With many city side streets still snowed in following a weekend storm that dumped more than 19 inches, Chicagoans braced for another 1 to 3 inches of snow Tuesday evening.
Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Charles Williams said Tuesday afternoon that snow removal vehicles had made "at least one pass" over 90 percent of residential streets. But that often means a vehicle equipped with a plow has driven through and put down some salt - not that the street has been cleared to the pavement like most main thoroughfares have been.
In an indication of the spare-no-expense stance that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking three weeks before he stands for re-election, he ordered Streets and Sanitation to rent an additional 220 pieces of heavy equipment to cope with the situation. That's on top of hundreds of city plows and other equipment already on the street.
The extra equipment was small comfort to Ukrainian Village residents whose homes are in a no man's land on the city ward map. For years, a section of the neighborhood has been represented by 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack. But soon after the Feb. 24 city election, it will officially join the new 2nd Ward, which was carved out of the North Side as part of a citywide remap crafted to comply with population shifts.
The new 2nd Ward doesn't feature an incumbent fighting for his political life. It's an open seat. Waguespack said he's trying to direct city plow trucks to streets in the area that aren't getting attention from plow drivers, while also dealing with snowbound streets in his new ward.
A re-election-seeking Waguespack criticized Emanuel for being too focused on re-plowing the city's arterial streets in the waning hours of the blizzard, arguing it would have made more sense to get a jump on the side streets.
"Some of the side streets where they did finally plow, they got there 12 hours too late," he said. "I was on the phone with Streets and Sanitation at 1 a.m. Monday saying 'Guys, Armitage, Ashland, Damen all look great. You need to get the plows on the side streets.'"
The city followed its usual protocol of plowing the main streets only until the snow stopped, switching to the side streets about 8:30 a.m. Monday.
From Humboldt Park to Lincoln Park to Kenwood, drivers found themselves stuck on snowy side streets Tuesday.
Tatiana Smith shoveled snow away from her SUV in West Humboldt Park. The street was partially clear around 1:30 p.m., but piles of snow still sat against cars and slush stood in the street. Smith wasn't sure if a plow had come through, but she said residents used shovels to move snow out of the streets Monday.
"Certain stuff like this should be taken care of right away," Smith said. "It seems like they try to get things done that they want to get done and worry about the side things when the side things become more important."
In Kenwood, Jasmine Baynes said she was late getting her son to Ariel Community Academy because she couldn't get her sedan through the snow still piled on 46th Street and other streets surrounding the school. As Baynes tried to leave the school, her tires spun in several inches of snow.
"My car is just too low," Baynes said. "Snow keeps getting caught in the bottom of it."
Terry Young, manager at Urban Partnership Bank in Kenwood, was behind Baynes in an SUV. He got out and helped her shovel snow away from her front tires. In the vehicle with Young was co-worker Rhonda McFarland, who said she couldn't drive her car because the alley she uses wasn't cleared. The city typically doesn't plow alleys but instead sends a Streets and Sanitation truck through to create a driving path.
"The crisis is over," McFarland said of the main routes. "This is unacceptable."