Monday, March 18, 2013

Almost Instant 311 Gratification On 27th Avenue North, Between Morgan And Newton...

Photo, blog post by John Hoff

I don't know how long this car actually sat where I found it, on 27th Ave. N. between Morgan and Newton, on the south side of the street, but I first saw it Saturday evening, which would have been March 16. By today, March 18, its presence was getting tiresome...


A friend suggested calling 911, thinking the car might have been stolen, but I was adamantly opposed. Any car that's been sitting for three days is not an "emergency," unless I can see a body in the front seat.

But, all the same, there were certain indications the car was involved in some kind of dreadful misadventure. First, look at the front end damage. I can't even figure out how some of that happened. The car is not just smashed, but the front bumper appears to have been twisted around like the windup dial on a watch.

The airbags inside the car deployed. Here's a picture, taken through the driver's side window.


Below, a picture from the front. Note how you have to read the license plate up and down instead of sideways.


So I called 311 about the car, making a point of reporting the license plate. If the car was stolen, the system could respond that much quicker.

I expected a relatively quick and satisfactory response, but I was amazed by how quick and how satisfactory it was. Within an hour and a half, the car was gone. Nothing of its presence remained except a bare patch on the snowy road.

That's what I call instant 311 gratification. 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If y'all can get up and walk away from it, then y'all haven't really had an accident.

Anonymous said...

So who owns 919-HVK?

Folwell Neighbor said...

A 'lil bondo and she'll be good as new. Heh heh.

I'm guessing they managed to drive it back, which might explain why the bumper got twisted up. Even if they had it towed there, it could have gotten twisted up by pulling it onto a flatbed or hanging to the ground if the front was lifted. Either way, you'd think they'd park this in their driveway if they wanted to keep the car.

Anyone else notice that the 311 smartphone app is rather buggy? I've noticed that it won't actually let you select another location than you are, even though it seems to let you think it has. I once took a pic and filed the report when I got to work. Even though I selected the correct address, it listed it as my work address. I immediately went to the website and added a comment that explained the situation. When the city finally responded days later, they obviously hadn't seen the comments because they basically implied that I was an idiot since it wasn't a Minneapolis address. Lovely.

Also the app crashes on occasion. I love the idea, I hope the programmers can tweak things and get it working better.

Johnny Northside! said...

Racist and entirely off-topic comment rejected.

Anonymous said...

Sure it wasn't topic related and entirely off- racist?