Baysiders Are Most Concerned About Discounted Phone, WiFi Service

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Residents of Bayside most frequently call their City Council members for help with Lifeline, a discounted phone and Wi-Fi service available for low-income people and seniors, according to data analyzed in a new report.

CouncilStat is a city database that Council district offices use to track questions and complaints from constituents, and The City recently analyzed data from 260,000-plus cases dating back to 2015, in order to find which issues are most regularly reported in each district, and how well each district’s council member responded to the concerns.

The analysis is one way for voters to see their incumbent Council member’s neighborhood track record, or to think about how a new candidate will handle one of the more mundane, but significant, parts of their job: responding to the concerns of constituents.

CouncilStat lists complaints by district number, and the number of recorded complaints varies between offices, in part since reporting is voluntary — a point that many incumbent Council Members stressed to The City in an effort to indicate that CouncilStat only shows part of their neighborhood track record.

In Bayside's District 19, the most frequently listed complaint was about applying for Lifeline, a federal discount program for phone or internet that's available for lower-income people and seniors.

Hopefuls in the District 19 race have bold platforms — including replacing all city cars with electric vehicles and making all businesses and residential buildings in Queens accessible — but to see how the candidates stack up in terms of their platforms for providing accessible utility services and helping lower-income people and seniors consider reading through the Bayside City Council guide that Patch put together.

You can read the full article about CouncilStat on The City.