An effort to name the South End Community Center for longtime Evanston residents Dr. Jorge Prieto and his wife, Luz Maria Prieto, hit a procedural hiccup Thursday, when members of the Parks and Recreation Board heard they couldn’t approve the move.
It wasn’t because they disapproved; board president Ellie Shevick said she signed a petition supporting it. It was because existing city policy states that people should be dead at least seven years before their name can be attached to a facility, and Luz Maria Prieto died in 2023.
The renaming effort will continue, however. Ninth Ward Alderman Juan Geracaris, who attended the Dec. 19 board meeting, spoke in support of it and later said he would ask his colleagues to amend ordinance language to allow the community center to be named for the Prietos…