SAN DIEGO — San Diego's 'Get It Done' app is now getting some nationwide praise, although some San Diegans are questioning its effectiveness.
The Get It Done app is essentially a one-stop portal, which you can access through a smart phone app or website, allowing users to report what needs fixing in their community, from broken street lights to litter to homeless issues.
When the city of San Diego first launched its Get It Done app back in 2016, users could submit complaints on just 20 different issues, from potholes to graffiti.
That has now expanded to more than 50 services with over one thousand daily reports.
That ease of functionality has grabbed the attention of Customer Service Week's Engage 311 Award of Excellence, an annual nationwide conference that has named San Diego a finalist for a customer service center that improves local government.
It has praised its Get It Done app and website for its innovation and community engagement.
It also recognized its improvements over the years, including an updated app for Spanish speakers and a publicly accessible website to donate personal protective equipment.
However, not all San Diegans are as enthusiastic about the results of their Get It Done reports, frustrated by long wait times for the city to take action.
"I just feel like I'm caught in a bureaucracy of broken promises," said Daniel, a resident of Rolando, who spoke with CBS 8 earlier this week.
He said that, over the past three years, he's filed more than 1,600 complaints through the app to try to get his neighborhood cleaned up, with no action to date.
"The can gets kicked down the road with no resolution, and no resolution in sight," he added.
On Tuesday, CBS 8 spoke with residents in a Pacific Beach neighborhood, who've been complaining for the past year and a half about these street lights that never turn off.
"I've sent a couple of requests to the city through the Get It Done app, and they respond a few months later and say that it's been taken care of," said PB resident, Rick Oldham. "However, the lights continue to burn."
In response, the city says that it has a backlog of 5,000 requests to repair lights, taking on average 272 days to fix them, citing a shortage of electricians: currently only eleven.
The city has budgeted for a total of 18 electricians, and says that it is working to hire more.
The San Diego City Council recently agreed to sell San Diego's Get It Done software to other cities, to help streamline requests for services from their residents.
WATCH RELATED: Pacific Beach residents say several streetlights have been on 24/7 for more than a year (May 2022)