It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Neighborhood groups to focus on new 311 system at PhillyBlocks conference
Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 6:00 am - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Uncategorized.
by Shannon Curley
The PhillyBlocks 2008 conference will be held on Saturday at the PA Convention Center
Today, the Institute for the Study of Civic Values, headed by former Philadelphia City Councilman Ed Schwartz, is hosting its 3rd Annual conference aimed at improving Philadelphia neighborhoods from a grassroots level up to the Mayor’s Office. The conference, PhillyBlocks 2008: The Neighborhood Agenda is going to be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
According to Audrey Ross, ISCV’s Community Outreach Coordinator, the convention has been able to get politicians to focus on issues that the conference highlighted in their agendas. For the last two years, the conference focused on, among other things, issues related to successful prisoner re-entry into society. Re-entry is one of the top priorities of the Nutter Administration which took over in January.
This year the 311 phone system will be highlighted. Rosetta Carrington Lue from the Managing Director’s Office will explain how the new call center proposed by the Nutter administration will operate. 311 will be a non-emergency number managed by the city that Philadelphians can call to file complaints and ask questions about anything regarding Philadelphia. It will essentially be operating as a city sponsored help line, a one-stop shop for information.
Additionally, the conference will have five workshops: Clean and Green Neighborhoods, Supporting Young People in the Neighborhood, Building a Safe and Effective Neighborhood Reentry Strategy, Protecting Homeowners on our Blocks, and Making Neighborhood Main Streets Safe. There will be a luncheon and a keynote address. Tickets are $10 and registration is still open. You can register to attend by calling 215-238-1434, on through this website or on-site.
Shannon Curley is an It’s Our City intern and a senior at La Salle University in Philadelphia.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:34 am
The 311 number is a good idea.
Would likewise be good to offer a Web version of this info. Maybe start by cataloging the questions they get into an online Philly FAQ.
The domain philly311.com is still available as of this comment…
September 27th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Justin that’s brilliant. I love it. I’ll make a call to the City to see what plans they have for an online version. It would be great if it was 24/7 live chat style where you could ask…all kinds of questions…they would instantly type back an answer. Even make it instant message accessible from your phone.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Hi Justin. I went to the PhillyBlocks conf today and I was able to ask Rosetta Carrington Lue, the Director of the 311 Call Center system for the City of Phila if she would consider your idea of making 311 online with the FAQs. She liked the idea alot. She said that’s something they will look into for a future phase of the system. Phase one is getting the call center up and running by Dec 31, 2008. So thanks for helping shape the future of the 311 system.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Awesome news, Alan. Glad to hear that!
September 29th, 2008 at 8:02 am
That event opened my eyes to a ton of resources! The 311 was outlined and will be a great tool!
I just hope the city put together a large staff, enough to cover the vast number of calls that we are sure to get…