The People’s CDOT Is Helping – Just Not the Way You Think

There is a group of people taking the initiative to fix and repair certain things around Chicago. This group of individuals, which is called The People’s CDOT, is making their way throughout the city, using their own hands and tools to try to make the roads a safer place. They seem to be helping, but it is not in the way that you are likely thinking.

CBS News calls The People’s CDOT a “vigilante group” that has formed together and decided to handle Chicago’s safety problems on their own. Due to the City’s lack of effort or response to safety concerns across the city, The People’s CDOT has stepped in to do the work that they won’t do.

What is The People’s CDOT doing?

Some people do not agree with what The People’s CDOT is doing. However, the group explained that they only fix and repair issues that are “requested out of safety concerns.” For example, there were several complaints made about a crosswalk in the city. When the city failed to fix the crosswalk, The People’s CDOT stepped up to the plate and made the repair themselves to help pedestrians.

As of right now, the individuals in the group are anonymous. They do not want to reveal their identity or even provide their names because they are aware of the fact that the formation of their group and the work that they are doing across the city is illegal. In fact, they are not legally allowed to do any work to the city’s properties or roads. However, this does not deter them from taking action. One member of the group explained that “if the only way we are going to get safe streets is by breaking city code of municipal code or whatever, then we are happy to do that.”

Some other examples of work that The People’s CDOT is doing are putting down planters at pedestrian crosswalks and placing speed bumps in needed areas near stop signs. The goal of the planters is to ensure that cars do not park at a crosswalk, and the goal of the speedbumps is to make sure that cars will completely stop at stop signs.

The City of Chicago is not a fan of The People’s CDOT

While The People’s CDOT was formed out of frustration, the city workers in Chicago are also growing frustrated with the actions taken by the group. Due to these actions, the city workers must go around and remove the objects that the group leaves behind. For example, the planters placed on the crosswalks were removed within one day by city workers. However, The People’s CDOT responded by installing cinder blocks on the same crosswalks.

How is The People’s CDOT helping?

Let us be clear: we don’t support vigilantism, even when the members’ hearts are in the right place. (Batman is fun in movies, but imagine what the streets would be like if he were real.) But there’s a reason why city engineers exist, and it’s because EVERYONE’s safety should be taken into account.  Instead, they are spending a lot of time,

But as it turns out, The People’s CDOT is helping in other ways:

1. The community is starting to take notice and get riled up about fixing their city and streets:

The safety concerns of the community and neighborhoods in Chicago have been ignored and underestimated by residents for a long time. However, individuals all over the city are starting to take notice of The People’s CDOT’s work and get riled up about fixing and repairing their city and streets. Instead of reporting certain issues and waiting for weeks or months for them to get fixed, which puts others at risk in the meantime, they are getting involved with the group and making the repairs themselves. If they decide not to be part of the illegal group, they are cheering them on or watching from the sidelines, realizing that more safety concerns need to be addressed throughout the city. The People’s CDOT is opening many people’s eyes who were unaware of the various problems affecting Chicagoans every day.

2. The City of Chicago and its city workers are paying attention:

While the City of Chicago and its city workers were believed to be ignoring and putting off peoples’ safety issues and concerns for a long time, they are realizing the effects that this has had on the community and residents of Chicago. The city workers are now being required to go around and remove the objects and items placed throughout the city by The People’s CDOT, which is also requiring them to pay attention and see what types of issues are out there and need to be addressed. Simply put, the City of Chicago is now actually having the problems and concerns in their face, while before they may have waited several weeks or months to go to the locations and assess the damage or issues that people reported.

How do I see the work that The People’s CDOT has done?

If you would like to see what type of work The People’s CDOT has done around the city, you can check out their Twitter page. They have more than 3,100 followers and have around 100 postings which are mainly advocating for the City of Chicago to do more to better serve their residents and keep them safe.

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