Tip of the Hat to @ArlingtonDES

This week someone dropped a window or something on Lee Hwy just west of the I-66 overpass, near Lyon Village.  There was glass everywhere, clearly creating a hazardous material situation.

I contacted one Arlington office and was told "It's probably the responsibility of the landlord to clean up the sidewalk."

Ok.  Whatever. Not helpful. This is a hazardous situation.  Clean it up and bill them.

I tried to contact Arlington Office of Transportation.  Not finding an appropriate point of contact, I just hit the "Contact Us" button.  I was told "Your inquiry has been referred to the appropriate office for response."  None came.

Same day I contacted VDOT.  Same lack of response.

Lacking a response after three attempts, the next day I blogged about the situation with "@arlingtonva" in the title - that mean a twitter message got sent to the @arlingtonva account.   That must have been forwarded to @arlingtonDES (Dept of Environmental Services) or maybe they actually follow my twitter account.  Dont know.  

Soon I received the tweet from @ArlingtonDES "Where's the glass?"

I tweeted back "~3301 Lee Hwy"

@ArlingtonDES: "Street cleaner is on its way!"

And then, even better,

@ArlingtonDES: "The glass has been cleaned up!"

Tip of the hat to @ArlingtonDES for excellent use of new media and excellent local government response.  This was a hazardous material situation, dangerous to every car, bike, pedestrian and dog that came anywhere near the glass.  These are not times you ponder "well, whose responsibility is it."  These are times when you get it done, and you get the danger removed. @ArlingtonDES did that!

Tip of the hat to @ArlingtonDES.  YOU DA MAN! er WOMAN!