In this week’s post, I’m sharing information related to apps and websites that help you: (1) report and monitor conditions in your neighborhood and (2) find resources for yourself or your neighbors.

Dallas 311 App

The Dallas 311 app is a tool that all neighborhood leaders should download and use regularly. There are three primary reasons to use the app:

• Report code violations on private or public property such as high weeds, litter, illegal dumping, or health code violations at a business,
• Report issues with City infrastructure or services such as potholes, missing manhole covers, and missed garbage or recycling pickup, and
• Request a city service such as sidewalk or alley repair or replacement, dead animal pickup, sanitation roll cart delivery, increased police patrols, traffic speed control, and free smoke alarm installation.

You should not assume that city staff are documenting the conditions in your neighborhood, even though they may drive through your neighborhood on a regular basis. If a neighborhood condition is not logged into a city system – it doesn’t exist. Therefore, it is important to report code, crime, and city infrastructure issues as soon as possible. In fact, staffing decisions and city investment decisions (including future bond projects) are based, in part, upon data from the 311 system. Reporting an issue or requesting a service doesn’t guarantee that the issue will be resolved quickly, but it creates documentation that you can reference in case you need to escalate your concerns to elected officials.

The 311 app allows you to report issues anonymously or leave your contact information so that city staff can contact you if they have questions or updates about your service request. The app also contains a searchable list and a map of recent service requests submitted across the city.

Oncor Outage Report

Electricity outages are always frustrating, but they can be dangerous for residents who use oxygen machines or who are sensitive to extreme temperatures. As a neighborhood leader, you can easily report electricity outages on Oncor’s website. (Oncor is our electric utility provider in North Texas.) Oncor’s website also includes a searchable map of reported outages.

Dallas Sanitation App

One helpful service that neighborhood associations can provide to their new neighbors is to provide a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” letter that lists the neighborhood’s assigned trash pick-up days. Neighborhood associations can also use social media and yard signs to remind all neighbors about an upcoming bulk trash pick-up week. The Dallas Sanitation app allows you to easily search for your neighborhood’s sanitation schedule. You can also opt-in to receive sanitation notifications.

City of Dallas Emergency Management Alerts

The Dallas Office of Emergency Management operates the DallasAlert program. According to the City’s website, the DallasAlert program is an “emergency notification system developed to enhance the ability of the City of Dallas to provide public safety related notifications to residents and businesses during emergencies.” When you opt-in to alerts, you can choose to receive emergency notifications, advisory notifications and weather notifications.

Dallas County Property Fraud Alert

Dallas County offers a free service to help local residents monitor documents that are filed with Dallas County related to a certain person (name) or property (legal description). This service is necessary because, unfortunately, fraudsters will sometimes file fake documents to make it appear that they own or have a claim to a home in your neighborhood. This type of fraud commonly involves vacant homes or vacant land.

Importantly, you do not need to own a piece of property in order to receive alerts regarding the property. Therefore, for example, if there are vacant homes or vacant land in your neighborhood, you may want to set up a property fraud alert to monitor the transaction history for those parcels of property.

211

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission operates the 211 system. According to the 211 system’s website, 211 helps Texas residents connect with the services they need, including helping residents find food or housing, child care, crisis counseling or substance abuse treatment. You can seek assistance by calling “211” from any phone or by accessing the website.

Dallas Police Department – Sex Offender Search

The Dallas Police Department maintains a Sex Offender Registry as a public service tool. According to the DPD website, “[i]ndividuals listed on this registry have been convicted of a sexual offense that requires them to meet a number of mandates including annual registration with law enforcement. This registry is designed to increase community safety and awareness.” The search tool allows to you identify registered sex offenders living within one mile of your home.