Mayor Rahm Emanuel today joined the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS), the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Chicago Department of Water Management (DWM) 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, has always been a top priority and neighborhood programs like this are crucial to maintain the best quality of life for residents,” Mayor Emanuel said.  “These blitzes represent important community investments that will make our neighborhoods stronger, safer, and move the City of Chicago forward.”

The City will conduct 25 blitzes this season in neighborhoods across Chicago. The neighborhoods were selected based on the number and severity of pending requests for services.

“Streets and Sanitation is committed to keeping all Chicago communities clean and safe,” DSS Commissioner John Tully said. “Neighborhood blitzes allow us to work with residents to efficiently deploy the resources they need to keep their community thriving.” 

Crews will focus on one neighborhood each week with blitzes running March through November; weather permitting.

“This ‘blitz’ model of service delivery has been very effective in making sure that when we leave the neighborhood at the end of the blitz, we’ve done our best to improve the quality of life for residents and visitors to appreciate the best the neighborhood as to offer,” CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said.

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.

Throughout the 2018 blitz season crews removed graffiti from more than 1100 locations, baited 730 alleys, removed 344 abandoned vehicles, trimmed 506 trees and cleaned more than 1100 alleys, lots and parkways, discarding 5,164 bags of debris. CDOT crews filled almost 7,000 potholes, refreshed 1,800 crosswalks, replaced 1,900 street signs and repaired 425 street and alley lights.

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 311.chicago.gov.