The Yale Shuttle is driving … some dogs nuts.
So complain New Haveners who post on the SeeClickFix problem-solving web platform.
The Handsome Dan freakout — sparked by the blow-up pic of the Yale mascot that appears in the window of Yale Shuttle buses — was a topic for discussion on the latest episode of WNHH radio’s “SeeClickFix Radio,” which also featured a discussion of how Princeton, N.J. deals with sump pumps and snowy sidewalks.
“Picture of Handsome Dan on Yale shuttle angers my otherwise docile dog,” a New Havener with a German Shepherd posted to the website from Orange Street. “What could this mean?”
It turns out other posters had the same experience — including SeeClickFix founder Ben Berkowitz, whose puggle goes berserk when the Yale shuttle drives by with the image of Old Blue’s bulldog mascot.
One poster from Clark Street suggested the panicked pooches are “exhibiting signs of Beautiful Dog Disorder,” which is “common among canines which don’t have the same beautiful looks as their pure bred counterparts” and can lead to “aggression” and “lack of bladder control.”
Princeton, N.J., also has a dominant Ivy League university in town (Princeton) that runs a shuttle. The shuttle there is called Tiger Transit. Princeton’s Christina Rohtman-Iliff, who manages the town’s non-emergency call center, said during an appearance on the “SeeClickFix Radio” episode that no similar reports have surfaced there of terrorized pets. The buses have tiger-like stripes, but no images of actual tigers. (Unlike the “Tiger Transit” buses run by Clemson University.)
She said her town receives a different kind of complaint through its SeeClickFix portal that we in New Haven don’t seem to complain about — leaks from sump pumps that people have running from their basements.
Paul Bass Photos
SeeClickFix Radio’s Ben Berkowitz, Caroline Smith.
Another hot topic, or cold topic, in Princeton this winter has been snow removal, much as in New Haven. The last major snowstorm sparked 84 separate SeeClickFix complaints about neighbors not shoveling their sidewalks, Rothman-Iliff said. In Princeton residents have 48 hours after a snowstorm ends to clear their walks or face fines of over $100.
The cops enforce that ordinance in Princeton. Rothman-Iliff estimated that the 84 complaints led to about 15 fines. In many cases, those complained about have moved to town recently and weren’t aware of the rule; they proceed to shovel once informed by the cops. In some other cases, residents physically can’t shovel; in Princeton, as in New Haven, people have responded to SeeClickFix posts to clear walks for housebound neighbors.
(On a previous episode of SeeClickFix, an official from Burlington, Vermont, reported that in that city, public-works crews plow people’s sidewalks along with the streets.)
Click on or download the above audio file to listen to the entire new episode, which also covered complaints about sandwich boards blocking sidewalks in Princeton, and a hilly and icy East Shore street needing sand in New Haven.
This episode of “Dateline New Haven” was made possible in part through support from Yale-New Haven Hospital.