Using the internet to clean Toronto

Self-Cleaning Toronto

They say keeping the streets and back alleys of Toronto clean of leftover garbage and graffiti is similar to the old saying about everybody talking about the weather but nobody does anything about it!

And any recent traipsing around the city these days seems to confirm that keeping Toronto clean is all talk and no walk.

Well, to the folks living in the London, England borough of Lewisham, they thought that enough was enough and did something about it! And it wasnt that hard on the budget already in place.

The citizens of Lewisham thought to themselves: Gee, we have this problem, no coordination and limited budgets. So, why not make use of the new technology almost everybody has and coordinate our efforts among citizens, city staff and the Internet.

Initiated in February 2005, Love Lewisham involves all residents in keeping this southeast borough of London clean. After installing special software on their camera phone, observant townspeople can snap a picture of 'offending graffiti' or overflowing litter bins, enter location details, and send it to the local council.

The picture is then posted on the council's website, and cleaning crews are sent to resolve the issue.

Judging from the number of recent snapshots on Love Lewisham's pictures page, local people really have become involved.

Besides the system's user-friendliness, the other reason this experiment hasn't withered into disuse is that the council understands the need for feedback. People can track the progress of their submissions online, as well as having the option of receiving information directly from the council.

On the boroughs website, its as easy as 1-2-3!

Imagine this common situation

As you are walking down your street, you notice some graffiti that you'd like removed. You have already registered and download the free application to your mobile phone. So what can you do?

1 - Take a picture of the offending graffiti, enter some details and send it to the citys web page. It's simple! The following panel is an example:

2 The city reviews all images sent to it and decides what to do. If you had asked the city to keep you up to date by text messages, the city will send you messages to keep you informed of the citys progress (at no cost to yourself) 3- The city will resolve the problem and take a picture of the clean wall after the graffiti has been removed. At any time, you can visit this special web site on your phone or your computer to see all the images that have been sent to the city and the progress they have made.

3 The city will resolve the problem and take a picture of the clean wall after the graffiti has been removed.

At any time, citizens can visit this web site on their phones or their computers to see all the images that have been sent to the city and the progress the city has made.

Its really a mutual admiration society in the modern world.

Now, if it can work for cleaning up a city, why not the same for keeping citizens updated on municipal activities, council meetings and proposed bylaws, and even public meetings?

Really! Honestly!