It's been a little while since we've aggregated fixes du jour on the blog. In recent weeks (thanks to the new Washington Post widget) the pace of incoming issues has accelerated from a steady stream into a waterfall– over 1,000 issues were reported in the past 5 days!

This is exciting news indeed, but it makes it a bit trickier to stay on top of all the wonderful fixes that are happening each day on account of SeeClickFix.

Here's news of two that came in today, in Nashville and in Bethesda, MD.

'Hallelujah' from Nashville:

In Nashville, SeeClickFixer Debi Tucker created an issue five months ago to raise awareness about an abandoned home sitting on a flatbed trailer. Two to three years of looking at this eyesore and numerous ignored reports later, citizens were thrilled to learn that the trailer was finally demolished.

Debi rejoiced on the SCF website, “The house on the trailer is FINALLY gone. Hallelujah. After several years, it’s finally gone.”

The Codes and Building Safety Department reported that they exhausted their resources trying to track down the party responsible for the trailer. With an absentee owner, the City was able to submit it for demolition and it was wrecked. (Sadly, no before and after demo photos were provided)

Dude, Where's my Porsche?

A SeeClickFixer in Bethesda, MD was shocked to see five weeks go by without a driver claiming the Porsche 928 GT that sat in a grocery store parking lot. The user had notified the police to no avail, but got word from a town official just one day after posting the issue on SeeClickFix.

Upon investigating, police determined the status of the abandoned vehicle: it was not stolen and cannot be towed since it lies on private property. SeeClickFix was able to make this communication happen, and the issue was closed just five days after it was posted.

Six months ago, Journalist Doug Hardy created a SeeClickFix Issue to raise awareness about a blighted building that has plagued the town of Windsor, CT for years. Along with the town planner, Hardy has been using SeeclickFix to update Windsor residents about the town's progress in getting rid of the building.

Just today he posted the following photos. Seems like they're nearing on a fix!

The Washington Post became the latest publication to join forces with SeeClickFix. As of today, the Post's website will feature our widget prominently on its local news section.

The paper created a sleek new page called "The Daily Gripe," dedicated to providing users an outlet for reporting local problems through a SeeClickFix Map Widget. The Post will pick the most interesting report every day to highlight in "The Daily Gripe" blog. Problems that get fixes will be mentioned in a section called "They Fixed It?"

According to the site:

The goal of The Daily Gripe is to use our power as a news organization to help residents fix the basic problems that are not being addressed in their communities - broken parking meters, potholes, trash-strewn medians and the like. It's service journalism on a grassroots level.

We are very excited to launch this new partnership and are thrilled by the Post's innovative use of our services! Please click here to visit The Daily Gripe.

An article published today in a blog by The Guardian makes an emphatic case for why SeeClickFix is such a great tool for journalists. Local news reporters can use SeeClickFix to glean important facts and quotes for a story, reducing the cost of pounding the pavement for cash strapped publications.

Thanks again to the author Dan Kennedy, who stopped by the SeeClickFix office in May to chat with Ben.

Kennedy describes how the Independent's managing editor Melissa Bailey used SeeClickFix to assemble the facts for her story:

I spotted the SeeClickFix ticket when it popped up on our homepage through an RSS feed [...] The story was perfectly lined up – I had the location (pinpointed on a map) and a stream of quotable comments critiquing the facade. All I had to add for the story was a photo of the storefront and a call to the owner.

Kennedy writes that while many internet forums on news-sites degenerate into "banality and sheer nastiness," SeeClickFix manages to "channel audience participation in constructive, useful ways."

The article presents two different perspectives on the relationship between SeeClickFix and journalism, one from CEO Ben Berkowitz and from New Haven Independent Editor Paul Bass. Surprisingly, the more glowing review of SeeClickFix came from outside the company.

While Ben said that he does not consider SeeClickFix to be journalism but a "tool for journalists," Bass called SeeClickFix journalism "in its purest and rawest form." According to Bass, SeeClickFix:

"brings out information that journalists wouldn't have known about, information that often leads to good stories upon further investigation. It also makes things happen. In New Haven it has restored my faith in democracy as I've watched city officials monitor the site and act upon its complaints."

Please click here to read the full article! And check out Kennedy's interview with Ben that served as the basis for the Guardian piece.

SeeClickFix CEO Ben Berkowitz got mobbed at the Gov 2.0 Expo last week–by Smart Mobs blogger Stephanie Gerson. In a blog post, Stephanie calls SeeClickFix an important mechanism to "leverage the capacity of the civic sector and facilitate collaboration between citizens and their governments" at the city level.

In her interview with Ben, the two talked about the success of SeeClickFix in New Haven's Wooster Square neighborhood, "which began with individuals reporting issues online and culminated with them collaboratively resolving issues offline." Stephanie imagines that this online-to-offline transition could happen in other cities as well: "As SeeClickFix expands its user base worldwide, in turn servicing the emergence of a more ‘open city,’ its usage may shift from predominant ‘seeing’ and ‘clicking’ to increased ‘fixing.'"

Check out the full blog post here. And click here or here to read Stephanie's other coverage from the Gov 2.0 Expo.