Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian is joining the iPhone app craze by rolling out a program for the device that will allow users to report potholes, graffiti and other problems, according to ABC News (spotted at LAObserved).

The app will apparently allow iPhone-having residents in the councilman's Valley district (2) take a photo of an issue, complete with location-aware geo-tagging, and send it into his office for action. The program will be free. “We're looking at mid-April for a launch,” a spokesman for Krekorian told the Weekly.

“It will speed up the delivery of constituent services and create a new vehicle of communication to make government more transparent and open to our constituents,” Krekorian told ABC News.

It all sounds great until you realize that it's just a new channel for residents to be ignored by City Hall. What makes adding an additional medium to an already understaffed, under-budgeted city a more effective way to communicate if phone calls don't solve problems as it is?

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has already said there isn't money to expedite pothole repairs. The city is facing a nearly $700 million deficit come July. Problems around this town aren't going to get fixed because one councilman has a digital photo and some coordinates.

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