At New Bedford Guide we get quite a number of questions sent to our inbox daily. We are glad to help out since, if we don’t already know something, we know who to ask and it doesn’t take much effort to get an answer to someone.
One of the most common questions asked is one that generally revolves around who to contact about something a neighbor is doing or not doing, a lawn or property that is not being taken care of, a car that has been parked in one spot for months, or other similar community issues. In this case, the last one has come up:
“I have a question which I don’t know who to ask. Maybe you can help direct me. With the parking ban season rapidly approaching, there is a car which has been parked on the “legal” side since March. It has not moved, and no one, other than Traffic Commission personnel (to write tickets which are still under the wipers), has approached it. Any thoughts on who to contact to have this apparently abandoned vehicle removed?” – Nicholas
In most cases when it comes to these types of issues, your best bet is to let your ward’s city councilor know. If your ward city councilor doesn’t act, then try one of the five at-large city councilors. You can find a full list of the councilors, including maps of their ward so you can find out who your councilor is here
After virtually a decade of interacting with various city councilors, it is our experience that the vast majority are not only willing to “go to bat” for you but will eagerly do so. It is not unusual for people to contact us an hour or two after we recommend that they contact their ward’s councilor that they let us know that the issue was resolved.
Get to know your city councilor – not only for contacting them with issues, but remember them when it comes election time, so you aren’t just skipping that section of the ballot because you are unfamiliar with the candidates.