Tag: Philly311

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Philly311 Mobile App Works

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Before

Manny Citron from PhillyRising never misses an opportunity to tout the mobile app for Philly311 whenever he is at a meeting in Frankford.  So I was almost happy when the opportunity presented itself a couple of weeks ago to test it out.  I noticed that a contractor, working on a house on our street, had left a pile of debris at the curb for pickup.  I’m not sure what made him think the city was going to pick it up but that is another story

Thursday, after the streets department had correctly ignored it, I went over and used the iphone to report it on the newly installed Philly311 app.  You can report it with a picture and it will even suggest your current location for you.  It was a few houses off the address so I entered it manually.

I made the report on January 30th.  I got a notice that afternoon that the request had been forwarded to the Streets Department.  The next morning came a notice that the request had been dispatched to a work crew.  I noticed that the mess had been cleaned up on the afternoon of February 1st.   It may have done late on the 31st.

I don’t know if it works this well with every request but it sure worked for this one.  The request still has not been closed out on the Philly311 system but I know from past experience that they seem to lag behind on that end.

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After

Also, we don’t know if any action was taken to collect from the property owner for the cost of that work crew.  Contractors who work in the city should know that they have to remove construction debris.  It will not be picked up by the Streets department.

Thanks to Matt Ainslee for the tip a few months ago.  He has been using the system through another app called Public Stuff. The PublicStuff app hooks you up directly with Philly311 so there is no difference there but their web page is better then Philly311 for lookup after you have submitted the request.

You can get both apps at the App store for your mobile device.  Its available for Android, Blackberry or iPhone.

Bottom line: this is a win for residents who want to use 311 on the go.

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Frankford Civic Approves the Fence for Karr-Parts

Pete McElroy

At the meeting on Tuesday, December 6th, the board of the Frankford Civic voted to support a zoning variance for an 8 foot tall fence to enclose the lot at 1709 Gillingham Street. The lot will be used by Karr-Parts for storage of its vehicles.  The business has been a long time resident of the neighborhood and there were no objections to the fence. The variance is required for an 8 foot fence since it is outside of the standard for the code.  A 6 foot fence would require no variance but would not provide the owner with the necessary security.

20 residents attended the meeting which also featured:

Peter McElroy from Philadelphia School Partnership  made a presentation on the new web site www.greatphillyschools.org.  The site provides a source of information for families to compare schools when making a choice for their child.  It is user friendly and has information for comparing public, charter and parochial schools.

Kathy Cruz

Kathy Kruz, Citizen’s Engagement Coordinator at Philly311, spoke about the 311 system and highlighted the new mobile app that was recently released.

Manny Citron of PhillyRising gave an update on their activities.

There was some informal discussion on the recent policing activities.  In addition, the residents of the 5000 block of Griscom street noted that two properties are being rehabbed by new owners which has had a positive effect on life on their block.

The next Frankford Civic Association meeting will be on January 10th at 7PM at Aria Hospital.

 

 

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Former Primos Sports Bar Building

The bar (1520 Arrott Street) which was closed by the DA as a nuisance, is showing signs of resurrection.  You can imagine the joy that this brings to the neighborhood.  Works is going on, no permits posted etc. which indicates a callous disregard for the law at the start.  So what do people do?  Well the contact Philly311 for help.  You can follow the results here.   Maybe the requirement is two murders to keep a location closed.  DA where are you?

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Former Primos Sports Bar building