What's the 311?

Hot on the heels of being chosen to participate in an international mayors' conference in Israel, Somerville and its mayor, Joe Curtatone, appear to be making more moves to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great metropolises of the world, this time by implementing a 311 city services hotline. Although the mayor announced last year his plan to bring the service to "The Cambridge of Medford" (as Bostonist likes to call it), things appear to be getting serious, as the city has now posted a job listing (on craigslist, of course) seeking a manager for the call center.

311 is a non-emergency number that residents can call to be directed to the right city department without clogging up 911 lines (although honestly, Bostonist isn't sure how big a problem that is in Somerville; Bostonist called 911 once after we saw some hooligan run off after starting a raging fire in a yard waste barrel that was on the kerb for collection; by the time we could come out of our house to try to douse the flames with a pot full of water, two fire engines were crammed into our tiny intersection and three police cruisers were trolling the neighborhood). First implemented in Baltimore in 1999, 311 quickly caught on around the country, most famously in New York (and, less famously, in Chattanooga). While Somerville will not have the honor of implementing the first 311 service in the Commonwealth (that prize belongs, strangely, to Martha's Vineyard), it will reach the milestone ahead of Boston, Cambridge, and its sworn municipal enemy, Medford. What Bostonist wants to know is, will this create added convenience for people who call to threaten the mayor's life?

Photo courtesy of flickr.com / user: Charles Hoyes