Well, that's one way to deal with a backlog of snow and ice complaints

By adamg on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:16am

The Globe reports a city worker purged 9,000 snow and ice complaints earlier this month even though the city hadn't actually done anything about them. Mayor Walsh tells the Globe, yeah, that was a mistake.

Neighborhoods:

Boston

Topics:

Weather

Free tagging:

Marty Walsh

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Comments

It's kind of an old story

By Waquiot on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:25am.

This happened a week ago Friday. I even posting some comment somewhere here at the time.

Of course, at the time they said that they were logged, but by the telling in the Globe, I looks like they were more purged.

The mass apology e-mail said

We apologize that you received a notification indicating your open case regarding snow removal was closed. Your request has been noted and sent to the appropriate Public Works team for re-inspection.

After a major storm event, we attempt to address every request for snow removal. We prioritize major thoroughfares and locations where emergency vehicle access is impeded. Unfortunately, we are not always able to individually address every service request. As we prepare for the upcoming storm, we are closing out older requests to ensure our snow removal personnel can focus on requests tied to the most current conditions.

Thank you for your patience as we work to keep the City of Boston moving during this historic winter.

There's seems to be some sort of contest going on....

By Michael Kerpan on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 3:39pm.

... between Walsh and Baker as to who will win the title of "Boston's Most Disengaged and Ineffective Politician".

where was this apology sent?

By kitty on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:13pm.

Where was this apology sent? We didn't receive one.

We were also told by the Mayors 24 hotline that if we opened another case it would be closed because if public works closes a case, it cannot be reopened.

Here's the timeline

By Waquiot on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 12:05pm.

Feb 13- 7:24 AM I get the e-mail that the ticket was closed from citizens connect
Feb 13- 1:13 PM I get the e-mail from Mike Dennehy saying not to worry, we are working on these things even though they were closed. My assumption is that he did not e-mail me personally, but that it was a bulk e-mail.

Oopsie

By whyaduck on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:32am.

Maybe the sentence should read "former" city worker?

"Administratively closed"

By anon on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:35am.

I noticed that the ones I reported after the second storm were all marked "Administratively closed."

Such BS...

same message

By chickadee13 on Sun, 02/22/2015 - 12:34pm.

I got the same message, and followed up by phone; spoke to a nice woman who thought the area I reported may be the state's responsibility (under the DCR, I assume?). Anybody know who to contact there? A section of Ipswich Street, between Charlesgate East and Lansdowne, hasn't been shoveled all year, forcing Boston Arts Academy and Boston Conservatory students and faculty to walk pretty far out in the street.

New Administration

By anon on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:42am.

Has the new Mayor shit canned all the Menino layabouts yet?

Menino rocks!

By Tom Did It Better on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 12:42pm.

Heck, they're carrying the rookies as they stumble through Long Island, snow storm parades, Olympic fantasies and data dumps. Glad I live in Somerville now.

because Walsh

By amian on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 1:25pm.

layabouts are so much better? An incompetent political appointee is an incompetent political appointee no matter who did the appointing.

They're still doing it and

By riggs not logged in on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:44am.

They're still doing it and have been for two weeks. Repeated reports of the city's un-shoveled sidewalk at Edgerly Park have been closed. The sidewalk is still not clear.

Keep on at it

By Waquiot on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:11am.

Every time they close it, submit it again (after checking to see that in fact nothing has been done.) Greasy wheel and whatnot.

And include in your

By anon on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:21am.

And include in your resubmissions that you're CCing each one to the Globe reporter, Andrew Ryan, behind the story in this post!

they said talk to the hand

By kitty on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:17pm.

Who is in charge of the public works department? They are making decision to close every case they receive.

oh

By M on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:49am.

FFS. With every misstep, I find I dislike this guy more than I thought possible initially. I guess he at least fessed up to it? Ugh.

Citizens Connect "resolutions" are often fraudulent

By anon on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 10:59am.

I am sure lots of complaints do get resolved, but since Citizens Connect started, I noticed that in many cases that I logged in myself, or am familiar with, the cases are just closed, with no detail of resolution, but in fact the problem was not solved, or in some cases not even addressed.

I gave up on Citizens Connect. So now when I need to report something to the city I call the Mayors Hotline, and get the name of the person I am speaking to. It always works for me. If I have to call back, I can either speak to the same person or reference my previous call with a name. Plus speaking to a real person, I can often get details and explanations, which I would never get on Citizens Connect.

For me Citizens Connect only worked sometimes. Mayors Hotline works all the time.

Did you read the article?

By Jess on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:28am.

The city said the majority of the complaints closed were from phone calls to the mayors hotline.

Yes I know that Jess

By anon on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 12:32pm.

Calls to the Mayors Hotline get logged into Citizens Connect by the city employee as do requests entered by individuals directly into the app.

What I was saying is that when I call, speak to a person, and get their name, I get results.
When I used to enter my issue into Citizens Connect I often got fraudulent or no results.

In this case, yes, I did read that complaints that originated both ways were deleted.

Results

By Jess on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:23pm.

in this case, calling or reporting online gave similar results so your response just wasn't accurate to the discussion about the current situation about the 9000 administratively dismissed complaints. Unless I am missing how reporting via a phone call is superior and gets better results right now. I have never had a problem with citizens connect until this winter.

The Mayor's 24 does not work

By kitty on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:20pm.

We were told that they couldn't reopen or create a new case for an issue that was closed by public works.. by the supervisor of Mayors 24. We were told it would automatically be deleted.

Public shaming

By anon on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:03am.

That city worker should be put to shoveling for the rest of the winter and have to report each completed job publicly with a photo.

this was a policy decision

By The Truth on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 7:10pm.

I'm told that this was initiated in Public Works as policy, not the work of some junior staffer at @NotifyBoston. Look top down, not bottom up.

Where and when?

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:22am.

I noticed that this was done pretty systematically when a city owned eyesore wasn't shoveling on Federal or Devonshire sides. There were at least 50 such complaints purged through three storms worth of buildup.

Were these mostly city property, like the Garage? Mostly in a specific neighborhood or area?

I noticed this

By Jess on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:32am.

I had logged several complaints that were administratively closed ....i had no idea what it meant. The issues I reported are still an issue. Walsh's excuses and statements like "most of them were addressed after the next storm" are ridiculous. As of yday Huntington and south huntington were still down to one lane in each direction....south Huntington so narrow a bus can't pass if a car is coming in the other lane....
He's a bad excuse for a mayor and insults the residents of Boston with his statements.

A few of mine were closed

By anon on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 12:02pm.

A few of mine were closed with "case noted." I realize people abuse Citizens Connect with petty BS, but sometimes it's clear that they don't even stop by and look at the reported issue.

His tone seems so detached.

By Felicity on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 1:11pm.

His tone seems so detached. It feels like he has contempt for Bostonians and loathes engaging with the public.

I've submitted snow reports, that were marked NOVIO (No Violation found). I asked Citizens Connect how that's determined, when there are heaping mounds of snow obstructing the sidewalk. I'm talking about places with chronic problems. Places you report, get NOVIO, then you go back the next day and nothing has been done. Day after day after day.

They couldn't answer my question.

Take a picture, it will last longer

By Waquiot on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 2:40pm.

Or perhaps not so much.

Include a photo with your complaint.

I have decided that I am battling a property owner (a big property owner, not some guy who owns a triple decker) who never clears the sidewalk. I'm being fair- only one complaint a week. They gave him a ticket for the first one. We'll see how things go going forward. If anything, I have a time lapse view of a pile of snow on my phone.

tone-deaf

By M on Sat, 02/21/2015 - 2:32pm.

Part of my negative impression of him is that he seems REALLY tone-deaf and out of touch on a variety of issues.

Well, that's one way to deal with a backlog of snow and ice complaints

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