MAC attack.

Hizzoner said yesterday that folks whose streets hadn't yet been plowed needed to contact the MAC, Mayor's Action Center, and let them know.

Well, short of phoning, there's no way to do that.  The MAC online app has absolutely no method of reporting a need for a snowplow.  In fact, this app is pretty much just brain damaged, since it forces you to choose a fairly specific problem to be reported, with no leeway for anything that isn't on the list.  For instance, if under "street maintenance" they had thought to offer a "street impassable due to snow" option, that would have made sense.  But there is no such option available.

Now, understand:  I get why they don't just offer an "other" category and let you fill it in.  They would be swamped with shit like "My neighbor is an goat-f*cking asshole and 911 won't do anything about it" or "The McDonald's drivethrough at 16th and Meridian said they were out of McNuggets and that should be illegal" or suchlike.  (Kind of like the calls my buddy who works in the 911 dispatch center tells me about, come to think of it.)

But when you sat right there on TV and said "Please let the MAC know if your street hasn't been plowed", it would have made a lot more sense if there were actually a way to do that online rather than have to call and probably wait 20 minutes on hold to get through.

FWIW, Westlane Road was smooth as a baby's butt this morning; plowed, salted, groomed, nice black pavement all the way.  Ditch Road, on the other hand, reminded me of roads I've heard about in the Afghan AOR, or, well, California.  And our street is just chock-full of loose, powdery snow to the extent that it doesn't even look like it was plowed at all (although they did make a sketchy attempt on either Monday or Tuesday that gave us about a lane and a half).*

Oh well.  Trash pickup is tomorrow, maybe the big truck will mash some of it down.  If the city's solar-powered snow removal equipment hasn't already taken care of it by then.  Thanks for nothing, yer Honor.

AFTERMATH:  My wife called them twice.  Once on Thursday, and again on Friday when it was apparent that the call on Thursday had been a waste of time.  She was told on Friday that our street was on the schedule to be plowed.  In my estimation (and even given the snow melt over the weekend, there was still plenty of snow on the ground when we got home on Sunday), it did not look like a plow ever touched our street.  Mayor Ballard, that's not very good service when you sit there and boast about how many new snowplows you have and how many private contractors are on call.  Let's hope you get your shit together for the next snowfall, which it sounds like is a real possibility within the next few weeks.

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* I'm glad I took my wife to work today, because she would have turned around and come back at the Ditch Road intersection :)  I love my wife but we've been stuck here together since late Saturday morning. Since I telecommute, I didn't get any snow days, and she spent the last three days cleaning house .... so I really needed her to go back to work and give me some peace and quiet :)