Evanston, IL has a cool mayor.
Lorraine Morton is the Mayor of Evanston, and has been since her first election in 1993. She is a cool mayor, having been an elementary school teacher and principal in the Evanston area prior to her political career. Mayor Morton is an active member of the ACLU, and in 2003 the Evanston City Council made a declaration signed by her against terrorism but also indicating that sections of the Patriot Act are too broad and have the potential for disrupting civil rights of citizens of the U.S.
In addition to her membership in the ACLU, the mayor is a deacon at the Second Baptist Church in Evanston, a member of the National Association of University Women, and a member of the North Shore Illinois chapter of Links, Inc. (a non-profit organization of women of color). She is affiliated with the Delta Chi Omega graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is also on the advisory Committee to the Public and Nonprofit Management Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Mayor Morton has one daughter and two granddaughters. Prior to being mayor, Ms. Morton was an alderman for the Fifth Ward on Evanston’s City Council. My favorite picture of Mayor Morton is one whereby she is pretending to play the flute. It was an advertisement for the Arts Festival. The picture captures her spirit of fun and commitment. I couldn’t find a copy of that picture but found one of her at her desk.