ST. PETERSBURG , Fla. (WFLA) — Elizabeth Hamilton loves company, but not strangers she didn’t invite.
“We’re living just like any other citizen just wanting to have a nice peaceful existence,” she said. “I want to be part of the community, just not in my living room unless I’ve invited them.”
Hamilton complains of a steady stream of people knocking on her front door, often hours before the sun comes up. Why the confusion? That’s because somehow her home address was listed in Google search directories for Crip Park and boat ramp, which is actually right across the street.
“It’s like 5 in the morning and people show up and they pound on the door and as you can see I have a glass door and it kind of shakes and the dogs come barking and it’s the worst way to wake up,” Hamilton said.
“I googled my address and my address brought up a whole bunch of people, kayak people,” she said. “I mean it’s like an army of people who all give out my address.”
One would think this would be easy to get corrected, right? Think again. Hamilton says she’s been trying for years to get Google to correct the address.
“They said, ‘you’re not part of the recreation department, we can’t help you,” Hamilton said. “And so then I called the recreation department and the recreation department said, “well, we can’t help you because it’s Google and Facebook and we have no control over them.’ So I’m sitting in this little Vortex of, ‘Who can help me?'”
So, she knew she’d Better Call Behnken and Investigator Shannon Behnken got to work, reaching out to the city of St. Petersburg and to Google. Less than 24 hours later, the address for Crisp Park was updated on Google, and there’s no mention of Hamilton’s address.
