Every once in awhile, we receive comments like this here in the communications office. I thought I'd share this one because it is particularly well-written, well thought out, and I thought these guys deserved some public credit!
Hello,
My name is Robert Beatty. I own a rental house...in Portland. A week or two ago (either Friday Aug 8 or Aug 15) my wife called in a report about a severely leaking pipe across from our house.
Later in the evening I was at the house repairing a broken dishwasher when one of your crews came to fix the leak. They arrived at about 10 PM. Over the course of the next couple of hours I took breaks from my work and went out to watch them work on the leak repair.
The guys names were Luke, Mark and Steve.
While I now make my living as a psychotherapist and spend my days sitting in a comfortable office, I have in my lifetime done work that required me to be out in the night, to be wet, and to work physically hard. I am writing to express my gratitude to these three guys for the efficient and skillful job they did late that evening. I watched as Mark used the back hoe with a great deal of skill to dig down to the broken pipe while avoiding various other lines that could have been damaged by less skillful. Luke worked as hard as I have ever seen a person as he was up over his boots in water and mud scraping rust off the pipe to make a clean spot for a clamp to stop the leak. I was impressed by the camaraderie and ease with which these three guys worked. Both Steve and Luke used hand signals above the roar of the water pump to instruct Mark as he worked the shovel. This was real teamwork which resulted in efficiency and safety. They really knew what they were doing and did it fast. They clearly cared about what they were doing and were committed to doing a good job.
When I returned to the house on the afternoon of the next day all that remained to indicate that work had been done was a slick of dirt on the road and some raw dirt where the hole had been.
During the evening as I was watching, one of the neighbors came out . She expressed some irritation that she did not have full pressure in her water supply and some impatience about the fact that she was inconvenienced. I fear that she expressed some feelings that are more common in our culture where we are rather spoiled and used to always having clean water, and almost instant repair services. I have lived in several countries around the world, including some in Asia where one would never consider drinking the water, and where the water flowed for as little as two hours a day.
Rather than complaining I think it is most appropriate to appreciate our great good fortune to have great public services, including clean water and crews that will give up their evenings home with their families to keep everything running
Our public services are as good as any in the world. One part of this is the dedication of people like Luke, Mark and Steve. I know they are not alone in serving us so well. I offer my thanks to all of you who are willing to work so hard to take care of our city.
I would very much appreciate it if you would be certain that Luke, Mark and Steve get a copy of this e-mail.
Sincerely,
Robert Beatty
Jennie Burget
Interim Public Information Officer
Government 
