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SFist Tonight
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom fields reporters' questions after kicking off the city's new 311 call service. The logo etched in the glass wall at left was designed with free assitance from the marketing department of Yahoo!
The city of San Francisco officially kicked off its new 311 telephone service today. That means that you can simply dial these three digits (or 415-701-2311 if you are calling from a non-415 area code) for all non-emergency City and County of San Francisco governmental matters. The details. Or, as they say in the 213: "Burning building? Call 9-1-1. Burning Question? Call 3-1-1." Did the mayor actually talk to people calling in with questions about MUNI? Find out after the jump.
The mayor sat in on a few of the calls answered by Michell Hampton.
So as a matter of fact, yes, the mayor donned a headset and helped out a bit. One caller contended she had just tried to get on to a 38-Geary only to have the driver shut the door and drive off. The mayor described the caller as initially "furious" and "outraged" but he indicated she calmed down towards the end of the conversation. A formal complaint was logged to see if this allegation fits a pattern. The next person who called said he lost his cane on the 15-Third .
If you can't get enough 411 on the 311, check out this lengthy video introduced by Program Director (and University of Nebraska grad - go Huskers!) Heidi Sieck.
The gestation period for getting this system up and running was long, but Mr. Newsom pointed out that this allowed more features to be added to the system, like a kind of 311 version 2.0. We'll see how it goes.
Your tax dollars at work: the huge room at Market and Van Ness where the 311 service operators answer the phones. Over a million calls are expected annually.
Get used to this ad campaign - you'll see a lot of it over the coming months.
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( I apologize upfront for this to Jon and everyone else )
Thanks for the 411 on the 311 I just hope they fix the 511 so nobody calls the 911 of course there is always the 211 and a favorite in the Tenderloin the 420.
(so sorry, i can't rap)
Can I call to borrow money from Gordon Getty, is Gavin still answering phones? I think this is all a ploy to find a new job for Peter Ragone.