QUESTION
What is being done to address issues with the 311 complaint system for helicopter noise?
0:38:19
·
118 sec
The NYC Economic Development Corporation acknowledges the backlog and delays in responding to 311 complaints about helicopter noise, even though all complaints are counted.
- 90% of complaints come from the top 20 frequent complainers
- Some users submit complaints for their neighbors' addresses as well
- The agency takes all complaints seriously despite repeat submissions from the same users
- There is recognition that many people tolerate the noise issues and give up on submitting complaints due to lack of response, creating an underrepresentation of the issue
Amanda Farías
0:38:19
And then just quickly on the response rate to constituent 301 complaint.
0:38:24
Right?
0:38:24
There are a lot of folks that issue complaints into 301 system, and they rarely get any response bag that I think maybe feels validated or not.
0:38:36
And I think in direct connection ends up getting refreshed traded, and then eventually give up on making a lot of those complaints.
0:38:45
So I think a lot of folks in the public feel the numbers are skewed because there are ton of people that are just but grudgingly tolerating what's happening around them.
0:38:57
Is EDC fully aware of that and that it that's occurring, and is that being taken into consideration while developing this new tool?
Anton Fredriksson
0:39:06
Absolutely.
0:39:06
And I'll say even if the respondent hasn't heard back on the complaint, that complaint is still being counted for and is part of the the 50,000 plus that we have reported on, you know, I personally filed my own 31 complaints, still waiting to hear back on the one from last week.
0:39:20
So, you know, we recognize that there there is a backlog and we're trying to to work through that I will also point out that a large uptick of these complaints are coming from the same users, so 90% are coming from the top 20 complainants.
0:39:32
Now all complaints are are valid, but it is, you know, often generated by the same user many times a day, sometimes with all their neighbors' addresses as well.
0:39:41
We take all of those.
0:39:42
Seriously, I just wanna point out as well that that often repeat it from from the same users.
Amanda Farías
0:39:47
Yeah.
0:39:47
I mean, I totally hear that, and that's understandable to kind of look at that data and see that it have it could be, you know, skewed in in a way coming from certain individual users.
0:39:58
But all that to say is a lot of people just kind of tolerate it
Anton Fredriksson
0:40:02
Yeah.
Amanda Farías
0:40:03
And give up, like, apathy and local government is real, and it's something that I think all of us are fighting both as elected officials and as city agencies to build more faith and trust with the systems and operations that we have in place for constituents.
Anton Fredriksson
0:40:16
Absolutely.