Spotted a Pothole on Pinckney or Graffiti on Garden? Let the Mayor Know with New App

Mayor Thomas Menino announced today the launch of the Citizens Connect 2.0 application -- a new version of an app launched last year for the iPhone that allows Bostonians to make service requests on smart phones for things like potholes and streetlights.

Citizens Connect 2.0 lets users alert the City to problems like potholes, graffiti, vandalism, damaged sidewalks or a streetlight outage through an iPhone or a Droid. The application is available for free at the Apple App Store or on the Android Market.

Improvements to the App

"The new application, outside of it being a little more complete, also allows you to see other requests by other users," said Christopher Loh, a spokesman for the mayor's office. "Let's say you put in a request for graffiti; You can see if others have requested the same thing and other graffiti requests in the city," said Loh.

Users don't have to share their requests but Loh said it helps to see what reports have been filed by other people in your neighborhood and around the city.

"We suspect that a lot of users will share their information," Loh said. "It's kind of like this citizens army." 

The first version of Citizens Connect was only available for iPhones; Version 2.0 is available for Droids as well.

A quick look at the "Recent Reports" shows a long list of requests filed in the last few hours, including a fallen tree, malfunctioning streetlights, a complaint about neighbors that no longer put their trash out and dozens of reports for graffiti and potholes throughout the city.

Another new feature? "We're introducing Twitter integration. When you create a service request it goes out to the Citizens Connect Twitter handle," said  Nigel Jacob, co-chair of the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and co-creator of the app.

How to Get It?

You can search for Citizens Connect on the Android Market or at the Apple App Store. Once the application is downloaded and installed, you can snap a photo of the problem and quickly and easily submit a service request to the City.

The information is sent directly to the responsible agency and crews are dispatched to resolve the problem.

Once the issue is resolved "a little message pops up on your phone telling you the request has been closed," said Jacob.

Jacob said users can expect a fairly speedy resolution once a service request has been submitted. "It can take as little as a couple days in the case of potholes and up to a week for streetlights," he said.

Thousands of Requests Since Launch

Since the launch of the app last year, more than 7,000 service requests have been submitted. About 20 percent of those requests were field for potholes, 16 percent for graffiti removal, 14 percent for streetlight outages and the remaining 50 percent for general requests that don't fit it any category.

Citizens Connect 2.0 had a soft launch over the weekend. The official launch is slated for Monday night at 6:30 when Mayor Menino will unveil the new version of the program at Ned Devine's in Quincy Market.