Is there help to be found from City of Chicago in addressing road hazards to cyclists and peds? (was "Water Crews...", "Open Letter...")

12/8/2011:

Old/outdated content follows:

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Dear Rahm, Dear Jason,

On the evening of Tuesday November 8 2011 I observed that there had been digging at the intersection of W. 24th Street and S. Rockwell and plates had been put down, but apparently the crew did not have large enough plates to cover the hole.

Disappointingly, they left a gap between the plates about 5" wide, as seen in this image taken tonight:

I called this in to 311 and asked them to mark it "urgent."

On November 11 I passed the spot and noticed nothing had changed, and placed a second 311 request.

On November 15 I called the 28th Ward Streets and Sanitation office, and Eileen was nice enough to call me back a few hours later when she returned to the office. I explained the situation and lack of follow-up to her and hoped that she would be able to get the problem rectified.

This evening, November 17, I again noted nothing had changed. As I stopped to photograph the problem another man on a bicycle rode up and told me that he had called 311 about this problem as well.

Per a 311 supervisor, all requests are still marked as "open."

To Rahm: I understand that you are trying to increase the efficiency of infrastructure repairs and improvements, but assuming that this is the handiwork of independent contractors, it is clear that basic public safety considerations are not being observed.

To Jason:

I find it surprising that a call to your streets and sanitation office regarding a hazard such as this would not be met with a timely response. My previous experience with this office under your predecessor was actually quite exemplary.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jamais716 on December 9, 2011 at 6:10am

I always take the lane if I ride down Harrison at night. The pavement near the curb is a mess from Halsted to Ashland and there's not enough light to see how bad it could be until you're right on top of it.

h' said:

Would appreciate any contacts from someone who might be able to get an awareness sent upwards that there is no help to be found to get these hazards to cyclists and pedestrians addressed in a time frame that reflects the fact that they are actually dangerous.

I did not receive any response or acknowledgement when I wrote to Gabe Klein previously.

I would approach Ethan but I got an out-of-office reply suggesting he would be gone for at least the next month.

Tonight I came across this in the westbound lane of Harrison just west of Halsted:

It's hard to get a perspective from the image but it's about 30" long by about 12" wide, and opens directly into the vault with nothing to break the fall if your leg should end up in there. It's right where one would step off the curb to board the #7 or #60 bus.

I called it in to 311, and had the operator check-- I had called it in on November 10, and it had been closed as "completed." I don't go this way often so I have no way of knowing what sort of follow-up there may be. I've given the location as 820 W. Harrison both times if anyone wants to take this on.

As I recall from trying to get some sort of actual sanctioned pedestrian crossing put in over there a few years ago, the south side of Harrison is 25th ward/Solis and the side where this is at is the 2nd ward/ Fioretti. I have had a very minimal to non-existent response from Fioretti's office in general, but maybe a constituent would fare better.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 9, 2011 at 4:33pm

That's consistent with my experience.

h' said:

I don't think ward boundaries have any bearing on the water dept and the work they carry out.

I do think your ability to get help from an Alderman's office depends greatly on within which ward the problem falls.

I would guess that you're right in that there's no shortage of border streets that do not get the attention they need because they require collaboration between two ward offices.

Cameron Puetz said:

I've noticed that all of the locations in this thread have been ward boundaries. Is that just a coincidence or do people think that the system of dealing with service issues through the alderman leads to the border streets being neglected because they're viewed as the other guy's problem?