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All 311 request types / Chicago 311

Sidewalk Café/Outdoor Dining Complaint

How to report it, who handles it, and how often Chicagoans actually file it — from the city's 311 Service Requests dataset. These requests are handled by BACP - Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

2,380

Requests all time

Excludes records the city flagged as duplicates

78

Filed in the last 30 days

down 1% vs the previous 30 days

55

Currently open

Status has not been set to Completed or Canceled

2,335

Completed all time

98% of all requests

Requests filed, last 12 months

Monthly totals, Sep 2025 – Aug 2026. Peak: 82.

How to report this

  • Online at 311.chicago.gov
  • By calling 311 (or 312-744-5000 from outside Chicago)
  • Through the CHI311 mobile app

Whichever way you file, you get a service request number you can use to check status — and the request becomes a public record. That public record is exactly what this page is showing you.

Wards filing the most

  1. Ward 42255
  2. Ward 1221
  3. Ward 43179
  4. Ward 44164
  5. Ward 27158
  6. Ward 34122
  7. Ward 32110
  8. Ward 2105
  9. Ward 4795
  10. Ward 2592

Community areas filing the most

  1. Near North Side257
  2. West Town244
  3. Lake View225
  4. Near West Side212
  5. Lincoln Park199
  6. Loop183
  7. Logan Square95
  8. Edgewater74
  9. South Lawndale71
  10. Uptown66

How these requests come in

  1. Internet1,186
  2. Mobile Device929
  3. Phone Call207
  4. Alderman's Office46
  5. spot-open311-Chicago+Works5
  6. E-Mail3
  7. Salesforce Mobile App2
  8. Open311 Interface1

Common questions

How do I file a "Sidewalk Café/Outdoor Dining Complaint" request with Chicago 311?
Three ways, all of which create the same public record: online at 311.chicago.gov, by calling 311 from inside the city (or 312-744-5000 from outside it), or through the CHI311 mobile app. Give the exact address or nearest intersection — requests without a usable location are the ones that stall. Requests of this type are routed to BACP - Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
How many "Sidewalk Café/Outdoor Dining Complaint" requests does Chicago get?
2,380 have been filed in total, excluding duplicates the city flagged. 78 came in over the last 30 days, down 1% versus the previous 30 days.
How long does a "Sidewalk Café/Outdoor Dining Complaint" request take to close?
The city does not publish a target response time for this request type, and this page does not estimate one. What the data does show: 98% of all "Sidewalk Café/Outdoor Dining Complaint" requests are marked Completed and 2% are still Open. The rest were canceled — usually duplicates or requests that turned out to be someone else's jurisdiction.
Is my 311 request public?
Yes. Every service request becomes a public record in the city's open data portal, including the type, status, the street address (block level), the ward, and the dates it was opened and closed. That is exactly what this page is built from. Your name and phone number are not published.

Go deeper

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Source

Counts exclude records the city flagged as duplicates. Figures are recomputed from the source data at least hourly.