Jonah Goodman: City’s failure to address missed trash pickups shows need for 311 reforms

Earlier this year the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) skipped trash pickup at the same property on Quincy Street NW in Petworth six times in four months. Every time the homeowners opened a new 311 service request, it was assigned to DPW and subsequently closed without comment. No one in our government agencies seemed to know who was responsible for addressing the problem.

The residents turned to me as their advisory neighborhood commissioner, and together we reached out to DPW to ask for assurances that the trash would not be missed again, and to explain what procedural changes could be implemented to guarantee this wouldn’t happen again here or elsewhere. A DPW representative asked agency employees to follow up, but no response was received.

Our District’s 311 system has the potential to make residents truly believe in local District services. For most residents, calling 311 or submitting a request via the 311 app is as close as they get to working with District agencies. The city’s responsiveness — in handling the request, providing an adequate explanation and offering a suitable timetable — can drastically shape confidence in elected officials and civil servants. When residents see an ETA of 180 days or have a ticket closed without the problem being addressed, many of them conclude that 311 simply doesn’t work.

My commission, ANC 4C, wrote to the directors of the Office of Unified Communications and the Department of Public Works, asking them to review the Quincy Street residents’ issue and share what procedural changes were being implemented to ensure an appropriate response. We also filed the request with the Mayor’s ANC Resolution portal on June 20:

“These requests were marked closed but the problem persisted. The SMD Commissioner had reached out to DPW to get some clarity about what changes were implemented to ensure this was addressed. We request a response about what if any changes have been implemented as a result of review of these incidents.

We request a response or acknowledgement of this request by July 10, 2018 in order for the Commission to provide an update at our July 11, 2018 public meeting.”

After receiving no response, ANC 4C followed up, asking both agencies to acknowledge receipt of our requests. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Kevin Donahue’s Twitter account responded on July 31 that either he or his office would help get a response.

The Office of Unified Communications finally responded on Aug. 21 — after 60 days — stating that Ward 4 Council member Brandon Todd’s office was working to address the issue. They provided no answer or acknowledgement to ANC 4C about our issues concerning the process:

“Thank you for bringing your concerns about missed trash collection at 445 Quincy St. NW to our attention. As you may know, the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) collaborates with many of the District servicing agencies, including the Department of Public Works (DPW) to facilitate city service management. Upon receipt of your letter, I reached out to our partners at DPW to investigate your concerns. However, I learned that Council Member Brandon Todd’s office had already been working with DPW to resolve these issues, not only on Quincy St., but in several other locations in Ward 4.”

DPW has yet to acknowledge ANC 4C’s letter — even after the agency’s team on Twitter told us that they would check on the issue:

“Thanks for continuing to flag these for us! We certainly try to do our best and recognize more can always be done. You heard back from our ANC liaison in June to relay an update on these requests after an internal review from the supervisor. We’ll check into these again.”

This issue stems from just one house whose residents are trying to have their trash collected. Yet problems like this persist across the District and often go unresolved because it is easier for residents to give up. When there are numerous communication breakdowns on top of process issues, it only makes matters worse. If the District wants to provide information more useful than stats on closed 311 requests, there are some basic process fixes it can put in place:

• Agencies should be expected to provide basic responses to 311 tickets that explain whether the issue has been fixed, whether the request has been reassigned, whether the matter is out of the agency’s scope, etc.
• Repeated 311 requests for the same issue, in the same location, should trigger an automatic escalation for a process review.
• Agencies should be required to adopt terms of service stipulating response times to resident requests and escalation processes for unanswered requests.

Neglecting to take these steps almost ensures that failures around a seemingly routine task of trash collection will continue to sow the seeds of doubt about whether our government can meet the needs of its residents.

Jonah Goodman is a member of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4C representing single-member district 4C10.