The City of Philadelphia has big plans for it’s 311 Call System that is scheduled to begin operations on December 31st. One of things that came out of a neighborhood conference today in Philadelphia was the 311 system will be the primary back up for the 911 operations. While I knew that 311 is supposed to give the totally ridiculous callers who bug 911 with another number to call. I didn’t realize that 311 will create an extra layer of redundancy for the emergency hotline.

The update on the 311 Call Center was the focus for this year’s PhillyBlocks 2008 neighborhood conference held today at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. More than 200 people turned out to hear various city officials talk about their programs.

Rosetta Carrington Lue Director of 311 Call Center

Speaking this morning, Rosetta Carrington Lue, who is a deputy managing director overseeing the city’s launch of the 311 center, said she knows people have had bad experiences trying to call the city for information. Lue said people get bounced around to various departments and sometimes just get stuck leaving a voicemail, She said 8% (corrected 80%) of the e city’s estimated two-million calls annually are just things like what are the hours the library is open.

When things are up and running she says there will only be two numbers Philadelphia residents will need to know in relation to the city. “911 for emergencies and 311 for everything else.”

The 311 system which will be 24/7 also has another important role for the city. The calls will be used to to enhance the city’s PhillyStat program. The city will finally get a real-time view of what problems are occurring around the city and will be also be able to measure  if city departments are resolving people’s complaints in a timely manner.

I wasn’t able to stay for the entire conference, but the PhillyBlock 2008 program is a great model of what civic engagement should be. Ed Schwartz who is a former Philadelphia City Councilman and now runs the Institute for the Study of Civic Values works to get citizens and local government to work together to get things done.

There were many other good speakers today including, Patricia Giorgio-Fox a deputy police commissioner, Jannie Blackwell the 3rd District Councilwoman, Kelly Green the president of the League of Women Voters of Philadelphia, James Scott with the Family Community Faith-based Initiatives for the School District of Philadelphia, and Jeff Friedman the project manager with the Performance Management Team in the Managing Director’s Office.