Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on March 20, 2013 at 2:21am

never used it. prob should. 

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on March 20, 2013 at 5:16am

Using 311 is a good idea. Beyond getting info to the correct city department, it serves as a central tracking manager for the city to gauge the effectiveness of service.  The day/time the initial call came in is attached to the day/time/cost of the eventual repair.

There are cell phone apps that are useful as well: http://seeclickfix.com/chicago

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 20, 2013 at 5:32am

I use 311 regularly, usually to report potholes or street lights out.  When I'm riding or walking, I like to keep pen and paper handy to jot down locations when I see them. At this point in the season, I'm usually jotting down a LOT of locations.

The new 311 online pothole reporting page now records an actual map location and will accept photos.

While response time varies somewhat (related to weather and time of year), most pothole requests are completed within a week.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on March 20, 2013 at 5:38am

I guess I should start reporting them, but there are so many on my regular route that I almost don't know where to start.  Maybe I will just pick the ones that go across an entire lane. Off the top of my head I can think of two of those.
 
Anne Alt said:

I use 311 regularly, usually to report potholes or street lights out.  When I'm riding or walking, I like to keep pen and paper handy to jot down locations when I see them. At this point in the season, I'm usually jotting down a LOT of locations.

The new 311 online pothole reporting page now records an actual map location and will accept photos.

While response time varies somewhat (related to weather and time of year), most pothole requests are completed within a week.

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on March 20, 2013 at 5:47am

Glad to see the Chicago 311 site now accepting photos and GPS map spots.  In the past, you couldn't report with such precision by phoning in.

For me, using an open-ended phone app is more convenient, as most of my travels are outside of Chicago and the phone app distributes the request to the proper city's government.  If you ride mostly in Chicago, going direct with their 311 system makes perfect sense.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 20, 2013 at 7:28am

Potholes across an entire lane?  Yeah, that's a good place to start.

Sometimes I report entire blocks.

Reported 2 nasty ones on 95th St. around 9 a.m.  Got a text message a little while ago saying the request was completed.  Damn, that was fast!

Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

I guess I should start reporting them, but there are so many on my regular route that I almost don't know where to start.  Maybe I will just pick the ones that go across an entire lane. Off the top of my head I can think of two of those.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 20, 2013 at 7:28am

This is new, launched in the last few months.

Thunder Snow said:

Glad to see the Chicago 311 site now accepting photos and GPS map spots.  In the past, you couldn't report with such precision by phoning in.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 20, 2013 at 2:45pm

When I got off the train about 5:45, I saw this. Potholes be gone!

Anne Alt said:

Potholes across an entire lane?  Yeah, that's a good place to start.

Sometimes I report entire blocks.

Reported 2 nasty ones on 95th St. around 9 a.m.  Got a text message a little while ago saying the request was completed.  Damn, that was fast!

Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

I guess I should start reporting them, but there are so many on my regular route that I almost don't know where to start.  Maybe I will just pick the ones that go across an entire lane. Off the top of my head I can think of two of those.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on March 20, 2013 at 3:01pm

I reported one of the "across the lane" ones tonight.  I will let you know what happens.

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