What a tremendous collaboration of a historic and wonderful organization with one of our modern problems, keeping our streets safe and clean.
Mayor Bloomberg launches new team of inspectors to report street conditions and build on record level of street cleanliness.
States News Service
August 16, 2007
NEW YORK, N.Y.
The following information was released by the office of the mayor of New York:
SCOUT Inspectors with GPS-Enabled Handheld Devices Will Travel Every Street Citywide Once per Month
Sanitation Sets New Street Cleanliness Record as 94.3% of Streets Are Rated "Acceptably Clean"
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today launched the Street Conditions Observation Unit (SCOUT), a new team of inspectors in the Mayor's Office of Operations whose mission is to drive every City street once per month and report conditions that negatively impact quality of life to 311. Reports transmitted from the SCOUT inspectors' hand-held devices will enter the 311 system and be routed to the relevant agency for appropriate corrective action - just as when a New Yorker calls 311. The goal of the SCOUT program is to improve of street level quality of life in City neighborhoods and to further the responsiveness of City government to quality of life conditions. The SCOUT program will be administered by the Mayor's Office of Operations, which also administers the City's Scorecard rating system that recently gave the City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) its highest ever rating for streets that are "acceptably clean," 94.3%. At the announcement, held at the Heckscher Playground in Brooklyn, the Mayor also welcomed a donation of paint to the Mayor's Paint Program from Benjamin Moore Paints.
"This new team, equipped with GPS technology, will bring an extra set of eyes to our City streets," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Whenever I'm driving through the City and I see a pothole or garbage on the street, I'll pick up the phone and report the problem to 311, just like thousands of citizens do every day. Now we'll deploy a team of veteran city workers to do the same, armed with new technology and their knowledge of quality of life concerns in our City."
SCOUT Inspectors, who will work under the Mayor's Office of Operations, will use GPS-enabled hand-held devices specially programmed to report the conditions they observe. When the SCOUT team is fully operational, 15 inspectors will drive three-wheeled scooters and travel every City street once per month. The same off-the-shelf software used by large corporations will take the reports transmitted from the hand-held devices and enter them into the 311 system as if the relevant information had just been taken from a 311 Call Center Representative. For SCOUT Inspector reports, information on who made the complaint will remain anonymous.
"The SCOUT program will give the Mayor's Office an opportunity to see first-hand the quality-of-life conditions that impact every neighborhood in the City," said Mayor's Office of Operations Director Jeff Kay. "With SCOUT inspectors in the field, we can provide City agencies with a real-time snapshot of those conditions, and ensure they take appropriate action."
