Open311, SeeClickFix, San Francisco and Estonia

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office (where I work on civil law investigations and social media initiatives) this week launched a local campaign to tackle illegal dumping and graffiti, using SeeClickFix and a range of 311 services to encourage smartphone and Web reporting of neighborhood blight.

The “Let’s Do It SF!” initiative also has a strong focus on volunteerism, linking residents to the Department of Public Works’ neighborhood Clean Team events and to the Let’s Do It World 2012 World Cleanup.

I really like this initiative because it brought together several major city departments to highlight local resources, draws inspiriation from a cleanup movement that began in 2008 with a massive volunteer action in Estonia, and includes a robust and interactive social media component – from blogs to Twitter and Facebook and Flickr feeds.

If anyone is interested in putting together an initiative like this in their municipality, you can contact me ([email protected]) or my colleague Jen Drake ([email protected]). You can also check out San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s profile on GovLoop.