People’s 311 focuses on the little things in city life than none of us pay any attention to because they don’t affect us much personally. We see them as trivial, insignificant, as someone else’s problem. Crowdsourcing has shown its potential as an opponent of government, with the excellent MyBikeLane and Uncivil Servants. But we think it can and should be a model for government, too. We see this project as a chance to show the potential for everyday people to get a government job done better than the government; to show an ideal where we ARE the government.
The inspiration for People’s 311 came from Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement of a new SCOUT team tasked with driving streets through the City and making note of 311 conditions. We think a crowdsourcing solution can accomplish the same end more efficiently.
People’s 311 was founded by Carrie McLaren and Steve Lambert, for Stay Free! magazine, a nonprofit Brooklyn-based blog. McLaren is editor of Stay Free! and is working on a book about American consumer culture. Steve Lambert is the founder of the Anti-Advertising Agency and a fellow at Eyebeam.
The background image in our header is by F. Trainer and looks much better without our lousy cropping job.
We are currently seeking NYC neighborhood groups to partner with. If your group is interested in getting involved, contact us at brooklynite282 (at) gmail.com.