5 ms·

Also call your local councilman. They have staff who will at least attempt to deal with the issue. It helps.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
This is good advice. That said, you shouldn't have to call up a politician and beg in order to get government departments to perform functions that they are supposed to be performing. If you have some ultra-edge case involving your deceased uncle's estate's something or other it can be understandable. But this should be a routine business transaction and the city is incapable of making it happen. He's trying to give them a large amount of money FFS, you'd think they'd accept it and then do the menial amount of work to make the records on their end reflect that.
- justin66 5y ago
  That's all pretty much ass-backwards. It'd be wildly inappropriate and unethical if a city councilman could somehow sway the settlement of an estate, which is the province of the court. Getting things moving in city hall's bureaucracy is in the councilman's remit, as is improving the state of the bureaucracy to prevent further problems in the future. They might not be the ideal person to handle anything in particular, but they should sure know who to talk to, and they should make time to do it.
user3939382 5y ago
I just had an issue where I couldn’t get an appointment for a city service because of COVID, got ahold of my councilman and was there in 2 weeks. This is definitely what he should do.
drewg123 5y ago
This is why I think that if there has to be an unfixable Kafkaesque bureaucracy, I'd rather it be in the public sector rather than a monopoly in the private sector. There is not much your local councilman / state rep / US Rep / US Senator / etc can do about a problem with Comcast. But I've seen appeals to elected officials fix lots of issues with government bureaucracy.
- an_opabinia 5y ago
  > There is not much your local councilman / state rep / US Rep / US Senator / etc can do about a problem with Comcast Because of its presence on public utility poles, there is a lot that they can do about Comcast. Many people prevail getting Comcast to do stuff by writing cities. The problem is the cushy job Comcast gives people after a long stint in government service in favor of Comcast. That shit isn’t a conspiracy.
  - h_anna_h 5y ago
    > That shit isn’t a conspiracy What is it then?
    - r00fus 5y ago
      Corruption.
      - h_anna_h 5y ago
        Are these mutually exclusive?
      - corpdrone2021 5y ago
        Conspiracy seem to be a type of corruption to me in many cases.
        yebyen 5y ago
        I think GP meant to say "isn't a conspiracy theory" rather than "isn't a conspiracy" eg. that isn't some hare-brained idea that only the craziest kook would subscribe to. Conspiracies certainly happen all the time. The most successful ones are probably never theorized about!
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  A private sector business isn't gonna send thugs with guns to forcibly shut down your business and put you in a cage after being too incompetent to take your money, they're just gonna terminate your service and/or sue you. Which is worse is a matter of preference.

This is good advice. That said, you shouldn't have to call up a politician and beg in order to get government departments to perform functions that they are supposed to be performing. If you have some ultra-edge case involving your deceased uncle's estate's something or other it can be understandable. But this should be a routine business transaction and the city is incapable of making it happen. He's trying to give them a large amount of money FFS, you'd think they'd accept it and then do the menial amount of work to make the records on their end reflect that.

justin66 5y ago
That's all pretty much ass-backwards. It'd be wildly inappropriate and unethical if a city councilman could somehow sway the settlement of an estate, which is the province of the court. Getting things moving in city hall's bureaucracy is in the councilman's remit, as is improving the state of the bureaucracy to prevent further problems in the future. They might not be the ideal person to handle anything in particular, but they should sure know who to talk to, and they should make time to do it.

user3939382 5y ago

I just had an issue where I couldn’t get an appointment for a city service because of COVID, got ahold of my councilman and was there in 2 weeks. This is definitely what he should do.

drewg123 5y ago

This is why I think that if there has to be an unfixable Kafkaesque bureaucracy, I'd rather it be in the public sector rather than a monopoly in the private sector. There is not much your local councilman / state rep / US Rep / US Senator / etc can do about a problem with Comcast. But I've seen appeals to elected officials fix lots of issues with government bureaucracy.

an_opabinia 5y ago
> There is not much your local councilman / state rep / US Rep / US Senator / etc can do about a problem with Comcast Because of its presence on public utility poles, there is a lot that they can do about Comcast. Many people prevail getting Comcast to do stuff by writing cities. The problem is the cushy job Comcast gives people after a long stint in government service in favor of Comcast. That shit isn’t a conspiracy.
- h_anna_h 5y ago
  > That shit isn’t a conspiracy What is it then?
  - r00fus 5y ago
    Corruption.
    - h_anna_h 5y ago
      Are these mutually exclusive?
    - corpdrone2021 5y ago
      Conspiracy seem to be a type of corruption to me in many cases.
      - yebyen 5y ago
        I think GP meant to say "isn't a conspiracy theory" rather than "isn't a conspiracy" eg. that isn't some hare-brained idea that only the craziest kook would subscribe to. Conspiracies certainly happen all the time. The most successful ones are probably never theorized about!
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
A private sector business isn't gonna send thugs with guns to forcibly shut down your business and put you in a cage after being too incompetent to take your money, they're just gonna terminate your service and/or sue you. Which is worse is a matter of preference.