See Click Fix Problem Reporting System Coming To Roosevelt Island - Give It A Try And See If It Works

You Tube Video Report On See Click Fix

What happens when a Roosevelt Island resident notices a problem with the

• Red Bus
• Tram
• Motorgate Parking Garage
• Street Parking
• garbage not being collected,
• pothole in the street,
• crack in the sidewalk,
• lights not working,
• sprinklers not working properly or
• any other issue that needs to be fixed.

Calling New York City's 311 reporting system is no help because more often than not the operators don't know that Roosevelt Island is part of New York City and many of these problems are under the jurisdictional authority of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC). So, you call or write RIOC and hope that they fix the problem in a reasonable amount of time. Others write to the Roosevelt Island media, (this Blog and the WIRE) and we contact RIOC on your behalf trying to resolve the issue. Sometimes the problem is resolved quickly and other times not. Not a very efficient system.

However, a solution to fixing Roosevelt Island problems may soon be forthcoming with the introduction of a Roosevelt Island 311 reporting service from See Click Fix. RIOC Board Director Jonathan Kalkin has been working on this issue for some time and writes:

See Click Fix: Island 311 System

At the present time we have an inefficient way to handle island issues. Some emails reach my inbox, some to the directors email, some to the President etc. There is a huge amount of redundancy and there is no efficient way for people on the island to resolve an issue and for the staff of RIOC to respond. There is also no way to escalate that complaint if many people see this as an issue or for the person to track the response to that complaint. Everyone is doing their best, but there is no central location or system to deal with this. If an issue is open, or fixed, there is no way for everyone to know that it has been resolved.

I have been looking at a number of options and I looked into your suggestion - SeeClickFix. They seem to be a great fit and we are beta testing it right now.

If you go on the mobile app available on almost any device you will see the RIOC logo. We haven't put in our own custom categories or assigned categories to different people. As I stated earlier this is only a beta test and therefore only for show.

See Click Fix Image From Jonathan Kalkin

However, if we move forward on this we will assign categories like the Tram, Red Bus, Parks, Parking, Signs, Litter, etc. and assign those categories to different departments. People will be able to upload pictures and even video in the comments. If you have GPS on your phone it is very accurate at stating the location, right down to the building, but if not you can write the location and a description of your complaint. If we choose this system you will have a button on the RIOC site to make a complaint. You can also access it via the seeclickfix website and on your mobile phone as stated earlier. We are currently trying to determine a procedure for inputting the data if someone calls in to create an issue ticket, but that is possible. I believe that this will allow the residents a way to help make RIOC aware of issues, track that issue, and make sure that we resolve them. It will be an island effort and people will have to be informed how it works and how to use it if it goes live. I will update you as we move forward.

Here's how See Click Fix works on the Iphone

and an interview with the founder of See Click, Fix Ben Berkowitz, explaining how the system works. Brooklyn blogger Ditmas Park reports:

Community Board 14 is now using SeeClickFix, a tool which will make it easy for anyone to report issues and problems to them, and make it easier for the fabulous folks at CB14 and other city agencies to respond, and act...

Here's how Brooklyn's Community Board 14 uses the See Click Fix tool. Right now there is a link on Roosevelt Islander's middle sidebar to the See Click Fix Roosevelt Island page. Give Roosevelt Island See Click Fix a try and test it out but also continue sending your reports of Roosevelt Island problems and issues here.