With all the complaints that sometimes swirl around city government I thought it might be nice to give a "shout out" to an Alpharetta City Department that is doing a great job.

A very large piece of sidewalk in our neighborhood  caved in. I guess we all assumed that in time the City would get round to fixing it but year after year the hole sat there getting progressively worse. I don't suppose any of us considered the fact that the City might simply be unaware of the problem. Finally staring at this eyesore for so long got the better of me and I called the public works department. Within a few days a crew was out there and the problem was resolved. I marveled at how easy it had been to get the issue taken care of.

Again this week I saw a crew out on our street fixing the crumbling curbing on the road. This was another issue that had been left unattended for a very long time. I asked the crew what had prompted the city to finally get it fixed. The reply was that a resident had called to complain. When I asked when they had received that call I was told that it had been that very morning. Again - suitably impressed.

Last night while walking with some friends we noticed several black boxes bolted into the center of the road. None of us could figure what they were for, perhaps some kind of traffic counting device?

That same night I emailed the Director of Engineering/ Public Works,  Pete Sewczwicz.  First thing this morning I received an email in return stating that a resident had complained about vehicles speeding through the neighborhood and that these devices were put into place to collect data about the traffic patterns and that once those were established there were several options the City might take if there was in fact an issue.

So "kudos" to  Alpharetta Engineering/ Public Works Department for being so responsive.  If you have long-awaited street repairs needed in your neighborhood remember it is quite possible that the City just does not know that a problem exists.

They can't fix it if they don't know about it.

To report an issue with traffic/street repairs in your neighborhood call the Public Works Department at 678-297-6200.