On 23 June 2017, the Evanston TEX team met with 3 Evanston aldermen, 3 community members and 5 Evanston city staff to discuss the budget for the proposed air quality monitoring work Gaj Sivandran intends to do with Evanston as part of their project. The meeting successfully concluded with the aldermen approving Sivandran’s budget proposal and justification.
Now that the budget is approved, the team has a better sense of the budget timeline and by the next meeting should have a draft timeline and plan through to the completion of the project in September 2018. In addition, by the next meeting, they plan to have the following:
- Finalized budget details (including justification, sensors, maps of sensor locations, timelines and a deeper analysis of staff impact).
- Potentially some initial monitoring (TBC)
The team highlights that having 3 aldermen in the room regarding the sensor budget. Their presence shows that they prioritize this enough to the point where they are indeed ready to act. Jensen noted that because of the TEX project and Sivandran’s assistance to Evanston, they have finally been able to develop a budget and justification that the city was looking for for over a year. This budget and justification has greatly legitimized the project. Finally, Sivandran has been successful in seeking additional support from his colleague, Mark Potosnak (De Paul University), who has a much deeper background in air quality than Sivandran.
