Chicago Sanitation Bureau

The apocalyptic storm of 8÷4÷08 left us a present in the form of a GIANT hunk of tree that filled our entire front yard, blocking the path from the gate to the stairs… WHEEEE!
Considering the mayhem I heard the streets of Humboldt Park to be — several whole trees felled onto main thoroughfares, trees embedded in people’s roofs, etc. — I fully expected it would probably be at least a couple days before they could get to our relatively non-​treacherous inconvenience. But I went ahead and called first thing in the morning anyway… squeaky wheels and all that.
The gentleman I spoke to at this office was incredibly nice, explaining that while his guys have a lot on their plates today, he’d drive by, assess the damage and see what could be done.
1pm rolls around and 3 guys in a cherry picker/​woodchipper vehicle show up and get down to business with an efficiency I don’t think I have EVER seen from city workers in my 35 years in Chicago. No guy sitting in the truck while others do the work, no hemming and hawing, they just knocked it out pure TCB/​PDQ-​style. I was impressed that they not only removed our little present, but trimmed back other potentially threatening branches form the tree. But it was when one guy came into our yard to rake up errant branches that my jaw dropped in my lap! And THEN he came through with a leaf-​blower and cleaned up our yard, the sidewalk and the midway!!!
My husband took a few Gatorades out to them and tried to offer them a little «lunch money» for their efforts «We can’t take that sir. The Gatorades are fine». Um… this IS Chicago, right? I honestly don’t believe any professional tree-​trimming service we could have spent big $$$ to hire would have done such an amazing job.
I have not come to expect much from city workers, but these are the guys that make the moniker «Chicago Works!» a truism in a way I’ve never seen before.