NeatStreets - "The smartest way to get things fixed."?

I recently went to my local council website for some information and noticed a link to “NeatStreets” on their contact page. Seems they actively use it. After looking at the site, I was left with a rather mixed impression based on the kinds of ‘reports’ it attracted in my area and some interesting privacy implications …

Is it “The smartest way to get things fixed.” or just a place for ‘anonymous’ people to post seemingly endless pictures of badly parked cars and lost shopping trolleys?

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Or the neighbours yard or bushland which in their opinion may not meet their own neatness standards.

Brisbane City Council have their own website reporting platform…

which one can use ro report things to council. While one can post issues anomyously, it is possibly better than one provides contact details just in case council wishes further details on the issue or to provide you with feedback (e.g. the request has been completed, thanks for reporting, your report is in a other words frivilous or vexations etc).

I wouldn’t used neatstreets as it is a very impersonal way to deal with the service provider.

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The landing page is nebulous and uninformative. I would not register based on the information provided.

It does not even tell you what geographical area(s) it covers. I can imagine registering, only to be informed 'we don’t cover your area’ :frowning:

The Gold Coast City Council also have apps for reporting graffiti, pot holes, and other jobs for council. They claim it results in faster fixes than having to process information the old fashioned way. Take a photo, send it in with a report and they can quickly assess if it needs urgent attention, or if it needs to be scheduled with other work later.

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I can say this - if you use the mobile apps, your entries on the site appear anonymous. If you register, any comments you make are attributed to your registration details. This surprised me, and yet didn’t.

That said, of course the mobile app could be leaking your identity or at least snippets of your private data to the site, with or without your knowledge (in code, on page 227 of the terms and conditions maybe :wink: )

Indeed! some of the stuff around where I live was amazing - that people had the time to report a bush that ‘needed pruning’ and countless shopping trolleys, one by one … why not contact K-Mart or whoever owns it directly?

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I’ve come to the conclusion it is the latter - in the last 6+ months of looking at the material posted.

It still concerns me that material is so easily identified - GPD coordinates for everything and houses, vehicles (registration), signs, etc all readily visible - there is no effort to obscure such things. If the report is to some so-called ‘authority’ like a local council, why is there a need for this to be publicly visible to all? why not just the poster?

It also concerns me that people using the app are publicly anonymous while people registering at the site ‘less so’.

Case in point - an increasingly common report to council of … a weed …

I notice weeds everywhere and this isn’t a particularly nice one. Notice the gum leaf for scale - this monstrosity must be at least 15 cm tall. Glad they called the council rather than take a risk dealing with it themselves :wink:

This trolley was reported to council. I wonder whether it was collected by them and delivered to Kmart or whether they coordinated the capture and repatriation with Kmart?

… there were dozens and dozens of trolley reports just in my local area, including this one admittedly from some time back - glad they never expire, its an important record:

… closed by the council because they were on private property (the supermarket car park) and, amazingly enough, they were parked in the trolley return corral …

Then there are rubbish reports, such as this example of rogue dumping:

Yes. A single VB can.

Of the various potentially useful reports of potholes (bigger than a walnut shell), (significantly) uneven pavement, damage to public property, etc, my estimate is that less than one in six reports has any merit - the rest just waste the time of various ‘authorities’ that are paid for by tax or rates … another thing that seems abundantly clear - some people have way too much spare time on their hands :rofl:

Another point of vague interest is the site identifies app users by their hardware type - Android or Apple …

I’d be interested what people see in their own area - it is not a requirement to register to see all the ‘reports’.

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I’d prefer to continue using Snap, Send, Solve, which I’ve been using off and on for about 5 years (actually… longer… I recall I first downloaded it on my 3GS when that was pretty new, so maybe its been 9-10 years.)

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It doesn’t look like there is anywhere on that site where people can publicly see reports? unless I missed it - from the questions page it seems one can only review ones own history of reports - so not a public name and shame site - a plus already - and it still achieves the same thing, notifying authorities about problems …

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What a great idea! Not!

I’m adept a picking up the rubbish along the front fence line. All 500+m of it. Most after the slasher has struck. It’s a pity that a drink can is still the same in metal scrap before and after, but there is no 10c reward. Life is too short to sweat the little things if you can fix it your self.

Temptation beckons?
Anyone can collect enough rubbish, and return it later in the year as a neat pile on the front lawn of the supposed offender, take a snap and post away! Even better if their car with visible ID is clearly in the drive. Perfectly Not OK! and In difference to Aussie law on several key points.

Reality!
Of course the risk of errant shopping trolleys is low this far from the nearest big super market. I do worry about the weeds. With more than 57 different varieties and several on the declared list it is always a battle. Fortunately the neighbours are yet to discover the internet, although some do have Foxtel with Telstra! :roll_eyes:

Nothing like rural Queensland. Left behind one day, … the next?

P.S.
I wonder if I post this blight on the landscape they can have it fixed too?


NBN - Fixed Wireless Tower.:rofl:

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I now have video evidence of what would appear to be a pusillanimous busybody entering the street, photographing a number of completely trivial and common things then leaving - all of which appeared shortly after on the NeatStreets site.

Stranger than fiction sometimes …

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Heh but perhaps the strangeness of filming somebody filming something in the street…how far back could you stretch that image :smile:

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I inadvertently caught the footage on my security cameras, a necessary evil in these parts - the usual lead actors are on foot and at night, a couple of whom I’ve had the opportunity to have some meaningful interaction with :wink:

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I have had friends like that in TC, a word in the right ears (and knowing family) eased that issue for me. Sometimes interesting interactions however may be required in other cases.

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Maybe a bit of artistic licence like this:

an turn them into a tourist attraction…you could always ask the NBN if they can change it for something more appealing.

Overtime the shininess should fade making them less noticeable from sun reflection.

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I like them as they are. Easier to spot from the cockpit.

Also once AI takes over, they will be easily relocated, cable length dependent. :rofl:

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Snap Send Solve Pty Ltd has paid a penalty of $12,600 after the ACCC issued an infringement notice to the online platform operator for alleged false or misleading advertisements.

Until August 2019, Snap Send Solve’s promotion of their website and mobile app suggested consumers could send photos and reports of issues needing to be fixed, such as cracked footpaths, to any relevant public authority, such as local councils, in Australia or New Zealand.

Between November 2018 and August 2019, Snap Send Solve withheld photographs submitted by consumers from councils and authorities who were not paid subscribers.

“We were concerned that Snap Send Solve misled consumers by suggesting local councils would be able to effectively respond to issues reported through its website or app. This may not have been the case because photos submitted were withheld from local councils without paid subscriptions,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

“This may also have created a situation where local councils felt pressured into fully participating in the platform and paying for a subscription.”

“Online platforms can provide a useful service by linking consumers with service providers, but platform operators must ensure the information they provide is not misleading,” Ms Rickard said.

… and for a while it seemed like they were the good one :wink: or at least not the dodgy name and shame site the ‘NeatBleets’ is …

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$12,600. Pity it was not a realistic penalty instead of the old wet tram ticket special.

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I don’t know how widespread the following service practice is around the nation?

Both the Brisbane City Council and Sunshine Coast Council have online tools as well as a phone service for reporting.

The SCC site sends you an email with a unique registration number for the issue you have raised. While it might feel good to make your complaint more public through a third party web service, does it really make a difference to how council responds?

Better perhaps to get the neighbours to also raise the same complaint directly, assuming they agree with your view?

P.S.
Let out of control how many third and fourth parties will try and rip a dollar out by forcing themselves between the rate payer and the staff in the council office?

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Exactly - and see some of the things I posted above, the trivial b/s people report is astounding and each of them takes councils time and effort (translation - my money) to at least assess let alone attend to - and they are paying for the privilege … not to mention the name and shame aspect of Neatstreets - posting identifiable images for public view - shameful, but apparently legal, so I guess that makes it right, or at least ‘ok’ …

Lazy councils, profiteering middle-man milkers, busy-bodies with little better to do than report lost shopping trolleys and errant drink cans … about sums it up …

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I wonder how you can find out which councils have paid up? I dont want to keep using the app if our shitty council has not paid (and I doubt that they would have, they prefer to spend money on Supercars around town)

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Maybe give their customer call centre a bell and ask Council the question (will be the operations area which are likely to subscribe to app). I wouldn’t ask the app developer as they will possibly say yes, even if it is no, to try and make Council say yes.

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