By Ben Joravsky
The problem is that the intersection is two blocks south of a Stevenson Expressway exit in a neighborhood that’s a mix of residential and industrial properties. Trucks rumble in off the Stevenson at all hours of the day and night, and lots of other motorists zip through the streets.
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The residents are particularly concerned because Burroughs Elementary School is just one block to the east, at Washtenaw and 36th. “In the morning and afternoon you have a whole bunch of kids trying to cross California,” says Kimberly Blancas, whose children attend Burroughs. “You do have a crossing guard there, but half the time she’s scared out of her mind by all that traffic.”
Early last summer the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, an aggressive grassroots community organization that both Blancas and Gudziunas are members of, got involved, which might have had something to do with Frias’s lack of response. The council’s boundaries fall mainly within two wards–the 12th and the 14th, which is represented by Alderman Ed Burke. Council members say Burke has been cordial and helpful to their organization, attending their meetings and promptly delivering basic services. But they say Frias has been openly hostile, accusing them of attempting to build a base for a potential rival candidate for his office, an accusation the council denies. He’s so hostile that when the council sent him a letter by registered mail last year his office had the post office send it back marked “refused.” The council has been hostile in turn.
“When we first got to the City Council, Frias was there,” says Blancas. “But when he saw us he got up and left.” The residents sat through about half an hour of other business before the committee’s chairman, 42nd Ward alderman Burt Natarus, asked why they were there. “One of our members, Gloria Sandoval, stood up and said, ‘We’re here to talk about the traffic light at 36th Street,’” says Gudziunas. “Natarus said, ‘You have to talk to your alderman.’ We said, ‘We have tried, but he won’t listen to us–he won’t talk to us.’”
Natarus says he’s now staying out of the matter. “It’s between the residents and their alderman,” he insists. “You have to understand, we get many such requests, and we rely a great deal on the local alderman.”
