Your city is still dealing with rats and potholes, qué más?

Okay so, Chi-Town on the wire — you already know. Let's talk about what's happening behind the scenes, porque it affects all of us, right? You see those new buildings going up, that fresh paint on the old ones? That's all connected to permits like the one issued yesterday for $151,000 for interior alterations to a two-story brick and frame single-family residence. That’s a big chunk of change, like, a whole basement getting redone.

But here’s the real talk. You know what people are actually calling 311 about? The city’s own data for service requests tells you everything. The top issue, by far, is "311 INFORMATION ONLY CALLS" with almost 13,000 requests. But after that, it's aircraft noise complaints, which makes sense if you live under the flight path near Midway or O'Hare. But then, you got 2,072 graffiti removal requests and 1,813 for potholes. And rats? Over a thousand calls for rodent baiting. It’s wild, like, are we ever gonna fix these fundamental things?

These numbers, they tell a story about what’s really bugging people on the ground. We're talking about basic quality of life stuff. The question is, what are those lobbyists like Braeden Lord and Mara Georges, who are active until 2026, pushing for? Are they fighting for fewer potholes or just more development permits?

Chi-Town on the wire — you already know.

You gotta catch the crew talking about this every morning, live at mornings.live.