Simple rules: Why Boston's complaint app works

By adamg on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 7:12am

Fast Company grooves on Citizens Connect, says its very simplicity - all it does is let people complain about potholes and the like - is why it works:

With its Citizens Connect app, the Hub is showing how to use technology to empower citizens and involve them in the inner workings of the city.

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Boston

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Comments

has this journalist ever actually used citizens connect?

By anon on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 11:37am.

Has this journalist ever actually used citizens connect?

Reported cases then go directly into the city’s work order queue for resolution, and users are informed how quickly the case will be closed. When cases are resolved the date and time of the resolution is listed, providing users with the sense that the city is on the job.

Since when are users informed how quickly the case will be closed? The city has gotten better at listing the date and time of the resolution, but they don't always do it and they often close things with a note that the work has been done when it hasn't been done.

Agreed

By Charlie on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 3:18pm.

It's very hit or miss. Sometimes you get a reply within a few days that the case has been resolved, with a short description. Other times, it never gets resolved.

One thing that would be really nice is a way to reply back when a resolution is posted with further questions or clarification.

I put in a request to clean

By anon on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 4:47pm.

I put in a request to clean up graffiti. Two months later, it was closed with no obvious change to the graffiti.

A separate incident was that I put in a request to clean up graffiti on Storrow Dr. It was closed with resolution of "jurisdiction of Brookline DPW". I called the hotline to verify this was correct, and was transferred to a second number which never answered.

no voicemail

By anon on Fri, 04/13/2012 - 12:49am.

That's the mayor's idiotic "no voicemail, every call gets answered by a human being" policy. Since they can't have a human being answer every phone at all times it means sometimes the phones just keep ringing and ringing, or you're bounced to a secretary who will immediately bounce you right back to the unmanned phone. Its an idiotic policy - its a nice talking point for the mayor but if the goal is for citizens to feel that the bureaucracy is responsive and not alienating, the result is the opposite - you feel a lot less connected to city government hearing an endless ringing sound than just leaving a brief message. Its everything I hate about politics - people doing things for the sake of appearance rather than reality.

Graffiti

By Allstonian on Fri, 04/13/2012 - 10:34am.

Getting satisfactory resolution to graffiti reports is extremely difficult. I'd say that about 20% of the reports I make are closed without anything actually being done about removing the graffiti, and as you say, many are referred to another authority - USPS for tagged mailboxes, the utilities for tagged transformer boxes and the like, and so on - and then there is no follow-up to ensure that the work actually gets done.

I've also been harassed for making reports - I received a phone call at home at nearly 11 one night last winter, from someone claiming to be responding to a graffiti complaint I had placed some 5 months earlier, and saying that I had not provided a photo of the graffiti and he couldn't find anything in the dark. Unfortunately I was half asleep at the time, and didn't think to get his name so that I could lodge a complaint.