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.

The city of Chicago is OK with dead bodies in the alley?

Why is the city OK with dead bodies sitting around for days?

OK, so it's not a HUMAN body.

But I called on Friday, June 23 about a dead kitten in the alley.  While someone moved the body deeper into the weeds, the body is still rotting, with flies all around.

It has been nearly a week, with no action. (Well, the flies certainly have a lot of action). I called again today. Foolishly, I forgot to get the request number. ...so course, they have no record of the request. Reminder: ALWAYS GET THE REQUEST NUMBER, and HAVE THEM TEXT IT TO YOU! The request number is now  17-04280559

Why is the city OK with dead bodies (even if it is an animal)? We know the mayor has an affinity for dead fish....but dead kittens?

Hutson: South Side residents lefted stuck in the snow #chiberia

Recently we've had ourselves a snow storm. This article shows not many are really happy with the city's response to the snow on some parts of Chicago's South Side. What do you think of the city's preparedness for the recent blizzard?

BTW, before Worlee jumps in it's noted that 6th ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer will be challenged in this month's election by Richard Wooten who was quoted in this article.

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?

Update on BBQ's on the Public Way

This past Monday July 7, 2014 at the Park Manor Neighbors community Council(PMNCC) monthly meeting the issue of BBQ's on the public way was addressed. Two businesses were singled out about this issue. The Goal Post lounge on 71st and Luversia's Soul Food on 79th. Residents let owners of both businesses that they did not want businesses BBQ on the public way unless there was a special event and proper permits were obtained. The resident's wishes were backed up by Alderman Sawyer who had previously addressed the business owners. The owner of the building that houses the Goal Post, and who is applying to transfer the license to him, stated it would not happen in the future as well as he would address other issues with the lounge. The owner of Luversia's stated he did purely for marketing as his business has suffered from the negative publicity surrounding 79th.

Sweeparound.us app can help us avoid street cleaning tickets.

Chicago Public Radio recently mentioned this a web/mobile service that can help remind you of street cleanings.  Click this link then scroll down to find the story on SweepAround. (Sidenote: Dennis Haynes of Chesterfield Community Council was also featured in another segment of that day's Afternoon Shift).


SweepAround.us is a website that can provide dates as well as free text reminders to move your car.


As an example, check out
http://sweeparound.us/ward-6/area-6/

The next ones are April 15 and 16 for the shown area.


As a suggestion, no matter where you live, be a good neighbor and help add some spaces. Pull all the way up to/back to (but not crossing) signs such as handicapped parking.

When you ignore using these signs and leave several feet in front or behind you, you essentially destroy a parking space for your neighbor. That is especially difficult on families with young kids or elderly parents.


Check this link for the official City of Chicago street cleaning schedules and maps.

The 6th Ward's schedule is here.

Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Important Streets and Sanitation Information

Worlee provides us with some important information to keep our communities clean this spring. This information mainly regards the 6th ward, but for those of you outside of the 6th I would encourage you to find out who your local Street & Sanitation contact is for your ward. Only we can keep our communities clean this spring!

Sun-Times: Chicago crews to start dibs demolition

Photo via Chicago Dibs

 Thankfully over the past few days most of the snow has melted away, but expect the city to remove your "dibs" from the street on Monday. This news probably would've been appreciated earlier in the weekend, but hopefully if you're able to you should probably remove your items from the street tonight!

Dibs isn’t dead in Chicago, but it’s about to take a break after one last weekend.

On Monday, the Department of Streets and Sanitation will begin a job nearly as painstaking as side-street snow removal: carting away the lawn chairs, beat-up couches and discarded toys that have helped Chicagoans stake claim to cherished parking spaces they have cleared of snow.

Chicagoans were urged to spend the weekend removing their space-saving items or risk having city crews do it for them.

The time is right to declare a final weekend of dibs, the controversial but time-honored tradition that City Hall has condoned with a wink and a nod.

In a winter that has featured a relentless barrage of snow and cold and the fifth-highest snow totals in Chicago history, there appears to be a break in the action. There are cold temperatures but no major snowstorms in the forecast until March 2.

That gives Streets and San crews that have been piling up overtime a rare chance to clear the streets so they don’t look quite so tacky.

“As is the case with each winter season, crews remove items from city streets near the end of the winter season,” Streets and Sanitation spokeswoman Molly Poppe said Friday.

“With weather conditions improving and the snow melting, Streets and Sanitation crew will begin to remove the ‘dibs’ debris and other obstructions from the public way, beginning next week.”

Where are the Streets and Sanitation Supervisors

Lately, there have been some complaints about garbage pickup and other Street and Sanitation issues in the ward. This past Monday,at the Park Manor Neighbors Community Council meeting Alderman Roderick Sawyer stated that Street and Sanitation supervisor Mr. Paul Bryson has been assigned additional duties of working a Safe Passage route in Roseland (120th Michigan), by the head of Streets and Sanitation. Mr. Bryson is not the only Streets and Sanitation supervisor working "Safe Passage" and Alderman  Sawyer is not the only Alderman upset about not having a full time supervisor. 

DNA Info wrote an article about how several northside(Yes, northside) Alderman are not happy. Here is a portion of the article.

City workers from 15 agencies, including Streets and Sanitation and the Department of Transportation, are only being used on Safe Passage routes in initial back-to-school efforts, Miranda said.
They are not trained like Safe Passage workers are, but are fulfilling a different role, McCaffrey said. They provide services along the route and report unusual activity, he said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy touted the collaboration earlier this year as a commitment to the safety of students, with Emanuel saying the route's staffing could be maintained.
But the $15.7 million plan has been criticized as mismanaged, poorly planned and unsustainable by the Chicago Teachers Union and City Council's Progressive Caucus, including Waguespack.
Although the city said employees still work in the field while manning Safe Passage routes, Waguespack said North Side workers sometimes must make long commutes to South or West Side schools in the morning and afternoon, leaving little time to clear service requests in a designated ward.
There's a "huge cost" to sending city employees places they're not normally assigned to, Waguespack said.
City employees are also paid more than the $10 an hour of Safe Passage workers. Streets and Sanitation ward superintendents earn an average salary of $88,733, or about $42.60 an hour. Building inspectors earn an average of $90,517, or about $43.50 an hour.
The 44th Ward superintendent, who has been helping with routes, earns $106,884 a year.

Read the entire article here  DNA Info.

My question is what happened to the money that was given to the non profits and churches who were suppose to man this program? Hmmm, another waste of taypayers money? What do you think?

311 Call -- now over a month!

The 311 request from July 5 has been partially fulfilled -- but that may be due roofers working on the garage who decided to take out all of the trash -- not just their roof work, but the tree branches as well.

However, the other garage still has tree debris that is rotting away.

The old number  was 13-00887639.  The new number, called on 7/24, is now 13-01016686

Would we still be waiting if this was Downtown or most of the North Side?

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!

Historical Chicago Bugalow Association Seminar on Basement Flooding

Thanks to Sixth Ward Blog Reader LB.

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and the City of Chicago's Department of Water Management

Basement Flooding

Understanding Your Sewer and Ways to Avoid & Address Flooding Issues

Wednesday, April 10, 6-7:30pm

Woodson Regional Library
9525 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60628

RSVP to bungalow@chicagobungalow.org 

April showers bring May flowers, and unfortunately storm water and flooding. Wade through the basics of understanding your sewer with David St. Pierre of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and Thomas LaPorte of the City of Chicago’s Department of Water Management.  Join us for an overview of the combined sewer systems in the Chicago area and how they operate during rainstorms. Why do basements flood during heavy rains? What causes sewer backups? Most importantly, learn what you can do to prevent sewer backups, and what the City and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) are doing to address these issues.  

Effective March 25th: New grid for garbage collection

You might have seen this over at Ald. Sawyer's 6th Ward Chicago fb page. The grid system is coming to portions of Wards 6, 9, 15, 16, 17, & 18 according to the map you see in the graphic below. Trash pick-up will not be done according to wards. Of course if you expect trash pick-up on a certain day there probably won't be a change. For example if you normal expect pick-up on a Tuesday there will be no change to that.

Important Streets and Sanitation Information

In a conversation with the Ward Streets and Sanitation office they are asking residents to  follow several request to help keep the ward clean and rodent free. With the new grid system coming these request will help  keep residents from getting sanitation code violation fines.


First the 6th Ward Clean and Green is April 20, 2013. Block clubs and other organizations are asked to call early to reserve equipment(no power tools). The flyer is below

The following are request

• Place trash inside the carts and close lids. keeps pest out of cans and trash off the ground

• Limit large items(chairs, bed frames, etc,) to one to two items per week. There are no more "Bulk" or "Junk" pickups and these items go on the regular truck.Also, place these items out as close to pickup date as possible to discourage salvage trucks from "stripping" mattresses and other cloth items for the metal frames. 

• You MUST call the Street and Sanitation office to schedule pickup for excessive large items and amounts of trash. If you do not call for pick up ( garbage truck personnel are not responsible for completing your "cleanouts") you may be subject to fines. 

• Call 311 and report fly dumping, cart additions or replacement.

• Please cooperate and move your vehicle when you see the signs posted for street cleaning. Street cleaning will resume the week of March 25, 2013. Streets from State to King Drive will start that week and King Drive to Cottage will start in April.

Other tips are:

• Cole Park will be accepting gently used sports equipment(baseballs, basketballs, gloves, soccer balls, etc). Please check with the park about exercise equipment.
• Recycle small electronic items( cell phones, MP3,game players,etc) at electronic stores such as Best Buy, Frye's, etc
• Do not put mail or other documents with personal information in trash. There will be paper shredding days coming up where those items can be shredded.

• Donate large working/non working electronic items, furniture, clothing to non profit organizations such as the Salvation Army(1-800-SA-TRUCK) or Zealous Good.

If you have problems with dirty alleys, excessive trash or any other sanitation problem call the office at 312-747-8776. Your ward sanitation superintendent is Mr. Paul Bryson. Mr. Bryson goal is to make the 6th Ward the cleanest in Chicago.

Clean the sewers!

The leaves are falling, and the rain is coming. Rather than letting out streets be flooded. Let's be proactive and brish off leaves when we can. Street cleaning is happening this week in certain areas, so it's an ideal time to do it.

I know you're thinking "That's Street and Sanitation's job!"


But realisitically, they can't be everywhere, and this is relatively low priority compared to our many other needs.

If you don't want to yourself, perhaps some bored youth wouldn't mind using some sticks to clear things out.

Let's do our part to prevent flooding!

Sewers - repairs are under way.

I posted an entry on Sunday (but written on Friday) about the sewer problem on the 80th block of Calumet. 

Between Friday and Saturday, someone came out and spray painted information for an imminent repair, as well as laying planks to cover the hole.

Also, I drove by Tuesday morning, and regarding the problem at Calumet & 83rd, serious repairs are now under way.  Hopefully, their next stop is 8012 S. Calumet and the 7900 block of Calumet.

83rd & Calumet getting SERIOUS repair

UPDATED Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Why is Street and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne Stalling in Approving the 6th Ward Superintendent

Commissioner Thomas Byrne

Worlee isn't too happy about the hold-up over Ald. Sawyer's appointment of Paul Bryson for streets & san superintendent for the 6th Ward by that department's commissioner Thomas Byrne. Let's hope this issue is resolved in the near future!

UPDATE: On our FB page it was announced that the Alderman's pick had been approved and will be on the job in the near future!

Keeping the 6th Ward clean

You can read this over at Worlee's blog. A phone number if you have any issues including, ordering a blue recycling bin and a black trash can. Our superintendent is Brain Gardner and the number for streets & sanitation is 773.747.8776.

Let's help make the 6th the cleanest ward in our city. :)

UPDATED: Storm reminds city dwellers of alleys' importance

Click to pic page

Another article from the Tribune, this time focused on the alleys :P

Lake Shore Drive is open, as are other major thoroughfares, and city crews have started to clear side streets.

But snowplows won't be moving down alleys, arteries that are no less important to city dwellers. Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne says plows might do more harm than good, pushing snow up against garage doors. Garbage trucks, however, will try force their way down alleys to make tracks for cars, he said.

(Earlier, Ray Orozco, mayoral chief of staff, said work on alleys won't begin until "after Streets and San gets a handle on side streets.")

So, the mountains of snow in alleys will be removed from alleys only where neighbors on their own have put snowblowers and shovels to work.

Read the whole thing!

UPDATE 3:29 PM I already quoted from this Sun-Times article in the post with Ald. Lyle's quotes. But here's more about our alleys

Byrne then stepped to the podium and said, “The snow plan in effect was that we could get in contact with our provider — as many as 200 tow trucks. We brought in 84 tow trucks the night of the incident on the Drive. And those tow trucks worked constantly [all day Wednesday and into early morning Thursday] so we could get the Drive open.” 

Why did it take so long if tow trucks were standing by? Byrne said, “Every one of the cars was buried” in snow. Daley added, “It was huge drifts there. All of the sudden, it accumulated very quickly.” 

As for the side streets, Byrne said he has 474 pieces of equipment devoted to that job, including more than 200 high lifts and backhoes. But, he refused to say when it would be done, when alleys would be reopened and when garbage collection would resume.

I think I understand some of this. The residents want you to clear the alleys but will be just as upset if you pile the snow against the garage doors. An odd catch-22, but it is what it is.

Looks like we'll be on our own with this issue for a little while longer. It was cool to see people get together to help clean out some of their streets the other day. And probably their alleys as well in some areas.

BLIZZARD 2011: Please plow the side street on 70th place (Calumet Ave) and the alley

Found this report via our Blotter on the website Ask for help, lend a hand: Blizzard 2011 which is a service of the Chicago Tribune, WGN, and the Chicago Weather Center:

Please, we need assistance with the side street of 70th place and the alleys down the entire block of 7000 S. Calumet. All are still covered completely in snow. We have quite a few elderly and handicapped people who reside on this particular block, your prompt assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Here's hoping they got a response for their troubles.

BTW, I have some photos in an album at the FB page which shows my own alley still largely unplowed a day after the snow storm ended. Here's an example near 98th & Michigan:

Looking at the alley south from 98th Street

The side streets at least look much better but I'm sure there are those of us who want to get our automobiles out of our garages. :P

BTW, if you have photographs that you would like to share of your neighborhood in the aftermath or even during the recent blizzard share them with us. Post them on our FB page or send them to an e-mail address JP had set up at blog+web@thesixthward.us.

I just heard this today, it was said that clearing the alleys of snow is the responsibility of the neighborhood. Is that true?