That's because they can. Let's see how many more join them. .

Thank you for your request. According to our system, we already have an open service request of this kind at this location. Your request has been combined with service request #605637. If you would like to check the status of the request, please contact the Public Works Call Center at 510-615-5566 or pwacallcenter@oaklandnet.com. This issue can also be followed by watching http://seeclickfix.com/issues/1921075.

So it took this long to say this. Get it together and do your job. Really irritating.