Despite Being Marked 'Completed' In 311, Pothole In South Chicago Is Still There

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Spring is in the air, and craters are in the ground.

What do you do when you can't get the city to fix those pesky potholes? You call CBS 2's Tim McNicholas, who just found yet another instance of the city mishandling a 311 complaint.

At 87th Street and Burley Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood, Steve Ortega said he has been driving around a pothole for more than a year.

"It's a pothole, but it's turning into a sinkhole," Ortega said. "The hole is getting bigger, and the cone, you can barely see the head of the cone. If somebody were to swerve, that could be a bad accident."

On St. Patrick's Day, the Ortegas filed a request that listed the closest address to the pothole – the repair shop at the same corner. On March 30, the city marked the job completed in 311, with the note "no pothole found."

"Nobody's ever called us back or sent us an email in response or any one-on-one commitment," Ortega said.

Ortega said better communication is key – but that's not all the city can do.

From trash piles to abandoned cars, we've repeatedly found residents frustrated by 311 requests incorrectly marked "completed."

Spencer Stern, a 311 expert, said the city should post public photos of their completed work in the app – as the City of San Diego does with some requests.

"It validates that the work was completed, and you can time- and date-stamp the photographs," Stern said.

Ortega also complained about a dip in the road a few blocks away at 87th Street and Houston Avenue, and the city recently patched it up.

But the South Chicago homeowner said it's still a steep drop.

"I think they need to do a better job," Ortega said. "We're being neglected more and more, it seems. Instead of getting a positive response, we're getting no response or no results on the situation."

And all the while, the pothole off Burley Avenue just keeps getting burlier.

The city said it is looking into what happened, and as for their overall spring plan, they're aggressively patching potholes every day.

A spokesperson says if you see one, you should report it to – you guessed it: 311.