Skip to Content

town services

January 27, 2010 - 10:29am

See, Click, Fix?

by Dave Atkins

A number of communities in the Boston area are experimenting with an online problem reporting system created by a New Haven startup company. The site allows people to report pot holes and other maintenance issues on a map of the region:

Public works departments may monitor the site and acknowledge/update reported problems to show they have been fixed. According to the SeeClickFix website, the Dedham Town Administrator and DPW are monitoring Dedham and an article from last year on Boston.com encouraged Bostonians to report pot holes and other road hazards.

I think this is a great idea, but there is some danger that people assume the DPW is watching. Then, next week, another new web site pops up with something similar. For issues in Westwood, you can always pick up the phone and call the Westwood DPW at 781-326-8661 or use this Service Request Form on the town website, but these are "1:1" interactions...how do you know if someone has already reported a problem? What is the resolution? For minor annoyances, people don't have time to follow through on things like this.

Syndicate content