More West Lawn Homeowners Asking Why City Failed To Trim Trees As Promised

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Earlier this week, a Chicago homeowner, armed with video evidence, showed city workers not doing the work he was promised, and now others are coming forward with similar claims.

Residents in West Lawn say that want answers from the city after realizing several of them are waiting on the same request--tree trimming.

So far, the effort from the city isn't cutting it, they say.

"Hopefully it gets done and addressed soon," said Eddie Guillen. "The last thing I need is the tree hitting someone or hitting our roof and now, it has to come out of our pocket."

Last week, Guillen's home surveillance cameras recorded a city worker tearing down no parking signs put up days earlier with the promise that work would be done.

That employee then took off without ever touching the  three trees near Guillen's home.

CBS 2 reached out to the city. A representative says, "Occasionally, weather, vehicle obstruction or other operational complications prohibit the department from completing trims on all the trees that have been scheduled, and we work to reschedule those locations as quickly as possible."

Now, almost a week later -- nothing has been done.

But Guillen says several of his West Lawn neighbors did speak up after CBS 2's first report on the problem.

"Since the story went out, a lot of people have reached out to me, saying this is happening around the area," he said.

People like Katherine Torres - she's been trying to get the city to take action about problem trees since March.

Torres tells CBS 2 the tree on her property is starting to push up the sidewalk.

"If someone trips on the sidewalk, who is responsible? Who will be sued?" she said.

She filed a claim on 311, called her alderman, and even wrote a letter to mayor Lori Lightfoot - no results so far.

"Let's not wait until it puts a hole in my brand new roof," Torres said. "Now what do I do? Who's going to pay for it?"

City officials can't say exactly why the scheduled work was never done outside Guillen's home, or how many others are still waiting. They said the work will be done at some point.