Have you ever spotted a pothole or a broken swing at your local park and thought, ‘Someone should really do something about that’"? With SeeClickFix, you can be the one to bring it to the city’s attention.
SeeClickFix is a mobile app and desktop website that allows Bellingham residents to report non-emergency issues to various departments within the City of Bellingham.
Through the platform, residents can take a photo of the issue, geolocate it on a map, select a category for the issue and provide a brief description of it. The post is then submitted and placed on the map for all Bellingham residents to see, allowing them to receive notifications when updates are made on the request.
Steve Janiszewski, parks operations manager for the City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department, explained how reports are processed once they’re submitted through the app.
“SeeClickFix generates a notification, and then we’ve got a program within the program [that sends the request] to a particular supervisor or manager,” Janiszewski said. “They usually get them every day and go through a triage process to say, what we always address first are health and safety.”
With about 80 staff members covering multiple parks daily, staff can’t be everywhere at once. That’s where public reports come in.
“The public is our eyes and ears,” Janiszewski said. “[Our staff] are sometimes in a park for half an hour [to] an hour, then they move to the next park, so they’re mobile.”
According to Janiszewski, SeeClickFix has contributed to a decrease in phone calls and emails, improving their efficiency.
For Alec Howard, a landscape & clean team assistant with the Downtown Bellingham Partnership, SeeClickFix is part of his daily routine. Howard starts his morning at 7 a.m., working Monday through Friday to clean up downtown Bellingham. While picking up trash or cleaning up graffiti, he frequently uses the app to report issues he encounters.
“Instead of having to call or email, it's almost easier and quicker to just open up the app, click on the right category, instantly send a photo, the location is already attached and then I just keep walking and picking up trash,” Howard said.
Howard added that he sometimes sees requests that don’t necessarily need an immediate response from the City, yet those requests are still added to the pool that City departments must review. To help maximize efficiency, Howard focuses on reporting issues he knows will have the greatest impact, ensuring the City’s time and resources are used effectively.
The benefits of SeeClickFix aren’t limited to downtown Bellingham — it’s also embraced by the Birchwood Neighborhood Association.
“As part of the Birchwood Neighborhood Association, it is actually on our web page,” said Joy Patterson, vice president of the Birchwood Neighborhood Association. “[Most of] our neighborhood people who come to our meetings will know about it or know how to use it, I think it's really helpful.”
Patterson said SeeClickFix simplifies reporting complex issues, such as environmental concerns like air quality, by reducing the need to contact multiple agencies.
“I think it’s a great thing overall, because, you know, we got all the feet on the street, all the eyes on the problem, and there’s no way the city would know [about these issues] unless people let them know,” Patterson said.
Janiszewski emphasizes the importance of ongoing communication with residents and encourages a follow-up if an issue isn’t resolved immediately.
“If things don’t get done right away, we encourage people to give us a call as well,” Janiszewski said. “I'm working for the citizens of Bellingham, so I take it seriously when I hear about issues, and I want to resolve those issues, and I think our staff feel the same way.”
Jaelin McQueen (he/him) is a city/state reporter for The Front. He is a third-year student majoring in public relations and minoring in political science. Jaelin enjoys content creation, spending time with friends and exploring new places. You can reach him at jaelinmcqueen.thefront@gmail.com.
