Does anyone know if this 311 service is universal?  I have never heard of it
here in Pittsburgh.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly Pierce" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 7:45 AM
Subject: point and click city services


> Now you can request and track city services on the Internet.  The
> automation of government has begun.  Yes, you can still call, but you
> might be on hold for 10 minutes before talking to someone who will read
> the same computer screen to you that you can find on the Internet.
>
> Kelly
>
>
> Chicago Sun Times
> Need a city pothole fixed? Now, just point and click
>
> July 11, 2001
>
> BY FRAN SPIELMAN CITY HALL REPORTER
>
> Callers to 311--whose No. 1 plea to the city is to get rid of abandoned
> vehicles--can now click for service on the Internet and monitor the
> responses, Mayor
> Daley said Tuesday.
>
> More than 3 million residents dial up the city's non-emergency number
> each year. The three top requests for help concern abandoned vehicles at
> 90,358 calls,
> followed by graffiti (68,608), tree trims (46,406), immediate tow
> (44,431) and clean catch basin/gutter box (41,373).
>
> The computer access "is a major re-engineering of the way service is
> delivered to citizens," said Chris O'Brien, the city's chief information
> officer.
>
> Ten months after ordering a 311 shakeup in response to a barrage of
> complaints, Daley pronounced the reforms a success and took steps to take
> the load off
> the city's 61 call-takers.
>
> Instead of calling 311, a city department or aldermen, Chicago residents
> and businesses can use computers to go to www.cityof chicago.org, the
> all-purpose
> city Web site that has fast become what O'Brien likes to call a
> "municipal mall on the Web."
>
> Those who click on the words "request a city service" will be asked to
> chose from a pop-up menu of the 25 most popular services.
>
> After typing in their name along with the address of the broken street
> light, pothole or stray animal, computer users will get a computer
> tracking number
> that can be used to monitor the city's response. It's the same system
> that City Hall uses to generate work orders and spot trends that
> underscore a larger
> problem.
>
> The Daley administration released a list of the 25 most frequently
> requested city services by 311 callers for the first six months of this
> year at a City
> Hall news conference.
>
> The latest in a series of Internet services was quietly made available in
> mid-April.
>
> Since then, City Hall has received 1,000 service requests-- enough to
> give Daley the confidence to go public with the latest advance in a 311
> system that
> has succeeded beyond his wildest imagination.
>
> "The naysayers were very strong 2 1/2 years ago [when 311 went online].
> They said it would never work," Daley said. "[But] it's clear that
> Chicagoans have
> embraced the 311 number."
>
> Even with the Internet, the mayor said he does not foresee the day when
> call-takers will no longer be necessary.
>
> "A lot of people want to talk to someone. You need the human side," he
> said.
>
> Last fall, Daley hired 19 more operators and created a Cabinet-level
> department headed by Ted O'Keefe, project manager of the city's community
> policing
> program, in response to a steady rise of 311 calls and complaints that
> bureaucrats too often drop the ball on service requests.
>
> A handful of aldermen said they have no problem with diverting service
> requests to the Internet.
>
> "We receive hundreds of phone calls every day asking for things to get
> done. I say, the more forces you have at work, the better off we all are
> as a city,"
> said Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th).
>
>
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