(“Remember, if you have a burning building, call 9-1-1! If you have a burning question, call 3-1-1!“)
Saturday morning I will be hosting a show on WWUH, but those turntables won’t likely see half the spin of a recent press release concerning 311 :
For the second straight year, Hartford 311 has surpassed the 100,000 call mark.
Are you wrinkling your forehead too, trying to fathom why large call volume alone is something to celebrate? That over 2,000 phone calls were made in 2007 and again in 2008 with queries and complaints about trash and recycling does not seem like boast-worthy material. There is no information about the exact nature of these calls or what was done to bring the callers satisfaction. I know that in my own experience, I have written emails, rather than made calls (so that there is a written record, duh) and wonder if email gets counted in this data, or is simply invisible. I also know, in my experience, that it can take from two days to several weeks to receive a response to my email. I have sent complaints about the trash heap on Capitol Avenue. If you’d like to know whether or not that issue has been addressed, take a walk by some time. Look for a turquoise toilet.
The press release from the Mayor’s office states:
Call volume increased by more than 6,000 from 2007-2008 – despite staff reduction and service hours
Do these numbers indicate that people need a place to find information and voice complaints? Yes. Does this show that the callers are satisfied with how their issues are resolved? No. And with the reduction of staff and hours, that only suggests that the quality of service has decreased, the response time to these calls has decreased, or a bit of both.
This is what I would like: detailed data showing exactly what happens after the calls to 311 are placed. How many crackhouses were dealt with after callers complained? Where were rodent issues eliminated as a result of people contacting 311? How many and how swiftly were broken streetlights dealt with because of this service? Don’t tell me how great it is to be getting calls; show me what y’all be doing with these calls!
Julie
Could an increase in calls mean that city departments still don’t answer the phone and that it’s still difficult to find basic information on the city’s Web site?
kerri
That’s a fair interpretation.
They don’t want to have basic information out there because it means fewer calls to 311; hence, the various phone numbers were not supposed to be published in the new phone book.
Julie
You made that up, right?
kerri
I have to go locate my evidence, but I am 99.998% sure I didn’t make that up. The nice retro smut image is, as far as I know, the only semi-make believe thing here related to 311.
Richard
The street lights on the section of Columbus Blvd where I work have been out for at least 6 months. Can you believe it. The management has made repeated calls to the city, even talked to the person in charge of street lights and the lights are still out. Combine that with the pot holes and there is trouble waiting to happen. It is very dark for the cleaners who have to walk up to the bus at 10:30 or others going to their cars after dark.
I haven’t been walking on Capitol Ave. recently but will go take a look this weekend. I haven’t seen a turquoise toilet for years and will regard it as a high art experience. I usually don’t go that way in the winter as no one ever cleans out the snow and ice.
I called 311 this AM. The city trash barrels on lower Laurel Street haven’t been emptied all spring. It is something to watch how this city does its business. Mostly surface with no there, there. I hve been waiting to see how long before the trash truck came by but now it is really bothering me. Has this city been reduced to, Don’t fix it if no one tells you it is broken?
Oh, la, la I sure could use some of that love weed. I need something to get my get up and go to go, go. Great picture Keri. And as always great post.
Brendan
As a point of clarification, street lights are handled by Connecticut Light & Power, so the City is not to blame for inaction. I called a few weeks ago about a dangerously broken street light that was swinging in the breeze on Jewell St. 311 must have notified CL & P because the street light was removed, but it still hasn’t been replaced. The sense I get is that CL & P will alleviate a hazard, but not fix an inconvenience.
The spot you’re talking about on Capitol is state owned land as far as I know, thus Hartford’s DPW doesn’t have the jurisdiction to clean it. However, you may recall that a number of people, some of whom are employed by the great City of Hartford, spent some time cleaning up a mess next to Flatbush Ave on state owned property. Those people even got DPW to come pick up their trash bags. Perhaps some initiative is required.
Or, I’m reminded of Chill Will complaining about a sand pit on the path that goes from behind the LOB to Bushnell Park in that it was a danger to cyclists. He repeatedly called/emailed 311 and nothing happened. So, he cleaned it up himself. After that initial cleanup, rain fell and sand reentered the path. I was riding one day through the path and the park and saw DPW people cleaning up sand in the park and asked if they were going to clean the path by the LOB. They said no, because it was state land. So, I emailed the Capitol Police and it was cleaned that afternoon. Also, the maintenance workers at the LOB & Capitol have incorporated cleaning up that sand as part of their regular cleaning routine.
The point I’m trying to make (I’m not a 311 apologist; I’ve had many, many, many problems with it) is that being mad about 311 won’t fix things. If you’re really vexed by a mess, no one will ever stop you from cleaning it up. Further, 311 is not going to take the extra step to figure out who to call if it’s beyond the jurisdiction of the City. So, maybe a well placed email to the state’s public works will cleanup the Capitol Ave mess.
That press release was undoubtedly spin, as 311 is trying to justify its existence right before the budget season. I think the concept of 311 is great, but it isn’t presently doing its job for more complex issues. It works fine if you need to figure out which office has your birth certificate or where to pay your taxes. But, it seems like those complex calls never make it on to someone who can act as a case manager. For example, someone calls about trash on state property: 311 creates a work order for DPW, DPW realizes that it’s not City property and doesn’t need to clean it and the case sits in limbo. From what I’ve seen of 311’s statistics and some its presentations, the emphasis is on volume and speed (especially speed). I don’t think anyone would have problems with those numbers going down and a new emphasis being placed on quality of service.
kerri
Brendan,
Thanks for the insights.
But for those of us who are not political insiders (ha, I just called you a political insider), we might not know who to contact all of the time or who is responsible for what. My problem with 3-1-1 is that the City is attempting to get everyone to use it for their questions/concerns, and it seems so ineffective for anything that is not a simple question about taxes, like you mentioned. To me, it’s more useful if Hartford’s municipal website listed, in an organized and accessible way, where a person might be able to actually just get information about random problems. The street light is a good example. While I understand there is electricity involved, it would never occur to me to contact CL&P for a random single-light outage– if a whole block loses power, yes, but not for one stoplight.
My problem is that as a taxpayer (I pay car tax. It counts), there is a service which I am footing the bill for, but which is not useful to me. And I think that sucks because I want Hartford to be a good place to live. Unlike haters, I want to see Hartford thriving and clean and functional. To me, one of the ways to make that happen is to be able to report problems that are easily fixable. To me, while labor intensive, cleaning up trash in an easy fix, whereas poverty and violence are not. I’m not sure why it is so difficult to just have questions answered. If an area is state land, why can’t 3-1-1 peeps tell me that, and then give me a number or email address of exactly which State department I need to contact to ask for resolution? I don’t think CL&P or DPW are necessarily incompetent– I’m ranting about 3-1-1 alone here.
What I’m saying is that ineptitude is bullshit.
Richard
Thanks for the info Brendan. However there is a sort of mix up going on. After your comment I said, OK let’s see what I can find out. I called 311 to report the street lights out and the first question the operator asked me was, “are the lights on wooden poles or metal?” I asked why and she said, “CL&P is responsible for the lights on the wooden poles, and the city is responsible for the lights on the metal poles.” Okay since the lights in question are on metal poles I explained the problem to her, got a case number and was told to call back in a few days to find out the status.
To get the other side of the story I called CL&P. After waiting on the line for 15 mins. my call was answered. The person that I talked to said he saw nothing on his computer that told him if the lights in question are CL&P’s responsibility or not, but that he would transfer me to a Jose Miranda in the street light division of CL&P. I left a message for Mr. Miranda and here it is 3 days later and no call back. I called back to CL&P yesterday, waited on the line again, gave another person the information, was given a case number and told to call back for a status report. This as I stated has been going on for some months now. Others have called and complained and have been given the run around. Perhaps we should climb the pole Brendan and fix the problem. While we are at it please bring some tar for the pot holes. Pot holes and street lights out are a very dangerous mix in this “Great” city of Hartford.
On the problem with the city trash cans on lower Laurel Street. Let’s get real. I hope you don’t expect that I should start emptying the cans. I always thought that is what the cities trash collection department did. I called about the cans on Monday, it is now Wednesday and the cans still overflow. So I called again today.
As far as cleaning up lots, the city has the manpower and the trucks. If any of us get hurt doing the job who will be responsible for our medical expenses? Not the property owner or the city. With the meager insurance that I have forget it. Oh wait, maybe if the city wants to come over and help me do my job then I may consider doing the trash jobs as long as I get union wages, sick days, health insurance and all othe other benefits that city employees get. We pay them to do a job for us.
I know nothing about CL&P or DPW or their incompetence or competence, nor do I care. But when I am paying taxes and high rates I do expect something for my money, and if they wish to be seen as being competent than they should be doing their jobs and not sending people on a wild goose chase.
Any ideas on what we should do next?
Richard
On the 4th day the cans on lower Laurel have been emptied. Score one for keep on bothering 311 to get the city to do its job.
Richard
Oh Kerri
Alvin and I went out walking today to do some photo’s for Mattilda and her San Fran all around the world art project. We went down Captiol to look for the turquoise toilet. Found it amongst the tires and other junk. Who ever owns the land where the factory was is responsible. That piece goes with the old burned down factory. Alvin took a photo of the pile as a dream I had the other night had piles like that in an art show but of course with a bit of artistic flare that art museums and curators and arty farties love so well. But we saw a large rabbit running from the pile. Now that one doesn’t see in a museum.