The city of Revere in one week’s time introduced two interesting programs intended to reinforce the ties binding city government to local residents.
Billed as a private social network for neighborhoods, Nextdoor debuted last Tuesday with Mayor Brian Arrigo’s office, in a statement, billing the network as a way “… to improve citywide communications and safety.”
Nextdoor’s official introduction came days after city officials introduced Revere 311 — and heralded the three-digit phone line as a “‘one call to City Hall’ constituent service system that allows any resident to report an issue or ask a question by dialing 311 or using the Revere 311 app on Apple or Android.”
Arrigo supporters are probably still praising the young mayor for being a tech-savvy municipal executive keen on using social media to connect city residents to City Hall. His detractors — and every mayor has them in Revere — are sure to mumble that Nextdoor and 311 are shameless attempts to grab the public’s attention and the votes that come with it.
But support him or not, it’s hard not to say Arrigo and, by extension, other city elected officials and city employees, made the right move by giving residents a number to call to complain or ask question about concerns ranging from potholes, to missed trash pickups, to faded street signs.
Let’s face it, City Hall can’t be everywhere all of the time in a city like Revere, with employees fielding questions and addressing problems.
Residents have a right to complain about poor or tardy city service. They pay taxes or they pay rent reflecting, in part, the tax burden imposed on landlords. The traditional eyes and ears for the resident complaints have been ward city councilors who presumably know their constituents and have telephone numbers for city department heads on speed dial.
But it makes sense to boost the city’s response to problems with technology intended to catalog those problems and, ideally, generate an organized and prompt response. Nextdoor meets a similar need by, in the city words, serving as a ” virtual neighborhood watch” and to disseminate information on “…important safety updates, emergency notifications, news, services and programs with Revere neighborhoods.”
Again, ward councilors have traditionally roamed neighborhoods and passed on problems laid at their feet by residents to police, public works or other city officials. Three-quarters of Revere’s neighborhoods are already covered by Nextdoor service so it makes sense for Revere to adopt the program.
There is no reason technology in the form of 311 or Nextdoor can’t work hand in hand with the traditional work done by ward councilors, neighborhood crime watches and vigilant citizens determined to improve Revere.
