I've been trying to get the MBTA to respond about their honking, which happens if there is a construction project going on, even if no construction is happening. I have this really humble request, which is to just tell us in advance what the dates of this project are.
They wouldn't answer me directly, so I asked the mayor, and her assistant was able to get an occasional response from them.
So, I made a
FOIA request in hopes getting the information that way. After a lot of back and forth with their records officer, they sent a spreadsheet filled with cryptic abbreviations.
When I asked what those meant, after almost a month, they gave me an email address and told me to ask there.
Whoever was behind that email address knew that I lived in Medford in a quiet zone. So, I guess both the requests from the mayor and the FOIA eventually funneled down to the same team or person.
The actual response was, of course, still bullshit — they said, yeah, they'll be doing construction again "in a few months" with no other specifics.
It's amazing that it takes this much work just to get incredibly basic information from (what I think is) a somewhat non-corrupt, non-violent part of the government.
Imagine dealing with ICE to find out where your spouse is.