Every day, hundreds of citizen complaints come into the 311 phone line. In the Chicago area it is about about a dozen thousand calls a day.
The majority of those calls result in a response that does not change residents’ circumstances.
So 311, an information technology service for the city of Chicago, has now introduced 311 Storm View to make it easier to file a complaint and follow it to resolution.
An area map flashes lights over the incidents and with a few clicks of a mouse you can pull up a history of the complaints and click into a tab to follow up.
“We know people are upset and sometimes they’re ready to take action but they don’t know how,” says Adam Gee-Baker with Chicago 311. “They want to be able to track the problem as it progresses and when it’s resolved they’re a lot more satisfied.”
Citizens can also set up alerts to let them know exactly when an issue is resolved. You simply go to the 311 website and click on the contact tab and select “to maintain a mobile alert.”
“From the citizen’s perspective it becomes much less intimidating to a key citizen to file a complaint.” Gee-Baker says.
Citizens now have the power to provide a fuller picture of an issue, even a full picture which could involve adding pictures or video.
Addressing its biggest complaint, 311 has received a nearly tripling of complaints about black mold, with many mostly coming from condemned or abandoned buildings. The city has held 2,650 demolition workshops and is employing more than 250 inspectors to track those types of complaints.