October 31, 2026
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis officials say the city has made significant progress reducing abandoned vehicle complaints and removing hazardous trees, although challenges remain with street repairs and trash collection.
The findings were included in the city’s third-quarter CityStat performance report released Friday, covering July through September.
According to the report, the backlog of abandoned vehicle service requests declined to 538 at the end of September, compared with a peak of 1,411 during the third quarter of 2025.
The city’s Forestry Division also removed more than 250 hazardous trees during the quarter, reducing its outstanding tree removal requests from a previous peak of 989 to 302.
However, the report identified problems in other basic city services.
Only 13% of pothole repair requests on major streets were completed within the city’s three-day performance target during the quarter.
Officials attributed the decline partly to road crews concentrating on major summer paving projects. A Saturday repair effort Sept. 12 filled more than 120 potholes, according to the city.
The city’s refuse collection service also fell below expectations, completing an average of 87% of scheduled routes against a target of 95%.
Equipment maintenance problems, extreme summer heat and increased seasonal collection demands contributed to the shortfall, according to city officials.
Mayor Cara Spencer said the performance reporting system is intended to improve transparency and help officials identify areas requiring additional attention.
The CityStat program tracks municipal services and provides performance information to residents. Although the latest numbers show improvements in several areas, they also show ongoing challenges with everyday services affecting neighborhoods throughout St. Louis.
Source: City of St. Louis CityStat announcement, October 30, 2026.
