The City of Chicago just announced their "Potholepalooza", a three-day event to get as many reports of potholes as possible this weekend. Despite having already addressed over 20,000 potholes in Chicago the first week of April alone, they want to step it up. So this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, report your heart out through SeeClickFix.

#Potholepalooza is like any weekend festival, but about potholes. Use #open311 app @seeclickfix to report via phone: bit.ly/Z6CWg4
— ChicagoMayorsOffice (@ChicagosMayor) April 5, 2013

And just as awesome is the city's press release they put out about #Potholepalooza, cleverly written like the press release for a music festival like, say, Chicago's Lollapalooza:

This weekend, if you are motorist or a Motörhead, participate in the first-ever “Potholepalooza,”  the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) call to Chicagoans to report as many street potholes as possible.  Then watch the show next week as CDOT has The Cure for your Moody Blues and fills all of the potholes reported from Friday, April 5 through Sunday April 6 so that your car doesn’t do the Harlem Shake and give you Divine Fits.

So if you're in Chicago, do it right by downloading the app and get started reporting. We have Android, too!

It’s been a long winter for a lot of us. Now that spring is here, neighborhoods have cleaning and beautification on their minds. From enjoying group bike rides to starting their own NeighborDay, get your friends on SeeClickFix to start reporting issues like these: 

When a cyclist hit an elevated crack in the road (and took a pavement-dive in the process), a concerned passerby took a photo of the scene, reported it, and got the whole thing fixed in less than a week.




You wouldn’t leave trash laying around your house, so why let it lay around your neighborhood? 





Just as you might make your house spic-and-span, cities are cleaning up graffiti. Are you reporting graffiti in your neighborhood?





In a lot of places, house maintenance can’t really begin until the winter weather ends. Though a neighbor thought this house was falling into disrepair, both LCI and the owner, Sergeant Lombardi, came together to confirm that work would be starting, well, a few hours ago.


Looking out for each other, citizens of New Haven are once again getting things done and coming together to get new bike racks installed.






Our government highlight of the week is the City Attorney of San Francisco, Dennis Herrera. Launching their up app UP2CODE, powered by SeeClickFix. This app encourages residents and code enforcement to proactively improve neighborhoods and protect the health and safety for all those who live in San Francisco.



Live in San Francisco, or know someone who does? Get the app and tell your friends and neighbors. 

New 311 App Engages Community via Technology 

Cost-saving initiative creates new venue for citizens to self-report issues

Albuquerque, NM (April 4, 2013) - The Citizen’s 311 center is expanding its services to accommodate service requests 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

ABQ311 is an application accessible on iOS and Android platforms, as well as online, allowing residents to report graffiti, weeds, or potholes through smartphones or computers. This application provides a venue for service with no wait time or worries.

“This is about creating innovated approaches to every day issues,” Mayor Richard J. Berry said. “Not only does this improve efficiencies within the City, but it provides a platform for addressing community issues with cost-effective technology. Through this new service, Albuquerque continues to show its progress as a technological and innovative leader in the Southwest and the nation.”

Once ABQ311 has received 6,000 reports, the program will have paid for itself. Recently, the city of Los Angeles paid about $150,000 for a similar application; the City of Albuquerque paid much less, about $13,000 to launch ABQ311.

SeeClickFix is a national leader that partnered with the city to launch the tool. "SeeClickFix is thrilled to have partnered with the City of Albuquerque in expanding access and improving delivery of services available through their 311 Citizen Contact Center," said Ben Berkowitz, CEO and Co-Founder of SeeClickFix. "The ABQ 311 app is an excellent example of how innovation and open communication in local government benefit both residents and city staff alike." 

The following issues can be reported through ABQ 311:

• Weed complaints
• Potholes
• Abandoned vehicles
• Large item pick up
• Missed trash pick-up
• Request for a residential trash container
• Lost animals
• Graffiti

SAN FRANCISCO (April 1, 2013) -- City Attorney Dennis Herrera today launched a new smartphone app that offers San Francisco residents an easy way to report and track non-emergency code enforcement and nuisance issues. Herrera's Code Enforcement Team has long maintained a code enforcement telephone hotline to enable neighborhood residents to report violations of housing, building, police and other local and state health and safety codes, but with the popularity of smartphones, the new mobile app leverages the latest in communication technology to improve government responsiveness and transparency.

Over a year ago, Herrera initiated a move to explore more innovative, user-friendly ways for the community to report and track municipal code and state law violations utilizing smartphone technology. The result is the UP2CODE smartphone app and web widget (web page) that is now available to residents via iPhone, Android and any browser with an internet connection.

"UP2CODE is an easy way for San Franciscans to report and track code enforcement issues to my office," said Herrera. "It encourages residents to be proactive by using the on-the-go smartphone app to combine efforts to improve neighborhoods and protect health and safety. Thank you to the community groups who helped test the app last year and provided feedback which refined the app. It's one tool we can all use to make San Francisco a safer and beautiful place to call home."

The UP2CODE app was developed to interact with SF311, San Francisco's citywide call and information center. The app utilizes mobile phone camera and global positioning system, or GPS, technology to streamline and coordinate code violation reporting with corresponding city departments. SeeClickFix, the New Haven, Conn.-based mobile application developer, worked in partnership with City Attorney staff to customize the app for San Francisco's codes and neighborhoods.

Data collected is used to better build code violation lawsuits, collect evidence and speed up remedies of nuisance code violations. It will help other city leaders, department heads and agencies better identify and prioritize code enforcement issues. In an effort to strive for transparency in City government, much of the data collected is accessible to app users in near-real-time. Reported violations are viewable on interactive maps, as is the status of each individual report. Users can even use advance features to set up "watch areas" -- from a single block to an entire neighborhood -- to monitor all reports within a specific geographic area.

For more information (including important safety tips), social media plug-ins, and to use the web widget, visit: http://www.UP2CODE.org.

To download the UP2CODE app on your mobile device visit:
 • The App Store for iPhones, or
• Google Play for Android

The Office of the City Attorney's Code Enforcement Team coordinates the efforts of the Building, Health, Planning, Public Works, Fire and Police Departments to identify and respond effectively to health and safety and other public nuisance issues in San Francisco's neighborhoods. When a code violation is reported, the Code Enforcement Team responds by coordinating the investigation and abatement process by the relevant city agencies and, when necessary, pursuing additional remedies against violators through civil court action.

 The City Attorney's Community Relations Division is available to make UP2CODE presentations and conduct group trainings on how to use the app and its numerous functions. Contact Jen Drake, Deputy Director, Community Relations at jen.drake@sfgov.org or (415) 554-4695.

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.