IF YOU TYPED ‘POTHOLE,’ PLEASE TYPE ‘YES’ 
A spurting water main? One of your neighbor’s free-range hens clucking the ever-loving night away? There’s an app for that: today, the city is launching a 311 app that will help smartphone-equipped Houstonians report and track complaints: “‘Say you see a pothole on your street. Before you even leave for work you can walk over, launch the app and type in ‘pothole,’ [city spokesperson Chris Newport] said. ‘You have the option of taking a picture, punching in the address and answering two other questions before you hit send.'” [Houston Chronicle] Photo: Chelsea Gomez (Oakes)
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*takes picture of neighbor’s house, types “dangerous, eyesore,” hits ‘send’*
Rec above for comment of the day
My phone battery is going to die before I even make it out of the neighborhood.
Hooray, now you can send a picture that the city can ignore and not act upon.
Actually I’ve found 311 to be pretty good / helpful. It’s abused by armchair warriors but I don’t know how that would be avoidable.
Can this app also be used to report mistimed redlights that generate gridlock? Memorial westbound at 610 is a joke every morning.
I guess I should have read the full article before asking. This is good news if the city actually acts on this stuff.
> One of your neighbor’s free-range hens clucking the ever-loving night away?
If the chickens are clucking at night it may be a fox/possum/rat/cat/raccoon in the henhouse. Chickens go to sleep in the dark, practically instantly. Just saying – it won’t be clucking long, RIP.
Lay off the Hens!!! They are NOT the problem. It’s those frigging Roosters!!!
I haven’t dug too much into the app, but I love the ability to upload a picture. Sometimes it is hard to put into words what the issue is without writing a novel (especially if it is Neighborhood Protection-related). With that said, I hope that the city is prepared for the substantial increase in reports coming in. If the various departments aren’t responsive, then this great use of technology will quickly give the city a black eye (i.e, don’t put it out there if resources aren’t available to fix the issues).
SeeClickFix has been offering this for a long time…and it does send stuff to 311. I’ve posted lots of broken sidewalks, overgrown bushes, etc. to their iOs app. That said, it doesn’t mean the city will actually fix any of it, but at least the know about the problems. Looks like I should d/l this app as well…
didn’t see this mentioned in either article, but the app is called “houston 311” and is made by a company called “SeeClickFix”
I’ve had good luck with responsiveness when reporting street light outages with the 311 website. Maybe it helps that I (a) report several lights in the same block at the same time, and (b) use the street light ID number when reporting.
This app will make it easier to report random stuff. No more trying to find a street address.
Nosy snitching neighbors taken to a whole ‘nother level.
there is a serious alignment jarring pot hole on woodway near sage.. i am going there tomorrow to photograph and send.
What, no GPS? Well maybe the pictures are geotagged. I personally love ideas like these.
Here is a link to the press conference in full, includes demonstration of Service Request app submission and the new http://www.houston311.org Service Request Map Tool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3UK2OtJeQg