Bernard Stone - "Berny's Wall"

"Berny's Wall"

Although resident and corporate relations between Chicago and neighboring suburb Evanston are generally cordial and co-operative, Stone was an agent in perhaps the most significant altercation in recent decades. The Evanston City Council adopted the Southwest II Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, also called the Howard-Hartrey TIF, on April 27, 1992, in order to incentivize the development of a disused 23-acre Bell and Howell distribution center. At the behest of Stone, on May 26, 1993 a contractor hired by the City of Chicago erected a three-block long, continuous steel guardrail down the middle of Howard Street, effectively preventing vehicles on the Chicago side of Howard from crossing over to Evanston and vice versa. The 2½-foot-high median was aimed at protecting residents of the ward from the hundreds of cars expected to converge daily on a proposed shopping center on the Evanston side of Howard Street, projected to open in 1995. A spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation said construction of the wall cost about $150,000. A Cook County Circuit Court judge denied a request by Evanston for a restraining order to stop construction of the wall. The Chicago Tribune called Stone "silly," editorializing that the wall was a "senseless idea...just an insipid ploy by a useless alderman who has too much time on his hands and too much of the taxpayers' money at his disposal."

On Friday, May 28, 1993 Evanston Mayor Lorraine H. Morton met with Mayor Richard M. Daley, Stone and top city officials at Chicago City Hall. Stone demanded that Evanston pay for the construction and dismantling of the wall. Hours later, Morton announced that Evanston would drop legal action against Chicago. The next day, Saturday, after discussions with Evanston's corporation counsel and others, Morton announced through a spokesperson that Evanston would continue a two-pronged approach, in court and at the negotiating table. On Tuesday, June 1, 1993 the Evanston City Council voted to continue legal action, to refuse to contribute any funds regarding the wall and to decline to consider making any changes in the shopping center site plan until the wall was removed.

Testimony in the trail began July 25, 1994. City of Chicago Transportation Commissioner Joseph Boyle Jr. and City of Chicago Planning Commissioner Valerie Jarrett both testified the guardrail was erected after Stone requested it, without any prior traffic or planning studies. A partner with the firm overseeing the shopping center construction testified that in 1992, Stone contacted him about doing the project on vacated property in the Lincoln Village Shopping Center in Chicago on the far North Side, a site due to be re-districted into the 50th ward in 1995. Evanston officials said Stone was just jealous about a new shopping center in Evanston instead of Chicago.

On September 21, 1994 the judge ordered Chicago officials to promptly remove the border barrier, pay all the accompanying costs (estimated at $35,000), and to pay Evanston's legal bills (about $40,000). The judge declared Chicago's Department of Transportation had no authority to unilaterally order its installation, ruling that the passage of a resolution on the issue Stone pushed through the Chicago City Council on March 25, 1993 only authorized the department's commissioner to "give consideration" to a barrier, and not permission to install it. The decision also dismissed a countersuit filed by Chicago that sought to halt construction of the shopping center. The Chicago Tribune editorialized calling the wall "a petty, indulgent waste of money at the people's expense." Chicago officials requested a stay of the judge's orders pending appeal, but the judge denied the stay. Bell and Howell agreed to pay the estimated $35,000 to remove the barrier, and removal started on October 4, 1994. "The party isn't over until the fat man sings, and I'm the fat man," said Stone.

Fearing that traffic from the new Evanston Center shopping plaza would overwhelm 50th ward neighborhood streets, Stone persuaded the Chicago City Council to make Kedzie Avenue one way, northbound only from Touhy Avenue to Howard Street and to make a smaller portion of Sacramento Avenue one way, northbound only. But after the changes were implemented November 10, 1994 Stone's office was deluged with calls. On November 16, 1994 Kedzie was again a two-way street.

On November 3, 1999 the City of Chicago established the Lincoln Avenue TIF district, including the Lincoln Village Shopping Center area.