By Rolando Larraz
Las Vegas Tribune
The City of Las Vegas’s Website in big numbers displays its hours of operation from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but we call its main number after 7:00 a.m, and ask for Parking Services and all we get after letting it ring for five minutes is a voice recording announcing all types of Las Vegas City services and several programs because the
Parking Services do not open until 8:00 a.m.
But nowhere during those ten minutes of public service announcements do they tell the caller that their hours of operation are different from the rest of City Hall.
Finally after so many calls a human being employee answers the telephone and when they learn why the caller is calling, they inform the caller that they need to call the parking enforcement division, which is in a different office and they cannot transfer the call.
So there you go, back to the City Hall telephone operator (with only one telephone operator on duty in a city that has 2,699,000 residents and 49.5 million people who visited Las Vegas last year according to the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority who do not know the hours of operations for any of the city departments that are located in several locations over the city limit.
Confused? Wait until you learn that in order to speak to someone in the City Manager’s Office—not the city manager, but just the city manager’s office—one has to be interrogated by some person in a call center.
It is unknown how much those call centers cost and where they are located, perhaps in the Philippines or in Guadalajara, Mexico, like most call centers, but most likely they are not as inexpensive as hiring two or three more phone operators to serve the patrons and visitors to City Hall.
The City of Las Vegas closes on Fridays and according to inside sources many people are there on Fridays, but no one can communicate with them because they are not privy to their direct numbers.
Even during business hours, if the only operator is busy with another call a recording answers the main number asking the person to leave their name and number and telling them that someone will call back without mentioning that it may take up to a whole week (four work days) before they get that call.
Unless the caller is privileged to know the direct numbers to the city council or the city manager, or any other individual with a direct line, they’ll get a voicemail announcing that they are “away from their desk”; no one calling city hall can speak to their almighty city representative or even any employee.
At the city parking enforcement division (at an unknown location “for security reasons”) a supervisor by the name of Jace (don’t know if that is the real name or one used for cowardly or security reasons) is rude and obnoxious and refuses to take a report on a black Audi parked at a city location for the last two weeks, which could be stolen or even possibly have a bomb or contraband inside.
Just a few weeks ago Sunny Day wrote in this newspaper that “People expect the best and the most from Las Vegas and the city should be able to give out the best. If hotels and small businesses can offer the best services, the city itself should be able to set an example with the best service and the best treatment for all visitors and locals alike.
“Elected officials should always remember that they are not the bosses; they work for the community and they should be quick to serve the community to the best of their abilities.
“City employees and those working for the elected officials should have more reasons to remember that the community and the public as a whole are the most important subjects to serve.”
People should not feel privileged to speak to someone in the city manager’s office or even to the city manager; people should not need to feel privileged to speak one on one with any of the elected officials because they are in that position because the voters put them in that chair.
Public officials are not Gods, however if the public can speak to God whenever they want to, why cannot the public ever speak to an elected or public official?
Las Vegas Tribune
The City of Las Vegas’s Website in big numbers displays its hours of operation from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but we call its main number after 7:00 a.m, and ask for Parking Services and all we get after letting it ring for five minutes is a voice recording announcing all types of Las Vegas City services and several programs because theParking Services do not open until 8:00 a.m.
But nowhere during those ten minutes of public service announcements do they tell the caller that their hours of operation are different from the rest of City Hall.
Finally after so many calls a human being employee answers the telephone and when they learn why the caller is calling, they inform the caller that they need to call the parking enforcement division, which is in a different office and they cannot transfer the call.
So there you go, back to the City Hall telephone operator (with only one telephone operator on duty in a city that has 2,699,000 residents and 49.5 million people who visited Las Vegas last year according to the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority who do not know the hours of operations for any of the city departments that are located in several locations over the city limit.
Confused? Wait until you learn that in order to speak to someone in the City Manager’s Office—not the city manager, but just the city manager’s office—one has to be interrogated by some person in a call center.
It is unknown how much those call centers cost and where they are located, perhaps in the Philippines or in Guadalajara, Mexico, like most call centers, but most likely they are not as inexpensive as hiring two or three more phone operators to serve the patrons and visitors to City Hall.
The City of Las Vegas closes on Fridays and according to inside sources many people are there on Fridays, but no one can communicate with them because they are not privy to their direct numbers.
Even during business hours, if the only operator is busy with another call a recording answers the main number asking the person to leave their name and number and telling them that someone will call back without mentioning that it may take up to a whole week (four work days) before they get that call.
Unless the caller is privileged to know the direct numbers to the city council or the city manager, or any other individual with a direct line, they’ll get a voicemail announcing that they are “away from their desk”; no one calling city hall can speak to their almighty city representative or even any employee.
At the city parking enforcement division (at an unknown location “for security reasons”) a supervisor by the name of Jace (don’t know if that is the real name or one used for cowardly or security reasons) is rude and obnoxious and refuses to take a report on a black Audi parked at a city location for the last two weeks, which could be stolen or even possibly have a bomb or contraband inside.
Just a few weeks ago Sunny Day wrote in this newspaper that “People expect the best and the most from Las Vegas and the city should be able to give out the best. If hotels and small businesses can offer the best services, the city itself should be able to set an example with the best service and the best treatment for all visitors and locals alike.
“Elected officials should always remember that they are not the bosses; they work for the community and they should be quick to serve the community to the best of their abilities.
“City employees and those working for the elected officials should have more reasons to remember that the community and the public as a whole are the most important subjects to serve.”
People should not feel privileged to speak to someone in the city manager’s office or even to the city manager; people should not need to feel privileged to speak one on one with any of the elected officials because they are in that position because the voters put them in that chair.
Public officials are not Gods, however if the public can speak to God whenever they want to, why cannot the public ever speak to an elected or public official?
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