The city has released an iPhone app that enables residents to report problems as they encounter them on the ground:

“The Citizens Connect iPhone App that provides a lightweight interface into the City of Boston’s Constituent Relationship Management System (CRM). The intention is to help constituents easily report a variety of different service requests including

• Removing Graffiti
• Filling Potholes
• Fixing Traffic lights”

http://www.cityofboston.gov/mis/apps/iphone.asp

All you have to do is take a picture, describe the issues, and send it off and the city will have a geocoded record of your request.

On a recommendation from neighbors, I went out this morning and reported the sidewalk that connects our neighborhood to Forest Hills cemetery, which is basically just gravel and garbage at this point. It’s so bad that people with strollers usually have to walk in the road.

This clearly won’t be enough in itself to get this problem fixed, but it sends a signal to residents that the City is trying to listen and is willing to invest in tools that make it easier to voice our concerns.

Boston Globe:  Municipal complaint? There’s an app for that