Getting & Staying Engaged in Brookhaven

Imagine being able to report an issue to your government with full transparency, actually getting proactive questions and updates from a government employee, being able to publicly and openly vote and voice your opinion on an issue someone else reported and actually having the issue fixed in a relatively short time frame.  Sounds like the IRS, right?  Hmmmm.  Close. 

It is actually the City of Brookhaven’s SeeClickFix service.  If you have not used SeeClickFix, start (www.SeeClickFix.com).  And if you are looking for an astronomical return-on-investment for citizens, SeeClickFix has it. 

$3,500 to ensure full transparency and accountability and to ensure that non-emergency quality of life issues get resolved.  Not too shabby.

For those of you not familiar with SeeClickFix, it is a technology platform that empowers citizens to report non-emergency issues to their community or government from their computer or smartphone.  Translation, SeeClickFix allows citizens to easily report, to the City of Brookhaven, code, sidewalk, road and right-of-way issues long ignored by DeKalb County.

If my research is accurate, the City has even reported more issues than citizens.  Our Public Works department self-reported 120 issues within two (2) weeks.  Think about DeKalb doing that.   Well, maybe not.

SeeClickFix is the equivalent of a citizen complaint hotline, Facebook and Twitter all rolled into one with a cool reporting map. 

·         Subscribers can view the code, road, sidewalk or right-of-way issue you reported (you can actually take a picture and post it too)

·         Other citizens can view it, comment on it and vote to have it fixed

·         Our new city can’t hide from a reported issue (they don’t try, by the way)

·         And, you get an alert when someone else reports an issue of their own

Now, if only U-verse customer service used the same system.  I guess I’ll keep dreaming.

Back to SeeClickFix.  The alert thing is great, except when you get an alert from the one (1) or two (2) citizens that report trash at the end of their street or at an intersection near their home.  In these cases, the City should email back the following instructions:  “Drive or walk back to your house.  Procure garbage bag.  Pick up trash.  This issue is closed.  Thank you for using SeeClickFix.”

Despite the occasional report of an issue that can be resolved without the City’s help, there is one thing that I am reminded about each time I receive an alert (I receive at least one per day) —the impact and importance of citizen engagement.

The City of Brookhaven would not have been created without citizen engagement.  And, the City’s future will be built upon this same citizen engagement.  However, we don’t always need SeeClickFix to be engaged. 

A few months ago, I saw a neighbor toting a door, under his right arm, down Windsor Parkway in Oglethorpe Estates.  At first, I figured one of his neighbors would be short a front door.  So, out of concern for the neighbor who may be left with a doorbell but no door, I stopped the gentleman and curiously asked him what he was doing.   He explained that he was picking up trash in the area and that the door had been discarded in a vacant lot. 

In short.  He SeeClickFix-“ed it” himself.  A small example of citizen engagement?  Yes.  A lesson that each of us can do a little more to help our community.  Absolutely.

It’s true.  Most of us can’t fix a road (although “Pothole Pete” did), we are not code enforcement officers and most of us should never be allowed to try and fix a sidewalk.   

It’s also true that almost all of us have a little extra time each month or quarter that we could donate to making the City of Brookhaven a better place. 

Bert Thornton, the man behind “Bert’s Chili” at Waffle House and a truly great human being once told me “don’t underestimate the impact of small things repeated over time.”

Imagine the impact that taking a few hours every quarter to recruit friends and help clean up the vacant lots in your neighborhood could have on your neighborhood’s “curb appeal.”

Imagine the impact that taking one (1) hour per month to pick up trash at an intersection in Brookhaven could have on the look and feel of the City of Brookhaven. 

Imagine the impact that helping Ronnie Mayer (if you don’t know Ronnie, he has a heart as big as the red tow truck he drives) clean up a local park for a few hours on a sunny Saturday morning could have on the families that visit the park.

Imagine the impact that an hour every month could have on a child at the Brookhaven Boy’s and Girl’s club. 

Imagine the joy of children readings books that took only a few hours for you and your friends to collect and donate to Woodward Elementary. 

You may be reading and asking the following question:

“How did JD get from SeeClickFix to the impact of donating books to Woodward Elementary?”

Fair question.  Simple answer.  It’s all about your engagement in the City. 

Subscribe to SeeClickFix.  Keep reporting issues that the City can address and resolve. 

But most importantly, dedicate a few hours every month or so to making your community, the City of Brookhaven, a better place for all.