By Ted AYALA

Property vandalization, stray animals running loose on the street, trash illegally dumped, and those pesky potholes: just a few of the many nuisances that can stress out residents on a daily basis. The process to address these issues can be no less of a nuisance – at least until now.

The City of Glendale is rolling out its new “MyGlendale” application  this month to all residents. Instead of having to fumble around looking for the numbers to the department where they can file their complaint, residents only need to take a picture of the violation on their smartphones, describe the problem in a drop-down menu, and then send it to the city via the app. GPS coordinates in the photo will help city staff to attend to the problem at the correct location.

The app, which has been developed in-house by the city, is being distributed for free and is compatible with all smartphones, including iOS, Android, and Windows.

“We first published the app in a GWP newsletter in 2011,” said Tom Lorenz, the city’s public information officer. “These early users were our test pool, if you will. Now we’re ready to bring it to the public.”

Other problems that can be reported via the app include building code violations, flooding, nuisances posed by local homeless, broken sidewalks and trash removal.

City officials had originally intended to include a wider array of services via the app but were unable to because of time constraints.

“A lot of these departments can’t be operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” explained Lorenz. “If somebody complains about a noisy neighbor over the weekend, for example, and takes a picture, the relevant department won’t be getting the report until Monday morning. Time sensitive issues such as these would be futile to include in the app, so we left them off.”

Though other cities are already employing similar apps, “MyGlendale” is the first of its kind in the local area. No other neighboring cities are currently making use of such technology. It was a fact that Lorenz noted with pride.

“Glendale has always looked forward in the world of technology,” he said. “This app is about our commitment to embracing the community.”

For more information on the app, visit www.ci.glendale.ca.us/DownloadTheMyGlendaleAppToday.aspx to find out more.

  Ted Ayala