Blizzaster 2011: On to the Side Streets

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 4, 2011 3:13PM

A six-foot high wall of snow cuts off the ability to access the alley behind my apartment building as of 8 a.m. Friday morning. (Chuck Sudo/Chicagoist)

The immediate response to Lake Shore Drive aside, the city has actually done a good job of snow removal during this week's blizzard. As the days pass, residents throughout Chicago are starting to adopt a "what have you done for me lately" approach towards clearing the side streets and especially the 2,000 miles of alleys. I took the above photo of the scene in the alley behind my apartment building an hour ago. That's a six-foot high wall of snow created by neighbors whose immediate focus was getting the area around their garages cleared.

The scene in Bridgeport isn't unique. I've had numerous e-mails over the past 24 hours land in my inbox relating similar scenes ranging from Edison Park on the northwest side to Auburn Gresham. Only a few blocks over from my home a reader mass e-mailed media relating an account of a Streets and San plow stopping a third of the way into clearing his street. Last night, CBS2 led off its 10 p.m. newscast with a story of an ambulance getting stuck responding to an emergency on the south side. Bucktown residents, tired of waiting for plows to hit the side streets, began clearing out their own streets. As the days pass, garbage begins to pile up in the alleys.

Streets and San commissioner Tom Byrne said he couldn't put a timetable on how quickly his department could clear the side streets and alleys.