[remote or in person; 10am-1:30pm] 2025 Chicago budget hearing: Department of Streets & Sanitation
Chicago City Council
Finance
Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024
10:00 a.m. — 1:30 p.m. CST
121 N La Salle St Chicago, IL 60602 (Directions)
City Hall, 2nd floor, Council Chambers
This is an assignment to document a 3.5-hour portion of Chicago City Council’s 2025 budget process.
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Other notes and pre-research resources
- For more info and resources, see our Chicago Documenters Guide to the City’s 2025 Budget Process (in 2024).
- Chicago Councilmatic: This civic data org’s website has a lot of the information that can be found on the city’s database in a more user-friendly format, as well as context on City Council and alders.
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Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Cordell Longstreath
Rat contraceptives and carbon dioxide fumigation are two leading ways for dealing with the rat problem outside poisoning. The agency believes that changing the culture of littering and irresponsible waste management is the true solution for curbing the rat problem.
Live reporting by
Ayesha Riaz
Rat contraceptives and carbon dioxide fumigation are two leading ways for dealing with the rat problem outside poisoning. The agency believes that changing the culture of littering and irresponsible waste management is the true solution for curbing the rat problem.
Morning Chicago, covering Committee on Budget and Government Operations: Streets & Sanitation for @CHIdocumenters. Meeting begins at 10:00am with public commentary.
10:57 AM Nov 20, 2024 CST
Sherry Travis, attorney and cofounder of Chicago Animal Law Student Initiatives, considers a humane solution to the rat problem. The org also works with Lincoln Park Zoo and Dr. Maureen Murray, whose research shows Chicago rats have actually evolved to survive eating poison.
“When she tested, 74% of the rats tested had rat poison in their system but didn't die from it. What do we know? We know we’re spending $15 million a year poisoning rats and we know it doesn’t work.”
“Urban rats live only about a year in the streets of Chicago, but during that year, they can have about 100 offspring.” Rat contraception comes in the form of pellets made up of 99% grain, peanut butter flavoring, and less than ⅒ of 1% of contraception.
The contraceptive affects both male and female rats. During a 15 month pilot study in Boston, the city saw a 75% reduction in 13 months. New York and Evanston are also looking to do this.
Travis invites any City Council member/Streets and Sanitation member to a zoom call with a scientist to ask questions.
Speaker 2: Professor Myriam Renaud, Medical Ethics at DePaul, lives in Lincoln Park, by the North Pond, where 3 owl families decided to nest and had 2 baby owls. One of the owl offspring was found dead in a pool of blood at base of the tree due to lethal dose of rat poisoning.
Because rat poison is used to regulate, the rats don't die but are sickened and become easy prey for raptors. Renaud asks the board to consider other methods of dealing with raptors and owls, like more frequent trash pickup so the rats won’t have food.
Speaker 3, Zoe Lee is again commenting at another meeting because the city will not settle their mother’s case. Lee states that the city is in a billion dollar deficit now, and the mayor wants to try and see if he can get $150 million in property tax raise.
“Again, do not touch our property taxes because we are losing residents. This has been the lowest population since 1920 and y’all know that.”
In 2019, the epidemiology program was $5 million, since then it has gone up $3 million. In 2020, the epidemiology program was $5,251,000. In 2021, it was $198,773,486. In 2022, it was $421,941,589. In 2023, it was $332,141,998.
Lee states the 2024 budget was $296,415,414 and the city is now trying to pass another $229,420,000.
“Now, that's almost $1.4 billion studying for some diseases, and that is where y’all need to start this forensic audit at, because why do they have so much money in there?”
Speaker 4, Ann Abramson, member of Chicago Animal Law Students Initiative and Chicago Bird Alliance, aims to create a city that's healthy for animals and people alike, also cites the owl deaths by rat poison in Lincoln Park’s North Pond nature preserve.
Abramson urges the city to discontinue purchasing rat poison, and instead consider non-toxic alternatives like a pilot program with a rat contraceptive, which has seen results in Boston and Seattle.
Speaker 5, Judie Pollock, President of the Chicago Bird Alliance, also interested in the rodenticide issue. During the past year, the alliance formed a task force including a research group that has confirmed that the recent owl death was due to rodenticide.
The Chicago Bird Alliance’s position is to reduce these toxic rodenticides that work their way up the food chain. The Alliance would like to see a 20% reduction in the budget this year, and continue reducing as the city replaces it with other options.
Speaker 6 is Alexis Gonzalez of CALSI, Chicago Animal Law Student Initiative and student at DePaul University, College of Law.
She counted approx. 20 rats after class, says its sad to think about the number of rats and the amount of money being thrown away on solution that doesn’t work. She urges the city to look at rat contraceptives and please hire somebody who will work on making changes.
Last speaker is George Blakemoore, who was largely not audible on the mic. This concludes public commentary.
Janice Oda-Gray of COFA (City Council Office of Financial Analysis) provides a brief snapshot of the fiscal year 2025 budget for Streets and Sanitation. The budget can be found online here: [] on page 85. chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…
chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…
The 2025 proposed budget for Streets and Sanitation is $352.9 million, a decrease of .37 million compared to the 2024 budget. The department account has increased by 110%, or 2.8 million due to a federal grant for the Urban and Community Forestry program.
Oda-Gray ends with noting that 58.2% of the funds in the fiscal year 25 budget are corporate-funded.
nitation (DSS), acknowledges staff and DSS leadership and dedication. Stallard recalls 2024 accomplishments such as the Democratic National Convention, tree trimming, collecting garbage, removing graffiti & sweeping streets.
Stallard also states that Dept of Streets and Sanitation works closely with the Police Department, Office of Management and Emergency Communications, the State of IL, and the US Secret Service to provide barricades and pulse restrictions that meet transit demands.
Dept of Human Resources, Chicago Public Schools and Dept of Streets and Sanitation launched a new labor training program to bridge the gap between education and workforce. 70 high school students worked alongside DSS employees who offered exposure to real world functions.
Food scrap drop off program celebrated its 1 year anniversary and added 5 new locations for a total of 20 locations. Over 5,800 Chicago households have signed up to participate since program launch and over 246 tons of food scraps have been composted.
DSS also launched a fall backyard composting giveaway to provide free backyard composting bins to residents living in homes with 4 units or less.
Every ward received initial allocation of 20 bins, but with high demand, they are providing an additional 40 bins per ward with plans to relaunch the program in the spring.
Bureau of Forestry and Dept of Transportation planted over 13,000 trees across Chicago in efforts to equitably increase the city’s urban tree canopy, which improves air quality, reduces urban heat and enhances green spaces.
The recent shift from 311 calls to a grid-based geographical system for scheduled tree trimming has improved efficiency.
Alder Waguespack asks about cart removals and replacements. Stallard responds that cart delivery is in November, and DSS has delivered close to 60,000 carts this year. There is a refurbish program and some are auctioned off. Each cart has a warranty of 10 years.
Alder Waguespack asks about overtime expenditure and annual cost for staff and equipment deployment. He states they have very clear evidence through the Police Dept that DSS is paying tens of millions (of dollars) to the Police Dept.
“We want to see the event planners and management companies to take on some of the responsibility for paying for police overtime.”
Stallard explains that the city is back to events that they haven’t seen in a long time, and TV show filming also takes a lot of resources.
For reference, the city spent $1.192 million on the DNC, Bud Billiken was $152,000, Chicago Marathon is $501,000+, Lollapalooza was $201,000, Pride Parade was $136,000 and NASCAR was $112,000+.
Alder Reilly thanks the Dept of Streets and Sanitation for properly recording special event costs and says other departments within special events have not done such a thorough job. Reilly asks if the dept benefited from federal ARPA funding?
Stallard replies that the dept received $45 million for the 75,000 trees they will plant and $6 million for recycling. So far, they have spent $21 million on trees (due to backlog, some people waited 3 years for trees).
Alder Reilly talks more about budget: “We can’t afford to keep balancing budgets the way we have historically…we need to start building these budgets from the ground up, which is not an unrealistic expectation, that's actually how most public bodies budget.”
Alder Pat Dowell asks what is the plan for the $3 million in the Urban Forestry grant that was not spent this year?
Stallard responds that is 2025 first quarter carryover to get a better grasp of the tree canopy, like species, size and conditions. Dowel requests a printed map and the tree planting schedule.
Dowell has questions around cuts, like how many citations were written. Stallard responds that out of ~70,000 cuts, approx 32,000 were private cuts, with approx $16 million in tickets.
Dowell asks about the $10 million increase in the Bureau of Sanitation from 2023, Stallard responds that he would get the information through the chair and mentions that contract prices have gone up.
Alder Pat Dowell asks how much money the city would make if they towed more cars instead of putting tickets on them.
Michael, Deputy Commissioner of Traffic Services responds: Not all tickets are for towable offenses. If those cars were parked in no parking tow zones, they would generate more revenue, but that’s not the case for every car.
Dowell asks specifically about abandoned vehicles and why they have to wait 7 days. Traffic Services responds that they have to for due process and to have time for a hearing.
Alder Taliaferro, thanks the commission and asks about plans to increase the number of employees. Stallard responds that DSS plans to reallocate employees from graffiti and rodent control for a total of 25 crews.
Alder Villegas speaks to the Rat City claimed title for 10 years and brings up the earlier rodenticide pilot program from public commentary that showed dramatic reduction in rodents from Boston.
Stallard states that theres some major marketing happening, and shares plans to use carbon dioxide tanks that “seem to be pretty effective”. He states that he says this yearly: “Gotta pick up after your dogs.” Dog waste is a main food source for rats.
Alder Jeanette Taylor, why is Safer not an organization that is year-round. DSS shares that Safer begins in mid-march until snowfall. Taylor asks if there is talk of a winter cleaning plan?
Stallard shares that the dept talks about it all the time. Littering is a large part of the problem. DSS picked up 66,000 bags of litter from around the city. Stallard urges alderpeople to put up signs and to help get the NO LITTERING message out.
Moving from a ward-based system to a grid-based system regarding garbage, the city was able to save 60 trucks a day. The department also hired 600 people in the last 2 years and lost 140 people due to retirement.
Regarding tree trimming, Alder Taylor shares that when she was in her second year, the crews did really good work. Additionally, if there’s anything they could do about weed-cutting tickets for vacant lots. It seems that these tickets are getting thrown out when lots go to court.
Alder Taylor would like to see the state have the same energy they had for the DNC for expressways during the summertime. She states that they’re bad at coordinating and would like to see a schedule for cleaning the expressways.
Alder Pat Dowell adds that it’s not just garbage, it's also graffiti removal along the Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, and downtown.
Alder Rodriguez, cites a recent report by Alex Nitkin [ ] that before the grid-system, the city cut 40,000 trees a year. After the grid-system, the city cut 123,000 trees, an 118% increase. illinoisanswers.org/2024/10/22/chi…
illinoisanswers.org/2024/10/22/chi…
Alder Rodriguez admits he was skeptical at first, but is now on board for the grid-based system. For trash, Alder Rodriguez tells his residents: “If you’ve got a garbage can with a hole or without a lid, you no longer have a garbage, you now have a restaurant for rats.”
Alder Cardenas asks about difficulty dealing with railroads and getting the railroads to clean up their site. Stallard acknowledges that it is a difficult time, but there is a new partner at CSX and Deb De Lopez has good working relationships with railroads.
Alder Lee thanks the team for their work, especially emergency tree trims which the Forestry Dept has done really quickly. Regarding dog waste, Lee asks for other people to become authorized to give citations for animal waste because it’s a problem in every single ward.
Lee asks about other types of trash receptacles besides wire baskets. Stallard states “Contrary to popular demand, less baskets in the front of buildings equals less rodent activity.” If it's not household garbage, it's food or feces, which both attract rodents.
Tommy Johnson, Managing Deputy Commissioner of Streets and Sanitation, came up with Quality of Life teams several administrations ago and it’s definitely made a difference in cleaning underserved and overgrown areas throughout the city.
Alder Hadden, appreciates the dept and equipment maintenance and is interested in talking further to prepare for climate change and other ordinances and adjustments for trends.
Alder Ramirez asks about equipment. DSS received 195 pieces of equipment. For electric vehicles (EV), there are 27 cargo vans, 13 pickup trucks, 5 hybrid SUVs, for a total of 45. There are also 3 EV refuse trucks and 1 hybrid sweeper, which will be in first quarter of next year.
Currently there are only 12 charging stations, and Streets and Sanitation is working with Fleet Dept to get more. The city is also getting more sweepers, spreaders and garbage trucks. COVID was really rough and they were not able to get the usual amount (~33) of spreaders.
Alder Ramirez brings up certain fly dump areas and asks if there are cameras. Commissioner Stallard states they do have cameras that have caught 19 people this year, but that they are also looking into alternatives to camera systems.
Alder Fuentes thanks the dept, and seconds Alder Cardona’s point about railroad accountability and cleaning up their sites, willing to create a focus group and include Congressional pressure.
Alder Fuentes asks what marketing investments will the department make to try to prevent littering.
DSS thanked Alder Moore for contributing to a littering ordinance, good opportunity to work with CPS, for all of the alders to include on their platform. Alder Mosely put signs on the side of the expressway at 99th and 111th, and they worked.
Alder Fuentes is grateful for the amount of young people the dept takes on during One Summer Chicago. “Thank you for the investment, taking that time to mentor young people, to train them so they can become our future workforce.”
Alder Lawson thanks the department and mentions that if a garbage cart lid has a hole in it, people should turn it over so it signals to the city that it’s bad and nobody should put anything in it.
Alder Lawson asks about the total cost on recycling in the city. DSS answers that it is $29-$30 million. Lawson tries to confirm if this is only diverting a small fraction of what it could be.
Department of Streets and Sanitation collect 80,000 tons of recycled material, and 800,000 tons of raw garbage, which is why the number is skewed.
Stallard considers the scale and shares that since since the blue cart inception (12 years ago), the city will reach 1 million tons of recycled materials that they’ve handled. When compared to other cities, Chicago still recycles more.
For accuracy, a tasked recommendation from the Inspector General is to also report on high density buildings, because they don’t capture that information.
Alder Lawson asks for clarification around types of electric vehicles.
DSS responds that in the first quarter of next year they will get a hybrid sweeper that is both diesel and electric and in the process of getting 3 EV refuse trucks. The department has gotten 23 new sweepers, and replaced almost half the fleet.
Alder Manaa-Hoppenworth congratulates the department and asks about prioritizing clearing public ways for families with young children, or people with disabilities.
Alder Manaa-Hoppenworth: “would love it to be a holistic approach much like our tree trimming grid system, where we understand that the whole area is going to be taken care of."
Regarding clearing public ways, there was a previous working group with Advocates with Alders and CDOT. Manaa-Hoppenworth asks how much this program would cost.
Alder Scott thanks the department and gives praise, considers how the job isn’t easy but it always gets done.
Alder Scott would like DSS to consider giving the 16th and 20th Ward their own crew in the summer, dedicate more staff, or work with the contractor so they can hire more people from the community so there’s less robberies.
Alder O’Shea wonders if the fleet is ready to go for the snow season. DSS confirms that it is, with 400,000+ lbs of salt and with new spreaders ready to go.
O’Shea asks about average life mileage on the fleet. DSS responds that the fleet is 10 years old on average, standard is 12-14 years, and its the mechanics that keep them going.
O’Shea asks about comparative research for garbage fees compared to neighboring cities and suburbs. For 1 unit buildings, it is $9.15. In 2019, the department opted not to raise the fee. Closest fee is Naperville, which is $14.45 for a 96 gallon cart.
Alder Conway thanks the department and notes that the removal of garbage cans has led to additional litter. Alder Conway asks Stallard of DSS if he ever received a request from anyone in the mayor's office before providing basic services to a ward or an alderperson’s request?
DSS responds that they report to the Mayor’s Office. Usually they just CC the ward supervisor’s request. The city used to process a million requests, and now they are at 415,000 service requests.
Alder Moore thanks the department and mentions that crews don't get paid per hour, they get paid by square foot. Alder Moore asks about the process of requesting city vacant lots and parkways get their weeds cut.
Gloria Pittman, Assistant General Superintendent of DSS answers that the Ward superintendent or assistant is supposed to put these areas into the app, and the crews go back in 5 weeks to cut. Private lots have to be ticketed before they can be cut.
The app allows properties to be cut, otherwise only cutting if there is a 311 call or direct ward superintendent call.
When entering a city lot into the app, the parkway is also included. If the parkway is not included as part of the job, they pay by square footage. All the city lots are uploaded, the ward must repeat the process every year to ensure the city still owns the lot.
At this point, 1:28pm the committee will break for lunch, resuming at 2:05pm.
Agency Information
Chicago City Council
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