CHICAGO (WLS) — In a robust response to the unsettling discovery of a woman’s body in a trash bin three weeks ago, Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood saw a large-scale cleanup initiative orchestrated by the city through Operation Clean.
On Friday, the Chicago Police Department united with multiple city departments to tackle the community’s service requests and launch enhancement projects near the junction of 54th Street and Union Avenue.
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Throughout the day, officials reported extensive collaboration among various agencies as they worked diligently to address residents’ problems and carry out essential maintenance tasks.
“It’s very good to see the group out here,” said Cmdr. Joseph Mark of the Chicago Police Department’s 9th District. “The day is positive, the weather is great, and it just shows the collaboration with the community and all the city services.”
Debbie DeLopez, the deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, emphasized that the collaborative effort’s main goal was to uplift living conditions across the neighborhood.
“I’m very prideful when we can make a difference in a community and leave it better than we found it,” DeLopez said.
Craig Turner, first deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, said the work provides an opportunity for both city employees and residents to engage with one another.
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“It’s good to be a part of, you know, making a positive change and also being in areas where we can hear and, and the people can be seen,” Turner said.
The cleanup comes weeks after the body of Zenobia Weatherspoon was found in a trash bin in an alley behind 54th Street on July 11. Weatherspoon lived nearby and was part of a well-known family in the neighborhood.
Ald. Stephanie Coleman said she had requested an Operation Clean initiative before the Fourth of July while Weatherspoon was missing, but the effort was postponed because of storm cleanup operations.
“Unfortunately out of pain you see what support looks like,” Coleman said.
She added, “A clean community is a safe community, and a safe community is a better community. We want better. We deserve better. And that is, as alderman, I demand better.”
Residents said a streetlight on 54th Street had been out for more than a year. Some expressed mixed feelings about seeing city resources deployed only after Weatherspoon’s death.
“It’s sad that something like this to happen for the neighborhood to be recognized,” resident Kenneth Perkins said. “This should have been taken care of even before a tragedy like this even happened.”
Other residents said Weatherspoon would have supported the cleanup effort had she been alive.
“I’m glad somebody paying attention some phones get ring I see I’m glad to get this type of reaction,” resident Lincoln Martin said.
Weatherspoon’s death remains under investigation.
Coleman said she has requested additional targeted cleanup projects and hopes Friday’s Operation Clean will be the first of eight such efforts in the area. She and other residents said they hope the work will lead to a safer neighborhood.
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