Building on the success and popularity of 311, Mayor Bloomberg just introduced a radical but seemingly sensible idea – roving units of city employees whose job it is to look for things like potholes, graffiti and darkened streetlights. It’s commendable when citizens call 311 to complain about such things, but, the mayor said, it’s actually the government’s job to identify problems before people complain. He even expressed surprise that the city wasn’t already doing this.

For city newcomers and other residents who don’t realize what a huge sea change this represents, here’s a little city history lesson: Back in 1974, when the city was almost bankrupt, nearly every local service shifted to a complaint-generated system managed through a backlog. Subway cars got "deferred maintenance" and were only seen to when something broke. Apartments went un-inspected until someone complained. Potholes went unfilled to the extent that the city refused all liability without a complaint, which sent liability lawyers scurrying about to register defects in sidewalks and streets so their clients could sue when they fell over them. And, of course, police officers, in those crime-filled days, were at the mercy of 911, driving from call to call rather than being able to actually patrol.

Community leaders like the late Tina Argenti were quoted in newspapers saying, "Why doesn’t anybody do anything until people start to yell and scream?"

I was the "anybody" she was referring to at the time (I worked in the Bronx HPD office then), but I refrained from pointing out to her that the system was set up that way. Only the squeakiest wheels got any grease in the cash strapped city. Although the building renovation she was rightfully demanding at the time did happen, the system was what it was.

Over the years, some pre-complaint action was taken. There was at least one "cycle" of building-wide housing code inspections in the late 1980s, and various neighborhood policing and patrol programs have come and gone. And of course "deferred (fix it when it breaks) maintenance" in the subway system proved more expensive than preventive maintenance.

Now, we may be seeing a real change. While my ears are ringing with the sound of tens of thousands of civil servants crying, "What, you want us to go looking for problems?" it may be that the 311 system, a flush city budget and a can-do mayor have resulted in a problem-generated, rather than a complaint-generated, system. It remains to be seen if we will get more than a longer backlog, but we have hope.

Now, if we can only do something about the 18-inch law…

-Dart Westphal