New iPhone App Connects Residents to the City

Graffiti on your garage? Fire hydrant leaking onto your street? Now you can use your cell to take a picture of the problem and send it directly to the city with Ask Bev Mobile, a free iPhone application. The City Council introduced the application during its "Did You Know" segment at its Thursday meeting.

"It will increase the number of eyes and ears that we have," Mayor Jimmy Delshad said of the technology, which allows residents to notify the city of non-emergency issues in real time.

The application uses an internal GPS system that automatically records the location of a submission, sending the information to the city's offices. Users can also add a location, as well as a short description of the problem to accompany uploaded photos. Reports can be made anonymously, but users must create an account if they wish to monitor the status of their submissions via iPhone or the Web.

As he sipped his daily iced coffee at the Starbucks on South Beverly Drive, resident Peter Zinshteyn said that the application is ideal for observant, technologically savvy citizens.

"I'll definitely download this," said Zinshteyn, who uses both an iPhone and an iPad. "Nothing's worse than sitting on the phone for 20 minutes just to complain about a pothole. Hopefully, this will speed up the process and get more people to alert the city to problems in the neighborhood."

The Ask Bev Mobile application is available for download at the App Store, which is accessible via iTunes or Apple mobile devices.