The Importance of 311

I asked Steve Craig who is the Director of Constituent Services here in Somerville if he had to tell people the importance of 311 what would he say and here it is...........

"The concept of providing excellent customer service is the key piece of 311 constituent services. 311 is instru­mental in engaging citizens and increasing their involvement in their community. 311 allows people to become involved by simply picking up the phone, sending an email, using social media or simply walking into city hall or the public safety building 24/7/365 to report a problem they see. There are live operators with multi-language capabilities available who will enter their request into our state-of-the-art database and provide a reference number so that residents may track the status of their requests. Once citizens see how reporting a problem can impact the neighborhood, for example, removing graffiti from a local park or cleaning up a vacant property, they might be inspired to become involved in a neighborhood improvement association. From there, perhaps serve on a citizen advisory committee or even one day chose to run for city office. 311 should not be viewed as being an independent system, but as part of a larger per­formance management initiative. The data collected is used by various departments to see what issues are trending in different neighborhoods, where departments should reallocate resources to improve efficiencies, even the police department is able to factor in "broken window" concerns when they are doing crime analysis.

With 311, citizens can see how they make a difference in the quality of life in their community, and who knows what that knowledge might inspire?"

I don't think I could of said it better myself.  I can't stress enough the importance of calling 311 and reporting issues.   THIS INCLUDES EVERYTHING!!!!!!!   Have you seen a rodent?   Call 311 - have you seen 4 rodents - call 311 4 times.   It is instrumental in telling the city where it needs to turn it's attention.  

As Alderman I receive weekly reports documenting each call received from Ward 1 as well as other areas of the city.   This helps me greatly with knowing where I have to turn my attention.  

Here is the online link to 311. 

Here is the Facebook link.

I also want to mention that you can file a report anonymously.   The choice is yours.  After all calls the 311 Department will give you a number which can be used track the request.  

On a personal note I hope everyone is keeping warm.