Cedar Hill Resident is on her street with a broom again, planning to make a call to the street-sweeping fairy. Maybe that’ll work better than the countless calls she has made to city bureaucracy. Read on for the account she sent in to the Independent:
Back in April I eagerly awaited for the street sweepers to come down my street, reminding everyone to move their cars so that they would not get towed or ticketed by the troll like tow trucks monsters. It was spring cleaning time, “birds were a‑tweeting,” ” flowers were a blooming.” I was a la la la-ing for spring had come!!!
Now being an active community member and prideful New Havener, that lives on a street that is a gateway to the wonderful world of East Rock and Rice field, I (the do-gooder I am) have a duty to make sure my street represents this city at its finest! All non-residents of the fairy tale city called Johnny land, that use the fields, get their first impressions of this city coming down my street and through my area.
As I drove home looking froward to seeing my shinny clean asphalt paved road, I pulled up to see they had not swept my street. What a letdown, specially after all the plowing problems we had this past winter. So I waited for the next scheduled sweeping, called public works and reminded them politely that they had not done it the last time; could they make sure they do it this time? Well yes….… they did not sweep it again!!
So the following day I made it a point to call public works, chief administrator’s office and the mayor’s office, as well as e‑mailing a few others.
This bunch of phone calls managed to get the other side of the street done that day in April. OK, so half the street got swept. So they now know we exist, next scheduled cleaning they will get the even side done…
NOT! So many months later, so much begging and pleading, phone call after phone call… my street is the last street on the list and because of that it will never get swept!
I asked them time and time again if I am last on the list, would it not make sense for me to be first on the list the next go around??? The answer was: “No, it does not work that way.”√Ǭù
(And this was the answer that I got from several people.)
Well here I am, in my street, sweeping it with a push broom several hours a month so it does not look too bad, still making calls to try to get the even side of my street swept for the first time this year, wondering who can I call to get this done. While we move our cars from side to side, thinking maybe this time.
Well it is now July 10th and I made my calls. And I yet again came home to an unswept even side of the street?
I have called everyone possible. My last chance is that there is such a thing as the street cleaning fairy to sprinkle some magic dust on the public works department to make them understand what the word “rotating” means!