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Home The Chamber Membership 2009 Highlights

Highlights of 2009

• Governmental Affairs/Economic Development Council
• Marketing Council
• Membership Council
• Events and Programs

Governmental Affairs/Economic Development Council

Governmental Affairs Council:

• City/Chamber Committee revived to assess and discuss economic sectors in Evanston. The Committee, co-chaired by Ald. Don Wilson (4th) and Melissa Wynne (3rd) is now meeting the fourth Thursday of each month at the site (s) of businesses to meet with their CEO and learn about the company and the industry. The idea is to gain an understanding of the companies’ needs, concerns and outlook for the future.

• Economic Development Committee has developed a formal plan to create a new Economic Development Corporation that would be funded by the City, private sector, and NU. Its mission would be to launch a concerted business attraction, retention, and expansion program with the goal of creating more businesses and jobs in Evanston. The idea has been presented to City Council members and other business leaders in the city.

• Transportation Committee: Worked with State Rep. Julie Hamos on CTA funding formula proposals and kept membership informed of legislative issues and possible service changes.

Annual Regional Legislative Outlook Breakfast: Over 100 in attendance with Evanston's federal, state and county legislative delegation at the Hilton Garden Inn, Jan. 30. “Breakout” session format continues to be popular.

Other Membership Breakfasts/Luncheons: Mayor's State of City Speech (Feb. 13), President Obama Inauguration luncheon (Jan. 20) with over 300 in attendance, Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Committee presentation (April 24), and Green for Green presentation (Sept. 29) by ComEd highlighting matching dollars available to businesses who make investments in energy efficiency projects.

City Commercial Waste Collection Franchise: Convened major Evanston institutions and businesses to convey concerns about costs and protocols involving sensitive materials. Advocated for exemptions for businesses with existing multi-jurisdictional contracts.

Downtown Plan and Commercial Office Space: Participated in public hearings and discussions of the Plan Commission Downtown Plan Subcommittee. Reviewed scope of work for consultants study, engaged the consultant team in strategies for the future of downtown, and communicated success stories about downtown Evanston to the public. Drafted a strong position on the preservation and importance of commercial office space and created news coverage of the issue.

Evanston Restaurants: Assisted several operators with regulatory, zoning, and enforcement issues, particularly involving health, smoking, and liquor policy. Successfully defended one COC member in legal action. Defeated attempts by City to introduce a food & beverage tax.

Developer Assistance: Carroll Properties projects on Emerson Ave.,
708 Church Street Project, AMLI Residential at Chicago Ave. and Kedzie St., and Presbyterian Homes Westminster Place expansion. All of these projects entailed considerable strategy planning, political intelligence gathering and communications to local leaders. Testimony presented at Plan Commission and City Council.

Other Public Policy Issues voiced included: City 2008-09 budget proposal, Parking System Finance, State proposal for Gross Receipts Tax, and Cook County proposal for additional sales and telecommunications taxes. Chamber executive director named co-chair of the City’s Climate Action Council Transportation and Land Use Committee and used position to balance environmental concerns with economic reality as recommendations were developed.

Economic Development Presentations: Conducted orientation sessions for new Plan Commissioners, City Council members, and new City Economic Development members, including a presentation on economic trends to the latter body. Made several presentations to real estate firms, Leadership Evanston, and other professional groups about trends and development activities.

Data Analysis: Chamber tracked sales tax revenue and developed comparative data sets to measure Evanston’s performance against other communities in the region. Also, COC regularly tracks bank performance in the Evanston market, meets with Federal Reserve Bank to assess local market, and updates Economic Trends reports.

Green Building Ordinance: Appointed by City Manager to ad hoc committee to write language that would be compatible with City’s goal of reducing carbon emissions without unduly burdening current building operations and new development. Enlisted support of building owners and operators, and development community to successfully craft a new ordinance and advocate for its passage.

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Marketing Council

Mayoral Candidate Debate: Sponsored first-ever live Evanston Mayoral candidate televised debate (March 24) at ECTV.
NBC Channel 5 T.V. Morning Program: Coordinated Sept. 19, 2008 interviews with six local businesses at Davis St. Metra Station. Tasks included recruiting businesses, managing staging and props, and scripting.

ABC Channel 7 T.V. News: Arranged interviews on small business health care issue with McGaw YMCA and The Belgian Chocolatier Piron, July 22.

Website: Coordinated video shoot of Evanston which will offer 12 minutes of “flexible footage” to be placed on Chamber’s website and can be shared with other organizations and businesses. Conducted an RFP and held interviews with Chamber member firms to select vendor. Worked with CorCreative to develop new website design and content.

Press Coverage included: 13 Evanston Review articles and
8 Evanston Roundtable articles. Additional articles in Chicago Tribune. Most significantly is the constant coverage on Evanston Now.com, Evanston’s online journal of news and information. The Chamber was mentioned at least 25 times in articles in addition to Chamber Executive Director’s blog, commentary, and response to other letters. Responded to Wall Street Journal letter that had criticized Evanston’s retail offerings.

2009 Community Guide: Published in June 2009. Began sales and production of 2010 Community Guide. 2009 Community Guide won first place in Illinois Chamber of Commerce Communications Awards for design excellence, and also won first place for the 88th Annual Meeting Invitation and Program.

Content Management Expo: Organized reception and downtown pub crawl (April 30) for over 200 attendees of a three-day conference of website developers and designers. Worked with national trade association to integrate the conference with existing Evanston-based businesses that are in this industry. Successfully convinced the trade association to again hold their conference in Evanston in 2010.

Sponsorship Partnerships: Annual professional bike race (July 19), Green Living Festival (Oct. 3),

National Recognition for Evanston in Major Business Magazines: BusinessWeek Magazine, in April, named Evanston as one of the top 50 (and the only city in Illinois) cities in the U.S. to start-up at business. Later that month, Forbes Magazine named Evanston as one of the top 25 places to live in the U.S. among towns with under 100,000. Both of these magazines cited Evanston’s remarkable labor pool of talent, the “existence of a thriving business community”, and its quality of life. This recognition is a result of many of The Chamber’s continual efforts to communicate the “Evanston story” to the local, regional, and national media.

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Membership Council

Membership Council:

• Met frequently to discuss strategy and track progress, with regular demographics and trends reports.

• Ambassador program continues to add value to membership recruitment and retention efforts.

• Established merchant district relationships with regular meetings and communications.

Evanston Tourism Committee: Created a forum that met twice with the purpose of exchanging information about events and activities for those in the hospitality industry and exploring joint-marketing activities. One effort to come out of the meetings was to re-establish a relationship with NU Athletics. The Chamber has already begun actions to assist the NU Athletic Dept. marketing and sales efforts.

Membership Assistance: Casework on behalf of members and prospective businesses in Evanston range from reviewing plans for a music club and meeting with Next Theatre to discuss future location options, to resolving bus parking problems for hoteliers and providing market analysis for small retailers.

Young Professionals of Evanston: Monthly events (and sometimes more often) were held with average attendance of 75. Three active committees (Business and Talent, Voice and Action, and Events and Information) – each with their own program of work and timelines, plus Steering Committee, which meets monthly. Gallery Night with trolley (Sept. 24) circulating to stores, museums, and galleries in Evanston.

Other Boards and Committees: Evmark, Evanston Inventure, City Parking Committee, and Chicago’s North Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau,
St. Francis Hospital Community Advisory board

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Events and Programs

2009 Annual Meeting: Strong planning committee continued “thematic concept” Annual Meeting. Fun and creative British theme, generated strong interest in Chamber and reaffirmed our commitment to serving the Evanston business community. Awards given to: Father Robert Oldershaw, Mayor Lorraine Morton, and Robert Piron.

Golf Outing: Successful event at Wilmette Golf Club (July 27).

FSAF: Produced 2009 event with Chicago Special Events Management. Forecast Net Revenue at $57,374, up from $45,408 in 2008.

12 Business After Hours held.

Networking Breakfast: Monthly event. Attendance is steady at 50-60 enthusiastic people.

Small Office/Home-Based Office Business Network: Holds monthly meetings, often with speakers.

Multi-Chamber Networking Events: Over 30 Evanston Chamber members regularly attend 200+ person events held four times a year at locations throughout the North Shore.

Regular Guest Speakers at COC Board Meetings: Including 708 Church St. development team, new City Manager, and CVB executive director.

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