So, about this Goodman Avenue situation. I figured I’d share what I went through, just lay it all out there, because man, it was something else.
Getting Started on Goodman Avenue
It all began pretty simply. I live near Goodman Avenue, walk down it almost every day. And for months, maybe even a year, I noticed the lighting was just terrible. We’re talking really bad. A couple of streetlights were always out, another one flickered like a haunted house prop. It just didn’t feel safe, especially in winter when it gets dark so early. So, I thought, “Alright, I’m gonna do something about this.” Seemed straightforward enough, right? Famous last words.
First thing, I tried the official channels. Went online, found the city council’s contact form. Filled it out, described the problem, gave the specific locations of the busted lights. Waited a week. Nothing. Sent another one. Still crickets. Okay, I thought, maybe emails get lost. So, I decided to call them. That was an adventure in itself. Got transferred about three times. Each person I spoke to sounded like they’d rather be doing literally anything else.
The Runaround
Finally, I got someone who said they’d “look into it.” That was encouraging, for about a day. Weeks went by. Still, those same lights were out. Goodman Avenue was as dim as ever. I started asking around the neighborhood. Turns out, a few other folks had complained too. Some had given up ages ago. One guy told me he’d been reporting a pothole on the same street for six months, and it was now big enough to swallow a small dog.
My next bright idea was to attend a local council meeting. I thought, “If I speak to them in person, they have to listen!” So, I prepared my little speech, all about safety and community. Waited my turn. When I finally got to speak, they nodded politely. Said they appreciated my “civic engagement.” And then… nothing changed. It was like talking to a brick wall, a very polite brick wall, but a wall nonetheless.
Here’s a quick rundown of what I actually did, just so you see I wasn’t slacking:
- Sent multiple emails through the official portal.
- Made at least five phone calls, getting bounced around each time.
- Talked to my neighbors to see if it was just me.
- Attended a council meeting and spoke directly.
- Even tried tweeting at the city’s official account – that was a long shot, I know.
A Tiny Bit of Progress, Maybe?
After about three months of this, one of the flickering lights suddenly got fixed. Just one. Was it because of me? Or was it just its turn in some random maintenance lottery? Who knows. The other broken ones? Still dark. It felt like a tiny, almost insulting victory. Like they threw me a bone to shut me up.
The whole Goodman Avenue saga taught me a lot. Mostly about how systems, even local ones, can be incredibly slow and sometimes just plain indifferent. You think you’re doing a good, simple thing, reporting a problem. But then you get tangled in red tape and procedures that seem designed to wear you down. It’s not like I was asking for a new park or a monorail, just working streetlights!
So yeah, that was my practical experience with trying to get something done on Goodman Avenue. It wasn’t glamorous, and it definitely wasn’t quick. But it was… an experience. Makes you wonder how anything ever gets fixed sometimes. Still, I walk down Goodman Avenue, and I see that one fixed light, and a tiny part of me thinks, “Yeah, maybe I had a little something to do with that.” Or maybe I’m just telling myself that to feel better. Either way, that’s the story.
