“See, Click, Fix” is a website designed to keep municipal workers on their toes. It’s another one of the Internet’s contributions to the Justice Louis Brandeis principle that “light is the best disinfectant.” It’s a system where anyone who witnesses a defect or danger on town property, parks or roads can report it online. Other members of the public can even vote on problems they consider most severe. The complaint is then sent on to the appropriate city department. The public can then watch in real time via the site how and when, and if, the problem is addressed.
You would think this system would energize any reasonable city department of public works into action. Even if these often-tenured workers with Teflon contracts were immune to public embarrassment, surely they would respond based on notice of their potential legal liability, right? Couldn’t the city be easily held responsible for harm occurring after it had notice from See, Click, Fix? Sadly, the answer too often is “no.”
