Reporter, Finance & Transit
Thomas Brennan covers money and movement for The Evanston Edge: local finance, real estate and transit.
That includes the property tax levies of the city, the school districts and other taxing bodies, the city budget, housing costs and the real estate market, and how people get around: the CTA Purple Line, Metra’s Union Pacific North line, Pace buses including the Pulse Dempster Line, and the bike network.
He tries to explain the numbers in plain terms, with the source documents linked so readers can check them.
Beat: property taxes and budgets, real estate, transit, the local economy. Send documents or data tips through the tips page.
Recent work by Thomas
- Black-Owned and Woman-Owned: What Census Figures Say About Evanston BusinessesOct 23, 2026
- Samuel Stupp Is Growing Medicine from Self-Assembling MoleculesOct 18, 2026
- Eight, Nine or Ten? Counting Evanston’s Business DistrictsSep 30, 2026
- Steve Goodman, Amazingrace and the Evanston Folk YearsSep 13, 2026
- Northwestern, NorthShore and the Schools: Evanston’s Biggest PayrollsAug 16, 2026
- Gahan Wilson’s Macabre Cartoons Began in EvanstonAug 10, 2026
- Margaret Burnham Geddes: The Evanston-Born Architect Who Designed Modern Homes in ProvidenceJul 7, 2026
- Mark Cuban: From Indiana University to Broadcast.com, the Mavericks and Cost Plus DrugsJun 18, 2026
- Church Street Plaza Changes Hands for $31.2 MillionJun 8, 2026
- John Rogers and the Skin-Thin Electronics Coming Out of NorthwesternJun 2, 2026
- The Evanston Plaza Comeback at Dempster and DodgeMay 28, 2026
- Catharine Waugh McCulloch: Suffrage Lawyer and Evanston Justice of the PeaceApr 29, 2026
- Riding the Pulse Dempster Line to O’HareMar 20, 2026
- Isabella Garnett and the Hospital Evanston’s Black Patients NeededMar 9, 2026
- Jensen Huang and the Rise of Nvidia: A Profile of the AI Chip PioneerFeb 19, 2026
- Magnetar Capital, the Hedge Fund Evanston Calls a NeighborFeb 8, 2026
- Ryan Field’s $800 Million Rebuild, by the NumbersJan 22, 2026
- After Five Flat Years, a Proposed Evanston Levy IncreaseDec 30, 2025
- Reading Your Evanston Property Tax BillNov 20, 2025
- Frances Willard, the Organizer Who Built a Movement from an Evanston HomeNov 9, 2025
- CTA Adds Weekday Evening Purple Line Express Train in Six-Week PilotMay 28, 2015
- Evanston Seeks Input on Eight Divvy Stations, Opens SponsorshipsJan 8, 2015
- CTA Holiday Train to Run Through Evanston in Late DecemberDec 9, 2014
- What’s in That Building? A Look Inside Orrington PlazaApr 3, 2014
- Evanston Installs Card-Ready Parking Meters and Pay Stations, With Rollout Aimed at MarchJan 27, 2014