If only PublicStuff worked with the federal government, Americans might feel a little less angry about our current system. The New York startup connects residents to governments so requests are heard and answered in a timely fashion. Sadly, John Boehner would never see your PublicStuff request—otherwise, we could surely crowdsource solutions to this whole government shutdown and fiscal cliff crisis.
So the federal government isn't so great at listening to the people, but city officials kind of have to be more responsive. They campaign on fixing the small-scale complaints we all have about our neighborhoods—loud music, potholes, poor street lighting. If you ever wished there was a better way to tell your city about your woes than the oh-so-inefficient phone tree, well, there is. PublicStuff is a Web forum with apps for iOS and Android that let you report issues you see around town and submit documents and photos of your claim. The files are geotagged and routed to the appropriate city departments, who take a look and respond with updates or explanations.
A smarter city
PublicStuff is a smart 311 system that founder Lily Liu created after building a 311 center for the city of Long Beach, Calif. The software was expensive, and the city didn't have money to continue working on the project, so Liu decided to branch out on her own in an all-too-common case of a startup solving a problem that the public sector couldn't.
Find your city and file a complaint on the PublicStuff iOS app.
"There was nothing in the market to serve the needs of government agencies without spending hundreds of millions of dollars on software and call centers," Liu said.
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