Cahokia Heights launches city cleanup program? Residents are wary of its promises
Cahokia Heights established a new program in an effort to beautify the city.
Dubbed Operation Fresh Start, the new initiative includes tearing abandoned homes, cutting overgrown weeds and cleaning debris. Work began Monday morning on North 82nd Street and Lake Drive. Cahokia Heights Mayor Curtis McCall Sr. said the goal is to continue cleaning up each neighborhood as needed.
‘’Operation Fresh Start is not just about knocking down derelict homes or cleaning up vegetation that has been overgrown for decades,” McCall said. “It’s also a fresh start in new government, a fresh start for Cahokia Heights, from administration to our water and sewer department.”
But some residents are doubtful that the new program will benefit them. Walter Byrd, a Cahokia Heights resident, said he rarely sees city workers cleaning in his neighbohrood.
“They haven’t done anything over here,” Byrd said. “Those houses have been abandoned for a long time. This is just something they’re doing to get more money.”
Centreville flooding
Cahokia Heights — a merger of Alorton, Cahokia and Centreville — officially became a city on May 6, 2021, when McCall and other elected offcials were sworn into office.
Since then, the mayor said the city has made “tremendous progress.” He said 20 people were added to the water and sewer deparment and he’s looking forward to hiring more police officers. McCall said his main priority is alleviating the area’s flooding issues, which has affected residents for decades with minimal help from local government.
“We have identified over $35 million to address our water and sewer problem, something that has plagued this community for over 70 years,” McCall said. “I’ve lived in this community all my life. I’m 60 years old, and this problem has plagued this community since I’ve been alive.”
“We’re finally about to address this problem for these cities. It takes a team approach. It takes local government, it takes county government, state government and federal government.”
McCall said the new funding will be announced at a press conference later this month.
Monday’s launch of the cleanup initiative occurred in the Ping Pong area of former Centreville, a neighborhood that’s the most damaged by flooding and sewage issues.
The problem has spurred two lawsuits filed on behalf of residents against local governments and a public utility, along with visits from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and U.S. senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin. McCall is listed as a defendant on one of the lawsuits.
Monday’s launch of Operation Fresh Start comes after legal advocates for a group of residents in the area, Centreville Citizens for Change, issued an open letter on June 1 calling out government officials and agencies for not making residents a priority when fixing the pervasive sewer problems.
“Residents, as well as the public, should not be in the dark about actions being taken, what actions or areas are being prioritized, howfunding will be spent, or timelines for improvements,” the letter stated.
Among their concerns are making local government more transparent. Byrd, a member of the group who lives in the Ping Pong area, said he didn’t know about Monday’s event until the time it started, when he saw city vehicles in his neighborhood.
“They come out there and do a little work, but they don’t cut the ditches, don’t do nothing,” Byrd, 65, said. “People come out there dumping, and me and a friend have to come get it up. That was just a showing.”
McCall said he commends the Centreville Citizens for Change and is looking forward to working with them as the city progresses. He promises to keep residents informed about his plans for Cahokia Heights.
”They’re advocates who said ‘we no longer want to live with sewage running in our backyard,’” McCall said about Centreville Citizens for Change. “I have never looked at them as nothing but a progress for what we’re trying to do.
”There will be transparency when it comes to funding this operation and also spending the funds for this operation. What those citizens have to know is that we have not spent one dime of that money. We have to get the money first.”
Byrd is skeptical of those promises. He said he hasn’t seen any improvements.
“Nothing has changed, and I’ve been here for 30 years,” he said.
