Archive for July, 2015

Blog by ONEin3 Intern Melissa Oliva

In 15 years, millennials will be 35-50 years old. Imagine Boston, Boston’s first citywide plan in 50 years, will define the vision for the future of Boston. Imagine Boston 2030 will guide our approach to preserving, enhancing, and growing the city’s neighborhoods in a way that promotes shared prosperity, sound public investment, and a healthy environment and population.

With the wide array of planning existing regarding housing, mobility, environment and adaptation, parks and open spaces, prosperity and equity, arts/culture and creativity, design and placemaking, and health, there are many opportunities for ONEin3ers to make a difference in the City of Boston.

If you would like to get involved in this process make sure to sign up for news and updates, submit your preferences for engagement through the Imagine Boston survey, and feel free to contact them.

blog by ONEin3 Intern Melissa Oliva

The Citizens Connect app has helped make Boston more beautiful. This easy to use app was created by the Office of New Urban Mechanics and is the City of Boston’s award-winning effort to empower residents to be the City’s eyes and ears.

Citizens Connect is a cutting-edge, full-featured tool for enabling Boston residents to improve their neighborhoods by reporting issues directly to the city from the app. Users choose services ranging from damaged signs to potholes to litter. By adding a photo of the issue with the location and description, the report is automatically fed into the City’s work order system so that they can be tracked and assigned to service teams. Users can follow the status of their request by using the tracking number for each case. Once the issue is solved, the case becomes closed by the team that fixes the problem with a photo of the fix.

This app reinvents the Citizen-Government relationship. The app accounts for roughly 28% of all service requests throughout the city, increasing the total number of service requests by younger, renter residents who are usually underrepresented in reports submitted through traditional channels.