Descrizione

On or about February 7, the ability for members of the public to comment on most complaints filed in the city of Oakland on SeeClickFix.com was apparently disabled.

Prior to this, late last year, something similar happened with all complaints filed in Berkeley. And new complaints filed in San Francisco seem to have vanished from the site altogether.

Apparently, someone (multiple someones?) don't like ordinary people being able to use 311-related websites to discuss and give their views on community issues.

Is it okay for people to use the site to post anonymous reports seeking to have other community members cited, fined, arrested, or subject to other unwanted government action – at least in Oakland and Berkeley, maybe no longer in SF – with no accountability for filing false or malicious complaints, but not to defend the targets of such complaints, who are often homeless people, prostitutes, and other marginalized folks but also property owners, motorists, and businesses?

Is it okay to repeatedly close legitimate complaint tickets reporting potholes, trash on the streets, locked public restrooms, broken sidewalks, missing or overflowing trashcans, public trees in need of pruning, and other infrastructure needs, while neither addressing the issue nor giving any reason for why the ticket was closed, but not okay for people other than the complainant to discuss such issues or point out that they haven't been addressed?

This is the clear impression being given. Tell me I'm wrong? I'd love to hear I'm wrong. I'd love the responsible individuals to come out of the shadows and plainly tell us what is going on.

Is this how politicians in Oakland and Berkeley want their 311 systems to function? Without transparency or accountability? Is this what their constituents want – a website that enables snitching culture while shutting down public discourse and allowing government agencies to avoid any transparency or accountability?

Is this the approach that SeeClickFix.com (based in Connecticut), or CivicPlus (the company that owns the site, based in Kansas) are trying to impose on cities in the Bay Area?

Inquiring users want to know!