Our friend David suggested that we use Meetup. That's the website that helps you organize in-person meetings. I thought it would be fun to get together with people in New Haven who share a passion for or a curiosity about SeeClickFix.

Come join us in person. Sign up online, too.

June 16th at 7:30pm
Christopher Martins
860 State St, New Haven

THE GOOD:
Yesterday,
I woke up at 6:30 am to drive my fiancee to the work. As I left our driveway on State Street in New Haven I noticed that the property next door to ours had been vandalized with a huge piece of graffiti. As I drove down State Street I noticed 14 other locations that were covered in the work of the same "tagger."

After reporting the incident to NHPD I returned home and reported all of the tickets on seeclickfix. On Upper State Street we have contract a worker to remove graffiti. The Clean Team, as they're called, have created watch areas around Upper State Street on seeclickfix and respond within 24 hours to our graffiti complaints.

At 10:30 I left my house to ride my bike to "the office"(I freelance. yes it's a coffee shop.)
On the way down State Street I noticed that some of the graffiti had already been removed. I pulled up to one of the workers removing the graffiti and to my surprise it was not our Clean Team worker. The City of New Haven's livable city initiative had received the email also and was well on their way to cleaning up the whole street. By noon all traces of our overnight vandal were gone before the majority of business owners residents and visitors could see the work.
Check out State Street in New Haven to see all the blue tickets. The city of New Haven did an amazing job this morning. Also a big thanks to our Alderman, Roland Lemar, who also got the clicket updates (he has a seeclickfix watch around his ward)and gave LCI a call to make sure they had seen the emails.
Accountability and efficiency is what seeclickfix is all about. Start clicking in your hood and slowly you will start to see the same results. As our sideclick, David Torke, in Buffalo said to me yesterday, "the anecdote will become the rule".

THE BAD
In my estimation the vandal that necessitated the cleanup cost the taxpayers of the city of New Haven over $2,000 yesterday. It may seem like a game to the kids that keep LCI and the Clean Team busy, but it goes far beyond that...

THE UGLY
$2,000 in The City Of New Haven is about 1/2 the cost of what it takes to keep a homeless shelter open for one night. In a time when cities in CT and around the country are facing tough economic challenges we need the vandals that piss away our money and their families money to call a truce as they are literally putting people out on the street.

Mark in New Haven, responsible for designnewhaven.com, was the first to incorporate our widget into his blog. He has now also received the designation of of "most prolific" New Haven clicker.
It's people like Mark that are making the clicking and fixing a reality in New Haven.
Thanks Mark.

Over the last week we have become acquainted with the inner workings of Buffalo, New York. Through clickets, blog posts and emails from interested residents interested in how they can be the second city to implement seeclickfix we are starting to see how the sideclick program can spread the clicking and fixing.

Our first SideClick in Buffalo is David Torte who embedded the widget in his blog and gave Buffalo their first introduction to seeclickfix. Since David has done this, a few other blogs have picked up the widget or written about seeclickfix, some tickets have been entered and discussions about the potential of seeclickfix in Buffalo has begun. Some are skeptical that seeclickfix is just another way to complain without any goal of resolution, but those like David are starting to understand how seeclickfix can create a network of reporters and fixers alike dedicated to efficiently restoring and maintaining their home base.

From U.I. Feedback, to reporting tickets, to getting the word out by contacting press and friends David exemplifies what we need in SideClicks.

Buffalo is Rising...you let us know if your city is next!

Looks like we got picked up by another local blogger. They end with a great quote:

this site gets two thumbs up for trying to help make my life better.

http://hobohaven.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/awesome-new-website-for-nh-complaintswith-the-goal-of-actually-fixing-them-oh-joy/

That is awesome as far as we are concerned. Its great to have the positive feedback. Good thing we have Google-Alerts running here at SeeClickFix otherwise we might have missed out on the nice pat on the back.

An issue we have seen is that each community that has started embracing the power of SeeClickFix to empower their communicty, thinks that the site was built for them. One of the mottos we had from the start was "local every where from day one". Personally I didn't realize how much people would just begin interacting with our site with such a sensation of local and personal ownership.

-Kam

Things are really clicking along here at SeeClickFix. We've started generating more buzz and as Ben has already posted, we are seeing some real traction with our widget offerings. Check out the multi platform code at WidgetBox. The excitement is palpable.

Earlier this month our service offering got picked up and written about by a local online news outlet, The New Haven Independent. Here is the link to article.

http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/05/see_click_fix.php

-Kam

See Click Fixing is spreading to Buffalo where a couple of different media streams have implemented our new "widget".
Check out:
www.wnymedia.net
and
fixbuffalo.blogspot.com

Here at home in New Haven we have also had a local blog become an uber sideclick and embed a widget in their blog: www.designnewhaven.com

If you want to embed seeclickfix in your site just email team@seeclickfix.com for the code(or steal it from one of the above sites...they won't mind.)

This week we got some great press. A local New Haven news letter picked up our work here at SeeClickFix and decided to reach out to their readers. Its great to see community organizations see how much value we can provide and begin championing our system.

This is just one example of our belief that the resources and networks already exist in our communities its just a matter of breaking down the barriers to communication and engagement. Someone wants to fix that street light or remove that graffiti but they can't if they don't know where to go. Now, those who are effected can reach out to those who will fix.

Ok now all pumped up. Below is the article. I look forward to seeing your tickets. Keep'em coming.
-Kam

A Quicker Fixer Upper

Ever wondered who’s responsible for fixing potholes, replacing blown out street lights and cleaning graffiti? Well,there’s a huge network of organizations (including the Town Green District) working together to take care of all sorts of issues throughout the city, but now there’s a way you can help them (and us) do the job more efficiently.

It’s as simple as SeeClickFix!

Elm City locals Jeff Blasius, Ben Berkowitz, Kam Lasater and Miles Lasater launched SeeClickFix.com as way to use the power of the internet to keep New Haven clean, vibrant and beautiful. With SeeClickFix, concerned citizens, merchants’ associations, Aldermen or utility companies are alerted to concerns or requests for service. The website’s map based interface makes it easy for anyone to pinpoint a location and identify an issue. Here’s how it works:

See: See a non-emergency issue in your neighborhood.

Click: Go to SeeClickFix.com, click on the map, open a ticket and describe the issue. Each ticket generates an email to a "Fixer," someone involved with solving issues in that area. All tickets regarding graffiti in Downtown are addressed by the Town Green District’s Clean Team.

Fix: Click save on your ticket and the issue is reported for a more timely resolution.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Want to be an even bigger help? Sign up to be a SideClick and you can help spread the word, work with Fixers, and provide feedback.

SeeClickFix: Open your eyes, raise your voice, click your ticket!