My clickfix story is about a post I almost reluctantly made because I was afraid I would be tagged a nerd or geek or something. But it was about the Yale University shuttle buses, which are often regular size school buses, though they run on biodiesel, and how they would speed up my street, which has a 25 m.p.h. posted speed limit. On several occasions since moving to Bishop in 2008, I witnessed the buses traveling at high rates of speed, probably close to, if not exceeding, 50 mph. The post on seeclickfix got lots of responses from others in my community. The New Haven Police were notified as well as Yale. Comments included suggestions of putting satellite tracking devices on the buses so their speeds could be tracked remotely. The buses actually went through a phase of using their low gears as brakes and whining very loud down the street. That has since stopped as well and they now seem to be able to travel at reasonable speeds. I feel the posting was successful in that the buses have slowed down. Now it’s just a matter of getting others to slow down. Some people fly past my house at speeds well in excess of 50 mph.

Imagine a world in which all citizens felt they were engaged in a dialogue with local governments, as well as with one another individually, in ways that were highly efficient and accountable to public concerns.

These are the principles driving SeeClickFix.com, a “Governance 2.0” tool that allows citizens and organizations to identify and resolve non-emergency issues – no matter where in the world they live.  SeeClickFix is at the forefront of a national movement to exploit technology and social media for more open community action.

This movement was recognized by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy as having the potential to vastly improve the quality of our urban spaces.

Why “Governance 2.0” and not “Government 2.0”?  These new communications tools do not presuppose that material entities or organizations are needed to administer arrangements that resolve collective action problems: citizens and neighborhoods can take direct action themselves.

SeeClickFix began in New Haven, Connecticut, founded by residents who wanted to address graffiti in neighborhood commercial districts.   Issue reports had to be targeted to the appropriate party: depending on the nature of the graffiti, that might be the City of New Haven, utility companies who owned cable boxes, private landlords, or the State of Connecticut.  Issues were distributed through community networks and via New Haven’s outstanding array of hyperlocal news sources.  The project worked – many instances of graffiti or potholes I have reported in New Haven have been resolved within hours.

Some issues are more complicated and take longer to fix.  Issue #23, a missing pedestrian signal in Downtown New Haven, took over a year to address.  Issue #1300, a dangerous and improperly-designed rail crossing on New Haven’s main harbor bridge, still hasn’t been resolved despite 7,000 pageviews and 250 citizen comments.  But the stream of headline newspaper, blog and television publicity of this issue – much of it resulting from SeeClickFix – has led to several ConnDOT and City of New Haven investigations, as well as much wider public awareness of safety issues involved in the crossing.  Residents are still hopeful, and SeeClickFix gives them a place to permanently catalogue progress towards a resolution.

In fact, well over 100 serious traffic safety and “livable streets” issues in New Haven have been catalogued in detail by members of the New Haven Safe Streets Coalition, an informal coalition of over 100 local organizations and businesses.  Given the city’s new Complete Streets Design Manual and other initiatives that have been a direct response to grassroots organizing, we expect all of them to be resolved at some point in the future.

Philadelphia residents have also been among the “early adopters” of SeeClickFix.  Using the new technology, residents in Society Hill and other neighborhoods are documenting issues such as vandalism, trash, potholes, dead trees and unsafe intersections.  Other citizens anonymously submit law enforcement issues such as speeding, idling vehicles, prostitution and drug use.  Local organizations such as the Society Hill Civic Association, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Philadelphia Clean Air Council and Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia are now monitoring and fixing issues.  Media organizations and blogs check it for hot stories.  Philadelphia 311 and government officials are also “wired up”: they currently receive notice of any issues submitted, and have joined the resulting discussions.  The result is a healthier, more efficient city.

Ben Berkowitz, the co-founder and CEO of SeeClickFix, envisions a higher purpose to the site. “Citizens who take the time to report even minor issues and see them fixed are likely to become more engaged in their communities over time.”

Mark Abraham

New Haven, Connecticut

United States

When people ask me what SeeClickFix is, or what it does, I avoid the tech speak and instead try to get to the heart of what it has meant to my community - “SeeClickFix is an online tool that turns one citizen’s concern into a neighborhood invested in a positive action”

On our quiet, residential street, one neighbor saw a very suspicious car continually parked in front of a school - different cars pulled up, rolled down the windows and then sped off.  It happened everyday for a week.  The neighbor reported it on SeeClickFix “Hey this is sorta suspicious, what do you think?” - A week later, after more neighbors noticed the same thing, the New Haven Police Department spotted the activity, stopped the vehicles, and put a few drug dealers in jail.  It happened that quick - one citizen’s concern, one post on SeeClickFix, one entire neighborhood made safer.

That’s the the power of SeeClickFix.  Its not always drug dealers - sometimes its potholes, sometimes its tree limbs, often its just a simple quality of life concern that everyone experiences, but no one says anything about.  SeeClickFix helps neighbors bring their everyday concerns into the light - it turns citizen complainers into neighborhood fixers……and it gives us all the tools we need to not only spot problems, but correct them.

Roland Lemar
New Haven Board of Aldermen

New Haven, CT 06510