(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Wilmette Village Board has voted unanimously to oppose concerts at a renovated Ryan Field on the campus of Northwestern University in neighboring Evanston.
Wilmette residents packed the board meeting, with most opposing concerts at Ryan Field, including Andre DeFreitas.
“It kind of takes my breath away,” DeFreitas said. “And what takes my breath away is the level of negligence that Northwestern is showing in thinking about the community impact of what these concerts would have on us.”
The vote — for a resolution against proposed changes that would permit concerts at Ryan Field — was unanimous.
“This vote is the culmination of nine months of feedback from Wilmette residents who have strenuously voiced their objections and concerns with concerts, which would welcome 28,500 attendees to a residential neighborhood,” said Wilmette Village President Senta Plunkett. “In fact, we have received more communications on this matter than any other topic in recent memory.”
The resolution will be shared with the City of Evanston. Plunkett said they’re asking the Evanston City Council “to thoughtfully consider the impacts of large-scale concerts.”
“We are sending a clear message that commercializing an educational facility’s athletic campus in this manner in a residential neighborhood to drive profits is wholly unacceptable,” Plunkett said. “The noise, traffic, parking and public safety concerns associated with large-scale, for-profit concerts are too numerous to list right now, but needless to say they cannot in any way be sufficiently remedied, especially in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”
One resident suggested litigation if Evanston were to go ahead with concerts.
Not everyone spoke against concerts at Ryan Field.
Charles Hutchinson, President of the Wilmette-Kenilworth Chamber of Commerce, said events at Ryan Field bring business into Wilmette.
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