7 ms·

Show HN: Little Fixes – a spatial forum to improve your city

113 points by bkettle 3y ago

I love urban planning and think the way we interact with the built environment is hugely impactful to individuals. But I also think that most people have been trained to take the built environment as a given rather than something that they have partial ownership of. By building a place to discuss their community on a hyper-local scale, I’m hoping to encourage residents to feel like they are an important piece of their city. I thought building a sort of spatial forum, where city residents can discuss the little annoyances in their neighborhoods, might help people a) start thinking about which parts of the built environment bug them and b) realize that other people in their neighborhood probably have the same complaint. Of course, I know that local politics can turn nasty quickly, hence the name of the site: I’m hoping to keep discussion focused on potential fixes for each problem. If you’re excited about this but your city isn’t on the list, I’m happy to add it as long as you promise to make at least one post. It’s extra helpful if you go to geojson.io and create GeoJson for a closed polygon that marks where you think the bounds for your city should be (doesn’t need to correlate with official city boundaries), but I’m happy to guess and do that part myself. Let me know here or by email if you want your city added!

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
If there's no licensing problem, could you just import the current OSM polygons for cities? e.g. Denver - http://polygons.openstreetmap.fr/get_geojson.py?id=1411339&params=0 http://polygons.openstreetmap.fr/get_geojson.py?id=1411339&p... Based on this I found with DDG search: https://peteris.rocks/blog/openstreetmap-administrative-boundaries-in-geojson/ https://peteris.rocks/blog/openstreetmap-administrative-boun...
- bkettle 3y ago
  Probably, yes--thanks for the link. Although I am somewhat hesitant to use official administrative boundaries because I feel like perceived boundaries are often different than official boundaries. As someone walking around the Boston area, or around Stanford, I want the experience to be good everywhere---it doesn't matter much to me whether I'm officially in Boston or Cambridge or Palo Alto or Menlo park. So these boundaries are sort of meant to be more "places" than specifically cities. But long-term indeed it might not be practical to have these custom boundaries (maybe just removing the boundaries altogether, or loosening them, is the answer)
  - InitialLastName 3y ago
    In my region (an inner suburb of the Northeast Megalopolis) an attempt like this to use vague "place" boundaries would lead to a blur of overlapping boundaries that stretches for ~500 miles.
ajbt200128 3y ago
really cool, but wish the bounding box on the map was better
1970-01-01 3y ago
How is this different from SeeClickFix, which is working in hundreds of cities? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeeClickFix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeeClickFix
- bkettle 3y ago
  It might not be! One difference between Little Fixes and 311-like apps is that I want to foster discussion among residents rather than offer a place to file complaints with the city. Most of the apps that I’ve seen don’t allow discussion. Perhaps SeeClickFix is different; I haven’t used it. One difference that I immediately see is that I can see any actual fixes when I go to SeeClickFix’s site. When I go to Little Fixes, I do. And another difference is that I had fun building this one, and I didn’t build SeeClickFix :)
- ikr678 3y ago
  Huh, in Australia most local govts use SnapSendSolve, I assume this is a clone.
swatcoder 3y ago
Most of the existing entries look like annoyances for pedestrians and cyclists. When these nuisance topics come up on existing community forums, like NextDoor, Reddit, or City-Data, somebody usually knows somebody who knows somebody from city planning that confirms that it's an known annoyance but a compromise solution for a complex or expensive problem that needs to meet many needs. This crosswalk light needs to accommodate some critical car traffic issue, that bike lane inefficiency is the optimal solution given the inability to expand the road any wider, etc. How does your catalog go from being a wiki of annoyances that highlight intractable problems to something in dialog with the civil engineering professionals who need to weight many constraints? As a software professional, my nightmare would be somebody maintaining a permanent, public, antagonistic list of all the forced compromises I'm already frustrated with in my software. I know they're there and I hate them too, but that doesn't mean they're accidents.
- bkettle 3y ago
  I'm not convinced that all of these annoyances are intentional. For example, one post [1] says that it's not clear where to go at the end of a bike path. This could be resolved with a sign that might cost $500 (complete guess) to install, and there are no complex constraints in the way of installing a sign. Another post [2] highlights discontinuities on the edge of two municipal jurisdictions. Again, a reasonable fix here does not require impeding car traffic or making any huge redesigns that require a civil engineer. It's not possible for the committee that's in charge of planning an entire city to be intimately familiar with the nuances of the way every intersection works for every driver, walker, and biker that pass through them every day. The people who pass through these intersections every day, though, will understand the design oversights and deteriorations. Some proposed fixes will be feasible, others might not. I think my major goal with a site like this is to get the public involved and talking among themselves. Perhaps it's too idealistic, but I see the process of building a city to be almost entirely distinct from delivering a software product. Every resident owns their city, and though there is a group of people that are paid to maintain it, it's every resident's right and responsibility to make the city work for them. [1]: https://littlefixes.xyz/city/boston/fix/5 https://littlefixes.xyz/city/boston/fix/5 [2]: https://littlefixes.xyz/city/palo-alto/fix/2 https://littlefixes.xyz/city/palo-alto/fix/2
asdff 3y ago
The issue is not reporting these issues I find, its actually getting action. I used to reach out to my city representatives about these sorts of things. At this point, I've given up on that, realizing that I will never have my position actually heard unless I represent either a very large sum of money or an overwhelming majority of the people who actually vote in these local elections. They have no incentive to work for individual or minorities of their constituency. They alienate me they lose a measly one vote. They alienate an important donor and they can't afford to pitch themselves to voters and even run. Politicians don't fight for you, they fight for the betterment of their political careers and their own position. If they were in the job to actually quickly address and fix these sorts of local grievances, there wouldn't be so many of them left to address in the first place.
- mistermann 3y ago
  Even funnier: they've somehow managed to convince everyone to defend and promote this system! Truth is stranger than fiction as they say.
  - worewood 3y ago
    Well, the alternative to complaining and having nothing done is complaining and being disappeared, so there's that
    - asdff 3y ago
      100 years ago people complained but they managed to build big things too. No secret police required either.
    - walterbell 3y ago
      Thanks nudge economics and Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith–Mundt_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith–Mundt_Act & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2013#Smith–Mundt_Modernization_Act_of_2012 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization....
    - 3y ago
config_yml 3y ago
My city has something similar based on fixmystreet, which is not focused on discussion but more on reporting: https://www.zueriwieneu.ch/reports https://www.zueriwieneu.ch/reports I love that my city responds so quick to any issues reported. Usually you get a reply the next day, and minor things are usually resolved within the week. One time a guy even facetimed me to figure out the exact spot where some metal was sticking out of the ground near a playground, which I had reported.
drusepth 3y ago
Awesome idea. Will check back in when Portland, OR is added as a city also.
- bkettle 3y ago
  Just added it! Feel free to make a post :)
carols10cents 3y ago
It looks like accounts can be entirely anonymous. How are you planning on handling moderation of comments? What happens if I post on a neighbor's house "jagoff who lets their dogs poop everywhere lives here, please evict"?
okapisrock 3y ago
Cool idea!
mtmail 3y ago
https://fixmystreet.org/ https://fixmystreet.org/ (open source) has a similar aim. It comes with a backend for city staff, tracking of updates, notifications etc.
- bkettle 3y ago
  Awesome, thanks for the link!
rglover 3y ago
This is a cool idea. Going to use this in the neighborhood I'm building a house in where we're all under covenant/private management of everything (even for the roads—no HOA, etc).
bruce511 3y ago
I am so conflicted when it comes to this sort of thing. On the one hand, simple things can be quickly fixed with a good reporting tool. My city has such a tool and so broken things, signs becoming obscured by foliage, potholes and so on are all dealt with quickly. These are fantastic systems. On the other hand people Love to complain. And it's always "they" who should do something about it. But they don't like the established time and effort it takes to complain in the right forum (Town meeting, contacting ward Councillor or whatever.) Much easier to go to some unsanctioned Web site and pile on. Of course the actual biggest complaint is about change. Any change at all. It doesn't matter whether the change is good, or asked for, or desired, there's always someone willing to complain. This is especially true at the hyper-local level. I'm tangentially involved in a proposed new residential estate. People 3 miles away, with no shared road, are complaining about it based on "increase in traffic". (Their access is from a main road which is busy all day long.) Their argument really boils down to "no change". Lots of change is good. Some is bad for me, but common good. Some have good ideas, but there are negative side effects. Some have good ideas, but its expensive. Some have good ideas that are prevented by law or bylaw. So well done on creating a site. More dialog is a good thing. But ultimately it serves little real purpose (other than just general bitching) unless some sort of real-world interaction with city management takes place. And I'm -guessing- most cities will just refer you to their current online system, whatever they use.
- culopatin 3y ago
  It’s a credibility issue in my opinion. When you go to the DMV you see the efficiency at which your local government operates and you think that there is no way in hell someone is actually monitoring the official website, where this is offering the alternative to that, if it’s effective or not is unknown, it’s just a possibility.
whaleberg 3y ago
I signed up and tried to post but it didn't seem to work. I only see one post in all of Boston and mine aren't appearing.
- bkettle 3y ago
  Shoot! I'm sorry about that, and thank you for letting me know. I just fixed the issue -- I would love for you to try your post again!
yareal 3y ago
[dead]
hyperific 3y ago
This reminds me a bit of the Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37359193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37359193 Basically a foot bridge built over a highway to serve a particular community need. Today, however, it's unused, collects litter and is generally disliked by the community. A platform like Little Fixes is certainly a step in the right direction for city planners to apply their craft where it's needed most. That's assuming they have time and the city has the budget.
blondelegs 3y ago
My city is Winter Haven, Florida. I often travel to Lakeland, Hanes City, Davenport, Tampa. We have an app to report things on but they don’t have enough people. Construction is everywhere for roads. The biggest issues I see in my city is inconsistent in sidewalks. They have it where trees elevate the side walks. They block it off but have yet to fix it. So you have to walk in the road. People block the cross walks. Half of the pedestrians lights don’t work. The City Council and Mayor are rude and don’t listen. My city is very cliche. “Religious people” So, I just stopped saying anything. Lack of action and accountability is the issue. But if police think you are suspicious they will stop you and say hey you were jay walking. But ya your signs don’t work. I stopped walking because they just don’t have any interest in fixing anything. If you have seen some of the people making sharp turns almost running you over you realize they don’t need a SUV, but to be walking with you. I am just worn on the double standards, and entrapment.

113 points by bkettle 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago

If there's no licensing problem, could you just import the current OSM polygons for cities? e.g. Denver - http://polygons.openstreetmap.fr/get_geojson.py?id=1411339&params=0 http://polygons.openstreetmap.fr/get_geojson.py?id=1411339&p... Based on this I found with DDG search: https://peteris.rocks/blog/openstreetmap-administrative-boundaries-in-geojson/ https://peteris.rocks/blog/openstreetmap-administrative-boun...

bkettle 3y ago
Probably, yes--thanks for the link. Although I am somewhat hesitant to use official administrative boundaries because I feel like perceived boundaries are often different than official boundaries. As someone walking around the Boston area, or around Stanford, I want the experience to be good everywhere---it doesn't matter much to me whether I'm officially in Boston or Cambridge or Palo Alto or Menlo park. So these boundaries are sort of meant to be more "places" than specifically cities. But long-term indeed it might not be practical to have these custom boundaries (maybe just removing the boundaries altogether, or loosening them, is the answer)
- InitialLastName 3y ago
  In my region (an inner suburb of the Northeast Megalopolis) an attempt like this to use vague "place" boundaries would lead to a blur of overlapping boundaries that stretches for ~500 miles.

ajbt200128 3y ago

really cool, but wish the bounding box on the map was better

1970-01-01 3y ago

How is this different from SeeClickFix, which is working in hundreds of cities? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeeClickFix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeeClickFix

bkettle 3y ago
It might not be! One difference between Little Fixes and 311-like apps is that I want to foster discussion among residents rather than offer a place to file complaints with the city. Most of the apps that I’ve seen don’t allow discussion. Perhaps SeeClickFix is different; I haven’t used it. One difference that I immediately see is that I can see any actual fixes when I go to SeeClickFix’s site. When I go to Little Fixes, I do. And another difference is that I had fun building this one, and I didn’t build SeeClickFix :)
ikr678 3y ago
Huh, in Australia most local govts use SnapSendSolve, I assume this is a clone.

swatcoder 3y ago

Most of the existing entries look like annoyances for pedestrians and cyclists. When these nuisance topics come up on existing community forums, like NextDoor, Reddit, or City-Data, somebody usually knows somebody who knows somebody from city planning that confirms that it's an known annoyance but a compromise solution for a complex or expensive problem that needs to meet many needs. This crosswalk light needs to accommodate some critical car traffic issue, that bike lane inefficiency is the optimal solution given the inability to expand the road any wider, etc. How does your catalog go from being a wiki of annoyances that highlight intractable problems to something in dialog with the civil engineering professionals who need to weight many constraints? As a software professional, my nightmare would be somebody maintaining a permanent, public, antagonistic list of all the forced compromises I'm already frustrated with in my software. I know they're there and I hate them too, but that doesn't mean they're accidents.

bkettle 3y ago
I'm not convinced that all of these annoyances are intentional. For example, one post [1] says that it's not clear where to go at the end of a bike path. This could be resolved with a sign that might cost $500 (complete guess) to install, and there are no complex constraints in the way of installing a sign. Another post [2] highlights discontinuities on the edge of two municipal jurisdictions. Again, a reasonable fix here does not require impeding car traffic or making any huge redesigns that require a civil engineer. It's not possible for the committee that's in charge of planning an entire city to be intimately familiar with the nuances of the way every intersection works for every driver, walker, and biker that pass through them every day. The people who pass through these intersections every day, though, will understand the design oversights and deteriorations. Some proposed fixes will be feasible, others might not. I think my major goal with a site like this is to get the public involved and talking among themselves. Perhaps it's too idealistic, but I see the process of building a city to be almost entirely distinct from delivering a software product. Every resident owns their city, and though there is a group of people that are paid to maintain it, it's every resident's right and responsibility to make the city work for them. [1]: https://littlefixes.xyz/city/boston/fix/5 https://littlefixes.xyz/city/boston/fix/5 [2]: https://littlefixes.xyz/city/palo-alto/fix/2 https://littlefixes.xyz/city/palo-alto/fix/2

asdff 3y ago

The issue is not reporting these issues I find, its actually getting action. I used to reach out to my city representatives about these sorts of things. At this point, I've given up on that, realizing that I will never have my position actually heard unless I represent either a very large sum of money or an overwhelming majority of the people who actually vote in these local elections. They have no incentive to work for individual or minorities of their constituency. They alienate me they lose a measly one vote. They alienate an important donor and they can't afford to pitch themselves to voters and even run. Politicians don't fight for you, they fight for the betterment of their political careers and their own position. If they were in the job to actually quickly address and fix these sorts of local grievances, there wouldn't be so many of them left to address in the first place.

mistermann 3y ago
Even funnier: they've somehow managed to convince everyone to defend and promote this system! Truth is stranger than fiction as they say.
- worewood 3y ago
  Well, the alternative to complaining and having nothing done is complaining and being disappeared, so there's that
  - asdff 3y ago
    100 years ago people complained but they managed to build big things too. No secret police required either.
  - walterbell 3y ago
    Thanks nudge economics and Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith–Mundt_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith–Mundt_Act & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2013#Smith–Mundt_Modernization_Act_of_2012 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization....
  - 3y ago

config_yml 3y ago

My city has something similar based on fixmystreet, which is not focused on discussion but more on reporting: https://www.zueriwieneu.ch/reports https://www.zueriwieneu.ch/reports I love that my city responds so quick to any issues reported. Usually you get a reply the next day, and minor things are usually resolved within the week. One time a guy even facetimed me to figure out the exact spot where some metal was sticking out of the ground near a playground, which I had reported.

drusepth 3y ago

Awesome idea. Will check back in when Portland, OR is added as a city also.

bkettle 3y ago
Just added it! Feel free to make a post :)

carols10cents 3y ago

It looks like accounts can be entirely anonymous. How are you planning on handling moderation of comments? What happens if I post on a neighbor's house "jagoff who lets their dogs poop everywhere lives here, please evict"?

okapisrock 3y ago

Cool idea!

mtmail 3y ago

https://fixmystreet.org/ https://fixmystreet.org/ (open source) has a similar aim. It comes with a backend for city staff, tracking of updates, notifications etc.

bkettle 3y ago
Awesome, thanks for the link!

rglover 3y ago

This is a cool idea. Going to use this in the neighborhood I'm building a house in where we're all under covenant/private management of everything (even for the roads—no HOA, etc).

bruce511 3y ago

I am so conflicted when it comes to this sort of thing. On the one hand, simple things can be quickly fixed with a good reporting tool. My city has such a tool and so broken things, signs becoming obscured by foliage, potholes and so on are all dealt with quickly. These are fantastic systems. On the other hand people Love to complain. And it's always "they" who should do something about it. But they don't like the established time and effort it takes to complain in the right forum (Town meeting, contacting ward Councillor or whatever.) Much easier to go to some unsanctioned Web site and pile on. Of course the actual biggest complaint is about change. Any change at all. It doesn't matter whether the change is good, or asked for, or desired, there's always someone willing to complain. This is especially true at the hyper-local level. I'm tangentially involved in a proposed new residential estate. People 3 miles away, with no shared road, are complaining about it based on "increase in traffic". (Their access is from a main road which is busy all day long.) Their argument really boils down to "no change". Lots of change is good. Some is bad for me, but common good. Some have good ideas, but there are negative side effects. Some have good ideas, but its expensive. Some have good ideas that are prevented by law or bylaw. So well done on creating a site. More dialog is a good thing. But ultimately it serves little real purpose (other than just general bitching) unless some sort of real-world interaction with city management takes place. And I'm -guessing- most cities will just refer you to their current online system, whatever they use.

culopatin 3y ago
It’s a credibility issue in my opinion. When you go to the DMV you see the efficiency at which your local government operates and you think that there is no way in hell someone is actually monitoring the official website, where this is offering the alternative to that, if it’s effective or not is unknown, it’s just a possibility.

whaleberg 3y ago

I signed up and tried to post but it didn't seem to work. I only see one post in all of Boston and mine aren't appearing.

bkettle 3y ago
Shoot! I'm sorry about that, and thank you for letting me know. I just fixed the issue -- I would love for you to try your post again!

yareal 3y ago

[dead]

hyperific 3y ago

This reminds me a bit of the Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37359193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37359193 Basically a foot bridge built over a highway to serve a particular community need. Today, however, it's unused, collects litter and is generally disliked by the community. A platform like Little Fixes is certainly a step in the right direction for city planners to apply their craft where it's needed most. That's assuming they have time and the city has the budget.

blondelegs 3y ago

My city is Winter Haven, Florida. I often travel to Lakeland, Hanes City, Davenport, Tampa. We have an app to report things on but they don’t have enough people. Construction is everywhere for roads. The biggest issues I see in my city is inconsistent in sidewalks. They have it where trees elevate the side walks. They block it off but have yet to fix it. So you have to walk in the road. People block the cross walks. Half of the pedestrians lights don’t work. The City Council and Mayor are rude and don’t listen. My city is very cliche. “Religious people” So, I just stopped saying anything. Lack of action and accountability is the issue. But if police think you are suspicious they will stop you and say hey you were jay walking. But ya your signs don’t work. I stopped walking because they just don’t have any interest in fixing anything. If you have seen some of the people making sharp turns almost running you over you realize they don’t need a SUV, but to be walking with you. I am just worn on the double standards, and entrapment.