LOGAN SQUARE — Crews aren’t coming to clear the paths around the Logan Square monument and nearby crosswalks anytime soon.
Every year, neighborhood organization Logan Square Preservation asks several businesses bordering the square to pitch in for snow removal. But this year, the group “didn’t feel right” doing so given how much those businesses are struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, said group President Andrew Schneider.
“We didn’t feel like we could ask in good conscience,” Schneider said.
It’s the first time in seven years the area won’t be cleared of snow.
The program started in 2014. In addition to local businesses, the group typically asks aldermen for money and takes from its own coffers to cover the cost of a contractor for the season. The job typically costs $3,000-$4,000.
The contractor plows the area around the monument, as well as the west side of Milwaukee Avenue, the pedestrian crosswalk across Kedzie Boulevard and the angled crosswalk on Logan Boulevard. The city does not plow that area.
Schneider said local businesses were the group’s main concern this year, but the group also couldn’t afford to pitch in what it normally does.
Logan Square Preservation has had to cancel its biggest fundraiser of the year, its house walk, for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.
“We couldn’t carry the expense ourselves,” Schneider said.
Luckily for residents struggling to plow snow in front of their homes, neighbors have offered to help. A map plots neighbors willing to shovel and plow snow either on a paid or volunteer basis.
Logan Square resident Lindsay Saewitz said she created the map after seeing many people ask for help clearing snow in neighborhood Facebook groups.
As for Logan Square Preservation’s effort, Schneider said they hope to continue the program next year.
“These businesses are all hunkered down and hoping to get through the winter and a brighter year ahead. Hopefully that means the return of a lot of normal things, including our snow program,” he said.
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