Poll on contact islington

Posted on October 21, 2006 by William Perrin

BallotboxSo far 21 votes on the poll on contact islington – 71% say its great, 24% mostly ok, 5%  mostly unreliable.  Wonder if contact islington staff have been coming to the site…….Personally i think it is pretty good, but they need to be more open about when they are overwhelmed.
Interesting experiment – shall keep the poll running for a few more weeks.  Anything else people think worth voting on ?

Posted in How to get things done locally, Local issues | Leave a comment

Contact Islington – email backlog

Posted on October 21, 2006 by William Perrin

Islington_logo_1I have long suspected that something was up with Contact Islington’s email handling – often when i report something by email i get an automatic repsonse giving me a reference number.  This gives me a false sense of security that the problem is being dealt with.  But it can take two weeks to get an email telling me what has happened – by which time i have usually called to report it and the problem solved). 

I spoke with a call centre person today when i telephoned with a long list of stuff.  He confirmed that there had been a surge in the number of emails and they were working with a large backlog.  He apologised for this.  The best pratcice when you have a problem of this sort (being swamped with demand is a good sort of problem to have) is to acknowlegde to your customers that there are challenges and give them feedback on the best way to handle stuff. While you bring in more resources to handle the problem.  They could do this through the auto-repsonse email.

Also some theory i came across years ago on message handling was that the statistcially best way to handle a messgae backlog is to delete it all and focus only on current messages.  Otherwise resources getr inappropriately allocated.  This is of course hard for a branch of government to do.

So my tip for now would be to telephone 0207 527 2000 and report street problems by phone, not email.

UPDATE
i heard back from cllr george allan – the executive member for customer focus – on 23 october – george said he was not aware of any backlog but would raise it with the executive director for customer focus and notify me of his reply.  i haven’t heard anything – perhaps it has got stuck in the backlog……..

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Bingfield Park Container-land ?

Posted on October 21, 2006 by William Perrin

FootpathA whole load of ugly blue containers have turned up off Pembroke Street alongside Sparkplug and Bingfield Park.  The containers re-route the public right of way and create an unpleasant and dangerous spot for pedestrians as the evenings draw in.   One of the great features in the redesign of Bingfield Park was the improved lighting, sight lines and access.  Containerland These containers ruin it – they dont’ appear to be licensed – even though they are either on the public highway or on Council/Greenspace land.  I guess they are associated with the mildly shambolic building site where the old Marquis of Salisbury pub used to be.  WIll see what council can do – will raise with Cllr Convery as this cuts across several Departments. 

I have written to Jeffrey Adams, the Chief Executive of the United House Housing Association who’s name is on the fencing.  If anyone else would like to write his email is here .

UPDATE

Jeffrey Adams go back to me today – the containers will be moved in 10-14 days.

Posted in Broken Stuff on the Street | 4 Comments

The new Guardian building York Way – dangerous hoardings

Posted on October 21, 2006 by William Perrin

York_way_signsThe Kings Place building on York Way will be home to the Guardian in about 2008 . The builders have hoarded off the York Way pavement on the East side.  This forces pedestrains out into the road at a busy junction (see pic below).  The pavement diversion is badly signed and the pedestrian crossing facilities at this point are weak.  I have raised this with Islington Planners (Mark Hammill – who knew nothing about it).  The licence the builders haveis from Camden Council, even though the  pavement is in Islington (Camden are the higway authority for York Way at this point). The Camden hoarding licence runs out on 1 November so let’s hope these dangerous hoardings are removed.
Hoards

Posted in Broken Stuff on the Street | 4 Comments

Junk and tipping – Gifford St, Delhi St, Northdown St, Pembroke St, Rufford St, Story Street

Posted on October 21, 2006 by William Perrin

Northdown_59a I have been out of town for a week and have got behind in reporting stuff.  On a quick walk around, there is a sofa (still) outside 114 Gifford St, a pile of trash outside 59 Northdown St, some mattresses against the hoardings on Pembroke Street, a sofa and bed divans opposite 3 Rufford St and a large TV on Carnoustie Drive at the junction with Story Street.  See selected pics – all now reported.Story_carn_junk

Delhi_junk

Posted in Street Tipping, Mess, Trash | Leave a comment

What’s with the voting thing ?

Posted on October 14, 2006 by William Perrin

There is an experimental voting thing on the left hand side of the page.  When you vote you get shown the results of the poll so far.  I have put this up as an experiment – have a go and i shall feed results back to the Islington Council people in a couple of weeks.

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Cleaning up Wharfdale Road

Posted on October 14, 2006 by Stephan Schulte

Cleaning_up_wharfdale_road_1 It does take some patience, but in the end it’s usually worth it.

As many of you know I’ve been recently ranting on about the cleanliness of King’s Cross – or lack of it.  Well I’m pleased to report that there have been signs of things improving.  The flytip that had accoumlated on Wharfdale Road across from the bottom of Crinan Street has now been cleaned up (note pix); as has most of the trash outside one of the adjacent buidlings (the one with the markings "hgb" on it).  Additionally the area outside of Central Station has been cleaned and I’m advised that Central Station has been warned about continuing to leave the rubbish paladins on the pavement in front of their premises.  All little steps, but ones taken as a result of ongoing communications with the Council.

If you have cleaning problems in your area, I would suggest a short note to Chris Demetriou, our Street Environment Manager.  He and his team have been behind the improvements that have taken place.  I’ve been sending pix to help identify the problem and to help him illustrate to his superiors the need for immediate action.

We need to be involved, if only to focus attention on where the problem spots are.

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More T-Mobile graffiti

Posted on October 11, 2006 by William Perrin

Tmob_graff The marker pen mafia has been busy again – will mail T-Mobile to get it cleaned – they normally respond quickly.  This mast on York Way is an ugly thing.  Will also see if i can interest T-Mobile in sponsoring the excellent community art projects run by the Copenhagen Youth Project on Copenhagen Street.  They produce art with young people and sell it to companies with builders hoardings.  The wider community of young people then respect the hoardings more and tend not to graffiti them.  It is good for the kids who produce the art and good for the community.

Posted in Street Tipping, Mess, Trash | Leave a comment