A new, anonymously-developed web tool, Better311, lets San Francisco and Oakland residents analyze 311 complaint data at any address, highlighting resolution rates and response times.

San Francisco, CA — A new web tool, Better311, has launched, allowing San Francisco and Oakland residents to analyze hyper-local 311 complaint data, revealing detailed resolution rates, response times, and issue trends for any address using public city records. The tool, which surfaced on Reddit, provides a granular look into how municipal service requests are handled, contrasting with the more generalized data typically presented by cities.

Better311, accessible at https://better311.pages.dev/, pulls its data directly from DataSF for San Francisco and the Oakland Open Data portal. It promises users the ability to "see what your city actually does about complaints," offering a "scorecard" view that includes the proportion of requests resolved or closed with "no action," average response times, and predominant issue categories at a selected address. The platform also features a timeline of individual requests, complete with status updates and closure notes. The site explicitly states it is "completely free" and avoids ads, analytics, or cookies, collecting no user data. An anonymous iOS app is reportedly in development.

Behind Better311 stands the Reddit user "/u/LastMag__," whose identity and professional background remain unconfirmed. Extensive research into public records, tech community forums, and funding databases — including SEC Form D filings and Hacker News for project traction — yielded no insights into the creator or any financial backing for the project. Both Hacker News searches for "Better311" and SEC Form D lookups returned no results. This lack of transparency around its creator and funding underscores its independent, civic-minded nature, rather than a commercially backed venture. The tool’s reliance on publicly available data, however, means its factual basis can be independently verified by users.

This independent effort to democratize government data echoes prior attempts by residents to parse city information, particularly around property issues. While the City and County of San Francisco does provide its 311 data through DataSF, Better311 offers a more user-friendly interface that aggregates and visualizes this information at the individual address level, making it accessible to a broader audience without requiring technical expertise. The ongoing development of a mobile app, as well as future plans for more cities and case notifications, signals a continued commitment to expanding this civic transparency project. What remains unconfirmed is the actual user adoption rate and whether the metrics presented by Better311, particularly its definition of "resolved," align precisely with the city's internal operational standards for 311 service fulfillment.