Mayor Emanuel Kicks Off First City Service Blitz of the Season
April 13, 2018
The City to conduct 20 service blitzes this year in neighborhoods across Chicago
Mayor’s Press Office 312.744.3334 | press@cityofchicago.org
Susan Hofer, CDOT 312.742.2006 | Susan.Hofer@cityofchicago.org
Mayor Rahm Emanuel today joined the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) in North Lawndale to kick off the City’s first service blitz of the season. The blitzes allow city agencies to efficiently fulfill service requests from residents at one time and address issues like rodent abatement and tree trimming on a larger scale.
“Delivering city services in the most efficient, cost effective manner possible, continues to be one of my top priorities. These are the resources residents need to maintain strong, healthy communities and these are the resources we’ll continue working to provide,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The City will conduct 20 blitzes this season in neighborhoods across Chicago. The neighborhoods were selected based on the number and severity of pending requests for services.
“Clean and thriving neighborhoods are everyone’s business,” said DSS Commissioner John Tully. “The blitz model allows us to work in partnership with communities to quickly deliver the resources and services they need, and leave a lasting impact.”
Crews will focus on one neighborhood each week with blitzes running April through November; weather permitting.
Making sure the roads are safe, well lit, and clearly marked improves the quality of life in every neighborhood,” said Rebekah Scheinfeld, Commissioner of CDOT. “Working with community groups and residents in specific neighborhoods ensures that we complete all of the needed repairs and replacements in a couple of days, while we have crews on site.”
The blitzes deliver a comprehensive amount of resources to neighborhoods most in need of city services, like pothole repair, hand cleaning, graffiti removal, street light replacement, catch basin cleaning and more.
During the 2017 blitz season, DSS bagged and hauled away 5,400 bags of debris, cut weeds in 200 vacant lots, removed graffiti in almost 750 locations and removed 160 abandoned cars. CDOT fulfilled more than 3,200 customer service requests, filling 4,000 potholes and updated almost 800 street and crosswalk markings. CDOT also replaced more than 350 burned-out street and alley lights, and repaired or replaced more than 1,500 traffic and street signs.
DSS is the city’s largest provider of non-emergency services. Each year, DSS responds to more than one million requests for city services such as street cleaning, graffiti removal, tree trimming, rodent abatement, snow removal and more.
CDOT keeps the city’s surface transportation networks and public way safe for users, environmentally sustainable, in a state of good repair and attractive, so that its diverse residents, businesses and guests all enjoy a variety of quality transportation options, regardless of ability or destination.
For more information or to request a city service, call 311 or visit www.cityofchicago.org. Please follow DSS (@streetsandsan) and CDOT (@ChicagoDOT) on Twitter and search #chiblitz to see blitz photos.