LORAIN — The Morning Journal is providing its online readers with a new avenue to get their civic complaints heard, potholes patched and problems fixed. The Morning Journal’s parent firm, Journal Register Company, has announced a major citizen journalism initiative in conjunction with SeeClickFix and that company’s unique program to empower citizens to improve their communities. The Morning Journal and 17 other JRC daily publications are now partnering with
in the communities they serve. The partnership provides a SeeClickFix portal page on The Morning Journal website
that will allow users to observe, report and follow issues in their communities.
Website users will be able to create watch areas and track items ranging from poor road conditions to blighted buildings in their communities. Users in Lorain already have pinpointed dozens of areas they would like to see improved. In a post titled “worst in Lorain,” seven users have agreed that an area of Tower Boulevard in Lorain is in dire need of repairs. Users also reported pothole problems along Cedar Drive in Lorain: “Its about time someone looked at the streets on the east side of Lorain … the whole city is bad and the potholes continue to get deeper as time goes on!” Jeff Sudbrook, publisher of The Morning Journal, believes the new tool will encourage residents to be proactive in improving their communities. “SeeClickFix is a great opportunity for the community to be heard,” Sudbrook said. “This is another step of encouraging readers and residents to interact with The Morning Journal and their community. It is simple, but effective and powerful.” While road issues make up the bulk of reported problems, users also report neglected properties, graffiti, broken traffic lights or anything else they would like to see fixed. Overall, SeeClickFix to date has provided help on 30,000 problems from potholes and speeding school buses to bad drinking water and blighted buildings across the nation. More than 40 percent of those problems have been reported as fixed, the company notes. SeeClickFix was founded by Ben Berkowitz in New Haven, Conn.
