Dear Malden Residents:
One of our goals in 2013 has come to fruition. On March
21, we introduced a new way for residents and businesses to submit their
service requests to the city. Modeling the City of Boston’s successful Citizens
Connect Smartphone application, Malden released its own version and even
expanded the use of this initiative.
As an example, if a resident sees graffiti on the street
they would normally call or email the Department of Public Works. Now, a
resident can simply take a picture using their Smartphone and with one click
the request is automatically sent to the Department. Once the graffiti is
removed, the resident is notified on their Smartphone that the issue has been
resolved.
We are already seeing great results from the program.
Since its release, we have had 576 requests to the DPW and 543 were resolved
with the balance slated for spring repairs. That equates to 94 percent of all
issues being resolved via this new application and most were fixed within 24
hours. For the most part, submissions were for potholes with 278 requests
followed by trash / recycling issues at 104.
This new initiative is benefiting the city in more ways
than one as departments like the DPW are becoming more efficient. For instance,
the DPW Director can now map out issues in the morning utilizing geo-mapping as
opposed to crews just responding haphazardly as in the past. We can also see
where in the city most of our issues are occurring and plan accordingly.
We want to thank Mayor Thomas Menino and the City of
Boston for their leadership on this initiative which has led to Governor
Patrick and Lt. Governor Murray offering to fund this application so that communities
like ours can take advantage of this technology.
If you haven’t already, please download Commonwealth
Connect for free from your Apple or Android device. If you do now own an Apple or Android device, you can submit requests
online using our online widget. All this
can be accessed here http://www.cityofmalden.org/Resident-Issue-Reporting/. We look forward to utilizing this innovative
application to improve the delivery of services for our residents!
Sincerely,
GARY CHRISTENSON
Mayor, City of Malden
