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32 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JUNE 2022 By Steve Benoff Color me shocked! The city of Beaumont has an app. Palm Springs has a very nice one. But I couldn't find one for Banning, Redlands, or Los Angeles. When I got the email from the city announcing the new app, I wasn't expecting much. Was I ever surprised. (By the way, when you search for this app, enter "beaumont,ca.") Beaumont has created a beautifully designed, pretty comprehensive app. Let me tell you about it. Better yet, let me quote from the email describing the app. "This interactive engagement tool allows City residents to connect electronically with City Hall for service requests, contact information, news, event calendars, and much more!" "Use the "Report an Issue" section to report graffiti, potholes, and other issues directly to the correct city department right from your phone using GPS mapping. Learn about your city's elected officials, programs, and upcoming construction projects. Find parks, facilities, and points of interest along with information, phone numbers, maps, and directions. Stay informed on the latest happenings through the "News" and "Calendar" sections." The home screen is strikingly attractive. Surrounding a half circle containing the date and current temperature are eight icons. Unlike so many other applications, these icons are thoughtfully accompanied with descriptive names. On behalf of many members of our generation, thank you Beaumont for adding names to icons. (Can you believe that after a decade with my Apple Mac computer, I'm still confused by Apple's icons-only approach?) All you have to do is explore the first icon – Government – to see how well-thought-out and comprehensive this app is. It truly gives me confidence in the people running our city knowing they created this app. (Do you remember those days when we actually had thieves running things in Beaumont?) The government section is divided into five sections: City Council, Commissions and Committees, Agendas and Minutes, City Departments, and City Department. Each section is filled with subsections. For example, each council member has a full biography and, as typical throughout this app, a link to email that person or department. There are 15 departments in the City Departments section. Each has a description and at least one way to contact that department. Most have three ways: by calling, emailing or going on their website. Under the Report an Issue section, you start with a location, choose a topic among 23 subjects (although there is no None of the Above, which I'd like to see), enter your name, address, and email, add an attachment if you want to, then submit. You can pay your Beaumont city utility in the Utility Billing section. There are three sections in News: Bulletin, Social, and Media. There's a Calendar section covering just what you'd expect. Did you know there are 19 parks in Beaumont? You can see them listed in the Parks & Recreation section. Each with a phone number, website, map, and directions. And if you prefer to read the Parks website in Basque, you can do that by selecting it in the language drop box. If you don't want Basque, you can select Yiddish or Zulu among dozens of other choices. In "Where's the Bus," you can select a route and see it displayed on a map. The last section is Emergency Preparedness, which takes you to the Beaumont website. That site seems mainly concerned with storm preparedness. (If only we had a storm to prepare for.) I think this part of the website needs a little filling out. What about fire preparedness? Or a toxic spill from a train or truck? How about an earthquake? Oh well, you can't have everything. Nevertheless, the app itself is absolutely outstanding and I encourage you to download it to your Apple or Android smartphone. Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! High Praise for the City of Beaumont App

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