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I remember when I was in my early 20s I took the time to write a letter to the city council in Truckee, Calif., which was my home at the time, to complain about the addition of parking meters to the historic downtown strip known as Commercial Row. Years later I would send an e-mail about the lack of bicycle parking in the same area. If I lived there now, perhaps I would send any of my transportation concerns to the mayor via a message on Twitter. That may sound a little crazy to some, but for Portland Mayor Sam Adams, this is a daily reality.

I first started noticing the number of tweets directed to Adams a while back, but when I started following the hash tag for Portland transportation, , I was shocked how many times I saw people using Twitter to ask for the mayor’s help in resolving a transportation issue. Here are a few examples of some of the requests I saw being tweeted his way.

From : light @ se41/hawth sux 4 peds; long waits. w/ new seasons opening will to see a lot more foot traffic

From : synch lights for cars, not bikes. i ride my bike downtown too. it is about traffic flow, ease, and being GREEN!

Adams responded: One-ways like SW 12th are synched <> equip is old <> heat messes with it <> not bike related <> still checking RT …

I sent out a tweet: Has fixed a transportation problem you told him about on Twitter?

I received quite a few responses.

(My Twitter handle) We’ve informed the Mayor about how SE Washington needs crosswalk near 76th. Staff is looking into it last we heard.

I think it’s pretty awesome that responds to tweets from the constituency.

I decided to check in with Adams and ask him a few question about his quest to solve the city’s transportation problems via Twitter. And what better way to conduct that interview than over Twitter? Remember, he only has 140 characters to respond, or so I thought. Adams used a link to a program called for one response. The man is so tech-savvy he kind of makes me feel like my grandma. According to Adams this is his first Twitter-only media interview.

(me): What is the oddest transportation related Tweet you’ve received?

: People who are stuck on freeway and want to know how the blanky, blanky Mayor could let this happen! And, what exactly am I doing abo (Twitter cut him off…)

odd: a tweet complaining to me about yellow line lightrail max train blocked due to police action up ahead at an intersection; I wa (Twitter cut him off…)

: is it helpful when people send you tweets, or would it be easier if they simply picked up the phone and called the correct city department?

: Verses answering a single email inquiry and one person reading the reply; being able to answer in a single tweet inquiry and have up to 25,0 (Twitter cut him off, but I believe the 25,0 was an attempt to say he can get his message to the 26,000 plus people who follow him.)

I pepper in my Transportaion replies encouragement to readers to call 503-823-SAFE; 503-823-BUMP and

: has there ever been a serious issue that was brought to your attention via Twitter and solved quickly?

: Serious issues are raised to me each week: malfunctioning street lights; glass on the roadway; new developments that open and change traffic

: What is the most common transportation question and or complaint you hear on Twitter?

: Most common tweet posts about transportation are basic service and infrastructure status concerns: potholes; ped crossings; trees blockin

: What is the transportation issue you are most passion about right now?

via Twitlonger: I am the most passionate about transportation safety: 151 people died on Portland streets on the past five years. Most avoidable. Secondly, transportation-wise, I want to make Portland more self-sufficient: why I promote taking more trips by way of other means than driving a car. Each dollar in Portland not spent on auto-related expenditures more likely to stay in local economy. Gas $ go out of state; etc

: out of all the people you follow, who is your favorite?

Favorite transportation tweeters:

: anything else you’d like to add about Twitter?

via Twitlonger: Face-to-face (my favorite form of communication), Tweets, emails, Facebook comments, snail mail, media coverage: they all serve me as input to how I/we are really doing on the front lines of delivering public services and policy. Luckily, I was born with the ability to juggle muti tasks at once. That attribute was honed early on by working for year as a cook at Mr Steak restaurants in Eugene and Missoula: dozens of table order tickets, hundreds of individual orders; each with individual preferences: all have to be delivered perfectly in 7 minutes. Then: order up! And, the wait staff takes it to the table.