Our ward office serves as a liaison between our community and the City of Chicago departments responsible for the maintenance of public infrastructure like roads, alleys, sidewalks, street lights, sewers, parks, and more. When our office receives a notice from a city department, we work to clarify any information and will post an update for our community. You can also follow our office on social media and subscribe to our newsletter where we will share updates as we receive them.

Our Office’s Infrastructure Budget
The city recognizes that each ward office has a detailed understanding of their local infrastructure and holds relationships with people in the community that may be in need of services. For these reasons, each ward is given a spending budget of $1.5million each year, which is called our “Menu” funds. Menu funds can be spent on a pre-determined list of projects provided by city departments such as alleys, street resurfacing, sidewalks, street lights, and more. Of this $1.5million, our office sets aside a small portion of funds for emergency spending in the community, as well as for repairing a list of high priority/emergency projects provided to us by city departments.

Investing In Our Communities
In order to support our neighbors most in need, our office organizes a Participatory Budgeting committee each year to help us determine the best way to allocate our menu funds. You can learn more about our Participatory Budgeting process below. We proudly work to uplift our neighbor’s needs and work to prioritize Community Investment projects to ensure that any small amount of money we have access to goes into projects that have the most public benefit. You can learn more about our community investments listed below.

Project Timing
In general, all infrastructure and construction projects take a long time to be completed. Once our office allocates funding to a project, that project leaves our hands. Some projects can take a year to be completed, other projects take a few years. We appreciate your patience, as we share your wishes to see our infrastructure repaired and to see new community investments open for the public good. If you have particular concerns about the status of a project, we are happy to help answer any questions, and can connect you with the relevant project manager as needed. You can learn about the status of a project and check permits at the ChiStreetWorks application listed below.

Funding Shortages
There is an incredible need for investments and repairs all across the city, including in the 33rd ward. Of the roughly $1million dollars we have at our discretion to spend each year, we can barely scratch the surface. For example, total alley repairs for any given year might exceed our total budget by double or triple, which doesn’t include street resurfacing or other repairs. We are always advocating for more funding for our communities and look forward to working with our neighbors to continue that advocacy.

Construction and Infrastructure Improvements

“Menu” Funds and Ward Office Infrastructure Spending

Aldermanic Offices have $1.5 Million “Menu” funds which they can use to improve their wards streets, alleys, and any other public spaces. These are the only funds that an Alderman has for improvements so it is important that we are fully informed on all of the needs of our ward. Residents can help us get new ideas for how to use this money through our offices Participatory Budgeting Process and by submitting recommendations in the form below.

CDOT gives our office data on the condition of our streets and alleys to inform how we use our annual funds to improve the ward. This data does not, however, offer us insight on the experience of residents who live, work, or commute in the 33rd Ward. If you have noticed a part of the 33rd Ward that can really benefit from some improvement, please let us know by filling out the form below.

If there is an urgent infrastructure concern such as street lights that aren’t working, curbs that are severely damaged, and speed humps that need to be repaired please contact our office to submit a service request or you can submit a service request directly by calling 311 or using the 311 app. You can learn more about common service requests from our Neighborhood Services page.

Community Investment Projects

Combined Map of Infrastructure Approvals in the 33rd Ward

The map below marks all of the infrastructure improvements in the 33rd ward that have been approved by our office since 2022. If you hover over the map, on the upper lefthand corner, you will see an icon that appears as a box with an arrow. This icon will expand a sidebar menu to control the layers of the map. This will allow you to turn on a layer with neighborhoods, as well as to turn on and off specific years.

Funding Allocated in 2023
Von Linne Turf Field
Haugan Play Space Renovations
Bike Lanes Central Park and/or Berteau
Complete – Garbage Cans & Flower Beds at Lawrence & Wilson Near Kimball

Funding Allocated in 2022
Complete – Repaving Sidewalks of Physically Disabled/Elderly Residents
Kedzie Public Gathering Space at Kedzie & Leland
Complete – Nature Play Space Bateman
Complete – Drake Garden Food Pantry Structure
Left arrow signal Cali/Elston/Belmont
Complete – Stamped Crosswalks

Funding Allocated in 2021
Complete – Exercise equipment at Horner Park
Soccer pitch Horner Park
Basketball court Sacramento Play Lot

Funding Allocated in 2020
Nature Play Space for Bateman Elementary School
Left turn Arrow Upgrades at California and Diversey
Complete – Stamped Crosswalks
Playground Upgrades at West River Park
Complete – Alley Light Installation in Dark Alleys
Complete – Montrose Buffered Bike Lanes

Funding Allocated in 2019
Complete – Horner Dog Park
Complete – Bike lanes on Kedzie
Complete – Drake Garden Improvements
Complete – Horner Park Effigy Mound