Top 10 Reasons People Contact Somerville's 311 System

Potholes, missed trash pickups and illegal parking: All three are some of the top ten reasons Somerville residents contact the city's .

But the number one reason is something you might not have thought about. Or, judging by the numbers, I'm the only one in the entire city who hasn't thought about it; almost everyone else has.

Calling to get a TV or computer monitor picked up is the number one reason people get in touch with 311 in Somerville, according to data available on , which you can access here. 

The data portal provided information about 311 cases from the beginning of 2009 through July of 2012, and we organized the data to see the main reasons people contact 311.

In less than two years, there were 14,069 cases related to picking up TV and computer monitors.

So, what's the deal with that? First of all, you can't throw out TV or comuputer monitors in Somerville, so you need to arrange with the for a pickup. Surely, that explains a number of those calls. An intelligent Somerville resident explained a sneakier method people use to throw out their monitors. They put them on the street in front of someone else's house, then they call 311 to compain about it.

Potholes came in at number three on the top-ten list of 311 cases, and missed trash and recycling pickups were other main reasons people contacted 311, along with complaints about illegal parking and requests for tree trimming.

Rodent sightings didn't make the top-ten list, but came it at number 20 on the list.

Here's the list of the top ten reasons people contacted Somerville's 311 system, according to data from Socrata.