Chicago's spending power to improve its streets, parks, public spaces, etc

Evanston loves it own identity. And I disagree with you about it being more like Chicago than other suburbs. What Evanston is is transitional between city and suburb. There are portions of south Evanston that are more like Chicago than other suburbs. There are parts of north Evanston undistinguishable from neighboring Wilmette. And as Skokie to the west continues to build upward, it shares more and more with Evanston in the area of density.

As far as other North Shore suburbs go, they tend to have a pretty strong attachment to Evanston, particularly as its downtown has so redeveloped.

I find that Evanston, as an independent community, is able to offer a much more compatible setting for Northwesern than Hyde Park is able to offer the U of C.

I would imagine if you brought this issue up to Evanstonians, it would be somewhere in the vicinity of 0-100 against.

[Wu-Gambino]

No, Chicago isn't Charlotte.

[Suburbanite]

It seems to me that the most likely suburban communities that could and should be annexed into chicago are Cicero and Oak Park. They probably could benefit more from it than Evanston.

[geoff_diamond]

I'd take the population boost any day! If Smell-A can cheat to pass us, we should be able to cheat too!!!

[dancethingy]

I disagree, Evanston is very much a unique community of its own. The town is definitely beginning to grow into a super city, I give it ten years.

[Dampyre]

No.

[The Urban Politician]

Here's a question. Why is it that 100 years ago cities like Chicago were annexing small towns around them so easily, yet now it no longer happens? Perhaps it's because times have changed and people no longer see being part of a big city as necessary or essential. But given that logic, why are cities like Houston still able to annex nearby towns?

[dancethingy]

I think its mainly because most of the towns around Chicago are fairly established. I would argue that some of these towns are actually older than Houston, whereas the towns surrounding Houston are so young and powerless, they are subject to annexation of a larger and more experienced city.

[edsg25]

Here's a question. Why is it that 100 years ago cities like Chicago were annexing small towns around them so easily, yet now it no longer happens? Perhaps it's because times have changed and people no longer see being part of a big city as necessary or essential. But given that logic, why are cities like Houston still able to annex nearby towns?

certainly Evanston to the north would have blocked any attempt by Chicago to expand up the North Shore. By the time that city limits reached Howard Street, Evanston and Northwestern were so well established they had no need to be part of the big city. Same would have been true for Oak Park in the west.

[STR]

Here's a question. Why is it that 100 years ago cities like Chicago were annexing small towns around them so easily, yet now it no longer happens? Perhaps it's because times have changed and people no longer see being part of a big city as necessary or essential. But given that logic, why are cities like Houston still able to annex nearby towns?

It is very difficult to annex other cities in the state of Illinois. Even when annexing unincoroprated land, there are numerous restrictions. The shortest way for Chicago to annex Evanston (Which isn't that great of an idea to begin with) would be through a referendum, which would fail. Miserably.

[Steely Dan]

whether chicago should annex evanston is a hypothetical question because the reality of the situation is that chicago couldn't annex evanston, even if it wanted to, unless state laws regarding annexation are changed (which isn't bloody likely).

[Kevin J]

Here's a question. Why is it that 100 years ago cities like Chicago were annexing small towns around them so easily, yet now it no longer happens? Perhaps it's because times have changed and people no longer see being part of a big city as necessary or essential. But given that logic, why are cities like Houston still able to annex nearby towns?

To answer this question for sure, you'd have to know the annexation requirements 100 years ago. They might have been more lax than now in terms of the percentage of residents and/or property owners who had to consent to the annexation. I can only imagine that once the city started being seen as undesirable, the downstate/suburban factions that have battled Chicago since its founding came together to stiffen the state's requirements for annexation to "protect" the burbs from the big bad city.

There also may have been tangible benefits to annexation back then, most likely better city services such as sanitation, water, road maintenance, etc. Most of the towns that were being annexed back then were "bedroom communities" such as Hyde Park, Lakeview, and Edgewater. While I'm sure these places had no shortage of commercial activity, they had no base of industrial property tax payers to fund the things listed above, while Chicago had to have been swimming in property tax revenues from all the industrial and commercial activity in its core.