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“One call to City Hall” -- that’s how Los Angeles bills its 311 information line .
Just dial the three numbers for help with any city service.
Some callers interpret that offer very broadly. They make some peculiar requests.
One man once called shouting, irate. Someone had littered his lawn with Butterball turkeys. He expected the city to send someone out immediately to take the shrink-wrapped birds away.
Read the story of the turkeys and more in my latest City Beat story .
And check out what I sent out on Twitter from the scene:
[View the story “L.A.’s 311 operators have heard it all” on Storify ]L.A.’s 311 operators have heard it all People call L.A.’s 311 operators to get bulky items picked up, find out when their trash days are, learn their council members’names, schedule inspections -- and so much more. Some just call to talk. When the phones ring, the operators never know what they’ll get. The job’s busy, but not boring. Storified by LA Times City Beat · Sat, Dec 08 2012 12:10:07
For my next City Beat, I head to a City Hall office to see how the 311 operators field calls from all over Los Angeles.LA Times City Beat
-- Nita Lelyveld
Follow City Beat on Twitter at @latimescitybeat and on Facebook . Send ideas for City Beat dispatches to [email protected] .
