San Francisco — May 5th, 2010 — CitySourced, a real time mobile civic engagement company and a finalist at the 2009 TechCrunch50 conference, announced today that its innovative mobile phone application is now integrated with the San Francisco Open311 API to send reports from CitySourced directly to San Francisco’s 311 system. 311 systems allow citizens to connect directly with non-emergency government offices. This is an unprecedented public/private partnership that captures the essence of the Gov2.0 movement. This means citizens will be able to quickly photograph important issues in their community with their smart phones and receive feedback on when their issues get resolved. In addition to the photo, the CitySourced application delivers the physical address of the issue via GPS coordinates, date/time stamp, and the report type (graffiti, trash, pothole, etc.). CitySourced aims to reduce the amount of calls that come into city hall, helping to reduce costs, increase efficiency, as well as make it easier for city employees to verify issues using the rich data. The Open311 API allows CitySourced to take the initiative and deliver value through its application to the city of San Francisco. “CitySourced is changing the way citizens interact with city services,” said Chris Vein, City CIO. “The CitySourced application will give San Franciscans the power and ability to instantly report city issues, not only empowering their role as citizens, but making the city an even better and safer place to live.”  In March 2010, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom launched Open311 API, allowing software developers to write web applications that interact directly with city departments.

CitySourced for San Francisco is available right now for free download in the Apple iTunes app store as ‘San Francisco 311′, and is launching in Q2 2010 on Blackberry & Android.  CitySourced currently allows citizens in over 1900 cities nationwide to directly deliver citizen reports to city council and public works via e-mail. CitySourced is powered by FreedomSpeaks, the largest database of public officials in the United States. CitySourced has official integration with districts in San Jose and Los Angeles, California. Additional major cities have signed up to the service and are coming online in Q2 2010.

About CitySourced:

CitySourced is a real time mobile civic engagement tool. CitySourced provides 1) a free, simple, and intuitive tool empowering citizens to identify civic issues graffiti, trash, potholes etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution; 2) an opportunity for government to use technology to save money and be more accountable to those they govern; and 3) a positive, collaborative platform for real civic action. The platform is called CitySourced, as it empowers ordinary citizens to crowd source solutions for common civic issues. CitySourced is powered by FreedomSpeaks, the leader in interactive civic engagement.

For more information about CitySourced, including images, please visit CitySourced.com

For more information about FreedomSpeaks, please visit FreedomSpeaks.com

Contact:  Kurt Daradics
Phone 323-540-4007
Email: kurt@citysourced.com

Full Press release below

GARCETTI ANNOUNCES NEW iPHONE APPLICATION
“Garcetti 311” by CitySourced will allow users
to submit service requests via iPhone

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti today
announced “Garcetti 311,” a new application for iPhones that will
allow users to snap and submit photos of potholes, graffiti, and other
problems in his district for the city to address.  The application,
developed by CitySourced, will be launched as a pilot program in
Garcetti’s Council District, which stretches from Hollywood to
Glassell Park.

“The new app empowers Angelenos to improve our neighborhoods by
providing a quick, easy way of letting city government know where
there are problems that need to be fixed.  I’m proud to launch the
pilot program in my district,” said Council President Garcetti.

Garcetti made the announcement at a training conducted by CitySourced
in which Garcetti’s staff learned how to handle requests submitted
through the new application.

“CitySourced was founded on a simple premise — to make it easier for
all residents make their communities better.  We’re doing this by facilitating
the communication between residents and government, making the process simpler, more efficient and effective.
Plus, as Angelenos ourselves, we’re excited about helping the city

“We are thrilled to have Los Angeles as our newest customer, which
gives us a great opportunity to showcase and model for the rest of the
world the emerging Gov2.0 movement,” said CitySourced Co-Founder Kurt
Daradics.

Through the “Garcetti 311” application, users will be able to report
problems for the city to address, including:

•       Abandoned bicycles and vehicles
•       Deceased animals
•       Bulky items
•       Graffiti
•       Illegal dumping
•       Broken sidewalks
•       Potholes
•       Overgrown trees

The application uses geo-tagging technology to automatically provide
the problem’s location, simplifying the reporting process for users.
During the year-long pilot program, Garcetti’s staff members will
submit the requests to the appropriate city departments for action.

The application will be made available free of charge via iTunes later
this month. Within the next three months, CitySourced, powered by
FreedomSpeaks.com, also expects to expand availability of the
technology to other mobile platforms such as Google Android,
Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile.

###

About CitySourced

Los Angeles-based CitySourced is a real-time mobile civic engagement
platform that provides:

1.      A free, simple, and intuitive mobile application that empowers
residents to identify civic issues (graffiti, illegal signs, trash
etc.) and report them to city government for quick resolution
2.      An opportunity for government to use technology to do more with
less and to be more accountable to those they serve
3.      A positive, collaborative platform for real action

CitySourced is powered by FreedomSpeaks, the leader in interactive
civic engagement.

So we’re starting to see the kind of digital democracy you envisioned when you entered Congress as an “Atari Democrat”?

The Internet is now getting close to the stage where it will be possible for it to eclipse television, making it possible for people to really participate in representative democracy. But we’re not there yet. We’re still at a stage where TV is completely dominant in our political culture, which enables those with a lot of money to exercise enormous influence in the political system.

Is that why online activism hasn’t been able to galvanize action on climate change?

It’s the quintessential example of how the broad public interest is directly contrary to the passionately held special interest of large carbon polluters. The entire world is waiting for the United States to get its act together and become a champion for the broad public interest in saving the future of civilization. But the system is still so dysfunctional and the influence of these special interests is so obscenely great that they have paralyzed the political system to the point where it’s not responding to the most powerful public interest of all: survival for future generations.

But can’t the same social-networking tools Obama used to mobilize voters be used by carbon polluters to defend their interests?

I don’t think it’s an accident that every major progressive reform movement is based on the Internet. The nature of the medium is such that it invites new ideas and a regular challenge to orthodoxy. And that’s a good thing for human civilization at this stage of history, where we’re confronting this brand-new reality, where the relationship between the species and the planet has been radically altered. We have to quickly find a new pattern, one that doesn’t continue the process of destroying the ecosphere on which human life depends. Eventually, as the Internet eclipses television, politics will emerge at a higher level of complexity where the individual’s role is restored. But the individual has to fight for it. And the individual has to feel like it’s worth fighting for.

So here’s what I’m thinking…

1) Obviously I’m interested in this conversation, considering I co-founded CitySourced and FreedomSpeaks.  Regardless of what you or I think about Al Gore, what captured my imagination was this notion that “The entire world is waiting for the United States to get its act together and become a champion for the broad public interest in saving the future of civilization.” Is this really true?? If so this is an amazing opportunity for us, especially those of us that live in LA, SF, NY and DC.

2) Al Gore makes this point “But the system is still so dysfunctional and the influence of these special interests is so obscenely great that they have paralyzed the political system to the point where it’s not responding to the most powerful public interest of all: survival for future generations.”  Well, duh!  Our friends at the Sunlight Foundation are doing their best to battle on this front, and I’m sure they’d love your help too.  Follow Sunlight Labs Director Clay Johnson and/or Ellen Miller, Sunlight’s Exec Director to get the real time feed.

3) So Al goes on to make this next point “Eventually, as the Internet eclipses television, politics will emerge at a higher level of complexity where the individual’s role is restored. But the individual has to fight forit. And the individual has to feel like it’s worth fighting for.” This last point triggers a reminder of a profound and timely quote from Buckminster Fuller that transformed my thinking, “If the livelihood of humanity and of the planet depended on what I did and who I was, what would I do and who would I be?” How do we get folks asking these questions is something I’m interested in finding out.

If you were in charge of designing the  marketing campaign to save humanity from self destruction what/how would you do it??