Woodlawn Residents Say Safety Concerns Ignored By City
CHICAGO (CBS) -- People in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood say they want to know why their complaints to the city to address safety have gone unanswered for at least three months.
Neighbors who are part of the block club in the 6400 block of South Ingleside say they have had enough.
"It is very upsetting, you know, like we've been ignored," Gloria Searcey said. "You have a job."
From the dangerous driving conditions in the alley filled with potholes, to a gaping hole the size of a parking space left behind by contractors, Brenda Venor says the problem is never-ending.
"One of our members here, she has told us that she had busted four tires over the last couple of months coming into her driveway," Brenda Venor said.
Neighbors say they submitted service requests to 311, and even called the alderman's office to complain.
"We've been calling about five to six times each day, and we still get the same response: 'We'll look into it,'" Terrance Miller said.
Records show at least two open service requests for a street light and potholes date back to last July, October, and December.
Neighbors think the delay in response might be that Alderman Willie Cochran (20th) is leaving office soon, and facing federal charges of corruption.
"No, that wouldn't play a role in the response," Cochran said. "We are going to get the bottom of that. That has nothing to do with the services that we provide in our office."
Cochran says his office got the street light complaint in December. It was fixed, but went out again.
"That's why I escalated the problem to the commissioner," he said. "Because those never should have been out that long."
The alderman says city crews will be out Thursday night to take a closer look at all the street lights on the block to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.
One street light was already back on after CBS 2 took the concerns to the alderman.