NEW YORK – “Can you tell me the steps to boil a chicken alive?”

“Can I declare my dog ​​as a dependent on my taxes?”

On Thursday, New York City officials marked two decades of the city’s 311 non-emergency call response system by releasing a list of the top 20 of those and other memorable calls.

Mayor Eric Adams said the 311 system has received 525 million contacts by phone, text and other means since its inception in March 2003. He said the service “has become an indispensable resource for New Yorkers who want to file a noise complaint, report a cleaning problem, find out if alternate side parking is in effect, and much more.

Adams said in a press release that the city’s first 311 call involved a noise complaint in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens.

Baltimore was the first US city to use 311 for non-emergency calls in 1996. New York’s 311 system was launched by then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg on March 9, 2003 and has grown to become the largest service of this type in the country.

New York’s anniversary celebration also marked the release of a “State of 311 Report” outlining the expansion of the service from a phone-based system to include texts, postings on social media, website pushes, chat support, and a mobile app.

The main investigation for 2004, the first full year of reporting, involved the removal of Freon-using devices, city officials said, while the main investigation for 2022 involved a parking ticket or traffic violation. radar.

Here are some fun questions and complaints that operators have answered:

  • “I would like to file a noise complaint against my refrigerator.”
  • “Can you check if my boyfriend is married?” »
  • “A goat is tied to the stairs of my building.”
  • “Can someone spray the trees to keep the leaves from falling?”
  • “Can you transfer me to a ufologist?

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