How often have you driven down Garnet Avenue and seen a large pothole in the road? Or even worse, discovered it right after your car runs it over? You want to report the problem to the city when you get home but by the time you get there you have forgotten the location of the pothole. Unfortunately, with no one reporting it, the pothole only gets larger and more dangerous. This scenario has unfortunately become a San Diego tradition and is a common story I hear when meeting with residents. They are frustrated by the state of their road conditions and feel that there should be more simple and efficient ways to report potholes in Pacific Beach. After hearing these concerns, my office decided to partner with an outside firm to develop “San Diego 311,” a Smartphone app and online widget that serves as a one-stop shop of city services and streamlines how those services are provided. Pacific Beach residents can report potholes, abandoned vehicles, graffiti, illegal dumping, broken sidewalks and much more instantaneously from their Android, Blackberry or iPhones. The program can also be accessed online through an online widget. San Diego 311 uses the latest technology in geo-tagging technology to automatically provide the problem’s location when residents report problems from their phones. This simplifies the reporting process for residents and speeds up the time for city employees to respond to the report. This program finally catches the city up to modern-day technology and creates a new platform that will cut costs and provide an instrument that easily allows residents to report problems in their community. San Diego 311 literally puts city services at residents’ fingertips, and I hope you’ll join me in downloading this app to start improving our community today. For instructions on how to download the App and Widget, visit http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd5/, contact our office at (619) 236-6655 or email [email protected].