SeeClickFix for Beacon 311
I wrote a few weeks ago about the city of Beacon’s Backwards Website, bitching about how hard it is to complain about everyday problems, like potholes or dogs backing. I suggested some sort of 311 system be created and placed at the topmost level of the city website.
In backchannel discussions I’ve had with members of the City Council in Beacon, I learned that there have been discussions about this issue, but basically anything that costs money is a non-starter these days.
So I have a suggestion: Beaconites should simply start using SeeClickFix, a TOTALLY FREE system for lodging complaints. Visit seeclickfix.com/beacon, sign up, and add a constructive gripe about Beacon taxi cab drivers that won't stop for pedestrians on Main Street, or why the city still doesn’t have ADA-compliant crosswalks yet.
If the City Council wants to find out how they can get an account and monitor citizen complaints, fine. In the meantime, we the people have a place to share our grievances, since the City is making it fairly hard to do so.
One of SeeClickFix’s great features is the map, where complaints can tied to a location, if that makes sense. In the image above, I was griping about a Beacon Express Cab ignoring the law about pedestrian crossing at the corner of Main St and South Brett.
Let’s start using it, and tell your City Council to pay attention.
PS The Beacon police have been doing an amazing job trying to clamp down on the self-centered idiots who drive through pedestrian crosswalks in Beacon, by the way (see Beacon Police running a checkpoint on Main St for vehicles not yielding to pedestrians).
