City’s 311 service faces online competition

By Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer 9/4/08

SAN FRANCISCO –

San Francisco officials are planning to take the 311 information line to the Web, but a savvy group of techies from Connecticut may have already beaten The City to the punch.

Since SeeClickFix.com’s August launch, San Francisco residents have logged more than a thousand complaints — from a bumpy road on Second Street between Market and Mission streets to a “Loudly Buzzing/Humming Transformer Outside My Flat.”

Of the problems posted, 779 have yet to be resolved.

The founders of SeeClickFix live in New Haven, Conn. One of those founders, Ben Berkowitz, was honeymooning in San Francisco on Wednesday as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom held a news conference outside City Hall.

Asked about when The City would have a similar service up that linked directly to government services, Newsom said it was on the way.

The 311 call center was up and running in March 2007 with the expectation that it would be on the Web in two years, Newsom said. The City may not see the online version until 2009.

“We put in a platform, and from there we could build upon the platform,” Newsom said.

bbegin@sfexaminer.com

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