Portage Park Businesses Not Pleased About Graffiti, But Pleasantly Surprised That City Worked Fast To Remove It
By Tim McNicholas
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — Eight Portage Park neighborhood businesses have been hit by the same frustrating surprise – graffiti on their windows.
But the owners of the businesses were pleasantly surprised at how quickly the city removed the ugly mess. CBS 2’s Tim McNicholas took us Thursday morning through the crime and the cleanup.
Bibi Hernandez is the owner of the One Stop Beauty School at 4360 N. Milwaukee Ave. at Montrose Avenue. A man visited the beauty school Sunday morning – and he wasn’t looking for a lesson.
“He sat in the car for a minute,” Hernandez said.
Security video shows the man hop out of the car around 3 a.m. and then tag two of her windows. Police say seven other businesses were also tagged in the area.
“It’s kind of like, oh, why?” Hernandez said. “I’m a brand-new business. We’re a school and we’re not busy. just be kind and compassionate and understanding about the businesses that are struggling to stay open.”
City-wide graffiti removal requests jumped from 93,275 in 2019 to 107,939 in 2020 – a year when 311 requests across the board went up. But last year, the numbers dropped down to 90,475 – even lower than 2019.
Hernandez says the Department of Streets and Sanitation showed up Monday and cleaned up the taggings.
“I really appreciated it,” she said. “I’m like wow that was like really fast.”
A department spokesperson says Streets and San improved the way they track and respond to graffiti requests in 2019.
Department leaders hope after the turbulence of 2020, the declining numbers are in part a result of those changes.
Whatever is causing the decline, Hernandez hopes it continues.
“If the family member sees that person, they should also like a have a talk with them,” Hernandez said.
She hopes whoever tagged her windows never stops by the One Stop Beauty School again.
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