TGIF(ixed): First Friday

Happy New Year, SeeClickFixers! We're excited to report that 2012 is off to an exciting start here at SeeClickFix World Headquarters. Since the start of a new year is the perfect time to ponder what's ahead, we're celebrating the first Friday of the year with some future fixes we are looking forward to seeing.

It's never too early (or too late) for a little bit of Spring cleaning

Tidying up is a good resolution to set for your home AND for your community! Community Manager Megan Dalton wants to see Issue #145155 - Graffiti cleaned up and closed in Derby, CT this year.

SeeClickFix CEO Ben Berkowitz wants to spend more time with family in 2012. Always a multi-tasker, Ben hopes to plant some trees with his Mom in her New Haven neighborhood this year! With some help from other neighbors and the URI, here's hoping Issue #96960 - Tree Request will be resolved this spring! We have a feeling a green thumb runs in Ben's family.

A fix for Issue #14282 - Left Turn Arrow Needed will help me keep my resolution of saving money in 2012 by keeping my car out of accidents/the mechanics!

Do you have a wish for a future fix? Will a public space improvement in your community help you keep your own New Years resolution? We have a feeling 2012 is going to be YOUR year, so report an issue today! If you live in Connecticut, be sure to add the tag "resolution2012" to your issue and have it added to the Town Resolutions 2012 list being compiled by the New Haven Register, the Middletown Press and the Register-Citizen!

TGIF(ixed): Found Feline Friday

This TGIF(ixed) goes out to our furry friends and the SeeClickFixers who love them. When a house cat named Lucy recently went missing in the SOHU neighborhood of New Haven, her owner turned to SeeClickFix to ask neighbors to keep an eye out for the missing feline.

If you see a brown and black cat looking like the one in this picture hiding around your house or backyard, please call... her name is Lucy and she got out of the house on Sunday and has not been able to find her way back.

The SeeClickFix community in Lucy's neighborhood quickly shared the issue on Twitter and posted comments, updates and questions on the original issue. One user even shared a tip on how to help the missing kitty find her way home.

oh and one more thing...in the city it is hard for cats to figure out their homes when they roam...if you have a dirty litter box I suggest just putting some around the property....so she can smell her home. I know it is gross....but does help. you can do it in a neat way.

We can't be certain if it was this advice from a fellow user, the help of concerned neighbors, or Lucy's sense of direction, but over a week after she was reported missing Lucy and her owner were reunited!

Inspired by this story and similar issues reported through our platform recently, SCF CEO Ben Berkowitz even created a new website that allows residents in New Haven to report and monitor lost cat issues using SeeClickFix powered reporting tools.  The SeeClickFix team gets excited about ALL issues that are resolved on our site, but this fix is really the cat's meow*!

*Disclaimer: SeeClickFix Community Managers Megan (who spotted this awesome issue!) and Emma are both self-admitted cat ladies.

TGIF(ixed): Let there be light!

Happy Friday, SeeClickFixers! With the seasons changing and our daylight hours dwindling, TGIF(ixed) this week is focused on fixes that have helped shed some light on city streets this week. From burnt-out street lights to broken traffic signals, these newly closed issues have SeeClickFix users saying TGIF(ixed), just in time for the dark winter months.

Although we just announced our partnership with Marshall, Michigan yesterday, the city has been hard at work fixing issues before we shared the good news! On Tuesday, the Marshall Electric Department repaired not one, not two, but three broken streetlights reported to SeeClickFix, one of which had been out since July!

An impossibly short green light in the Annex neighborhood of New Haven was causing serious traffic down a major road. Tired of the bumper-to-bumper conditions caused by the short light, Jean McAulay reported Issue #125326 through the SeeClickFix widget on the New Haven Register website. She wrote:

The green light on Rt. 1, Forbes Avenue, at the intersection of Wheeler street is only on for 15 seconds, causing backups every morning and evening rush hour. In the evening traffic is backed up all the way to the bridge because of this light. This is the only light that stays on for such a short time all the way to Woodward Avenue, and there is never any cross traffic at the light so there is no reason for the green light to be so short when so much traffic backs up!

The Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking quickly responded to let Jean know that the traffic signal was state controlled. Shortly after, another commenter said that she had passed the complaint along to CT DOT. Friday morning, Jean closed the issue and shared with SeeClickFixers that the traffic light had been fixed!

What better way to start (or end) Friday (or any day, really) than by closing a fixed issue on SeeClickFix? We're not sure either.

TGIF(ixed): The Driveway Dilemma

When a repair made by the city led to a huge headache for Charlotte, NC homeowner Ralph Bruce, SeeClickFix media partner WBTV stepped in to shine a light on his report and resolve the issue once and for all.

Ralph reported issue #116088 - The city did not repair my driveway after repairing a water pipe - after a city repair left his driveway, as well as his street, in shambles.

The city came out to repair a busted water pipe in front of my driveway. They had to break up my driveway to get to the pipe and has not repaired my driveway. I have made over ten calls to no avail. The crew that came out said that the city would have to contract a company out through the water department to repair the problem because of a brick wall that surround the driveway and the yard. The city not only left my driveway a mess but the street as well. Red mud is still in street because the cleaning crew did not do a good job cleaning the street. Please help me get the city back out to my house to correct this problem.

WBTV morning anchor John Carter was alerted of this issue thanks to the watch area and interactive widgets implemented by the outlet. He quickly got to work by contacting the city to see what could be done to address Ralph's driveway.

On August 16th, John reported an update to WBTV viewers on their morning broadcast.

I contacted the city and got a very fast response from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Utility Department. I'm told the city's asphalt/concrete contractor is scheduled to work on the driveway this week. The contractor wasn't able to get out there sooner due to other street restorations, according to the city. So the problem should be fixed this week.

We'll certainly keep you updated.

Unfortunately for Ralph, the week passed without a fix and his driveway was still a disaster.  As one week turned into two weeks and then three weeks, he again posted to SeeClickFix to let WBTV and WBTV viewers know the problem continued.

On Monday, thanks to Ralph's report and the persistence of WBTV, John Carter reported the update they had promised on their August 16th broadcast.

...as of today, the driveway is being fixed. Crews were out Monday making the repairs.

But what took so long?

While WBTV will be looking into why this fix took so long to complete, SeeClickFixer Ralph is happy to be saying TGIF(ixed)!

Can you think of a better way to kick-off your weekend? We didn't think so! A HUGE thank you to our superstar media partner WBTV for bringing us this amazing TGIF(ixed) issue. The whole SeeClickFix team is looking forward to hearing more updates and seeing more issues fixed thanks to your hard work!

To watch a video clip of the August 16th broadcast, click here!

To watch a video clip of the September 12 broadcast, click here!

TGIF(ixed): Neighbors helping neighbors

Happy Friday, SeeClickFixers! It's been a busy week here at SCF World HQ, but we've made it through and are glad to be saying TGIF! This week, our TGIF(ixed) issue comes from Maureen in Rockville, Maryland, who helped a neighbor by getting a potentially dangerous dead tree removed.

When phone calls and web forms proved to be fruitless for her neighbor,  Maureen turned to SeeClickFix and reported Issue #119349 - Dead tree removal. 

It

my neighbor has been trying to get a dead tree removed since last fall but since it's under the power lines and on county property, both PEPCO and the county think it's someone else job. PEPCO only trims branches. The tree is on a street that borders an elementary school, children walk under it and it's so dead the bark is peeling off it.

What went unnoticed for nearly a full year when reported the old-fashioned way was resolved amazingly fast thanks to Maureen's report. Within one week of SeeClickFixin' her neighbors dead tree, she was able to close the issue with a great update!

It's only fitting that our TGIF(ixed) issue of the week hails from the State of Maryland, where officials recently embraced our social platform to help citizens throughout Hurricane Irene. SeeClickFix is thrilled to see this, and many other issues across the Chesapeake Bay State get fixed through our platform.

We hope everyone has a great weekend and can't wait to say TGIF(ixed) to your issues again next week!

TGIF(ixed): Fast, friendly and fixed in #NHV

It's probably no surprise that the SeeClickFix team loves seeing people collaborate to fix issues. Whether it's neighbors coming together to clean up their block, or citizens working with their local government to find a solution that works for everyone, we just can't get enough! But what about when different agencies within one municipality collaborate for a fix? A graffiti report submitted yesterday by our very own Ben Berkowitz proved to be a great example of how inter-agency accountability can lead to fast (and friendly) fixes!

Issue #118590 - Graffiti - was reported by Ben on his way to SeeClickFix world HQ on Thursday morning. The two tags painted on a bus shelter in the SoHu neighborhood of New Haven were promptly acknowledged by the Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking. While TTP notified the Sign Division about the graffiti, the Town Green District Clean Team had also received a report of the graffiti and set out to take care of it ASAP!

The transparency of our platform allowed two of our clients to quickly and easily communicate about this problem, as well as acknowledge, fix, and close out this issue without hours of it being reported. Upon seeing the exchange between TTP and Win from the Town Green District, Ben summed things up pretty perfectly:

The Town Green District and their lightening fast Clean Team were the first SeeClickFix client ever. The secret to their speed? In addition to receiving alerts about new issues reported throughout New Haven, the team scours our site and arms themselves with print outs of new graffiti reports such as the one below before heading out each day!

A Clean Team member with his SCF print out, taken this morning.

A super huge thanks to the New Haven Town Green District, as well as to the Department of Traffic, Transportation and Parking for supplying us with such an awesome TGIF(ixed) issue this week!

UPDATE: In our excitement to tell you all about our featured fix of the week, we forgot to mention that the graffiti issue above was one of TWO issues the Clean Team took care of in record time on Thursday! Issue #118568 - Graffiti - is closed! Impressive? TOTALLY! 

TGIF(ixed): 140 characters of #Fixed (#FF edition)

The weekend is here, friends! This week on TGIF(ixed), we wanted to quickly share two awesome fixes that came to us through the wonders of the Twitterverse.

After closing a pothole issue he reported in Seattle, WA a few months earlier, SeeClickFixer Mike Spear shared the good news with his Twitter followers!

Bryce Roberts from O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, who reported graffiti (see picture below) under the Team OATV account, saw his issue get fixed fast! 

Weak graffiti 

Think this edition of TGIF(ixed) was as weak as the graffiti Bryce reported? Help us out next week by sending us your fixed issues! Leave a comment here, post it on our Facebook, or (of course) tell us in 140 characters by tweeting @seeclickfix.