It you can't fix it, decorate it.
That's the mentality of a Chicago family who grew sick of what they said is a months-old construction scene in front of their house in the city's Irving Park neighborhood.
"In early May, the City of Chicago dug up our front yard and left two giant metal plates, two construction cones, caution tape, and a construction barrel," Brian Welch wrote on Facebook. "Nobody has touched it — along with the countless blocks of unpaved roads in our neighborhood — in over seven months."
As the holidays approach, Welch decided to inherit the project and give it a dose of Christmas cheer.
"Since this seems like a permanent addition to our home, we’ve decided to decorate it for the holidays," he wrote.
A Santa hat now dons a construction barrel, garland accompanies yellow caution tape and a Christmas tree cutout tops an orange cone.
A city spokeswoman told Block Club Chicago that the work is about 75 percent of the way done and likely will be completed by spring.
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The area's alderman, Rossana Rodriguez, thanked residents in a letter for "making the best of this frustrating situation."
"Our office has been working very closely with the contractors hired by Water Management who are assigned to a handful of projects in the Irving Park neighborhood (Kedzie, Belle Plaine, Sawyer, Cuyler, Warner)," the note read. "There have been a few other city agencies whose work has caused significant delays in these water management projects. We have been and will continue to pressure the other city agencies to finish their work. The contractors prefer to wait to complete all of the projects before they finish paving the streets, but we have requested that the contractors move forward on repaving the streets that are completed (Warner, 3200 block of Belle Plaine, and Sawyer). We want residents to see the improvements to these streets as soon as possible. "
