Abandoned cars are one of the biggest eyesores in San Jose, according to residents.
The city is now using new technology to streamline the process for reviewing reports of abandoned cars in neighborhoods.
"It can be frustrating, especially when I do report stuff," San Jose resident Connor Haysbert said.
Haysbert and his family moved into the Santee neighborhood eight months ago and noticed an abandoned car sitting in the area. He used the 311 app twice to report the abandoned car, which has not been moved.
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"It erodes trust in government when people report a problem and the city can't give them a clear answer or closes their request and says that's not something we can handle," San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said.
The city has upgraded its 311 mobile app so abandoned car complaints go to the right department. Before the upgrade, reports went to the Department of Transportation.
"The system did not allow the Department of Transportation to triage this to multiple departments," said Khaled Tawfik, San Jose's chief information officer. "So as a result it was really a confusing part and it was mainly a manual conversation between DOT and other departments."
The city has already received more than 6,000 reports for abandoned cars in the first three months of the year.
Mahan said the upgrade will allow residents to track their complaint and know the end result.
When the city investigates a report and depending on the circumstance, it will either tag the car or alert the owner -- if there is one -- before towing it away.
"Sometimes it's truly abandoned," Mahan said. "Sometimes it was stolen and abandoned and is a police matter. Sometimes it's a neighbor who's just storing their vehicle on the street and their neighbors are getting annoyed but it's actually owned by the person who lives down the street."
After hearing about the upgrade and updated process to review reports, Haysbert said he is going to try the app again to report the abandoned car in his neighborhood.
"I have kids here," he said. "It's not great to have an abandoned vehicle here. Sometimes the doors are propped open, so who knows?"
