311 Meets The Blogosphere (Take The 311 Challenge!)

Photo By Jeanie Hoholik

Hardly a day goes by I don't make a 311 call about something--mostly graffiti--and certainly a week never goes by that I fail to call 311.

Recently, my friend Jeanie Hoholik posted something on her blog about a stop sign which had been defaced in an interesting way...

Even though Jeanie's blog post was accessible to the whole wired world including (so I hear) astronauts on the International Space Station, I knew it was necessary to make a 311 report to actually get the sign fixed.

So I pulled the photo off Jeanie's blog and emailed it to 311 as an attachment, along with an explanation of its origin. (The 311 email address is minneapolis311@ci.minneapolis.mn.us) My report was acknowledged and is now in the system.

Lately, in addition to calling 311 a lot on my cell phone, I have emailed pictures as well, click here for an example. But I've never pulled a picture off somebody else's blog and made a 311 report. So it was kind of cool, an interesting variation on the common pattern... blogosphere meets the 311 system.

Moving At The Speed Of Government

I think one of the problems with 311 is citizens think nobody is listening if they don't see results in a couple of days, a week at the most. They measure 311 by the same standard they measure other systemic requests, such as being promised a refund from a business or having a teenager promise to clean his room.

Well, 311 is like Heinz ketchup. It's slow, but it's gooooooooooood worth the wait. Kevin Gulden of PPL has a phrase for it: Moving at the speed of government.

I would challenge citizens to test the 311 system, and see if it doesn't work for you, and see if it isn't VERY SATISFYING to have it work, even "moving at the speed of government."

Find some graffiti and call it in. In fact, find about half a dozen instances of graffiti and call all of it in. If you can't find enough in North Minneapolis--and that's one good thing, we don't have as much graffiti here as some places--then look for graffiti in the "wannabe gangster" neighborhoods where college students live. (Cough--Marcy-Holmes--cough)

Make a little note to yourself about what day you called in the graffiti and then FORGET ALL ABOUT IT FOR A MONTH.

But in a month, go back and look. I am confident you will see results, and you will feel a sense of civic pride and accomplishment. Lately, the response rate for vacant, unsecured buildings seems to be even FASTER.