BRONZEVILLE — Theresa Vidalon watched from inside her home as at least a dozen cars got stuck on an unplowed stretch of 48th Street in Bronzeville Monday.
"They said they plowed 90 percent of the city. We must be that 10 percent," Vidalon said, recalling what she heard on the news Monday night.
While some cars were able to spin their way out of their slushy predicaments near the 4800 block of South Evans Avenue, others were aided by good Samaritans and neighbors, she said.
The messy streets meant a snow day on Monday for Vidalon's family, but on Tuesday her husband had to open his shop, she said.
"One poor lady called a tow truck, and it got stuck," Vidalon said, helping her husband push her car into a spot they had cleared on the still heavily snow-filled street Tuesday.
Last year, it took a week to clear up the streets, she recalled.
"Once I park here, I'm scared to go grocery shopping. You can't even get on with your life," she said. "It's been real difficult."
In Englewood, Evergreen Park resident Eddie Bryant's visit to a friend turned into a three-hour ordeal trying to get his car unstuck from a snow-filled side street.
Bryant, 70, was just one of three drivers a crew of neighbors had to rescue in a matter of hours from the 6700 block of South Marshfield Avenue, which still had several inches of heavy, compacted snow Tuesday morning.
Residents say they have come to expect the slow response from the city.
Larry Turner, 55, who has lived on South Marshfield Avenue 23 years, said that people have been getting stuck since Sunday.
“The city hasn’t come through here and done anything,” Turner said, adding that it typically takes plows three to four days to move the snow.
He said that in recent years, residents have ended up shoveling the street themselves after heavy snowfall.
Unplowed streets are not only wreaking havoc for cars on the South Side: They also create an obstacle course for senior citizens, cutting through Bronzeville to reach the nearby Wal-Mart.
One senior heading back to the TRC Senior Village, 346 E. 53rd St., stopped traffic as he lifted his walker over mounds of snow as he used the crosswalk at 48th Street and Langley Avenue.
The man, who refused to give his name, said he usually uses his motorized wheelchair, but the trek proved too difficult.
"It's a mess. Just like they cleared around Hales [Franciscan High School, 4930 S. Cottage Grove Ave.], they can do that here. It doesn't make any sense," he said.
A few blocks north, Bronzeville residents struggled to free their cars from the quicksandlike residential side streets off King Drive. Cars turning west off King Drive came to a halt as they faced an impassable stretch of 45th Street, which forced cars to back up onto the boulevard.
After some cars began to honk, an off-duty police officer took a break from shoveling out his own car to intervene.
"They better clear the streets before a fight breaks out," a joking Renita Braggs said as she watched from inside her car.
"This isn't their priority," said Braggs, 49, pointing to the unplowed residential block, "but they should have done 45th Street. Without a doubt, two days is too long."
Similar issues have been occurring in the area for the last two days, with many residents who got stuck just giving up. Braggs and other residents said they have been calling the city's non-emergency 311 hotline and the Department of Streets and Sanitation to no avail. Braggs said she was placed on hold for far too long during most of the calls.
"All the main streets are clear, so they should be on the side streets. I don't know what's going on this year. It was better during the [polar vortex] but where are they now?" said Braggs, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years.
Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), who also lives in the area, has been outside battling the elements, her spokesman said.
"Ald. Dowell is out in the ward assisting residents," her office spokesman said. He said the size of the residential portiotn of King Drive requires special equipment.
"She's making sure the proper equipment is available and is being used to meet the needs of the residents. She has been using her own resources to augment the service provided by the city that had initially been inadequate," the spokesman said.
The Department of Streets and Sanitation did not respond to requests for comment.
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