KENOSHA, Wis. – After four months of health hazards, foul smells, and neighborhood frustration, the burned-out property in the 9400 block of 69th Street is finally being cleaned up. But let’s not pretend this resolution came from a sudden sense of responsibility or civic urgency.

This cleanup began only after Kenosha County Eye exposed the City’s failure in a May 7 article that detailed the dangerous and unsanitary conditions left behind after a house fire in January. The piece included testimony from residents who had repeatedly contacted city officials, only to be met with silence and inaction.

A day after our story was published, Mayor David Bogdala and other city staff were seen at the site. Five days later, crews arrived and began clearing away debris. Today, the work appears to be nearing completion.

To chalk this up to coincidence is to ignore the obvious. After months of delay and neglect, the timing of this sudden activity tells the real story: someone in power was embarrassed into doing something.

This isn’t how government is supposed to work.

For weeks—months—residents had been pleading for help. They contacted inspectors, filed complaints, and tried to get answers from Alderman Art DeBaere and Mayor Bogdala. A citation was issued back in March ordering the property owner to clean up the debris within 30 days. That deadline came and went with no enforcement, no follow-up, and no answers.

Meanwhile, neighbors were forced to live next to a toxic, hazardous pile of rubble—reporting raw sewage, mold, and dangerous debris. The smell, according to multiple residents, was unbearable. Property values were impacted. So was their quality of life.

Then KCE reported on it.

Suddenly, the mayor showed up. Suddenly, things started happening. Suddenly, cleanup began.

Whether it was the property owner, an outside contractor, or the city itself that finally carried out the work remains unclear. What is clear is that it took public shaming to trigger a response—something neighborhood complaints alone couldn’t do.

Neither Mayor Bogdala nor Alderman DeBaere responded to KCE’s most recent requests for comment. Their silence now mirrors the silence that greeted their constituents for months.

And that’s the most frustrating part. The residents of Whitecaps didn’t ask for special treatment. They asked for basic accountability. They asked for leadership. What they got instead was four months of neglect followed by five days of face-saving cleanup.

This is a victory for the neighborhood, but it’s also a stark reminder of how reactive and unresponsive our local government can be. Residents shouldn’t have to go to the press to get their alderman’s attention. They shouldn’t have to rely on public embarrassment to get their mayor to show up.

We thank the residents who spoke out, those who pressed for answers, and whoever ultimately did the work to restore this property. But the truth remains: the job only got done after the city was forced to face the public spotlight.

Kenosha deserves leadership that responds to its citizens—not just to headlines.