Retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley does not need to worry about political fallout from this week’s blizzard, but some aldermen who are up for another term in the Feb. 22 election fretted Thursday that the late arrival of city snow plows on side streets would harm them.
While much of the focus was on the failure to adequately clear Lake Shore Drive, the response to the winter storm re-opened the long-running question of whether City Hall stiffs outlying neighborhoods in the allocation of services.
“We don’t have all the equipment that we need because it is all on the North Side, because they are concerned with Lake Shore Drive,” said Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, who represents the 6th Ward on the South Side and faces challengers in the coming election. “Either we laid off too many people and we can’t provide services to the entire city or people once again don’t understand that the heart of the city is its neighborhoods.”
On Thursday morning, City Council members provided contrasting reports of the Streets and Sanitation Department’s efforts in their wards.
Ald. John Rice (36th) said the department began moving snow-removal equipment from arterial roads to side streets in his far Northwest Side by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
“Some guys were moaning, but I think Streets and San did a helluva job,” Rice said. “You can only do so much. You only have so many machines. There is a lot of snow and no place to put it.”
Still, Rice said he spent $4,000 or $5,000 out of his own pocket to employ 10 workers and a couple of his personal trucks in the snow-removal fight. He said he drove one of his two trucks down snow-clogged side streets.
Other aldermen, including Lyle, said Streets and Sanitation trucks did not touch their side streets until much later Wednesday. And Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), a vocal Daley critic, said side streets in his ward still had not been plowed Thursday morning.
“It’s great that Michigan Avenue is pristine, but I wonder if Daley and the snow staff are taking all the calls we seem to be getting about snow-bound families,” Waguespack said. “People are pretty angry all the focus is on downtown.”
Waguespack said crews continued to work on arterial roads long after the snow stopped falling and those streets were already passable.
In a statement Wednesday, city officials said, “Clearing the main streets is the priority. Once the weather eases, crews will address side streets.”
But on Thursday morning, Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said city officials had made strategic decisions to clear some side streets even as snow continued falling. “We are on the sides now and have been also doing vital areas which might also be on side streets throughout the storm,” Smith told the Chicago News Cooperative.
Daley is scheduled to attend a news conference on the city’s response to the storm at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Because temperatures dropped sharply after the blizzard ended, some aldermen say the delay in getting to side streets could complicate the task of clearing those areas.
“Once they had the main streets clear and the snow had stopped falling, they should have started sending salt spreaders through the neighborhoods,” said Ald. Howard Brookins (21st). “Now it will be more difficult. When it gets colder and everything freezes, the salt is not going to do much good.”
Like Brookins, Lyle said her ward did not receive help until about 10 p.m. Wednesday, many hours after the storm was over.
“I have people out there who can’t get to work because we don’t have the right equipment,” Lyle said. “They were looking for a sign that the city was coming to bail them out. The mains were clear by then. People want to know where the hell the trucks were?”
On Thursday morning, as she spoke on her cell phone, the phones in her ward office rang with calls from what she said were irate constituents.
“Everybody who calls ends the message with something like, ‘You know this is election season,’” Lyle said, her voice hoarse from a cold. “No, I didn’t know, thanks for reminding me.”
Lyle mentioned how Mayor Michael Bilandic lost his job at the polls after failing to deal with the Blizzard of 1979. But she said voters should not blame their alderman when they go to the polls in less than three weeks: “Nobody wants this to be their Waterloo because we don’t control it.”
The last time that Daley caught heavy flak for snow-removal efforts was two years ago. Aldermen criticized the administration then for putting off working on side streets in an effort to reduce overtime costs. Daley relented, and the Streets and Sanitation commissioner at the time, Mike Picardi, was demoted shortly after that controversy.
Although most city workers currently receive compensatory time off instead of overtime pay, the Teamsters union officials who represent snow plow drivers did not agree to that contract concession and other cost-cutting measures. Daley laid off some Teamsters in 2009 because their union would not agree to give up their rights to overtime and take unpaid furlough days.
How is it that the far NW side started seeing their arterials cleaned yesterday, while us in the 32nd still haven’t seen plows? It is noon on Thursday. I don’t understand the priorities. Even Barry Ave, which goes for a few miles hasn’t been touched.
Does the 32nd get screwed because Waguespack stands up to the mayor? I’m beginning to think so.
The 12th Ward really has it together. Both my alley and my street have been plowed. Great job whoever is responsible. Perhaps it was everyone in the neighborhood pitching in?
Who plowed your alley?
Our street was plowed today around 1pm. I’m just leaving to go out for a look around.
It’s pretty obvious that Ald Waguespack’s agenda is an issue with Shortshanks. There were some potholes near Armitage and Wood for about 2-3 years that are now filled but not done properly.
For the past 8 yrs, I was to the point where I would vote for almost anyone but Daley. Rahm is the exception since he is bound to be very similar…maybe it’s a symptom of short man syndrome?
elllveee,
The 32nd Ward gets screwed because Waguespack is a bad Alderman who blames everything on somebody else. Fioretti and Moore are far more hated by City Hall than is Waguespack but their wards look leaps and bounds better than 32 does.
While Alderman like Moreno were renting snow equipment to help out there ward, Waguespack prefers to just whine in the media. I’d rather have clear streets than a whiny Alderman.
What makes him bad? You don’t like that he whines to the media? What else?
Our street was plowed today but most of our cars are stranded in the garages because of the 45 foot drifts in the alley located at 73rd Street in between Prairie/Calumet. This block is loaded with seniors and some of them are going out to attempt to shovel the alley so they can get to dialysis and dr. appts. One lady is afraid she is going to lose her job because she cannot get her car and it is too dangerous for her to walk to the bus stop at night. Sadly they do not have help and have to shovel themselves. I sure hope a blessing come to this sad situation. I am a senior and will be out there with them too.
It is not the Alderman’s fault. We can only do the best we can do.
We’re screwed because we don’t have more aldermen like Waguespack. The city lost over $1 billion on the parking meters. How many snow plows could the city have bought with that? And our streets were all plowed within 3 days after the 3rd worst blizzard in Chicago history. Not bad at all. Plus Waguespack was out there doing physical labor with Streets and San to clear streets, sidewalks and fire hydrants. And if you remember back 4 years… did we have perfect streets with no potholes? No, not at all. Matlak voted with the mayor 100% of the time and that still didn’t get our potholes fixed or our streets plowed the day after a storm. So Waguespack is welcome to keep whining about waste and corruption for me.
I have seen some alleys with snow in them in the 12th Ward. While someone can drive in my alley, the garbage carts have snow in front of them. I guess I can just pile the garbage in my house until March. Good job Alderman Cardenas!
Same issue in the 1st Ward with the alleys. The Alderman was all over NBC-5 gloating about using his “own money” to have the alleys cleared.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but whoever the contractors were, they blew the snow all over the carts and fences so there are 8-12 foot walls of snow. Some of it is on personal property. People will not be able to use their back fences (which could prevent safe exiting in case of fire) or trash carts until this all melts. And who knows what the extreme cold may bring this week? Can we expect some of these fences to be damaged by the snow and ice? And, the carts? Who pays the bills if any of the property is damaged?