After the safety memo there are more things the city can do on arterial roads, mostly "temporary" stuff with flexposts and those rubber speed bump type things to create tighter turn radius, i forget what they're called. "can't do anything" is false and they can at least talk to the state senators.
IDOT has a history of pissing off state electeds and you can use that to your advantage www.illinoissenatedemocrats.com/caucus-news/...
Yeah I was told "we worked really hard for the pedestrian islands." I bet you did! You should start working hard on bringing it down to a single lane for cars with a BRT/bike lane next!