Stonington, Conn. (June 23, 2011) – Today, First Selectman Edward Haberek, Jr. announces a new partnership with an online reporting platform that will enable Stonington residents to submit non-emergency problems and request city services. Powered by SeeClickFix, the place-based reporting platform allows residents to document neighborhood concerns and improvements alike, ranging from potholes and graffiti to tree requests and community murals.

“Through this public forum, we’re hoping to simultaneously engage and empower our residents to assist us with improving the community,” Haberek said. “We like the idea of connecting government with the governed, and the governed with each other.”

With the online reporting platform, residents can report quality-of-life concerns through custom service request categories via SeeClickFix.com, Facebook app, or mobile application, and provide additional information about the issue through the description or image options. Once someone submits an issue, the reporter and the town of Stonington will receive email notifications. The local government can then acknowledge the service request, route it to the proper department, and update the issue page once it’s been resolved.

“SeeClickFix is one way that we can improve our communication with the people we serve while also addressing issues in a timely fashion as they arise,” said Joe Bragaw, director of public works. “By allowing the public to email us issues with pictures, we can quickly assess the priority of the issues and by using this program, we can either ask for additional information and/or send out an email telling the person that the issue has been resolved.”

The partnership allows residents to not only report community issues, but also view, comment on, and vote to fix problems submitted by others. Citizens can even create their own “watch areas” to receive notifications about issues reported throughout the town or just in their neighborhood, enabling them to follow the progress of all service requests.

“Since Gutenberg’s printing press, technology has been used to connect citizens with their government. SeeClickFix extends this tradition by enabling citizens to harness the power of the open web,” said Ben Berkowitz, SeeClickFix CEO. “We’re excited to see how Stonington uses our online technology to empower its residents to take care of their offline community.”

The SeeClickFix Stonington website can be found here: http://seeclickfix.com/stonington and residents can download iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps here: http://www.seeclickfix.com/apps

About SeeClickFix

SeeClickFix allows citizens anywhere in the world to report and monitor non-emergency community issues ranging from potholes and planted trees to garbage and graffiti. Launched in 2008, it empowers citizens, community groups, media organizations, and governments to work together and improve their neighborhoods. Through mobile web, web, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps, the SeeClickFix platform is the most widely-distributed citizen reporting tool in the country. The platform is fun and easy to use for citizens while being inexpensive and easily adaptable for governments. Over 40 percent of issues reported on SeeClickFix are ultimately resolved. For more information or to report an issue, visit www.seeclickfix.com.

As you've been improving your surroundings by reporting community issues to SeeClickFix, you may have noticed yourself checking out some changes on our main site! Launched last week, our slick new reporting form makes it simpler than ever for our users to See, Click and Fix problems in their neighborhood. What makes SeeClickFix convinced you'll love our new reporting form? Glad you asked!

It has Beauty AND Brains
New features mean aesthetically pleasing, accurate reporting

Aside from being ridiculously good looking, our new reporting form is pretty darn smart. Know the physical address of your issue? Can you pinpoint your problem on a map? Or perhaps a combination of both will help you locate what you want to report?



What if you're reporting an issue in a park or public place without a defined street address? No sweat! Just uncheck the "Updating map and form automatically" box, drop the pin where your issue is located, and enter an approximate address in the form. Below is an example of how to report an issue in a park. By dropping the pin where my issue is located and entering an approximate street address, I'm ready to move on to step 2!


It Isn't Afraid of Commitment 
Locking in your location ensures you'll commit to the right category

Once you've mapped your issue location, it will be locked in as you proceed to step 2, to ensure that the service categories you can select from are appropriate for your location. However, you can always go back to update your address or map marker (or both!) if need be by clicking "Change" in the top right corner of the map. 


It Gives you Your Space 
Report anonymously, even when you're logged in.



If you're logged in, but wish to report an issue anonymously to SeeClickFix, simply click "Report as Another User" at the bottom of step 2 and enter the display name and email address you wish to use.  Change your mind? That's okay! Hit "Report as Logged in User" to report under your account.


Ready to fall in love with SeeClickFix all over again? Get to know our new reporting form by reporting an issue today! Start a report from your community's issue page, or hit the quick report button (right) to start from any page on our site. Once you're done, be sure to let us know what you think! Share your feedback as a comment here, email it to us, or tweet it @seeclickfix.

With the help of Eric Melchor, the game of Bingo will be getting a SeeClickFix makeover. A Houston native, marketing pro, and superstar SideClick, Melchor recently launched Htown Bingo--a citywide Bingo tournament designed to empower citizens to take care of their community using SeeClickFix.

Having recently become a first-time homeowner in Houston, Melchor found himself wanting to become involved in his community, Midtown Houston. After reading about SeeClickFix in FastCompany,  Melchor thought the online tool could help him and his fellow residents become engaged in their communities:

I read how other cities were using the tool to fix potholes, recommend bike paths / racks, recommend community gardens, help reduce crime, remove graffiti, etc. The thing that really fascinated me was how residents could see other issues that were reported by their neighbors and they themselves could vote to fix these issues and comment on them as well. Much more effective than using 311 - since multiple voices are being heard and the issues could be tracked as well.

This is where Htown Bingo comes into play. Melchor hopes this fun and competitive game will not only raise awareness about issues in his environment, but also increase SeeClickFix activity in Houston--active citizenship with a competitive twist!

To participate, download the Htown Bingo board, and get ready to see, click, and fix issues in Harris County. The rules are simple:

Look at the revealed squares on the bingo board. When you find something around Houston that matches one of the squares (like graffiti or a pothole), take a picture of it and upload the information to SeeClickFix.com. You can use either the mobile app or SeeClickFix.com to make the report. After you’ve reported your finding to SeeClickFix, tweet the information and picture using the hashtags #htownbingo and #houston – or post it directly to Htown Bingo’s Facebook wall. Mark off that square off your Bingo board.

Every two to three weeks, new squares will be revealed by someone in the Houston community including bloggers, media outlets, and community centers. MommaFindings recently revealed the first Bingo square clue: Cleanup Day. You can get clues about the upcoming bingo squares on the site's 'Hint' section. Melchor believes this twist distinguishes Htown Bingo from the traditional game:

I'm realistic in the sense knowing that I won't be able to get all Houston residents using SCF over night, thus I created a game that will span out over the course of about a year.

Instead of yelling "Bingo," participants will be using social media channels to announce their win. After you've marked off five squares in a row, tweet the famous catchphrase using the hashtag #htownbingo OR post your win to Htown Bingo’s Facebook wall. The first ten people who get Bingo will receive prizes ranging from a Snuggie to $25 Amazon gift card.

The SeeClickFix team would like to thank Eric for not only spreading the SeeClickFix word, but also for demonstrating how one person can make a difference in his community. We look forward to seeing how the competition pans out, and hope you'll follow the action on Eric's blog, @HtownBingo, or Facebook!

Back in April, we told you about the Newbold Neighbors Association's SeeClickFix contest. Well, the contest recently ended and the results are in. Drumroll, please!

With a total of 31 submissions, Mr. T (willey) takes home the 'Squeakiest Wheel award' with reports submitted about issues ranging from graffiti to overgrown lots. With 10 entries, Sammy Pants takes home the 'Captain Random award.' Both individuals will receive their delicious and aromatic awards at the the organization's next meeting. Congrats to both SeeClickFixers and a huge thanks to everyone that participated!

While the contest may have ended, that doesn't mean that Newbold residents should stop submitting reports. In fact, this should encourage fellow neighbors to step up their game and continue reporting issues and improvements here!

The SeeClickFix Team, with help from Yale's Urban Resources Initiative and the Upper State Street Association, will be kicking off our "summer planting series" (unofficial title) tomorrow, Tuesday June 14th near the Humphrey Street underpass!

Want to join the SeeClickFix team and help us plant two cherry trees tomorrow night? Leave a comment here, on SeeClickFix Issue #106353 - Trees Needed, or just show up. We will be meeting near the Humphrey Street underpass at 6PM sharp. Bring your friends and your green thumb! Can't make it tomorrow? Stay tuned for updates on our future plantings, right here on the SeeClickFix Blog!

Recently launched by Al Jazeera English, 'The Stream' (@AJStream) focuses on the 'extraordinary potential of social media to disseminate news.'  A few days ago, contributor David Cohn (@DigiDave) discussed his experience using SeeClickFix in its episode focused on micro-blogging and crowdsourcing:

Spot.Us has used a similar tool called SeeClickFix to map potholes in Oakland. We got 15 bikers, they all went in different directions, found the biggest potholes, and we mapped them. I'll say that the potholes weren't as bad as that flood [in Saudi Arabia] looked, but still that was the kind of thing where we could go in and bring it to the city officials' attention and see what we could do to fix them.

Cohn added that you can't fix something unless you have information about it. We couldn't agree more. Online tools like SeeClickFix display information publicly, making it accessible to anyone in the world. With that information comes power. And with that power comes the ability to make change.

Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association (CoWNA) member Brad Kerr had a neighbor with a seemingly simple request: a bike rack in front of his home. Realizing that the lack of racks was widespread in their neighborhood, Brad spearheaded an effort to bring more bike parking to the Columbia Waterfront last year. Brad's research on how to fix an issue for his neighbor ended up empowering him to fix the issue for the entire neighborhood! After speaking with Dave Abraham from Transportation Alternatives and SeeClickFix bike rack expert Dan Latorre, he learned while it was a hard mission to accomplish it wasn't impossible.

SEE: An empty sidewalk in need of a bike rack

The key to getting a bike rack? Ask for a lot! Armed community manpower and the SeeClickFix mobile app, Brad and 10 of his neighbors set out to document the need for bike racks. The crew met at the corner of Columbia and Union where they received a quick lesson on how to use the SeeClickFix app, and how to identify potential bike rack locations to report. The group fanned out around the neighborhood, SeeClickFixin' locations that needed a proper place to park a bike. In total, the group reported over 30 issues with their suggestions from their mobile phones.

CLICK: CoWNA organized a team to hit the streets and map locations for bike racks using the SeeClickFix mobile app

Nearly a year after the bike rack blitz, CoWNA board member Chris Barker woke up last week to see some welcomed additions to the neighborhood. Bike racks had been installed overnight, and in the places suggested on SeeClickFix! He quickly shared the news on Twitter, showcasing this community accomplishment to the world. Chris was even kind enough to share a slew of pictures of the new bike racks with us and our followers.

FIX: One of many bike racks recently installed in the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood!

According to Brad, residents have been putting the racks to good use since the moment they were installed last week. However, a mystery remains: who was responsible for the fix? If anyone knows who was behind the bounty of new bike racks, let us know! Leave a comment here, or give us your tip @seeclickfix! Whoever the fixer may be, the SeeClickFix team couldn't be happier to see the positive changes Brad, Chris and all at CoWNA made to their neighborhood using our platform!