Rugai has some explaining to do

Now I know this is not 60655, but since it is Rugai, and Im sure there are more than a few streets around these parts that look closer to the left than right, I feel this pertains to us as well!

Residents Want Same Street Fix Their Alderman Got
Neighbors Want Their Street Resurfaced, Just Like Rugai's Block Was Last Year

The 8800 block of South Leavitt in Chicago's 19th Ward is full of potholes and cracks and has no curbs. One block away, the 8900 block of South Bell -- where the local alderman, Virginia Rugai, lives -- was resurfaced in 2008 and still looks brand new.

You could call it a tale of two streets. One of them is perfect; freshly resurfaced with nice sidewalks and curbs. The other is a mess.

They're just a block apart in the same ward in the Beverly neighborhood. As 2 Investigator Pam Zekman reports, residents in the 19th Ward were pretty angry over how their alderman has been spending a special fund intended for ward improvements.

They wanted to know why does one street get help and not the other?

"This road is just horrible", said resident Angelo Parente.

"The whole street has never been fixed", added Reginald Heath.

"It's awful and it's been this way for the past 15-years," said Matthew White.

The three men are neighbors and they said they are fed up with the state of their street.

The 8800 block of South Leavitt Avenue is uneven, it's badly cracked and it's filled with potholes. Just a block away, the 8900 block of South Bell Avenue has been resurfaced and is almost as smooth as glass.

So what's the difference between Bell Avenue and Leavitt Avenue? The local alderman, Virginia Rugai, lives on Bell.

CBS 2 reviewed the Aldermanic Menu Fund and found that Rugai spent $63,688 to resurface her block in 2008. And she spent another $16,185 to build a traffic circle at the end of her block in 2007.

"I think she's just taking care of herself and her neighbors," White said.

But Rugai said that's not the case.

"I make sure that others are served before I am," Rugai said.

She said she's aware of the bad street just one block from her house and she said "to really do it properly, you have to dig up that whole street and go down vary far, not just paving of the asphalt."

Rugai said the job would cost $600,000 to add the needed sewer lines and curbs.

But on Leavitt, residents wanted what Rugai got on her street: some simple resurfacing.

"It really makes us angry," White said. "We've been calling up there to her office and nothing has happened and this has been for the last five years."

Rugai absolutely denied that she selected Bell for resurfacing to benefit herself.

"Absolutely no! Absolutely not. It was for my neighbors. I was doing fine driving on the previous street," Rugai said.

Some aldermen said they think the process needs reform, including Ald. Joe Moore (49th).

Moore said that in 2010, he will let his constituents vote on how to spend his aldermanic menu money.

"It removes any taint that an alderman is making decisions to benefit a particular voting block or to benefit a contributor", said Moore.

Rugai said she has put Leavitt on the list for resurfacing next year. Neighbors said they will believe it when they see it.


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