Albany, NY (WRGB) -- The City of Albany has shut down the SeeClickFix app, which allowed residents to report issues such as potholes and road hazards directly to city officials. The decision has left some community members frustrated, arguing it removes a convenient way to hold city leaders accountable.
"They shouldn't get away with this," said Albany resident Dawn Geiger. "They should fix their city. You want people to be careful? Fix your roads."
Jason Woods, a former bus driver from Albany, echoed that sentiment, saying, "They put out the app themselves, then they retracted it because it was making them accountable. That's a bad thing on their part."
The app's shutdown follows a court ruling in a 2019 case involving Henry Calabrese, who was injured when his bike hit a road depression on Lark Street. The hazard had been reported through the app prior to the accident. The court found that complaints submitted through SeeClickFix constituted "prior written notice," a legal standard allowing residents to sue if the city ignores formal warnings about road hazards or safety issues.
Paul Harding, managing partner at Harding and Mazzotti and Calabrese's lawyer, said the city's decision to disable the app appeared to be an effort to limit future liability. "They made that decision fearful of claims that can be brought but decided to wipe out a mechanism of ways to report defects to the group that is supposed to fix them," Harding said.
In a statement, the City of Albany said it is "determining how to best balance the needs of our residents and the legal requirements when utilizing the program." The city encouraged residents to call a hotline to report non-emergency issues, but the court clarified that phone calls do not meet the legal standard of prior written notice, potentially absolving the city of liability in future cases.
Some residents remain concerned that the move will make it harder to bring attention to road hazards. "They need to bring it back -- bring the app back -- and everybody needs to know about this," Geiger said.
The City of Schenectady, which also uses the SeeClickFix app, said it is reviewing the implications of the recent court decision in Albany.