In a recent Facebook post, a member of the Rogers Park News Group wrote: “$17 million spent on bike lanes that will not be used for over 6 months” in a post of a photo of what appears to be a bike lane completely covered by snow—as cars drive down cleared roads in the background. Seemingly unbeknownst to the original poster, this situation could be addressed with more than social media complaints. You can express your grievances directly to the city, and even monitor their swiftness to resolve it.
311 is your direct line to ensuring city services are being put to use. It’s a non-emergency line that “serves as the point of entry for residents, business owners and visitors” to access information and, more importantly, file service requests (aka complaints). This is your greatest defense against the threat of uncleared snow and ice, and it’s relatively easy to navigate. You can request ice and snow removal from city streets, protected bike lanes, and sidewalks. Whoever is “in charge” of a building, be it landlord, property owner, or property manager, is usually responsible for snow removal on the sidewalks and walkways by their building. However, if a sidewalk has not been shoveled or salted within fifteen hours of snowfall, you can submit a 311 request for that as well.
The wait time for an operator is usually short; they’ll have you describe the situation you’re reporting and give them the address or closest intersection. The operator will ask if you’d like to leave any personal information, such as your name, phone number or email address. While this is optional, it is helpful in case the city may have follow up questions about your service request. If you leave your number or email, you’ll receive a service number that you can use to check the status of your request, but if you remain anonymous you can request the service number from the operator, or search your request by address at 311.chicago.gov. You can also file a request directly through that website, or on the CHI311 mobile app. If you want to be even more helpful, you can follow up if you notice your request is still unresolved after some time.
South Siders, we want you to know that you can call 311 for almost anything, and you should. If 311 cannot assist you, they will try to direct you toward who can, such as your superintendent’s office or the state non-emergency line. Many Chicagoans, especially those living in disenfranchised neighborhoods, have become accustomed to unfinished, unmanaged, and un-maintenanced conditions. The typical response is to just groan and move on while rhetorically questioning who holds the responsibility of changing things. But for most things, the City of Chicago does assume the responsibility, and your taxes pay for the departments who that onus lies on.
Stray cats, potholes, abandoned construction projects and materials, streetlight outage, weird smells, polluted vacant lots, garbage left behind on trash day—the list is endless and, for some, surprising. Do you want to do a clean up with your local community group? The city will loan you the tools. Do you want a tree planted in front of your house? The Bureau of Forestry has you covered. Just call 311.
Aside from service requests, you can also call 311 to request information about events, parades, and festivals, explore library services, get information on rent or utility bill assistance, find out what police district you live in and when the next beat meeting is, find your ward and alderman, request shelter services, receive information about homelessness prevention, and more.
You can even request the removal of objects placed in parking spots—a common practice Chicagoans use to claim dibs on spaces they’ve cleared in front of their homes after heavy or consistent snowfall. We can’t guarantee that challenging dibs is a good idea, but if your neighbor has claimed seven parking spots and you don’t want to get caught moving their chairs…you know who to call (anonymously).
To learn more about 311 City Services, visit 311.chicago.gov.
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