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Following up with the Citizen’s Request System
by Michael McPeak
Following up on the September Church Hill Association Newsletter article on the Citizens Request System (CRS), I decided to use it to make two requests of the City on 23 August – one, a Priority request and the other, a regular one (anything not defined as “Priority” by the City).
The Priority request, with which I attached a photo, was to repair a Pothole on North 23rd Street at East Broad. I received an e-mail from the City acknowledging the request and informing me that “You will receive updates regarding your request, including the closure of your request.” I observed that the work had been done by 25 August which was pretty impressive; however, even though the pothole had been filled by 25 August, I only received word from the City on the 31st informing me of this, closing the work order and thanking me for helping “Build a Better Richmond”.
The second request concerned sidewalks (“Unsafe Conditions (Sidewalk/Alley/Etc)” in the CRS jargon) on both sides of North 23rd Street between East Grace and East Broad. Again, I received an acknowledgement from the City and a link to a web page where one can follow progress on their requests. Unfortunately, the link to the page did not work. But, the City does: I called and had a good discussion of that problem with an employee who promised to follow up on it. He also looked at the request and informed me that a sidewalk inspection was scheduled. To be continued.
While each request had some minor hiccups, the conclusion must be that the City’s System does work, is easy to use and helps us to help them. Of course, on occasion, calling 311 can also be effective. Witness the recent sidewalk repairs on the east side of North 29th Street just south of East Grace generated by just such a phone call.
However, one clear advantage of the CRS is that it provides documentation on all requests and ways to track progress. So, if something is not getting done a follow up with the work order number in hand is a clear advantage. Hopefully this route will replace the all too often heard complaint: “but I called the City about this several months ago.”
Remember, it’s in the interest of Church Hill residents to request the City to redress these and other problems set out in the CRS (and elsewhere). There are budgets established by the City to deal with these issues and if they aren’t spent in our neighborhood, they will be spent in others.
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i also used CRS to have bulk stuff picked up – broken furniture and mattresses sitting by the garbage cans for weeks. at first i was skeptical that this process would work, but in the end the city impressed me. they got the items picked up and cleared out, and the website they are affiliated with (SeeClickFix) followed up every fifteen days or so to see if the ticket had been closed out.
another benefit of this process is that users can ‘share’ their issues with others and vote for things they want fixed, hopefully allowing the city to see what residents view as most important (and therefore prioritize the work to be done).
as indicated above, it’s not a perfect system, but it appears to be a step in the right direction, and one that could certainly benefit the neighborhood.
I was recently turned on to the CRS. Put in a request for a sidewalk repair and they were onsite within a week. However, the construction crew sucks. They put up SIDEWALK CLOSED signs each day, show up, hang out for a few minutes, then leave. This has happened for a week straight!
I put in a request to have the drain at the northeast corner of 25th and Main Streets unclogged. System worked as stated, however, they claimed they had fixed the drain – this was back a couple of months ago. There was a quick storm right after I got the notification, and I drove down there only to discover that it had NOT been fixed at all, was still stopped up creating standing water after a downpour! I then posted it AGAIN, plus made a phone call to them. We haven’t had a storm since then, but it does appear that something was done as there is a fresh asphalt patch and the drain cover looks lined up better. I’m hoping that it’s fixed once and for all, since I had been calling about it for a year.
This afternoon, I received a call from an inspector who wanted to meet with me concerning the sidewalk issue on both sides of N 23rd Street between E Grace and Broad. He acknowledge that both sides need to be redone and said he would go back and estimate the cost. Then he said that ‘City Council’ votes the money for projects like this and that there is no established budget. He left me with the advice that I should talk to the 7th District Council Person to help get it approved.
Wow!
Both of the streetlights on the alley behind my house have been out for some time. 311 got me nowhere, but using the Citizens request System they were fixed within 2 days. I was very pleased.
The sidewalk work on North 29th Street just south of East Grace had nothing to do with a 311 call. I’ve been calling for YEARS about that sidewalk. Finally, I filed a CRS request as soon as I saw the new system was available. They opened a ticket the next day, then sent a crew to inspect the day after that. The crews have been very slow doing the actual repair (as Matt points out), but it is now nearing completion.
I used this system awhile back about a street light that was out on my block. I too was skeptical and didn’t expect to find the city replacing the bulb the next evening when I got home from work. I was very impressed.
I have had mixed results. Street light outages and dumped trash have been cleaned up very quickly.
There is a tree down in the alley behind me, blocking the alley and pulling down the street light line. I’ve submitted through the site and called 311 5 or 6 times and nothing has happened. It’s been this way for at least a month. I have no idea how the trash is being picked up back there.
When this system was first unveiled, it seemed to work very well. However, I have submitted several requests that have not been fixed, yet the system says that the cases are closed, indicating that the system is done with them.
One issue is about a dead tree, another issue is about overgrown and impassable sidewalks, and yet another is about a potential future sinkhole that is forming. None of these have been fixed. I’ll try again and hope they will fully address the requests this time around.
Thank you so very much for the kind remarks about the system; while with the City of Richmond, I created the Citizens’ Request System in 2003. Although I moved on to independent work in 2006, it is nice to revisit the Richmond site and see the system still used.
When I started writing the system, my priorities were to (1) create a system which provided value for the citizens; not for me, (2) implement the accountability I had not found in other similar systems and (3) create a system which stood out and showed Richmond to be an exemplary place to visit and live.
The Citizens’ Request System was designed for each one of you; if you have ideas for enhancements to the system or service it provides, I am certain the City will help you. I would be very happy to see the system grow beyond the original design.
Nicholas