There's a big difference between being a resident and being a citizen of a community, according to entrepreneur Ben Berkowitz.
Citizens relate to local affairs, react to local events and respond to local problems, Berkowitz insists.
With his Web-based company, SeeClickFix, Berkowitz allows residents to identify, report and resolve neighborhood concerns, helping them exercise the role of citizen with the click of a computer mouse.
"If you see a pothole in the street or a clogged storm drain, or graffiti, or a streetlight out, click on the map, describe the problem and submit it," explains Berkowitz. "In New Haven, [the Department of] Public Works gets an e-mail."
SeeClickFix is headquartered at 746 Chapel St., Suite 207. Berkowitz is the CEO of the company, while co-founder Jeff Blasius is chief technology officer. Other founding partners are brothers Kam and Miles Lasater. All are computer programmers.
"Miles is the person who kind of pushed me and said, 'I think we can do this,'" says Berkowitz.
SeeClickFix utilizes Google-map technology, plus software the founders developed for the site. They hold provisional patents on their programs, says Berkowitz.
Google receives a portion of the site's ad revenue, one source of income for the company. Others are sponsorships and professional services provided to local governments.
Free to users, SeeClickFix is intended for reporting public concerns. "You use it for things you want fixed in the public space," Berkowitz says. "It could be for things in a business or in a private home impacting the public space as well, or a zoning issue."
Possible abuses of the system - i.e., false reporting or libelous comments - are regulated through security measures, he says.
While core groups of users are aware of the site in a handful of municipalities throughout the country, "Now we've got to spread it," says Berkowitz, who emphasizes SeeClickFix site's ability to empower citizens.
Citizen Berkowitz began his civic odyssey toward developing the site a little over three years ago, after an unpleasant encounter with a neighbor over graffiti. The building next to his State Street residence had unsightly markings on it, but the landlord refused to remove them, says Berkowitz. Even calls to City Hall, reminding officials about existing graffiti ordnances, didn't help, he says.
Coincidentally, Berkowitz was creating a Web site for the New Haven Land Trust at the time and he was experimenting with mapping technology. He read online tutorials and talked with "other people smarter than me" on the topic, he notes.
"About six months later, we launched SeeClickFix" and posted the graffiti problem on the site, Berkowitz recalls.
"Someone [from the city] came out on the street within two hours."
Not only was the graffiti removed from the building, but 17 other spray-painted sites in the area immediately were cleaned, including bus shelters, a gas station, a highway underpass and a nearby restaurant, says Berkowitz.
In addition to the city of New Haven, to date about a half-dozen municipalities have purchased SeeClickFix for use by local citizens, according to Berkowitz. They include Lansing, Mich., Tuscan, Ariz., Hillsboro, Calif. and Bainbridge Island, Wash. A few locations outside the U.S. have signed on as well, he says.
"It's successfully being used by places as far away as Argentina and Bulgaria," he says.
In addition, a small number of major U.S. newspapers "have embedded our tool, allowing people to report using it," says Berkowitz.
The site is easy to use, and it demonstrates that any citizen can help resolve a neighborhood concern, he notes. The basis of SeeClickFix is the strength of that citizen power, Berkowitz says, adding, "Never doubt the average person."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
