Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Norwegianis cancelling about 3,000 flights until mid-June following a decline in demand from the coronavirus outbreak.

That is about 15pc of the airline's total capacity for this period.

The company has also put several other measures in place, including temporary layoffs of a "significant share of its workforce".

Affected customers will be informed about cancellations.

Chief executiveJacob Schram said:Unfortunately, cancellations will affect a significant share of our colleagues at Norwegian. We have initiated formal consultations with our unions regarding temporary layoffs for flying crew members as well as employees on the ground and in the offices."

He added:This is a critical time for the aviation industry, including us at Norwegian. We encourage the authorities to immediately implement measures to imminently reduce the financial burden on the airlines in order to protect crucial infrastructure and jobs.

The Telegraph reported on Sunday that Arrowstreet Capital, a $106bn (81bn) hedge fund launched by UK-born Harvard professor John Campbell, is among investors betting Norwegian will be thenext airline to fail.

Several airlines have slashed capacity to and from Italy in the wake of the nationwide lockdown announced on Monday.

Ryanair will suspend all flights until April 8, while British Airways has also stopped flying to Italy.

EasyJet continues to operate a small number of flights to the country.

Continued here:
Norwegian cancels 3,000 flights and sheds staff - The Telegraph

Maria Dizzia as Heidi.Photo by Joan Marcus.

What the Constitution Means to Me is partly a lesson in the glories of the 14th Amendment and partly the personal story of domestic abuse against women by the men in playwright Heidi Schrecks family. The victims were her female relativesstarting with her great-great grandmother.

Schreck created her stage personaa lively, mostly solo performanceoff Broadway and continued it in the highly successful six-month Broadway run last year. Maria Dizzia recreates Heidi successfully in the production now on stage at the Broadway Playhouse, presented by Broadway in Chicago. Its a heartfelt and informative show, with moments of laughter and sorrow as Schreck/Dizzia relives her years as a teenaged debater. The story moves briskly, hopping back and forth from landscape to minutiae at a madcap pace. Oliver Butler, who directed the earlier iterations, directs the traveling production.

Heidi tells her personal story in fragments throughout the evening. Her great-great grandfather bought her great-great grandmother from a catalog, and brought her here from Germany to become his wife. She was 19, suffered spousal abuse, and by 36, she died from melancholy. Heidi feels some survivors guilt about this. And she has had to come to terms with the fact that the Constitution has failed to protect her family members from intimate partner violence over the decades.

Heidi performs both as her present-day self and as 15-year-old Heidi as she views Constitutional issues such as immigration, reproductive rights and what it means to be an American citizen. Mike Iveson plays the WWII veteran/Legion member moderating the debate and becomes himself later in the play, with comments on sexuality and masculinity. A teenaged debater appears in later scenes, putting a youthful spin on todays issues. Jocelyn Shek, who performed on opening night, alternates with Rosdely Ciprian, a veteran of the Broadway run.

Maria Dizzia and Mike Iveson, foreground. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Heidi tells how she came to love the Constitution and especially the Ninth Amendment, as a teenager in Wenatchee, Washington. She entered the local American Legion debate tournament on the subject of What the Constitution Means to Me. (Her speech was titled Casting Spells: The Crucible of the Constitution.) Cash prizes were involved and as she progressed through more Legion competitions, she was able to earn enough money to pay her tuition and graduate from a state university.

During the course of her debate experience, she decided that the Ninth Amendment is her favorite because it seems open to enabling rights for everyone that may not be enumerated in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. It was in that elasticity, she points out, that in 1965 Justice William O. Douglas found the penumbra that defines a right of privacy not otherwise defined in the Constitution. That was central to Douglas majority opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut, providing that the state could not prohibit the use of birth control, and then later in Justice Harry Blackmuns 1973 majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing abortion rights.

Part of the debate structure required each speaker to describe an amendment drawn randomly. Heidi draws the 14th Amendment, Section 1, the supremely important post-Civil War amendment that guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. It contains the life, liberty or property, due process of law and equal protection clauses that have been crucial in so many civil liberties cases. Heidi goes well beyond her limited debaters time to tell us how important this amendment has been for the last 150 years. Even though it took 50 more years to get women the right to vote and another 50 to ensure voting rights for Blacks.

Jocelyn Shek and Maria Dizzia. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Ultimately she says that as much as she loves the Constitution, it was always meant only to protect the interests of a small number of rich, white property ownersall men, like the U.S. Supreme Court until Sandra Day OConnor was appointed in 1981.

The play acknowledges that although our Constitution is deeply flawed and difficult to amend, it is still an essential element of our democracy. Playwright Schreck, granting solid attention to the 14th Amendment as well as the Ninth, unfortunately ignores the First Amendment, which, in its protections for freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly, is a bulwark against repression.

At the end of the play, pocket Constitutions are handed to every audience member. As an ACLU member for more than 50 years, I was proud to see that the ACLU provided them. They include the ACLUs useful bust-card advice: What to do if youre stopped by police.

Rachel Haucks set design recreates an American Legion hall, walls lined with framed photos of white mendozens of white men. Lighting is by Jen Schriever and sound design by Sinan Refik Zafar. Costume design is by Michael Krass.

Heidi Schrecks other writing includes Grand Concourse (Steppenwolf, 2015) and episodes of TV series including Nurse Jackie and Billions.

What the Constitution Means to Me continues at the Broadway Playhouse, 175 E. Chestnut St., through April 12. Tickets are $30-$105 for performances six days a week with matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday is dark. Running time is 110 minutes with no intermission.

Related

Link:
Review: What the Constitution Means to Me Sheds Light on the Penumbra of Law and the Lives of Women - thirdcoastreview.com

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Free To Use Sounds

The spread of Coronavirus is causing disruptions to so many areas of our lives, including the church. Not only has the virus caused many churches to reconsider when and how they will hold worship gatherings; it has caused many churches to revisit whether or not they will share the Lords Supper.

Far beyond the outbreak of Covid-19, this is something that deserves even more consideration among the people of Christ today.

The following content is a transcription of a video included within this article, so punctuation may be imperfect, as it is a spoken commentary.

Im kind of a germaphobe, anyway. I was in a difficult situation a couple weeks ago in a movie theater the other day when I dropped my bottle of Purell on the floor, and had to reach around on a movie theater floor and find it, and then the question was: what do you do to disinfect a container of Purell?

So, I already sort of have this problem, and then you add to it, the very real alarm that we have going on right now with Coronavirus. Especially with people who are traveling around the world, and as the Coronavirus starts to come into the United States, there have been people who have died already.

And we also have, beyond that, just the sense of public anxiety; and could be even panic, about Coronavirus and related diseases. We had swine flu several years ago, we had the Ebola concern as well, Avian flu, so...these sorts of potential pandemics come up every once in a while.

Photo Credit: GettyImages/Pic2Frames

One of the things that I was thinking aboutin addition to all of the issues of preparing to care for people may come down with Coronavirus and preparing for the potentiality of not having, say, big events, and all of the contingencies that government and non-governmental organizations are going to have to think through iscommunion.

Someone sent me, knowing my concerns about Lords supper, sent to me a tweet that someone had put up earlier this week from, I believe, a Catholic man who was talking about how dangerous it is to be serving communion with a common cup during a time of potential Coronavirus. And someone else had responded and said, well you oughta then become a Protestant because we have the little individualized cups and the little individualized crackers.

And so it really caused me to think about something thats been a concern of mine for a long time. And so, I actually would agree with churches that say were not going to do common cup right now in a time of potential epidemic. But, I think that weve lost something when weve lost the practice of the common cup and the Lords table as a meal in my own evangelical community.

Because I think there are reasons why we do it this way (individualized) that I dont think are good. Now Im not saying that this renders the Lords supper, the way that most of us do it, inoperative. Not at all. The Lords supper is the Lords supper. I just think there are some assumptions behind the very individualized way we do the Lords supper that loses some of what Jesus communicates to us inside the Lords supper: the tearing of the bread, the drinking of the common cup.

Photo Credit: Unsplash/James Coleman

When the apostle Paul talks about our gathering together around the table, it is a sign of the unity that Jesus is establishing, and the fact that Jesus himself is feeding us with his own body and his own blood.

I think that right now, there are all sorts of things that churches may do when it comes to Coronavirus. And it may reach the point where some churches arent able to have a weekly gathering for a while.

But longer-term than that, I think that we need to have a conversation about what does it mean for us to be part of one body: one loaf, one cup? And I think one of the reasons that some of us dont even think about those ancient practices, is not because were concerned about epidemics, but because we just say thats gross to drink after somebody else.

That actually is something that the New Testament takes head-on and says: youre not drinking after somebody else. Youre part of one body. Head, body, in Christ.

And thats worth thinking about when were past the time of sickness.

Russell Moore is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the moral and public policy agency of the nations largest Protestant denomination. Dr. Moore is the author of several books, including Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospeland The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home. A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons.

Read this article:
How Coronavirus Sheds Light on Communion and the Body of Christ - Crosswalk.com

Sheriff's Department SWAT officers move in to apprehend a subject held up in the backyard of a home in the 9500 block of Bending Crest on Feb. 9, 2020.

Sheriff's Department SWAT officers move in to apprehend a subject held up in the backyard of a home in the 9500 block of Bending Crest on Feb. 9, 2020.

Photo: Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News / Staff Photographer

Sheriff's Department SWAT officers move in to apprehend a subject held up in the backyard of a home in the 9500 block of Bending Crest on Feb. 9, 2020.

Sheriff's Department SWAT officers move in to apprehend a subject held up in the backyard of a home in the 9500 block of Bending Crest on Feb. 9, 2020.

Standoff with man accused of squatting in shed ends

A man who was squatting in a Northeast Side backyard storage shed allegedly threatened to shoot deputies who were trying to speak with him Monday afternoon.

At about 4 p.m., Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said deputies were dispatched to the home in the 5900 block of Bending Crest to speak with Jonathan Gutierrez, 28.

Salazar said the homeowner and Gutierrez knew each other, but could not immediately define their relationship.

Gutierrez yelled at the deputies and made threats using foul language as he told them not to approach the shed, investigators said.

The suspect made some threats toward officers. ... He was armed, he was going to come out shooting, Salazar said.

Deputies shut the roads surrounding the home and surrounded the shed during the standoff.

After an hour and a half of negotiations, Gutierrez came out of the shed and complied when a SWAT team ordered him to the ground, deputies said.

Salazar said investigators did not know how long the man had been squatting in the shed.

Gutierrez was to be booked into the Bexar County Jail on a warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

Deputies said Gutierrez has an extensive criminal history that includes evading arrest.

He will most likely face charges for terrorist threats made against the deputies, as well as other charges should investigators find a weapon in the shed, Salazar said.

Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA

See the original post here:
Standoff with man accused of squatting in shed ends - mySA

One of the Coasts most notable eateries celebrated the reopening of some popular offerings Saturday.

The Shed Barbecue and Blues Joint marked the opening of the saloon and seasonal opening of the Crawfish Shack Out Back for customers.

Patrons have the chance to eat hand-selected mudbugs and listen to live music in an outdoor setting this crawfish season or hang out in a wild-west style saloon with a wide selection of drinks.

The Shed Owner Brad Orrison says it is exciting to see more growth at the facility. Well weve been successful at doing beer, barbecue, and blues, and its a natural step for us to do crawfish and celebrate crawfish season. Also were frying catfish and of course all the barbecue staples, but now weve added some high-end liquors and hand-selected bourbons and a bigger playground!

Crawfish are available at the Shed every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. until supplies last. You can also reserve them over the phone.

Originally posted here:
New offerings at The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint - WXXV News 25

As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds one of its unique dynamics is the surge of new medical studies being rushed into print because of the extenuating circumstances of a global pandemic. To be crystal clear, these are studies produced using expert, scientific methodologies and conducted by credentialed epidemiologists and clinicians. But many have relatively small sample sizes and theyre being performed many in China under crisis conditions. So they dont necessarily prove things even in the limited way that larger, more organized studies can. But theyre giving us key information.

Let me point your attention to a few of them.

Because Im not an expert on these matters in any way, I will keep my descriptions very general. If you want more information you can review the studies. In most cases, if youre not a specialist, its easiest just to read the abstract.

*** One of the big questions about COVID-19 is its effect on children. The evidence is overwhelming that its impact on children is dramatically less than it is for adults, especially for elderly people. (Heres a Times story on the general issue.) In general, young, healthy people do better with most diseases than older people. But the apparent disparity goes way beyond the general robustness of youth and appears to extend even to the very, very young who are often more vulnerable to diseases like the flu.

The question has been: do children actually contract the disease at a much lower rate or are they infected just as much or at similar rates to others but consistently present with much milder or even subclinical versions of the disease?

The difference may not have a major impact on the threat to children (here talking about under 20) but it could make a major difference in the degree to which children are a vector for the spread of the disease. This study published earlier this week, based on surveillance from Shenzhen, China suggests that children are just as much at risk of contracting the disease as adults. They are just far less likely to get severe cases. Key sentence from the abstract. We further show that children are at similar risk of infection as the general population, though less likely to have severe symptoms; hence should be considered in analyses of transmission and control.

Again, small sample sizes, rushed to print. None of these individual studies should be treated as definitive. But they are important pieces of the puzzle.

*** Another critical question is how deadly the disease is. People really want to know the answer to this question, for obvious reasons. As I noted on Wednesday there was a lot of bad reporting on the WHOs announcement of a 3.4% death rate from COVID-19.

This number was not presented as an estimate of someones chance of dying as a result of COVID-19. We dont know that answer yet and probably wont in any definitive way for some time. It was the current percentage of identified fatalities per identified cases. That is a more specific and technical datapoint, highly influenced by the amount of testing.

On Wednesday a new study was published based on the epidemic in Hubei from January 1st through February 11th. This study takes the official data and does additional modeling to try to get a handle on underreporting, transmission rates, etc. They came up with a 1.6% fatality rate. This was from an intense period of the epidemic in China. Fatality rates have been higher in Hubei than in the rest of China. Knowledgable experts have suggested we shouldnt place too much focus on the 1.6% fatality rate there are too many uncertain variables. What is more important is the age breakdown, which really drives home the threat to older people. See this chart.

As you can see, very low rates of mortality (relatively speaking for the young) up to very high ones for people over 80 and a steady slope from 1% on up over age 50. We have a great deal of evidence that for the great majority of people who are young or relatively young and in good health COVID-19 is a manageable disease. But for the elderly and those in fragile health it is very dangerous and deadly in a significant percentage of cases.

*** Another issue is smoking. Its not a huge surprise that smoking might be a contributing factor to severity in a respiratory illness. But theres significant evidence that smoking is significantly associated with COVID-19 progressing toward severe or critical disease. See this study from February 28th. There is also this study from February 26th which focuses on a gene expression found in smokers which is associated with COVID-19 a receptor of virus. These findings may suggest that smokers are also more susceptible to infection. Key quote from the abstract: In conclusion, our findings may indicate that smokers, especially former smokers, and people over 60 have higher risk and are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Note particularly here the may indicate phrasing. This second study is more tentatively connected to evidence from the course of disease in specific patients and should be treated as suggestive rather than dispositive.

I was struck in this case that this may apply even more to former smokers than current ones. But again, if youre wondering about that all I can suggest is reading the study.

Read more:
New Studies Shed Light on Impact and Vulnerability to COVID-19 - TPM

Posted March 07, 2020 09:37:44

Social isolation is a growing problem in Australia and is even more difficult to overcome when you do not have spare money for outings or activities.

A group of women in Adelaide's north hope they have found a solution, after noticing many women sitting alone in shopping malls and having nowhere to get together.

Raelene Wlochowicz retired from the youth justice system last year and wanted to learn new skills and make new friends, but realised the only option in the area was a men's shed.

Men's sheds are community-based, non-profit, non-commercial organisations that provide a safe and friendly space for men to work on projects.

The Australian Men's Shed Association said a major objective of the sheds is to advance the well-being and health of their members.

However, despite Adelaide's northern suburbs having some of South Australia's highest rates of older women living alone along with high rates of unemployment and many newly-arrived migrants there is no men's shed equivalent for women.

Ms Wlochowicz said many people in the area do not have the cash to spend at cafes, movies or even buying a book and that social isolation was a "massive" problem.

"A lot of women often stay in domestic violence relationships because they are isolated, they don't have a support network, [or] people they can go to for advice and help," she said.

"When you're retired money is minimal, you don't have a lot to spend and if you're a young mum, you don't have a lot to spend either."

Using donations and a $1,000 grant, Ms Wlochowicz and a volunteer committee have turned a donated, disused school building in Davoren Park into the Playford Women's Shed.

It is a social hub for women of all ages, backgrounds and cultures.

It has taken five months to clean the building, which has been vacant for six years and to remove knee-high weeds from the courtyard.

"From the moment I spoke women's shed, it's taken on a life of its own, it's grown exponentially," Ms Wlochowicz said.

"It just seems that whatever we've needed it's come to us because I think the essence of a women's shed is just so necessary, the community's gone 'yep, we want to be there'.

"We are the first women's shed in South Australia. We hope that this will become a place that's renowned."

The shed has been created as a casual drop-in space that will also offer craft workshops, cooking classes and opportunities for migrants to speak English.

An op shop has also been set up on the site and it will provide packs for vulnerable women in need of clothing and supplies.

For Cynthia Bubner, it has given her "a new lease on life".

"I was pretty much reclusive up until a few weeks ago when we started all this up. I'd moved house and I'd hit a bit of a plateau of just feeling a bit bland," she said.

"I just feel all yippee inside all the time now.

"It's a ripper of a thing you know, fair dinkum it's just bloody totally, totally rapt in the whole thing.

"It's very serendipitous because we kind of bumped into this person and that person, so it's all come together like a melting pot of dreams."

Topics:community-organisations,charities-and-community-organisations,community-and-society,community-and-multicultural-festivals,volunteers,adelaide-5000,sa,australia

Read more here:
Women's shed to open in Adelaide's north to combat social isolation - ABC News

OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers unsurprisingly they dont always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something youd like to share,get in touchand of course, your considered comments are welcome below.

This from a reader who would prefer to remain anonymous, Ventnor. Ed

On thinking about the partial collapse of the retaining wall in Belgrave Road, it occurred to me that the road is below an area where a large number of trees were removed in the winter of 2019 by the developers of a site at the top of Grove Road.

This area had the trees removed, I believe, due to the concerns they would undermine the wall.

My concern however is the impact that this large number of trees being removed has had on the ground in an already unstable area of Ventnor.

Roots help to keep the soil stable I have a masters degree in Building Surveying and the importance of trees and ground stability was something I remember well.

The roots help to keep the soil stable and also absorb large amounts of water.

In my viewI can only imagine that this removal of such a large number of trees has caused additional instability to the soil and also allowed a lot more water than would normally flow, down toward the shore; coupled with the large amount of rainfall, this has made the land where Belgrave Road stands unstable and slippage has occurred.

This water would bypass under the properties on the edge of the road if they are built on solid foundations on stone, and accumulate in the already unstable area on which the road is built.

Continued here:
Letter: Could retaining wall collapse be related to large number of trees being removed? - On The Wight

FRANKFORT Replacement of the Hilltop Bridge tops the list of projects to be undertaken in the village of Frankfort as a result of the Halloween flood and Mayor Richard Adams hopes to advertise for bids on it soon.

The village is currently waiting for the engineers bid packet on the project, according to village Clerk Karlee Tamburro.

The storm also damaged the West Main Street Bridge, which is due to be replaced. The state Department of Transportation red flagged it, but the village hired Tioga Construction in December to make emergency repairs and the DOT has since removed the red flag designation, Adams said Thursday evening.

Tamburro met with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials earlier in the day to review the work for which the village will be seeking reimbursement.

We have 10 different projects. The biggest is going to be the Hilltop Bridge, she said, adding that it is referred to as the Swimming Road Bridge on the DOT listing. I dont think people realize we cant just fix the bridge; the structure needs to come down.

The new bridge may not be built until next year, said Tamburro.

Were not going to be able to just replace it the same way it was. The whole creek corridor has to be studied for hydraulics. Everything is going to have to work together with the West Main Street Bridge, she said.

The village will working with the New York State Canal Corporation, which owns the creek banks through a portion of the village, and engineers from Barton & Loguidice, to coordinate the work, said Tamburro.

Most of the damage occurred along the Moyer Creek corridor, she said. That includes the retaining wall behind Streamside Manor and Litchfield Manor apartments, which was eroded and scoured by the flood waters.

The Lehman Park embankment failure that had been repaired was also damaged.

There is also concern about a power pole that holds a transmission line that feeds the entire village.

That embankment was severely eroded as well, said Tamburro. The storm also damaged floating docks and ramps at the village marina.

Debris removal and culvert damage were among the projects listed. The village Department of Public Works handled some of this work and the village will seek reimbursement from FEMA for the costs.

As for the repairs to the West Main Street Bridge, reimbursement will be handled through the Federal Highway System, Tamburro said. The Bridge NY replacement project is a federal project through the DOT.

Engineering reports have shown the opening under the West Main Street Bridge is too small hydraulically; there is not enough room for a heavy flow of water such as came down through Moyer Creek as a result of the Halloween storm.

The report issued by Milone & MacBroom after the 2013 floods states that the West Main Street Bridge constricts the flow of water during flood events and is prone to ice jams, which exacerbate flooding. Stone masonry walls up and downstream of the bridge also constrain the creek. Utilities, including natural gas, a water supply main, a sanitary sewer line and electrical/communications conduits cross the bridge.

Read more here:
Frankfort reviews flood projects with FEMA - The Times Telegram

Here's a recap ofour live coverage of tonight's Evanston City Council Planning and Development Committee meeting. The committee has three items on its agenda, including a request to grant a one-year extension of time to start construction on a planned development at 910-938 Custer Ave.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m.

A packet with information on the agenda items is available online.

Meeting called to order at 6:52 p.m.

Alderman Eleanor Revelle, 7th Ward, is chairing the meeting. Only four of the seven committee members are present.

P1 - Time extension for planned development at 910-938 Custer Ave.

Alderman Don Wilson, 4th Ward, says one of the developers died recently. Says seems like a reasonable request for an extension.

Related stories

Committee votes to approve.

P2 - Map amendemtn to remove 2044 Wesley Ave. from the oWE West Evanston overlay district

John Cleary, would-be developer of the site, says the property is a former railroad site.

Related stories

Says wants to build townhouses and a three-and-a-half-story apartment building on the property.

Alderman Don Wilson, 4th Ward, says given that the property hasn't been developed under the existing plan, making the proposed changes seem to make sense.

Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, says doesn't understand why this isn't being embraced. Shame to lose this opportunity. But wants to learn more about it befor a final vote.

Community Development Director Johanna Leonard says Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, 5th Ward, who isn't at the meeting, does support the proposal.

Revelle says seems to still be a lot of uncertainty about what the planned development for the site would look like.

Rainey says there's no danger in introducing it.

Cleary says the project will be able to pay for the cost of remediating soil conditions and removing the retaining wall from the abandoned viaduct.

Alderman Judy Fiske, 1st Ward, asks about water runoff from the site.

Leonard says doesn't yet have a planned development proposal and so haven't reviewed that issue.

Cleary says existing rules would require a street connecting Wesley and Jackson -- which would leave no room to actually build anything.

Fiske proposes keeping the issue in committee.

Wilson says he prefers moving it forward. Want to see something good happen with the property -- whether from this developer or another one.

"Let's get the property moving along so it's put to some useful purpose," Wilson says.

Committee ends up with a tie vote 2-2, which means it goes to CIty Council without a recommendation.

Fiske and Revelle voted against forwarding it to Council.

P3 - Restricting ground floor uses in the D2 District

Wilson says he has concerns about this measure, given rental difficulties downtown now.

Leonard says city has similar restrictions in the Main-Dempster district. Says some merchants don't like having financial institutions that don't create a lot of foot traffic take up ground-floor spaces.

In response to question from Fiske, Leonard says special use applicants usually do their homework and try to plan their storefronts to create more activity.

Wlson says it ends up being very costly to go through the process --and often times it doesn't work out after they've spent tens of thousands of dollars. Would prefer to see more certainty.

Fiske says may not be able to force people to comply with our vision of downtown. Would rather have an occupied building than a vacancy. Appreciates the concept behind the proposal, but not confident it will achieve the goal. Would be more comfortable if had talked to property owners and rental agents downtown first.

Rainey says should keep this in committee until we figure it out.

Motion is to table the proposal to the committee meeting on May 11. Approved unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m.

City Council to start at 7:35 p.m.

Go here to read the rest:
Recap: Planning and Development Committee - Evanston Now