Moments

I've been reflecting a bit on moments that move, that create a shift.

It's challenging to identify those moments in real time. Only looking back do you recognize the shift.

Which means: If you wish to make change, you probably need to create a lot of those moments, not knowing which will bear fruit.

Tonight I think I saw one of those. And what I recognized is the power that reputation holds.

The setting was a Evanston city council committee meeting. The council member who currently chairs the committee helped orchestrate a deeper look at a long standing environmental justice issue impacting a predominantly Black neighborhood (now changing) in the city.

These meetings follow strict protocols. Only invited presentations. Public comment sessions are tightly managed and time-limited.

For this meeting, a collective of folks from the neighborhood impacted by the environmental justice issue were given an opportunity to present for 15 minutes. Then several folks from the neighborhood also joined in public comment to add further detail and lived experiences. Overall, it was very effective.

Council members then took time to ask questions of city staff and to comment a bit on what they heard. Some good, pointed questions were raised, and a few strong comments got at the heart of the issue: Having the political will to address a 40+ year injustice.

Along the way, however, one point was raised that rankled folks a bit. It was about the community needing to report ongoing issues - via 311 calls or emails - so there were data to show the extent of the on-going problem.

That's when two community leaders exercise what I thought was unique reputational power.

The public comment period had closed. This was council member time to talk. But the two leaders were clearly agitated (I was sitting next to them).

One grabbed the attention of the committee chair - who knew this leader well - and went to the podium for speakers and pointedly suggested that each and every council member should treat this issue proactively as if it were in their own ward, and not leave it on the shoulders of the one council member whose ward the situation sits in, or for waiting for citizens to provide data.

A second leader - an elder and civil rights leader in the city - took it further and reminded everyone that the reason folks do not report to 311 is because this has been going on for 40 years. In a Black neighborhood. And nothing has changed. It's not a secret that this issue exists. It's well known. It would not happen in other, whiter neighborhoods. Only political will and some focused bureaucratic effort stand in the way of moving forward.

I have seen other meetings where this kind of challenge to protocol - speak only when you are allowed - would be shut down.

But it was the reputational power of these two leaders that led to the opportunity. And their comments put an exclamation point on everything else that was said that evening.

It created a moment. We'll see where it leads.

The photographs which accompany these posts are taken by me, and show different settings and views of Evanston (where I live). It is a visual reminder that this is the most important setting for belonging and contributing to community: our neighborhoods, our cities.

Jeff Merrell - Community Listening © 2026 by Jeff Merrell is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0