Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

311

311

  • Eric Adams Vows to Overhaul How City Government Works; Experts Point to Several Essentials to Following Through

    Gotham Gazette Eric Adams Says He Will Overhaul How City Government Works; Here's What Experts Think of His Promises

    Eric Adams (photo: Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP's Office)


    Eric Adams believes government inefficiency is at the root of many ills that plague New Yorkers. The ineffective delivery of public services and waste of taxpayer dollars, he says, create the very inequality and suffering that city government is meant to ameliorate.

    For years leading up to and throughout his run for mayor this year, Adams -- the two-term Brooklyn borough president and

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  • How One New Yorker's App Pushed 311 to Modernize Traffic Violation Reporting (to an Extent)

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    When Jeff Novich wanted to report a honking taxi outside his apartment in 2014, he did what most New Yorkers do when making noise complaints. He filed an online report with 311.

    It was the start of an ongoing relationship with the now 16-year-old city service, which in 2018 handled over 20,000 daily phone calls and 3 million individual reports equaling more than 44 million interactions in total. The service’s 400-plus employees handle everything from noise complaints to dispensing daily

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  • In Second 311 Oversight Hearing, City Council Examines Agency Responsiveness

    Holden Yeger City Council

    Council Members Holden, right, and Yeger (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    The City Council recently held its second in a two-part oversight hearing on the city’s 311 system, the country’s largest non-emergency call center. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and City Council Member Fernando Cabrera, the chair of the governmental operations committee, led both hearings. While the first hearing focused on system upgrades to 311 that are in process and language

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  • City's 311 Upgrade Set for Mid-Year Launch

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    former Mayor Bloomberg at 311 (photo: Edward Reed)


    The city’s 311 non-emergency call center for information about city services and to lodge complaints is nearing a mid-year re-launch, its first major overhaul since being introduced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2003. The revamped system, estimated to debut in July, will modernize 311’s currently outdated system that limits its capability to assist New Yorkers. The next iteration of the system will eventually allow for increased language access, user accounts to track inquiries and complaints, and a better app

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  • Inside 311, the City’s ‘Front Door’ to Government

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    311 in 2013 (photo via the Mayor's Office on Flickr)


    The vast LED board updated in real-time: 36,529 calls since midnight, it said for a late-afternoon moment one August day. Perched in a high-ceilinged room in Lower Manhattan, the board tallied work done and signified work to be done, with numbers jumping every few seconds as the New York City 311 call center buzzed with the steady hum of staff members speaking into headsets.

    “Hello, and thank you for calling NYC 311.”

    “Did you

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  • Push for a Better Mayor's Management Report Continues

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    The City Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations held an oversight hearing on Wednesday to evaluate the structure and content of two annual city reports that measure everything from the wait times on 311 calls and the conditions of city parks to the number of unsheltered homeless people and traffic crashes in the city each year. These key performance indicators help the City Council and the public keep city agencies and offices accountable. Those agencies, in turn, rely on these reports to improve their policies and functioning.

    The administration

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