When is something fixed that really isn’t fixed? When 311 Toronto says it is.
How else to explain why 311 marked a problem reported on SeeClickFix as “closed,” or fixed, not once but twice on the same day, when nothing was in fact done about it.
We were surfing SeeClickFix, the online community engagement tool used all over North America for reporting local problems, on Feb. 2 when we spotted a report about broken decorative stones on Wellington St. W.
RaisaN reported that the “stone stools” on Wellington, east of Bathurst St., are “cracked and broken. No one can use them and they are dangerous as the large pieces are just lying there.”
The city’s 311 staff monitor problems reported on SeeClickFix and issue service request ID numbers to open a file on the item and allow it to be tracked, which was promptly done after the report was made.
And SeeClickFix plugs directly into the 311 database for pothole and graffiti reports, allowing them to be assigned a service number automatically.
When we looked again at the complaint about the stones less than an hour later, 311 had marked the issue “closed,” as though it had been fixed.
It smelled fishy — like alternative facts or fake news — so we used our SeeClickFix sign-on to reopen it, and also posted a comment asking 311 why it was so quick to close an issue that obviously hadn’t been fixed.
Soon after, a 311 operator issued another acknowledgment, along with a second ID number, which had us hoping that it might have been an honest mistake.
To our considerable dismay, the second entry was also closed later that day, confirming an uneasy suspicion on our part that the first time was no error.
Just to make sure that the city did not weave some insta-magic, we went there earlier this week to check on the decorative stones. Sure enough, they appeared exactly as the photo posted on SeeClickFix, as in not fixed.
So, what’s going on here? We wrote a column in 2013 about 311 closing problems that had yet to be fixed, and were told that its system was wrongly categorizing complaints about other issues as potholes.
STATUS: Gary Yorke, director of Toronto 311, said that this issue was also entered into its system as a pothole complaint. The complaint was closed twice by a 311 operator, and not automatically, he said, acknowledging that it amounts to misinformation. “The originator of this incident should have some understanding of where it stands,” said Yorke. The complaint was investigated by city staff on Feb. 3, he said in an email, adding, “We are targeting replacement of natural stone ‘seats’ with precast concrete, in conjunction with other boulevard improvements on Wellington St. W. in the summer of 2017.” As for what can be done to ensure that complaints are not wrongly categorized as potholes, Yorke said that 311 needs to “look at our processes and what goes in and what goes out.” That’s for sure. If anyone is aware of other complaints made on SeeClickFix that were wrongly closed by 311, let us know and we’ll take it up with Yorke.
What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca . Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.
What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca . Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.
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