Your source for news about Chicago's Edgewater and Andersonville neighborhoods.

• Kris Klimek

  Thanks for posting this and for showing that it “takes a village” to get things done! Yea Harry and all the residents who called the city tirelessly to get this fixed:)

• Anonymous

  Kris Klimek is one of the people who should be complimented for her leadership in getting this fixed.  So should Sandy Chaet, board member at Malibu East and Vice-president of ASCO.   I would guess that one of the reasons that Harry Osterman had a hard time getting it fixed is the lousy weather we have been having and all the damage from storms.
  In my job I have to drive all over the city and Edgewater didn’t have it as bad as a lot of communities.  One of the techniques Sandy and Kris have used is reminding their neighbors to call 311.  I  think they got everyone on their telephone tree and every dogwalker at the north end of Edgewater to call — except for the know-it-alls across the street.   If anyone should get credit for getting the job done, in addition to the Alderman, it should go to the residents of Malibu East who made numerous calls to 311 to back up his requests.. When I called and gave the location the operator giggled.  I guess I  wasn’t the first call.  The woman across the hall told me that  when she called the operator said “Didn’t you call this in yesterday?”

• Georgeg

  If they would have fixed it when it started ( a month ago) it would have been much less expensive.  As it stands, it took two days of work.  And really, congratulating people on getting a pothole fixed?  Comone!  This NEEDED to be done.  It is a repair!  A well run ward does not take a village to get a pothole fixed.  PERIOD.  Get your act together Harry!

• Kris Klimek

  Georgeg
  He’s got his act together and so does the rest of our community. I suppose YOU have a MAGIC wand too, right?  What is it you’re doing to make our community a better and safer place?  Some people do NOTHING and take credit while others do all the work. I just love Monday morning quarterbacks..NOT.

• Georgeg

  I understand your frustration, believe me!  My point and my opinion (which I am entitled to) is that this should have been fixed much earlier and it never would have been the EXPENSIVE problem that it became!
   It grew to at least 4xs the size it was orignially was and was throwing gravel across glenlake when cars hit it.  I was waiting for a car to break an axel- forget a motorcycle hitting it when it was underwater!  
   We have a man who ran for 2 offices in our district and abandoned one, leaving the constituants without an elected, but appointed an representative. A very questionable ethical move in my book!   He now makes over 100k and has a 72k plus expense account and manages to show up for multiple press opportunities in our ward (and outside of it- on the boarders, who knows, if they cut the number of aldermen that will help him) but is not necessarily quick on problems in the ward.  We, the people of the ward must step up, repeatedly, for problems like potholes.  Do I call the office? Yes, and 311.  I walked by that disaster daily, up to 5xs a day with my commute (bus stop) and other walks.  Am I impressed with him?  NO.  He needs to get it together.

  Yes, having constituants call in most likely helped.  But thinking that his office is working as a well oiled machine is serving us is not the way to go.  

  While it is easy to attack people on the internet, really, think about who is responsible for the upkeep, maintenance, saftey, and overall health of our ward.He also has a staff working for him.  That person ran for the job and is getting paid really well.  It would be nice to see some of these things be taken care of.

• https://plus.google.com/u/1/109437885410357612653/posts Rach

  Thanks to Kris as well! I was emailing back and forth with her prior to her walking meeting with the Alderman to go over these issues that needed his attention. As someone who lives right by it, it was a royal pain. I had also listened on my police scanner as it caused problems for them night after night as the barrier got knocked out of the way and busted, and as they kept trying to rig up solutions that would warn drivers and keep them from having accidents due to it. I listened to the frustrations of the officers as they couldn’t even get Streets and Sans to do anything about it, or get it moved up on the list.
  Sometimes it takes getting someone higher up in the food chain out there to actually see the issue to get something done about it. It was fixed so fast afterwards, that I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. So thank you very much from this happy neighbor who no longer has to get eaten by bugs after a rainy day! 

• https://plus.google.com/u/1/109437885410357612653/posts Rach

  It is more like get your act together Streets and Sans, that is a Citywide department, that is where we should be placing our anger. The cops were reporting it every night and reporting it as a danger and high priority and yet they did nothing. 

• Kris Klimek

  @Georgeg,
  Obviously, you are bitter and upset about YOU or your guy not getting elected. Not sure which one it is, and therefore will use any and ALL excuses to go after the current Alderman. How about you try working With the neighborhood instead of against it? Please read the comments left by “Rach”. Also, I see your efforts in calling 311 helped out a lot as well…. It’s the city’s area, not the Alderman’s but then, you already know that. Oh and how about giving thanks to those who worked their butts off to get this problem solved for the safety of ALL the residents or are you too good to do that? The Alderman was talking to Streets & San, and the City regularly and I have that info on good authority. How would you know what the Alderman was or wasn’t doing anyway since you seem to dilike the man intensely. You also sound like you are EI or pals with the EI people. I’ve seen those exact words used before…hmmmm

• Anonymous

  It is nice that this pothole was repaired in a mere two days, once the work started. I thank the alderman for his intervention or it probably still would be there. Earlier this season, there was a pothole just as large and around a catch basin just as this one on the east side of Sheridan, around 6121 Sheridan. Not only did it take more, much more, than a month for the city to respond but once the work began, the Bureau of Water Management took more than six weeks to rebuild the catch basin, fill the pothole and repave — over six weeks! More recently, there were two similar problems on Sheridan closer to the university and rebuilding, filling and repaving took the Bureau of Water Management crews almost two months. Apparently nobody exercised clout to expedite the jobs. This is a horrible commentary on the highgly paid employees of the Bureau of Water Management and Streets and Sanitation. Don’t forget that the driver for each truck is paid between $70,000.00 and $80,000.00 annually to do nothing but drive and watch others work. In the case of the hole at Glenlake and Sheridan cited here, I watched the crew “work”. Typical city. One guy working and four standing around watching and eating. What makes this behavior really sad is that companies contracted to do the same work for the city can do this kind of job in one day or a fraction of one day.

• Georgeg

  To ease your mind, I have never entertained the idea of,  nor assisted another in the endeavor of running for the office of alderman.
    I do not know who or what you are talking about with the EI or EI people. 

  I do know that many are upset with how things were handled.  Many do take the right to vote for a candidate as well as having an elected representative  very seriously.  This ward has had a few instances of these shenanigans in the past few years, and it does not reflect well on ANY involved!   As far as using excuses to go after the alderman, I am looking at his actions.  His record is speaking for itself.  It did in the state too!    I do not feel that bitterness is reflected in asking for high standards.  My high standards?  One would be potholes fixed in less than a month.

• Dorothy Parker

  okay sometimes things don’t move as fast as they should.  Elections are soon for the state. Quick the whining already, its done.