The Knope Award: Michelle Doppelt

Michelle Doppelt, Parks and Recreation, Oakland California

The first ever Knope award goes to our friend Michelle Doppelt, in Oakland California.  Michelle first came to our attention through this email she sent to us:

I just want to say I love the SEECLICKFIX app on my phone. I think the ability to map the location, identify the specific issue and get it turned in instantly has greatly sped up the repairs on many items.

I have blasted it out to all my connected community boards for the 3 parks I supervise and the responses from the neighborhoods have been 100% positive!

We were of course very gratified to hear Michelle’s enthusiasm for SeeClickFix, but we also noted that she valued it because it enabled her to serve her community more effectively.  As we emailed back and forth with her, we saw more clearly how devoted Michelle is to her work, just like Leslie Knope herself.  So, read on to learn more about Michelle, and join us in celebrating this Rock-star Civil Servant.  Keep up the great work, Michelle!

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your responsibilities:

I am a Recreation Supervisor for the Office of Parks and Recreation (OPR).  I started in 1996 as a Recreation Leader doing summer camps and winter bus trips to ski in the snow, to Yosemite or Disneyland.  Then I became a Center Director for a couple of years and then promoted to my present position.

I oversee programs, classes, and events at Dimond Park, Bushrod Park and Sheffield Village.  I am on the Hiring Team, the Recware Team & Training teams.

I partner with many local groups to help with special events such as:

The Lake Chabot Golf Course Spring Egg Hunt (6th annual Egg hunt April 7th!)
The Dimond Improvement Association's Oaktoberfest in the Dimond.
Friends of Parks and Recreation to host the Harvestfest.


What attracted you about Public Service?

I grew up in a family that was open to helping out neighbors and community so it’s always been in my thoughts. When I was 10 years old I ran a day camp for younger kids in my area.  I loved the idea of teaching and helping others investigate new ideas.


How does SeeClickFix fit in to your job?

I have a crazy schedule to work around so the problems and issues in the parks and neighborhoods that I travel to, always had to wait until I got back to my computer for me to report to Public Works. With Seeclickfix I can quickly take a picture of the problem, have my GPS map the location and get an email to know that the problem is in process.  It has sped up the time frame that issues can be fixed and I am constantly updated with the progress.


What is your favorite thing about Leslie Knope? Do people often make the connection, given your similar job titles?

Haha! We both love our jobs.  I think people who know me know I am more grounded than she is, but often just as humorous!  I tend to be much less blonde, but just as crazy.  I think Leslie Knope would love the SeeClickFix idea and would probably use it until you had to close down the program from her neurotic constant usage!  hmm....Knope and I might both have that problem!

*For an explanation of The Knope Award, click here.

The Knope Award

One of the most talked about tv shows around the SeeClickFix watercooler is the show Parks and Rec, a sitcom about the Parks Department employees in fictional Pawnee, Indiana.  The show stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, the department’s Deputy Director, and aspiring City Council member.  Leslie is endearingly enthusiastic about all things Pawnee, and committed to trumpeting the virtues of her home-town. You can learn a bit more about the character here.

We love this show because it’s hilarious, but also because of the civic good vibes it gives off.  Leslie may be a bit corny in her unabashed love for her community, but so are we!  More importantly, so are the many citizens who take advantage of SeeClickFix to improve their neighborhoods.   

In fact, some of the most committed citizens we encounter actually work in municipal governments, just like Leslie.  These people get up early, stay late, and work hard with a smile on their faces because they love where they live and what they do.  As SeeClickFix has continued to expand, we’ve encountered more and more of these committed public servants who are excited to take advantage of our service

So, to recognize the contributions of some of the most outstanding municipal employees who we work with, we’ve decided to create the (drum-role please...) Knope Award!  The Knope Award will be given monthly to a municipal employee who makes use of SeeClickFix, and who displays Leslie Knope-like devotion to his or her town.  Winners will be the subject of a SeeClickFix blogpost, and will receive a stylish SeeClickFix t-shirt.  

To nominate a friend (or yourself! As a wise person once said, treat. yo. self.) for the Knope award, please send an email to Kevin@SeeClickFix.com, and explain how this person goes above and beyond in their duties as civil servant, and how they integrate SeeClickFix into their work. Preference will be given to creative nominations that integrate Parks and Rec and Leslie Knope references  The winner will be announced near the end of each month.  

SXSW Panel: What Civil Society Can Learn from Social Web

As you may recall, our CEO Ben Berkowitz recently led a panel discussion at SXSW on the roll of the Social Web in contemporary Civil Society.  Ben was joined on the panel by participants from Localmind, NeighborGoods, Meetup, and the City of Austin.

You can listen to the audio of the very interesting conversation here.  It's a wide ranging discussion that touches on Locke, Hobbes, and the uplifting tale of Jimmy the hotdog vendor.  If you like learning and thinking about the ways that citizens are leveraging government and technology to make community cool, this is worth a listen.

State Integrity Investigation

An interesting, if somewhat disheartening, report recently came out, grading all 50 states on the degree to which they work to eliminate corruption.  The report is called the State Integrity Investigation, and it is a joint effort of the Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International, and Global Integrity.

The report evaluates state governments on the rigor of the systems that are in place to prevent the violation of public trust by state officials.  The evaluations were based on a variety of factors, such as transparency in budget procedures, the amount of power given to ethics committees in state legislature, etc.  The evaluations were generally not encouraging: no state earned a grade of ‘A,’ and 8 states actually received ‘F’s.  

While our work is primarily with municipal governments, there was one piece of the report that really stood out to us as relevant to what we’re trying to accomplish at SeeClickFix.  In outlining the steps needed to curb corruption, the report highlighted the importance for governments to be not just transparent, but transparent in a way that is comprehensible to the average citizen.  “Ed Bender, executive director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, said that governments may seem transparent by making information available, but it is not always presented in a useable or digestible format. He said trying to compare data within a state – say, linking campaign donations to state contracts – can be nearly impossible, and is a huge barrier to transparency."

This is in part why we’re so committed to transparency and public data at SeeClickFix.  Our platform helps to make citizen concerns very understandable and actionable.  When a streetlight has been broken for months, the people who pass by the light are no longer the only ones who are aware of it.  Everyone who has access to the internet can look at the map of their area on SeeClickFix and plainly see that the responsible government should fix the light.  SeeClickFix prevents municipalities from disguising citizen concerns in arcane and bureaucratic forms that almost no one ever sees, and that absolutely no one understands.

As the State Integrity Investigation clearly reveals, there is definitely room for improvement in making government more transparent and accessible.  We’re happy that SeeClickFix can be a part of the solution to this urgent problem.

Enhanced Dashboard Now Available

Based on growing demand from municipal partners, SeeClickFix just launched its new dashboard which allows governments to observe trends and visualize data such as total number of issues by status, service request, source, or employee. For example, your city or town can now dynamically view how many issues were opened, closed, or acknowledged on a specific day (or in total) through the 'Dashboard' tab.

As with the old dashboard, staff will still be able to manage and address inbound constituent submissions by navigating to the "Issues" tab where they can comment on, acknowledge, bulk acknowledge, close, bulk close, and assign issues. Admin users can also export data in real time, filter issues (by assignee, date, status, or service request type), and leave private notes. Feel free to contact SeeClickFix with any questions or feedback!

We're Hiring an Integration Specialist

Know an engineer who would be a good fit for SeeClickFix?
Check out our posting below and our other open positions here: http://seeclickfix.com/jobs


Join a growing startup team that is connecting 100,000's of citizens to each other and their government world wide. Our data feeds are distributed by hundreds of media partners who use the data to inform readers and hold their government accountable.
Come join us in remaking the user interface to government. Power to the community!
We believe treating our employees right is important to doing great work. Here are the benefits we're offering right now:

* Competitive Salary
* Equity - Everyone who works here owns a bit of the company's success
* Each engineer gets the latest gear to help them excel at their job
* Conferences - Continue your learning at conferences and we'll pick up the tab
* Health insurance benefits
* Three weeks paid time off


The right person for the job will have both excellent communication skills and strong technical skills. We're looking for somebody who can adapt quickly to dynamic situations and produce creative solutions to challenges. Your skills should include:

* Knowledge of API data exchange formats, including SOAP, XML and JSON.
* Network skills capable of communicating concepts such as NAT, DNS, VPNs, and remote access protocols.
* An understanding of data modeling in a relational database.
* A good understanding of one or more scripting languages. 
* Most importantly you must be flexible to changing technologies, environments and schedules. No two projects are exactly the same and each requires a dynamic response while still maintaining a strong attention to detail and drive to completion.


Preferably your skills would include:
* Familiarity with Ruby on Rails.
* On-site experience in an enterprise environment.
* Experience working with clients to understand their needs and providing solutions. 
* Familiarity with UNIX based operating systems.
* Experience with data processing and analysis with scripting languages.

Prior work experience is not required. 

• Location: New Haven
• Compensation: Competitive
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

SeeClickFeast: Shake Shack comes to New Haven

Like every member of the New Haven Community, our stomachs rumbled in approval at the recent news that Shake Shack will be opening a location here in town; in fact, it will be right down the street from our office on Chapel Street.  For those of you who don’t know, Shake Shack is a mini-chain that originated in New York that has developed a devoted following, especially for its signature “roadside” burgers.   A problematic temptation for those trying to abide by diets? Perhaps.  A positive development for the “thrilling urban renaissance,” in the words of Shake Shack Founder Danny Meyer, currently underway in New Haven? Definitely.  

In fact, the restaurant will open in a space that is owned by Yale University, but has been unoccupied for years.  For some New Haveners, this became a source of frustration, because they felt that this prime location should not have languished, underutilized, for so long.  Where do engaged citizens turn when they want to express themselves on an issue relevant to their community?  SeeClickFix, of course.

In SeeClickFix Issue # 14074, New Haven residents bandied about ideas for the space, and encouraged Yale to find a suitable tenant for the location.  The issue received a lot of attention, garnering nearly six thousand views.  Yale representative Bruce Anderson even contributed to the comment thread, writing, “...we are within 30-60 days of announcing a tenant for this space.”  This is another great example of how we’re helping to bring communities together, and its especially satisfying since it concerns our own neighborhood.

So, a hearty welcome to our soon to be neighbors, Shake Shack.  We look forward to enjoying a burger in the near future.

We're hiring!

API Developer

Join a growing startup team that is connecting 100,000's of citizens to each other and their government world wide. Our data feeds are distributed by hundreds of media partners who use the data to inform readers and hold their government accountable. Come join us in remaking the user interface to government. Power to the community!

We believe treating our employees right is important to doing great work. Here are the benefits we're offering right now:

* Competitive Salary
* Equity - Everyone who works here owns a bit of the company's success
* Each engineer gets the latest gear to help them excel at their job
* Conferences - Continue your learning at conferences and we'll pick up the tab
* Health insurance benefits
* Three weeks paid time off


The right person for the job will have both excellent communication skills and strong technical skills. We’re looking for somebody who can adapt quickly to dynamic situations and produce creative solutions to challenges. Your skills should include:

* Knowledge of API data exchange formats, including SOAP, XML and JSON.
* Network skills capable of communicating concepts such as NAT, DNS,VPNs, and remote access protocols.
* An understanding of data modeling in a relational database.
* A good understanding of one or more scripting languages.
* Most importantly you must be flexible to changing technologies, environments and schedules. No two projects are exactly the same and each requires a dynamic response while still maintaining a strong attention to detail and drive to completion.


Preferably your skills would include:
* Familiarity with Ruby on Rails.
* On-site experience in an enterprise environment.
* Experience working with clients to understand their needs andproviding solutions.
* Familiarity with UNIX based operating systems.
* Experience with data processing and analysis with scripting languages.


Prior work experience is not required.

Boston Tree Party

Followers of our blog will remember that we at SeeClickFix enjoy getting our hands dirty and planting some trees.  We also love supporting organizations who are partners in the mission of promoting civic engagement.  That is why we are happy to give a shout out to our friends in Beantown, the Boston Tree Party.  

The Boston Tree Party recruits delegations of energetic citizens to commit to planting two Heirloom Apple Trees, and to tending to those trees over the course of their lifetime.  In reference to their latin motto “frux civilis,” the organization explains, “At its core, the Party is a diverse coalition of organizations, institutions, and communities from across the Greater Boston Area coming together in support of Civic Fruit.”  How cool are these guys?

Last year was the organization’s first, and their results were impressive.  They facilitated the planting of seventy trees in more than fifty communities across the greater Boston area.  If you do the math, that adds up to between ten and fifteen THOUSAND apples a year.  For a young nonprofit like the Boston Tree Party, that is a high deliciousness quotient.

And they’re just getting started: registration for this years planting season is ongoing until April 15.  If you like the community focus and proactive approach of SeeClickFix, and happen to be based in Boston, you should definitely consider forming a planting delegation with some friends.  For more information, email Amory@bostontreeparty.org.  

Once you start harvesting the apples from your trees, don’t be afraid to send a homemade apple pie to your friends at the SeeClickFix headquarters who let you know about this awesome organization.