City Living at Its Best

Today I learned why it's so difficult to get help from City Hall. In response to the accident which happened last week in front of my building, my neighbors and I have started making calls to start setting things right. The 2nd floor neighbor called the Police Department to obtain a copy of the police report for the accident. We figure the driver's insurance will pay for our property damage. She also contacted our insurance company to have someone come by and do an appraisal for repairing the damage. My job, then, was to get the fire hydrant inspected and to have the damaged guard post replaced.

Pop quiz: who would you call to have a fire hydrant and a guardrail checked out?

We figured that the fire hydrant was the responsibility of the Public Works Department and that the guardrail would be cared for by the Boston Transportation Department. Makes sense, doesn't it? The real answer is neither one! First, the Fire Department is responsible for inspecting the hydrant. I guess that makes sense, but they aren't in the business of replacing damaged ones, are they? Anyway, Public Works said they would replace the guard post, but only after I called the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services and had my liaison call DPW to have the work done. O-kaaaay... I didn't bother questioning the process, I just placed another call. Unfortunately, my neighborhood rep wasn't available, so all I could do was leave a message. He didn't call me back today (but when I get him on the phone my list of things to be done around the neighborhood is suddenly going to be much longer).

Anyway, Transportation was the most friendly department. They couldn't help me at all, but they were so friendly. I asked about having speed humps put in; apparently they don't do those anymore. I asked about reversing the direction of the street, but that requires a neighborhood petition first (who knows how long it takes after that!). My friendly contact even said that he knew the street and the corner well. He also offered to come by and look at it and then call me later this week. Isn't that sweet?! Too bad all that good will doesn't translate into any tangible road projects.

So, with all that in mind, our next step is to get more of the neighbors involved and see if we can at least get the direction of the street reversed. Hopefully, building consensus will be easier than getting a straight answer from City Hall.