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Q&A

311 system improvements and ongoing challenges

0:53:24

ยท

3 min

Council Member Holden and CTO Fraser discuss various improvements and challenges with the 311 system, including location services, complaint processes, and budget constraints.

  • Fraser explains that 311 has become a victim of its own success, taking on more responsibilities without budget increases
  • Holden points out specific issues with complaint processes, such as missed sanitation collections and improper vehicle registrations
  • Fraser mentions upcoming enhancements to the 311 platform to address some of these challenges
Matthew C. Fraser
0:53:24
Yep.
Robert F. Holden
0:53:25
And it saves time.
0:53:27
The only thing is that it's not expanding.
0:53:29
First of all, the location services is not improving.
0:53:32
It improved a little bit, but still, there's a lot of gaps.
0:53:36
Parks, we have no addresses for parks.
0:53:39
We have no addresses for we have to get the nearest address, and that sometimes, especially for the police department, is a challenge, if you're trying to locate the exact.
0:53:48
So I try to estimate.
0:53:50
But it's a small percentage of the budget, yet it's probably taking the pressure off the phone service.
Matthew C. Fraser
0:53:56
Yeah.
0:53:57
So I think one of the things with 301 is that 301 has become a victim of its own success.
0:54:04
And what I mean by that is 301 was initially created to be a quality of life support line, to take information in, to help provide information on non emergency related issues.
0:54:14
And year by year, initiative by initiative, 301 grows in terms of what its scope is in those type of service we have to support.
0:54:23
And with that scope creep, a lot one of things you mentioned is like the budget hasn't really changed.
0:54:30
So three zero one takes on more, alleviates a lot of back pressure off the agencies, but we have to figure out how we do a lot of that stuff with the existing budgets that we have in place.
0:54:42
We have a delivery or a backlog in terms of upgrades to the three zero one platform that would fix some of the things or add additional enhancements to things like location services.
0:54:52
They'll also add enhancements to things like service requests from agencies.
0:54:57
So in our pipeline, we have a list of things that are coming out within the next year that will change how everyone looks and feels, the app itself.
0:55:06
And as you've seen over the last year, we've made some changes.
0:55:09
The year before, we made some significant changes.
0:55:12
And we're to keep up with the demand that we're getting from
Robert F. Holden
0:55:14
the Yeah.
0:55:15
I mean, if you look about, you know, like collection, you know, let's say a missed collection from sanitation turns into 10 or 12 questions.
0:55:25
Yep.
0:55:25
And it should.
0:55:27
It takes you on a roundabout.
0:55:28
It's I mean, I had used it the other day, the first time I used Miss Collection.
0:55:34
And I said, this has to be changed.
0:55:36
This cannot stand.
0:55:40
So that's why the improvements on complaints also, we see a lot of improper registrations throughout the city Of New York now, with people trying to get away from commercial overnights, so they're not registering their vehicles properly.
0:55:54
You can't make that complaint during normal hours.
0:55:58
You have to make it after nine p.
0:56:01
M.
0:56:01
So that's a problem, because that should stand at all hours, improper registration.
0:56:06
Somebody has a cargo van and they're claiming it's a regular suburban van.
0:56:11
It has no seats in the back, no back window.
0:56:13
So it's adhering to the law.
0:56:16
But I can't make that complaint.
0:56:18
So I think, you know, I'll write to your office about what I think should be improved, because I use it multiple times every day.
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