A city that is responsive to complaints seems like a desirable standard to strive for. Who doesn’t like having their complaints addressed in a timely manner? This was the idea when Santa Monica contracted for a 311 system in 2018, a platform that would allow for the efficient assignment and handling of requests across city departments and provide data on trends in requests and issues that could inform policy, management, and budget decisions.
This was at a time (pre-COVID) when City Hall was re-orienting the management of the city around performance-based budgeting with a public data dashboard so that people ⸺ city staff and residents alike ⸺ could see how the city was performing on a variety of criteria including annual performance metrics, not just their own requests. The system was deployed in 2021, and according to a case study by its 311 system vendor, Service Now, Santa Monica completed 150 requests per day, saving over 140,000 hours in staff time over 2.5 years.
However, what was originally envisioned as a proactive way to track requests for services and constituent satisfaction with these requests in Santa Monica seems to have come at the sacrifice of the city’s ability to take a more proactive approach to solving problems at scale. The city lost nearly one-quarter of its staff in 2020 and now faces chronic budget shortfalls. The public performance data dashboard is dead and performance-based budgeting is a shadow of its former self. Furthermore, the prior city council put a high priority on responsiveness to residents, even if this would be to the detriment of long-term issues. This seems to have led the city to lose the importance for the urgent.
Most cities in Los Angeles County don’t offer a 311-type centralized service request system, which means that residents must either call city hall or direct their requests to the department that will fulfill them. A few that do have such systems publish data on service requests and resolutions. The City of Los Angeles publishes 311 service requests and their status. Hermosa Beach has a dashboard that includes Go Hermosa service requests by department.
Santa Monica doesn’t publish data on 311 requests, so I’m reliant on anecdata to get a sense of how the 311 service request system is faring. Based on conversations I’ve had with others and my own recent experience, complaints that require an ongoing, proactive approach for the city to address seem to be closed out without comment.
My own experience over the past few months has left much to be desired.
A nearby property owner illegally trimmed city-owned trees (violation of SMMC 7.40 – Tree Code) a fine punishable by a fine of $500 per tree and up to 6 months in jail.
The city closed this complaint without a comment.
Another nearby vacant property has failed to maintain a clean sidewalk (violation of SMMC 5.08.70, fine of $250 per day).
The city closed the request without comment.
The same property has had advertising posted on its boarded up walls for years, in spite of this violating city code for off-premises signs (SMMC 9.61.180(A)(6)) and being punishable by a fine of $250 per day per sign. A quick calculation shows the city could have collected over $2 million in fines from this single property owner; however the issue would have likely been remedied after a few rounds of violations.
Because these ads are clearly a violation, clearly visible from a high-traffic intersection, and potentially lucrative for the city, I have assumed that the city would have every incentive to enforce this code violation and collect a fine. Thus, I haven’t submitted a complaint.
But a few years ago, I did post notice of violations informing the property owner about the violation and potential fine.
The advertisements were painted over a few days later and were gone for several weeks.
Perhaps the city wants to shift the burden for managing persistent public nuisance issues to the public. It’s certainly what Reddit posters recommended in a now-deleted post about managing a persistent yeller on Ocean Avenue by putting fart juice on her belongings.
But shifting the burden for managing persistent issues to the public is a pathway to vigilantism and erodes trust in government. The city should figure out how to balance the immediate with the important, communicate this to staff, and empower staff to take action on chronic issues. It’s the chronic issues that most affect the public’s perception of the city (even if they’re not filing 311 complaints for them).
