* Most of the attention has been focused on Mayor Daley’s failures during last week’s blizzard. But lots of Chicago aldermen have contested races this month and they’ve been scrambling to soothe constituents’ anger. Ald. Sandi Jackson is up against the daugher of Cook County Commissioner Bill Beavers. The day after the storm, Jackson did a robocall complaining about unfair snow removal priorities by the city. She also called for an inspector general investigation of the distribution of snow plows during the blizzard.
Yesterday, Jackson’s 7th Ward sanitation superintendent was essentially sacked…
Wendell Upton, the city’s 7th Ward sanitation superintendent, has been stripped of his responsibilities and reassigned to administrative duties for allegedly failing to adequately deliver snow removal to residents of the South Side ward.
Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith refused to specify just how Upton fell down on the job. He would only say that Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne made the decision and that incumbent Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th) concurred.
A temporary replacement for Upton will “continue to address the effects of the blizzard” until a permanent replacement is named, Smith said.
“The 7th Ward superintendent was removed from duty last week based on performance issues. His removal was a joint decision by Commissioner Byrne and Alderman Jackson,” Smith said.
Alderman George Cardenas (12th Ward) said he had spent $10,000 from his campaign account to hire private plows and considered it a smarter use of the money than sending political mail or buying doughnuts for volunteers.
“Not cheap, but it was worth it,” said Mr. Cardenas, who has represented the Southwest Side ward since 2003. “I never had to do that. Then again, storms like this don’t come every year.”
Alderman John Rice (36th) estimated that he had spent $4,000 to $5,000 out of his own pocket to employ 10 workers and put fuel in two of his personal trucks that he committed to snow removal. Mr. Rice said he had driven one of the trucks down snow-clogged side streets in his far Northwest Side ward.
Ald. Leslie Hairston, 5th, said her ward has not gotten as many city plows and other pieces of snow removal equipment as she was promised. So, like others, she’s turning to private contractors to clear away alleys.
“We can’t keep waiting for (the city),” Hairston said Saturday.
* Even candidates are getting into the act. From a press release…
During a weekend in which many people were preparing seven-layer bean dip and icing their beers for Super Bowl parties, aldermanic candidate Michael Fitzgerald Ward was busy clearing out snow drifts in 45th Ward alleys that had remained blocked since last week’s historic blizzard.
Ward and his campaign staff spent most of the day on Saturday and Sunday coordinating with more than a dozen hired snow-plow drivers, almost as many bobcat bulldozers, and a team of dump trucks to help “rescue” dozens of 45th Ward residents who had called Ward’s campaign office asking if he could help dig them out from the record snowfall piled on top of their cars and blocking their garages.
“I’ve had to remind people who are calling in that I’m not yet their alderman – I don’t work for the city and I can’t send any city crews to their block,” Ward said. Although not yet an alderman, Ward donated some of his campaign funds along with money from his own pocket to hire a fleet of professional snow-removal contractors to assist the city with its efforts in the 45th Ward.
* Medill Reports called every aldermanic office last Wednesday to see if they’d added special info about the weather emergency. Just a few had…
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* Related…
* The precedent Chicago ignored: Twelve years ago, city workers heaped 65,000 sandbags into piles creating walls to prevent high winds from spilling Lake Michigan onto the Drive. They did this three days before the storm hit. Last week’s blizzard came with even earlier warnings.
