I visited my daughter on Friday, two days after the big snowstorm. She lives in Uptown, a northern Chicago neighborhood that is neither fashionable nor upscale. As I was driving through Uptown, I observed that crosswalks at every corner were cleared of snow and pedestrians were moving freely. The same cannot be said for fashionable and upscale Oak Park.
I live at a corner house at Adams Street and Oak Park Avenue. The city, rightfully, encourages those living in corner houses to not only clear their sidewalks but to ensure there is a clear path at the crosswalks. I see clearing the crosswalks as an important duty to my community. I am rewarded regularly for doing my duty when I see children going to school, senior citizens headed for the store, or visitors heading downtown without having to climb mounds of ice and snow to cross the street.
On Wednesday, the day of the big snow, I removed snow from my sidewalk and crosswalks three times. At 11 a.m., before the snow began to fall heavily, I removed the early snow and a couple of inches of slush buildup from the overnight snow melt. I was not the only one concerned about the layer of slush that would soon be covered with snow. The village was worried as well. At about noon, a Department of Public Works (DPW) truck roared at high speed down Adams heading east. The truck threw slush onto my sidewalk and into my backyard. That is a throw of about 10-12 feet. The truck continued east on Adams, ran the stop sign, and made a right-hand turn onto Oak Park with no observable reduction in speed.
Both crosswalks were clobbered with slush. Dutifully, I cleaned up DPW’s mess. At 8 p.m., I went out and removed the 5-6 inches of snow that accumulated in the afternoon. I did my sidewalk and the crosswalks. Shortly thereafter, a DPW truck dropped a 3-foot-high pile of ice into the crosswalk, blocking it completely. The truck left a trail of ice that extended into the middle of Oak Park Avenue, ensuring that pedestrians not only could not use the crosswalk, but would have to walk into the middle of Oak Park Avenue to cross the street. The DPW did the same to the three other crosswalks at Adams and Oak Park Avenue.
At 11 p.m., I sent an e-mail to the DPW reporting the condition of the crosswalks and asking that they remove the ice buildup they created. By 10 a.m. the next day, the ice had not been removed and there had been no reply to my e-mail. I was planning to be stubborn about the matter, but changed my mind when I saw a young mother pulling a baby carriage by the front axle in an attempt to cross Adams on the other side of Oak Park Avenue from my house. Her woes were not over when she completed pulling the carriage through the crosswalk. She quickly observed that both crosswalks at the northeast corner were completely blocked with ice. She then headed east in the street trying to find a way to reach the sidewalk on the other side of the street.
After watching her ordeal, I went out and removed the ice blocks from the crosswalk. It was not an easy task. I also sent an e-mail to the Oak Park village manager with a copy of the e-mail I had sent the previous night to the DPW. I did not receive a response from either of my e-mails to the DPW or the Oak Park village manager.
I have lived in Oak Park for seven years. During that time I have become aware that Oak Park loves to “communicate its brains out.” I have received, by closed circuit TV and mail, instructions on how to compost, care for trees, sort my garbage, drive my car, improve my health, etc., etc. The constant bombardment of helpful hints seems very hypocritical when the village does not respond to its e-mails. Actually they do respond sometimes. Last year, a tree branch broke in front of my house. The DPW did a great job of removing it. I sent an e-mail thanking them for their quick action and complimenting their professionalism. Shortly thereafter I received a thank you for my thank you from the DPW and was told that a copy of my note was being sent to the Oak Park village manager. Oak Park communications is greatly enhanced by compliments.
All complaints should be accompanied by suggested solutions. Here are three:
*Provide safe driving classes to village snowplow drivers with particular emphasis on stop signs.
*Send a DPW team to River Forest to study how to properly remove snow from the street without throwing it onto residents’ sidewalks and without blocking crosswalks. I observed River Forest snow removal on Lake Street during Wednesday’s storm. They do a very professional job. A visit to Chicago DPW would also be valuable.
*Finally, OP needs to put winter pedestrian safety on the top of its snow-removal priorities. From where I sit, it seems that OP believes that “Cars are King.”
The village’s concern for pedestrian safety is woeful.