How long does it REALLY take to get a garbage can in Chicago?

So how long does it take to get garbage cans in Chicago?

In Chatham, in the homes southwest of 79th & King, one neighbor has been waiting since April 3 to get a set of garbage cans.

Now, to set the stage...In September of 2015, the building went into foreclosure. In 2016 , new owners were renovating the building.  By the end of the summer, 2 black garbage cans mysteriously disappeared. I assumed they had been used by renovators to haul garbage from the building to the alley (as they had earlier in the summer), but it turns out they were missing.

One of the new tenants (who moved in by March), on April 3, 2017, called to request new garbage cans.  The request number is 17-03567043.  I called the city again on May 31 .  A couple of days later, I passed that info onto Alderman Rod Sawyer's office. It's now the end of June. 3 full months have passed. Not ONE extra garbage can in the whole city? Really???

And this is costing the city money, as apparently there is a special pick-up due to this situation. (The recycling isn't "ruined" due to "contaminated" recyclables, as we have heard on the news).  Wouldn't a couple of cans be much cheaper than constantly brining out "special forces" to take care of this mess?

Can someone from WBEZ, DNAinfo , Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times or some other news source get some public data from the city, and see how long it takes a request for garbage can to be fulfilled. I really wonder if Jefferson Park, Lincoln Park, South Loop, Mt. Greenwood or Hyde Park has these issues. I would expect that wait time to be AT LEAST 66% shorter.

Streets and Sanitation has gone to a grid system, so apparently Aldermen don't have the clout anymore to get things happening.

Please let us know what you have experienced, and let's hold our city accountable.

Is it time for garbage collection fees?

So the new chairman of the city council Black caucus has a new idea about gaining revenues from garbage collection. I wonder what happened to his idea of a commuter tax:

Chicago homeowners have managed to avoid suburban-style garbage collection fees, but those “spoiled” days may be coming to an end, the newly elected chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus said.

“I hate to say it. I know there’ll be a lot of pushback. But a nominal fee may be something we have to look at” to solve the $30 billion pension crisis, said Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th).

“All over the country and in smaller municipalities, they do pay for garbage collection. In Chicago, free garbage collection is something we’ve become accustomed to. But just like not having a sales tax on services, those days may be over. We have to look at it to balance the books.”

Four years ago, Inspector General Joe Ferguson estimated that a volume-based, “pay-as-you-throw” garbage collection fee could generate as much as $125 million a year for the cash-strapped city. Chicago could raise an additional $18 million a year by imposing a blue cart recycling fee, Ferguson said then.

Emanuel ignored both ideas, apparently concerned it would be viewed as a back-door property tax increase.

Was your garbage unemptied last week?

I live the area between State and King, 83rd to 79th.  Our scheduled garbage pick-up is Wednesday, and Recyclables had recently been changed to Thursday.

However, the garbage was NOT picked up on Wednesday (Christmas Eve). I understand our recyclables not being picked up on Thursday due to Christmas. But since they hadn't been picked up the week before, I would have expected it to be done on Friday, Saturday at the latest.

Of ALL the weeks to NOT have service, this would be the worst. Due to boxes and wrapping paper, this would be the "ideal" time for recyclable pick up. And of course, garbage would increase, due to meals, preparation, and the like.

Is the garbage here still privately managed? If so, it's time for a new service!

And what will happen since a SECOND holiday is happening exactly a week later? Will they skip us again, or come today?

Please let us know if you have not had your garbage picked up, or if it was, did they come on time?

311 call - 19 days and counting

Here's another 311 problem: neighbors (2 sets of them) cut down branches form their tree.


I didn't think I could trust them to call 311, so I did, on July 5, to pick up the branches in front of my garage. The number was 13-00887639

After 19 days, nothing happened. So I called 311 again. The new number, called on 7/24 is now 13-01016686

Please consider calling 311 to help this problem get solved.

Thanks!

Tribune: Aldermanic power wasting away under new grid garbage system

I suppose this will come to our part of town at some point:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's move toward the citywide garbage grid threatens to take much of the ward-level garbage control out of City Council members' hands.

The effort was launched in June in a handful of North Side wards then was expanded July 30 on the Northwest Side. Emanuel expects to save $20 million this year by freeing garbage crews from matching their routes to the often twisting borders of the wards.

But aldermen have been loath to give up one of their key powers.

Complicating matters further on the 4500 block of North Kostner is the fact that with the new map that officially takes effect in 2015, the street will become part of the 39th Ward, which Ald. Margaret Laurino represents.

In some cases, aldermen already have begun serving the people whose votes they need in their next election, but Arena said he plans to keep working to make sure the garbage pickup goes smoothly in his entire ward. The grid system, Arena pointed out, should make the ward irrelevant for trash collection purposes.

"We've only had a handful of complaints, and I hope that by next week we'll pretty much have the kinks with the new routes ironed out," he said.

Read the whole thing and then let us know what you think!

6th ward officials on garbage pick-up grid plan...

[VIDEO] 6th Ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer & 6th ward streets & sanitation superintendent Paul Bryson discuss the new garbage pick-up grid plan proposed by Mayor Emanuel with Jay Levine on CBS2. Got wind of this via @6thwardchicago on Twitter.

Mayor plans to change garbage-collection method to save $60 million

Crain's:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to change the way garbage is picked up in Chicago with the intention of saving $60 million a year, according to a report.

Several aldermen say the mayor believes he can save that much and will not pass it up just because it could anger City Council members, for whom influence over such services is important in their wards, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday. Aldermen are afraid a grid collection plan would take away their ability to answer special service requests in their wards, the paper said.

Mr. Emanuel recently asked consultants to come up with a collection plan that spreads the work evenly among drivers without consideration of city ward borders, according to the report. Aides to Emanuel said then that City Hall was just looking into the idea and that a decision wouldn’t be made until after a draft plan was written by consultants and they figured out what amount could be saved, the Sun-Times said.

Clean up on Aisle 81!

 

It's been only a day since the election, so i should give the campaigns time to recover from their parties.

But there is a lot to clean up. These photos were taken on 81st ST. and St. Lawrence, and signs form both were put up all along 81st (as well as throughout the ward). This was Wednesday at noon.

The Sawyer campaign certainly can recycle these for next season, and Lyle's campaign could perhaps also find a use for their signs as well.

Now it's time for us to unite as a ward....

Big Changes Planned for Garbage Collection

Chicago News Coop:

Less than two weeks before the election to succeed Daley, a spokesman for the administration told the Chicago News Cooperative on Friday that officials would begin implementing a new, grid-based waste pick-up system that would supplant the entrenched ward-by-ward approach in at least part of the city.

The move comes just months after the city’s inspector general — in a report that many aldermen panned — said the city could save more than $64 million in the first two years with the sort of grid system that virtually every other major U.S. city employs.

Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said Friday that the decision followed a pilot grid-based collection program in an unspecified part of the city last year. The city already collects recyclables on a grid-based routes.

“Based on those efforts, we are planning to expand grid-based garbage collection to more areas this spring,” Smith said in an e-mail. “We believe expanding this effort to the whole city becomes even more important as ward boundaries are set to change later in the year, and re-configuring routes based on a grid instead of new ward boundaries just makes sense.”

Illegal dumping prompts rodent infestation

This story takes place in Englewood and Ald. Lyle is quoted in this article about this problem:

Trash pickup for the 7000 block of South Parnell is every Wednesday but within a week not only is the trash twice as much but twice as bad, said Ruthie Shivers, 80, who lives at 7041 S. Parnell.
...
Alderman Freddrenna Lyle, whose 6th Ward includes portions of Englewood, said she previously spoke to residents living in the 7000 block of South Parnell about the situation and informed the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation to look into the matter.

“I had previously spoke with the Streets and Sanitation superintendent for my ward about this matter but I did not know the situation had not been cleared up (in regards to the items illegally dumped),” Lyle told the Defender. “I do know that the city baited the alleys this summer to help combat the problem but it appears that more illegal dumping has since taken place and we are working on a long-term solution to prevent further illegal dumping.”

Lyle added that she spoke to Thomas Byrne, commissioner for the Streets and Sanitation Department, on Tuesday and he assured her that the items illegally dumped, such as tires, would be cleared away by Wednesday.

“I hate that it sometime takes the media to start inquiring before something is actually done but hey what can I say, it is what it is,” Lyle said.

In the alley there were warning signs stamped to light poles from the city informing the public about the rodent problem and it listed a June date as the last time the area was baited for rodents. City workers will hand out informational pamphlets to residents Wednesday letting them know what causes rodent problems and how to prevent them.

Read the whole thing. Perhaps rodents are a problem in your neck of the woods.

Is Chicago throwing away $40 million?

Chicago is turning its back on $40 million in guaranteed revenue over the next 10 years -- and 25,000 free trash/recycling bins -- by ignoring an Aurora company's offer to install "Free Green Cans" bearing advertising across the city.


Steve Holland, founder of Free Green Can, said he was closing in on an agreement with City Hall after a test last summer that saw the company install 65 free containers at Taste of Chicago.

Chicago is ignoring an Aurora company's offer to install "Free Green Cans" bearing advertising across the city.

But no sooner had the experiment ended than Chief Environmental Officer Sadhu Johnston resigned to take a job in Vancouver. That stopped the deal dead in its tracks. Daley has yet to name a replacement.

Free Green Can is offering the cash-strapped city 10 percent of all advertising revenue for 10 years with a minimum annual guarantee of $4 million. The 25,000 free cans would save the city another $4 million-a-year

Complete story at
http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2052848,CST-NWS-freecans17.article

How about this? Let a private company come in and place trash cans along 75th, 79th, 87th so soe of the trash we see can be placed in these cans.

Recyling Warning -- keep the trash from overflowing!

The 8000 Blocks of Calumet & Prairie were skipped when the city had the Thanksgiving Day holiday & mandatory furlough day the next day.

i had waited patiently, thinking that there was a slight back-up, and that they would come later.

Nope, didn't happen. When i did call, they simply waited until the next pick-up.

(Enclosed are some photos of the back up of several homes for 3 weeks of non pick-up).


With Christmas, there's definitely plenty that could be recycled. Wrapping paper especially can easily be recycled, as well as boxes, cans & bottles (from that delicious food you're making!).

However, we need to make sure we don't create a mess during the one time of the year where the blue cans are SURE to be filled.

If you notice a problem, call city's 311, or also the 6th Ward Streets & Sanitation office at 312-747-8776. They will pass on your concern to those responsible for the blue cart pick up.

Let us (and the alderman's office, 773-846-7006) if you experience any issues that aren't being resolved.

Some other suggestions:

• SMASH your boxes -- maximize the space in your can
• SAVE your gift bags & boxes whenever possible.
• CALL right away if you notice your recycables were not picked up on time.
• ASK a neighbor who might not be using their can to use theirs if needed. It's rude to dump more that small piece of trash or two into someone else's can, so please ASK first for big uses.

Have a safe & blessed holiday!

UPDATE: The garbage collectors (for the black bins) arrived a day early, this afternoon (rather than the usual Tuesday morning).  So hopefully they are working ahead of time...