CitySourced Launches at TechCrunch50: Fix Potholes with Your Phone

Imagine if you could make unauthorized graffiti disappear with a shake of your iPhone.... It's not that easy -- yet -- but LA-based FreedomSpeaks.com launched a new mobile tool that comes close.

CitySourced enables anyone with an iPhone to report to 311 with the click of a button. See a pothole, snap a photo, and send it off. With the added geotagging, civic engagement has never been so easy, it's no longer necessary to wait on hold at 3-1-1 and put up with the irritating welcome message from Mayor Tony in both English and Spanish.

CitySourced was one of more than 50 internet startups launched this week at TechCrunch50 in San Francisco and was one a few based in our own backyard. With a few cities, including San Jose, ready to use the tool, Citysourced is already plugged into many 3-1-1 databases and is ready to be put to use as soon as local governments are (attn: LA City Council). For now there is a rudimentary online anti-graffiti form available on the city website (and sometimes it pays).

We talked about CitySourced with co-founders Kurt Daradics and Jason Kiesel in the TechCrunch50 demo pit.