Here's what Mayor Chris Coleman had to say when announcing the city's new Saint Paul Connect app during his State of the City 2013 speech:

"Technological excellence is no longer a choice. It is a necessity. In this digital age, we must meet residents where they are – and they’re on their smart phones. We can use this fact to make our city more responsive to our residents. Today, the city launched ‘Saint Paul Connect,’ our own mobile app available on Android and iPhone. Have a question about traffic lights? Encounter a pothole? It’s all right there. 

You can find more information on Saint Paul Connect by going to our home page, www.stpaul.gov, and clicking on the “Mobile Saint Paul” button. The link will take you to a dedicated webpage where we are featuring recommended apps that no resident, visitor, or business person in Saint Paul should be without. Whether it’s looking for events going on in the Capital City, or connecting to your neighborhood library, or wanting to report a pothole that needs repair, we believe these apps will enhance everyone’s experience in Saint Paul."

We're excited to add them as our newest partner, as well as help St. Paul and its citizens improve. Read more on our tools for governments, or watch the entire State of the City speech.

Download the Saint Paul Connect app for iPhone here, or Android here! 

Sometimes on SeeClickFix, citizens come together and find creative solutions to community problems. Last week, residents in the neighborhood of East Rock in New Haven took to SeeClickFix to discuss a rash of package theft in the area. Seems that when packages were being delivered to people's homes and subsequently left on the porch, thieves were snatching them up before they could get home from work.

These citizens banded together and not only proposed some awesome solutions--including putting out decoy boxes to deter thieves--but also got some great news coverage on WFSB and NBC Connecticut highlighting their coolness.

What other cool ways have you seen your neighborhood solving problems themselves?

As noted in this awesome write-up on WPCentral SeeClickFix is all riled up today thanks to the excited announcement of a new way to monitor & report issues: SeeClickFix's very first app for Windows Phone 8. A whole new world for us, this app now lets any SeeClickFixers report and track issues on-the-go from Windows Phone 8 devices.

Instead of mincing words, just download the app here, and please let us know what you think by reviewing it in the marketplace! Anything from bug reports to shameless praise--we'd love to hear from you.

Leave your feedback in the market, in the comments below, or give us an email.

For anyone who doesn't know, TED-Ed is a relatively recent new endeavor from the folks behind the infamous TED talks. Branching off from the ethos of "Ideas Worth Sharing," TED-Ed features educators, thought-leaders, futurists, and others take  under a slightly different motif: "Lessons Worth Sharing."

With his talk Four principles for the open world, venerable speaker and bestselling author Don Tapscott discusses how a generation born into a technological world are and will make the environments in which they live more transparent, agile, and better for everyone.

Check out the talk below, complete with a flattering mention of yours truly.

Its only Tuesday today, but we've already received two very awesome mentions in the press this week. One from an article by Eric Liu, the other by John Kamensky appear on TIME Ideas and Governing Magazine respectively. Here's what they had to say.

In an article titled The Millennial Generation Can Lead Us Out of Gridlock, Eric Liu describes how the most-connected generation in history is subverting traditional notions of solving civic issues:

They are powering ventures like Airbnb, Car2Go, and the emerging "sharing economy." They are quick to use tools like SeeClickFix to alert both city government and their neighbors to a pothole--and they don't care who fills it first.

 Then, in his article describing how technology can disrupt the how's and who's of citizens receiving and providing community services, John Kamensky writes over at Governing Magazine:

Another type of co-production initiative involves engaging citizens--as individuals or groups---in designing or delivering a service. In youth courts, for example, first-time, non-violent offenders serve as juries that try other offenders, with the goal of reducing recidivism. Another example is the mobile smartphone app, SeeClickFix, which allows citizens in participating cities and counties to report non-emergency issues (graffiti, broken street lights, potholes) and then track the local government's response.

We really appreciate the love, and if anyone ever wants to start a conversation about how SeeClickFix views civics & technology, please get in touch with us.

• Enjoy building new and lasting relationships with clients
• Speak intelligently and confidently about the SeeClickFix software and its benefits to governments
• Not be scared to sell something
• A high performing track record in a previous sales or marketing role
• A sense of humor in the office and with our clients
• Desire to exceed monthly goals and work partly on commission
• Used SeeClickFix and has an understanding of the way the tool works
• A bachelor's degree

This week is Tree Week across the pond, but the spirit of promoting the planting, spreading, and maintaining of healthy trees is alive and well here in New Haven. The City of New Haven and the Urban Resources Institute (URI) have teamed up to provide free tree planting for residents.

Want to get a street tree planted nearby? All you have to do is fill out this quick form (and add a little water). Here's what URI has to say:

Want some shade this summer? Request a free tree to be planted in front of your home! The tree will be professionally planted for FREE by the Urban Resources Initiative's GreenSkills planting crews! The only thing you have to do is water the tree once a week while it has leaves (May-October). If you're interested or have questions, please call us at 203-432-6189, email us at uri@yale.edu, or visit our website: http://environment.yale.edu/uri/get-involved/plant-your-own-tree/. We will begin inspecting planting sites for our spring planting season as soon as the snow melts. Request a tree as soon as possible to get on the list!

The top trend on Google search right now is "sinkhole". As many have seen a sinkhole in Florida swallowed a man in his bedroom making the somewhat mundane term a buzzword around the world.

I just did a data dive on SeeClickFix to see where sinkholes have been popping up recently. Here's what I came up with. You can zoom in on a location to get more reports if they exist.

Feel free to add to the data set by using the report button below.  Also feel free to copy this widget I created with the embed button below.

I know little about the leading indicators of large sinkholes like the one in Florida but I'll fancy a guess that some start as smaller sinkholes like ones documented here:





You can also find photos of sinkholes from the gallery here: http://seeclickfix.com/gallery?q=sinkhole

Today, SeeClickFix is excited to announce our newest city partner: Champaign, Illinois. Joining the ranks of cities using new and efficient ways to find, assess, and resolve issues, Champaign's Public Works Department is already doing a great job proactively responding to and solving issues through SeeClickFix.

Dennis Schmidt, the Director of Public Works for Champaign, hit the nail on the head and said, "We're excited to offer our residents another option for communicating concerns to Public Works. This will allow them to be our 'eyes and ears' so that we can be aware of and more quickly address issues."

To get started, check out the issues that have already been reported in Champaign, or follow the area to get alerts whenever something is happening:

And don't forget to read the announcement on the city's website or here after the jump, check out the coverage on Illinois Homepage, and remember all the ways to get in touch with Champaign's Public Works Department. As always, please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions