The Problem — Plow It Back to the Middle

02What happened

The city buries our driveways now. It didn't used to.

Until 2024, the plows pushed snow onto the wide grassy boulevard down the center of our streets, where it sat, out of the way, all winter. Then Public Works changed the routine. Now the blade throws everything toward the outside curb, and the pile lands across the ends of our driveways. It hardens into a wall of ice within a day.

This is not a complaint about a bad storm. It is a complaint about a choice. The grassy median still sits nearly empty each winter while residents fight to keep their own driveways passable.

A resident with a shovel beside a plow pile taller than she is — One neighbor, one shovel, against what the plow leaves at the end of the drive.

A plow pile burying a mailbox and blocking mail delivery — High enough to bury the mailbox and stop mail delivery.

The plow gathers all the snow from the street and dumps it across our driveways, while the grassy boulevard sits empty all winter.— A Highland Park resident, in a letter to Public Works

Two neighborhoods, one fix

Highland Park Boulevard

Plow onto the wide grassy median again, the way it was done for decades. It keeps the snow off our driveways, and it spares the city the recurring cost of separately clearing the public sidewalk that runs down the median. Every household signed.

Southeast Side

Our sidewalks run along our own yards and we clear them ourselves. We just need the snow off our driveways. Ninety-one neighbors signed the notarized petitions.

See the city's own words →