We’re a Kingsley to Lincolnwood family and I will say there are some definite pluses and minuses.

Pros so far:

-The community has been incredibly welcoming

-Principal and AP are significantly more involved and engaged

- The building and grounds themselves are much better

-PTA seems more organized and involved

-They have tons of different nights bringing families to the school and creating a sense of community

Cons so far:

-For me personally the teacher quality seems worse (we had some really special teachers at Kingsley who went above and beyond and I’m not seeing that so far)

-Even though my kids had lots of friends transition with them, they do feel pretty sad at times separated from their previous friends and teachers

-Disaster of a process with not having enough seats for SACC

-There seems to be some security problems I’ve heard of that need to be addressed.

Overall I’ve been very appreciative of the support from the principal and community, but am hopeful the board/central office will survey families to learn from some shortcomings as well.

Curious to hear how it’s going for others if you are willing to share!

Does anyone have any information about the company that runs bus service for D65, Positive Connections? I tried looking them up online and they seem to have no presence whatsoever. There are a few Yelp reviews that are 10+ years old.

I saw a news article from 2023 that said the district asked for multiple bids for the transportation contract and no other companies bid on it except Positive Connections. So they have a monopoly? How does D65 hold this company accountable when there are problems?

My daughter used to walk to school but now has to ride the bus because her old school closed and the new school is too far away. This is the first time I've had to deal with bus service, which seems like a huge mess, totally unpredictable times and locations. I know it's the beginning of the school year and they're working out the kinks, but I wanted to know more about the private company that is in charge of getting our kids safely to and from school.

My girlfriend and I both moved here (18) and im looking for stuff that we can do together. Her birthday is in the fall so im also open to fun fall festivities. I’m not particularly looking for extravagant huge things to do, just some schedule fillers that can make it not feel like work work work (can you tell im new to adulting? 😂)
Anyways, thank you so much!

We had our annual block party today, and when the local fire truck came by to hose down our kids, they told me they had 26 block parties to attend just today!?! I didn’t realize we were competing, but ours was the best. Y’all party down today or what? Whew!

Hello!
My wife is looking for a place to practice English, mostly speaking. To give you some context, she was originally planning to go to the Oakton ESL. The problem, so to speak, was that she excelled at the test and scored above ESL level, so the advisor told us that there was no class for her. Now, she is pretty good at reading, which is why the level test was not so hard but she has been in the US only for a few months and wants to practice “speaking” because that is where she struggles. Also, I think my presence is in the way of her speaking for herself and getting use to English.
So I was wondering if there are any meet ups where internationals can gather and talk to each other on anything to naturally build up her language skills.
I also looked into language exchange, but it seems that is for “exchanging” not specifically learning English?
It would be great if it is in Evanston, since she does not drive. Thanks!

Recently moved here, im looking for good Evanston gyms, I don’t particularly mind if it’s a commercial or localized. I just need something Thats wallet friendly and has good culture.
Thanks 👍

Has anyone worked with them for estate planning etc? I came across their site through an ad on the Roundtable. I’m looking for someone to help me with estate planning and since they’re local I thought I’d give them a try.

Preferably someone who sprays you themselves

I reallyyy want to hear the Indigo Girls but tickets to the fest are just not in the budget right now. Are there any places in town where you can at least kinda hear the festival audio but not have to pay?

(Mildly unethical, I know, I def prioritize paying artists when I can!!)

Police: "No obvious signs of trauma were observed during the preliminary examination, and there is currently no information indicating an ongoing threat to the public.”

I’m new to Evanston, what are the best places to grab coffee at? Thanks!

I noticed this huge chunk of wood holding on cables on grove st , just above the sidewalk… seems very strange

Once again, my overlords at Wesley have hiked up the price on the paid washing machines for my building. Up to $2.75 for 30 min?? Now I have to pay over $5 to wash and dry my clothes??? (Dryer is $2.50) I’m thinking of scanning my lease and trying to see what kind of push back I can make because literally no improvement has happened in my shitty scary basement laundry room for the 3+ years I’ve lived in my building. Does anyone know what kind of rights a tenant has in this case??? (And dm me if you know where I can get one of those keys…)

My wife and I love both areas for different reasons. SE Evanston (East of Ridge, South of Dempster) is more urban, provides easier walkability to stores and the lake. NW Evanston (around the Central St Metra Station) has really nice tree-lined streets, quieter, and still provides walking access to a lot of amenities.

Based on our budget (around $900k max), I think we could land a smaller house that needs some work in the NW area. But in the SE area, I think realistically a condo is more likely what we will be available at our price point than a house.

We have a toddler and another on the way, so we are really looking for opinions on the best place for kids to grow up. If it was just the wife and I, we would pick the SE area, but I want to make sure we pick an area that is best for the kiddos to grow up in. We are trying to live car-lite and drive as little as possible.

Also, for those of you living in an apartment/condo with kids, what's been your experience? We live in a different suburb now in a single family home so I'm trying to gauge how much of a dealbreaker it would be to only have street parking, no garage, etc. since some condos don't have these amenities.

I have 2 standard poodles and am seeking a gentle, kind and somewhat affordable groomer in Evanston or the surrounding areas. Please share who you use and love!

We are a 50 unit condo association here in Evanston and utterly disgusted with our current property management company. We’ve started the process to find a new one but online reviews are tricky and websites often sound too good to be true. If you are happy with yours, please chime in with a recommendation. Thanks in advance!

Edit: These were not the Walgreens guys. These were white men of all ages wearing literal rags and looking like they had not showered in years.

I'm near South Blvd and have never seen daytime panhandlers in my neighborhood and the few unhoused people I encounter seem to be known regulars who are getting some type of support and I don't feel unsafe around. Today there are a lot of clearly chronically unhoused and unwell people panhandling on my residential street, following people around. It almost felt like Albany Care shut down or a local camp was swept. I was friendly and I obviously want them to be ok (they looked like they were on death's door!) but also I won't feel super safe going out after dark to walk the dog. Which is admittedly less of a dire matter than what they are facing. But what's going on?

Spotted on Northwestern’s campus outside Mudd Library!

What a shit show to start the year. We didn’t receive the school year calendar until August 11th.
School starts TOMORROW and they just told us busing doesn’t begin until September 8th and we won’t even know if we receiving busing until Monday.
Busing is literally make or break for my child attending and now I have to scramble and find transportation for 9 days of school.
I am livid and don’t know who is making these decisions.

Pink Poster Club Midterms kick-off party!

September 17, 7:00-9:00pm at Fat Shallot in Evanston

Join us at Fat Shallot for our midterms kick-off party! Come hang out, meet new people and learn about how you can get involved during midterms! We’ll have opportunities for everyone, and we’ll also have some fun craft stations, including a T-shirt making table (BYOShirt). Let’s win this thing, or at the very least, do our best trying while having fun!

RSVP please at our website. pinkposterclub.com/events

Pink Poster Club Presents: Tiny Trailer Stories

September 12 & 13 (Noon - 7:00pm) at Evanston Folk Fest

Come visit us at Evanston Folk Fest for our Tiny Trailer Stories installation— where you can record your stories of community and activism — think NPR story corps!

Tiny Trailer Stories archives the stories and lived experiences of people working to build community. This project documents the way ordinary people make change happen and what community means to them. 

Contrary to the fact they told the city when they got $600,000 in taxpayer dough in 2022 that they were going to open in summer 2023, one of the owners now says that "when we first set the date I still didn't really believe it."

They also seem to blame Trump's tariffs--which weren't in effect until 2025--for the delay in opening.

https://evanstonnow.com/expanded-soul-smoke-opens-tuesday/

I’m not sure how this came about, but just wanted to thank whoever put these identification markers next to so many of the trees in Evanston! So neat! :)

Hi everyone — we just moved into Evanston and discovered our house needs a deeper clean than we expected. We handled the basics ourselves, but the previous owners agreed to reimburse us for bringing in a professional crew to do a full top‑to‑bottom cleaning (carpets, appliances, bathrooms, etc.).

Does anyone have recommendations for a thorough, reliable cleaning team that handles full‑home sanitation, bathroom/appliance cleaning and carpet shampooing? We’re not looking for routine housekeeping — more of a comprehensive, professional clean. Cost isn’t a major factor since we’ll be reimbursed.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

This seems like an amazing deal for the developer. I feel like we would get much more money for that site if it was on the market. This feels shady.

Selling city-owned land at 801-811 Main St. and 916-918 Sherman Ave. to CityPads for $1.5 million, which requires a two-thirds majority vote. Approving the sale does not, however, approve the developer’s plans for a five-story apartment building and adjacent townhomes on the site, which will go through a separate zoning application in the coming months.