Sand needed in brick paver crosswalks downtown: how to tell the city about it?

Brick paver crosswalk in downtown Northfield Brick paver crosswalk in downtown Northfield
Looks like some of the brick paver crosswalks downtown are need of sand fill after recent heavy rains. Lots of gaps in lots of pavers. And some pavers are cracking. 

I’d report this via the City of Northfield’s Tell the City About page but I used it over a month ago to report graffiti and never heard back. A good idea and implementation back in 2005 but now way outdated.

I wonder if they’ve heard about SeeClickFix? The difference? Transparency and accountability… plus photos via mobile phones.  Cheap to implement!

11 Comments

  1. Michelle Hawkins said:

    nyone else have any road or intersection concerns throughut the entire of our fair town?

    Maybe a list could be generated here and presented with perhaps even e-signatures at the bottom to gain a more timely response. It would seem to me with fall/Winter a matter of weeks away, and the further toll it will take on our neighborhood streets and roads, now would be the time to git’erdone!

    July 27, 2010
  2. Michelle Hawkins said:

    oops, I have a couple sticky keys and dying wire to keyboard,, will have to live with the typos

    July 27, 2010
  3. mike paulsen said:

    Now that you mention it..
    1. Honeylocust Drive (behind Target)- There is substantial weed growth between the road surface and the curb/gutter all along the section between the fields.

    2. Sections of the Mill Towns Trail between Sechler Park and Dundas are deteriorating, including weeds growing in the middle of the trail. When I described the trail condition to someone who knows a bit about this sort of thing, his best guess (without having seen it himself) is that the base wasn’t done well, resulting in variation in the asphalt thickness and trouble spots showing up where it’s thin.

    In both cases, timely maintenance seems necessary or there will be a rapid deterioration.

    The MNDoT published a study on Preventive Maintenance for Recreational Trails.

    July 27, 2010
  4. kiffi summa said:

    What’s the matter with telling the city about it by picking up your phone, calling public works dept, and telling them?

    If the e-remedies don’t work, or the website isn’t adequate, use your phone!

    July 28, 2010
  5. Phil Poyner said:

    Apparently the one feature folks don’t know how to use on their new-fangled “smart phones” is the phone part!

    July 28, 2010
  6. mike paulsen said:

    The city invites us to contact them via email and web forms. It is much more efficient than telephone, and should be the preferred method of contact.

    I sure hope that communications sent via email and the web form aren’t ending up in the bit-bucket without being read. Assuming they are being read, how would (or should) leaving a phone message be any more likely to get a response?

    July 28, 2010
  7. Griff Wigley said:

    Phil/Kiffi, the reason that SeeClickFix works is because the information is public. Everyone gets to see what’s submitted. Why have 10 people make phone calls to report the same thing? Then everyone gets to see how and when the problem gets resolved. If public works is responsive, they get kudos. If they’re laggards, they get some heat. Transparency and accountability become simple. Not possible with a phone call.

    It’s actually the same with just sending an email. What if ten people all emailed Joel Walinski like Bart deMalignon did, asking him about the yellow boom in the river. Joel would then have to reply ten times, unless of course, he had his own blog. 😉

    July 29, 2010
  8. Phil Poyner said:

    I see a downside to what you’re saying. Theoretically it may make sense to have a single problem submitted just once. But my experience has been that until a group of people submit the same problem, the problem can be discounted as simply one person’s beef.

    July 29, 2010

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