4 ms·

Seattle has a phone app called "Find it, Fix it" as well as a dedicated phone number for reporting potholes and other problems. You take a picture of a pothole,

by donarb 5y ago

Seattle has a phone app called "Find it, Fix it" as well as a dedicated phone number for reporting potholes and other problems. You take a picture of a pothole, maybe a description and send it off. The city promises most potholes get fixed within 3 days of receiving a report. They even have a website map showing all requests and the potholes that have been filled within the last 90 days. https://seattlecitygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5e2cdf9d8735428cb6405db64de6ce8e https://seattlecitygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/ind...

KennyBlanken 5y ago
Lots of cities have apps like that, and before they existed there were "mayor's hotlines." Boston has one, run by the mayor's hotline staff. They are exceptionally good at closing your issue without the issue being fixed. Apparently they file another ticket in the job system of the relevant city department (each department has their own completely unique system), say "done!" and close your ticket, even though the relevant department might never do anything and you have no idea of the status of that ticket, nor any way to find out. There is no way to report that the issue still exists or comment or anything. By design. They want something that looks good. Issue reported, city addressed it, done. Multiple times I have had an issue with something broken or non-functional, filed a ticket, had it closed as "fixed", sometimes it even says something like "fixed by a crew on blah blah", and I go back, take another picture, open a yet another ticket. I mention that it's the second or third or fourth time I've reported the same issue. Doesn't matter. Nobody cares. Down in NYC if you fill out a noise complaint on the city's hotline, the cops show up 30 minutes later. Boston is a city "run" by people who got the job through patronage, and are chair-warming assholes waiting for their pensions to kick in. It has something like three times the number of employees per capita compared to most other cities, and yet nothing gets done unless you know the right someone.
i_am_proteus 5y ago
Meanwhile, in nearby Portland, the people are (were, this is from 2017, I don't live there any more) fixing potholes that the government would not. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-15/portland-anarchist-road-care-fixes-potholes-anonymously https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-15/portland-...

by donarb 5y ago

KennyBlanken 5y ago

Lots of cities have apps like that, and before they existed there were "mayor's hotlines." Boston has one, run by the mayor's hotline staff. They are exceptionally good at closing your issue without the issue being fixed. Apparently they file another ticket in the job system of the relevant city department (each department has their own completely unique system), say "done!" and close your ticket, even though the relevant department might never do anything and you have no idea of the status of that ticket, nor any way to find out. There is no way to report that the issue still exists or comment or anything. By design. They want something that looks good. Issue reported, city addressed it, done. Multiple times I have had an issue with something broken or non-functional, filed a ticket, had it closed as "fixed", sometimes it even says something like "fixed by a crew on blah blah", and I go back, take another picture, open a yet another ticket. I mention that it's the second or third or fourth time I've reported the same issue. Doesn't matter. Nobody cares. Down in NYC if you fill out a noise complaint on the city's hotline, the cops show up 30 minutes later. Boston is a city "run" by people who got the job through patronage, and are chair-warming assholes waiting for their pensions to kick in. It has something like three times the number of employees per capita compared to most other cities, and yet nothing gets done unless you know the right someone.

i_am_proteus 5y ago

Meanwhile, in nearby Portland, the people are (were, this is from 2017, I don't live there any more) fixing potholes that the government would not. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-15/portland-anarchist-road-care-fixes-potholes-anonymously https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-15/portland-...