The City of Dallas has updated its 311 service app to include Spanish to benefit the estimated 38,000 households in the municipality that are primarily Spanish-speaking, officials announced Friday.
Although the updated app had a soft launch in December, Friday’s announcement kicked off a city-wide campaign to increase residents’ awareness of the service. The campaign promoting the 311 portal and app will include billboards across Dallas, social media ads, and 30-second commercial spots on TV.
The City has a bilingual team that has also been reaching out to Spanish-speaking residents at community events and public places to talk about the updated app, Daisy Torres Fast, the director of 311 services in Dallas, told The Dallas Morning News.
The app, which Dallas residents can use to request City services and report code violations and other non-emergency matters, includes a new feature that allows residents to inform the City if they face retaliation from landlords for reporting violations.
The need for these updates became apparent last year when Spanish-speaking residents of an apartment complex in the Bachman Lake area experienced difficulty reporting code violations for moldy walls, pest infestations, and leaky roofs, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The tenants with limited English language skills found it hard to navigate the City’s website to report the violations.
Residents who call the City’s 311 hotline have often had to wait an extended time for a bilingual operator to become available to assist them. According to recent data, callers needing to speak with a Spanish-speaking agent waited an average of 5 minutes and 22 seconds, while English-speaking callers were connected to an agent after an average of 2 minutes and 18 seconds, DX reported.
Although the updates to the app are a step in the right direction, residents who have used the app have noticed room for improvement. The app is reportedly easy to navigate, but some of the Spanish translations have been confusing.
For example, the phrase “to save” (guardar) was translated as “ahorrar,” which means “to save money.” The phrase “to close” (cerrar) was translated as “cerca,” which means “near,” according to DMN. However, Fast claimed these minor issues can be easily fixed.
