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Whether reporting a dead streetlight, a nasty pothole or vandalism in a park, the city has a new way for residents to communicate problems to city officials.
Last week the city launched “Ask Mountain View Mobile,” a free application for smart phones equipped with Android, the phone operating system created by Mountain View-based Google. It allows users to submit a photo of a problem, mark its location on a map and quickly submit comments or questions to city officials.
The city launched a similar app for Apple’s iPhone in 2010. Along with similar features online at mountainview.gov, Ask Mountain View receives over 16,000 hits a year.
By Daniel DeBolt
By Daniel DeBolt
By Daniel DeBolt
If I report a problem, will someone actually respond or make sure it gets fixed? Or do all these complaints wind up in the bit bucket?
review on google play says the app won’t close/turn off. User had to uninstall
Then again, if MVPD ignores publicly posted reports of gang graffiti all over elementary schools as well as across the street on their facebook page–whether it is legit or someone just fooling around– why would they bother responding to the android app which sends them info only they can see?
Do you think the police have the resources to scan Facebook pages looking for possible evidence of crimes?
Yet another person who has no idea how the police actually work.
Even if they could do this I’d rather not pay for it.
Uh it’s their facebook page
Just as already mentioned.
Keep fighting the good fight though
The app doesn’t seem to exist on Google Play. ???
There is a link to the app in the Google marketplace from the city web site. Works fine for me. http://www.mountainview.gov/services/city_contacts/askmv.asp
I found it very quickly. Maybe you might try and look for it somewhere other than Facebook. I mean there are other web pages out there. 🙂
@Droid: If we overlooked a report of graffiti on our FB page that is unfortunate and I take responsibility for that as I monitor and manage our department social media sites. The public should understand, however, that our MVPD social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc) should not be used as means to report crime as they are not monitored 24/7.
Anyone wishing to report a crime should still contact our main number at 650-903-6344 or in the event of an emergency, 9-1-1. Thanks!
Every question I’ve ever asked on Ask Mountain View has been answered within a day or two. But I wasn’t asking for something to be fixed, just asking for information.
I couldn’t find it the first time I searched for it, when I searched for ‘Mountain View’. Then I tried searching for ‘Ask Mountain View’, and I found it. Not sure why the search on Google Play seems to me to be not-so-good.
Forgot to add that crimes can also be reported online here: http://www.mountainview.gov/city_hall/police/crime_prevention/report_a_crime_or_incident.asp