Mayor de Blasio blasted as “stupid” his Department of Transportation’s Twitter response to City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s complaint about a broken crosswalk signal.
Mark-Viverito tweeted a picture of a dangling signal in her East Harlem district to DOT, and the department responded that she should call 311, prompting an angry response from the speaker.
“I thought it was stupid,” de Blasio told reporters Wednesday.
“They should recognize if the speaker of the City Council, one of the leaders of city government, is raising an issue then obviously it demands respect and demands attention. Now the good news is that should be true for any citizen.”
DOT, which also received a call from Mark-Viverito’s staff about the problem, quickly fixed the pedestrian signal. But the dustup with the speaker gained attention after years of complaints from less high profile citizens that the agency won’t respond to online complaints, instead directing them to 311.
Hizzoner said that policy should change.
“The response should always be that we’re going to fix the problem right away,” he said. “We want to see anyone raising a concern treated with respect and we want the turnaround time to be very fast. So it’s what we call a teachable moment.”
DOT, which has said it is following a citywide social media policy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
De Blasio said he hasn’t spoken to DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg about the incident but thinks his public dressing down will get through to agency officials.
“I think they’ll get the message. I have not spoken to the (DOT), but I think they’ll read what you write and get the message. I think it’s self-evident,” he said.
