Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Zombieflash: Entire City Disappears

...from the intertubes that is...

I was getting rather frustrated this morning trying to access a press release from the city website...I kept getting a server time out:

http://www.cityofno.com/

I figured it was something on my end...I figured wrong. Whenever in doubt, apply occam's razor....why would I not be able to access the city website? Because there is a technical issue with the website? Or wait a minute....what if....what if the city didn't pay the internet bill?

Nah...couldn't be....DOH!

Apparently the city is so far past due on payments to ATT, they finally were forced to pull the plug. So not only is the city portal down, I'm being told these city services are also defunct:

- blackberry
- off-site email
- NOPD electronic police reporting
- payment processing

I'm not completely sure how this is affecting the NOPD but I'm afraid to find out....it could be a public safety issue.

I suppose Boyd may be honoring my wish to return back to the Flintstones. But hey, on the bright side we were able to pay the portrait artist the money needed to paint Ray's portrait....we still have our priorities in order.

UPDATE: Hey one of my fellow bloggers pointed out that it is 4/20.....fuck it man....we don't need no water let the muthafucka burn!

UPDATE 2: Hey isn't it Digital Unplugged week or some stupid shit like that? Maybe we can just pass it off under that.

UPDATE 3: I'm getting word that productivity in City Hall has increased 20% since this morning.

One city employee was seen wandering the halls mumbling, "What year is it? Man do I have one helluva hangover....is that Nagin dude gone yet?" This supports my theory that City Hall employees were under an electronically induced hypnotic trance created by Boyd and Sunblock. Now is your chance people....run....run like the wind!

SERIOUS UPDATE 1: I'm hearing the bill hasn't paid in over a year and ATT is demanding full payment.

UPDATE 4: Word is the city has turned on the Meffert Bat Signal in hopes that maybe he can go jack Best Buy and set up another ad-hoc wi-fi network like he did during Katrina. I think they're gonna try and jack a signal from the Bentsen building.

KIND OF SERIOUS UPDATE: NOLA's...errrr...Breaking News:
New Orleans City Hall website, e-mail back in action after crashing today.

Important to note that Level 3 has to ride ATT's lines in order to provide service....but I don't know if that is a pertinent fact or not.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That is an epic voyage on the Fail Boat.

How is it Boyd can throw money to SunBlock for duplicated services, AND pay his nephew, but he can't ensure the lights are on?!!?

Anonymous said...

what do you mean by "electronic NOPD police reporting?" Are you talking about the CAD system? (Captcha word: Tampowed -- a reaction to the early onset of one's period. "Man I was tampowed when I started over the weekend."

Kevin said...

The site is up as of 1:58 pm.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Maybe meffert came through. It was off all morning

jeffrey said...

Maybe they found a few more pennies sitting g in the revolver pot

GlenndeVillier said...

it's back up 14.41.

Anonymous said...

it was def down all day until after this post. rumor I heard was phone calls were made by press, which made the city's ISP decide to be a little more flexible on the payment.

from what I hear much of the city runs on credit - vendors believe the city will eventually pay them, it's just a matter of *when* will they get paid. in this case, perhaps a green account manager pulled the plug, or perhaps it was a "gentle nudge" to the city, reminding them of the debt.

Anonymous said...

I bet you someone has a sore taint this afternoon!

All that puckering this morning and all that chewing this afternoon!

Anonymous said...

MSP picks up on this:

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/04/new_orleans_city_hall_website.html

note the non-denial about the bills.

verification word: "suredoly"

Anonymous said...

Does anyone actually believe that this Bloomfield Colorado Computer Company that got the contract to bring the service back up and is located just a few blocks from MWH America’s corporate office as being a coincidence? Harrison Boyd has been in bed with MWH and this is just another example of his using that contract and probably revolver or FEMA dollars to pay for something that is not only not allowed, reimbursable, or legal. Opps- me bad- he won't pay for it anyway that will be Mitch's problem.

Anonymous said...

This administration is a mess so wide and so deep not even the Cat in the Hat could deal with it.

It IS a total joke that people at City Hall are asking for Meffert's help, right?

They are standing by that man?

A City Attorney who is still working as a City Attorney is seriously defending him in that lawsuit where he is named as an individual? Really?

REALLY?

WtF?

I was thinking orange jumpsuits, but I've moved my ass over to the strait jackets camp.

See, it is so crazy over there I can't tell if you are kidding about them asking for Meffert's help. I can see them doing it.

Jason Brad Berry said...

- It IS a total joke that people at City Hall are asking for Meffert's help, right?

yes...that was a joke.

- A City Attorney who is still working as a City Attorney is seriously defending him in that lawsuit where he is named as an individual? Really?

yes, really.