Markeshia Ricks Photo
Ruiz pitches at Westville/West Hills.
The app in real time.
Finding out information about your local political representatives could get a lot easier thanks to a new phone app created by two homegrown developers.
William Ruiz and Abdul Ahmad, two sons of New Haven who attended middle, high school and college together in the Elm City, are the creators of the app, called PolitiXentral.
It centralizes information about local representatives. On Wednesday, night Ruiz pitched it to Westville/West Hills Community Management Team members during their regular monthly meeting at Mauro-Sheridan, asking them to test try it out.
“We’re beta testing it,” said Ruiz, who grew up on Sylvan Avenue in the Hill. “The idea is to help voters understand who their representatives from the local level to the state.”
Ruiz, 30, said people like those who attend management team meetings tend to be in the know about their local representatives. For others, finding information and data often involves chasing down bits and pieces all over the Internet.
PolitiXentral, which the developers call “PX,” aims to change that by being a one-stop shop for finding out who local representatives like alders are, what committees they serve on, and, during an election year, who is running against them. Beyond aldermanic information, Ruiz said, the app will go deep into providing information, even down to the ward co-chair level.
Ruiz said Wednesday’s announcement was the first formal announcement he and Ahmad had made about the app.
After the meeting, Ruiz said that to get started with the app, all a user has to do is type in his or her address. The app does the rest.
The app in the Apple app store.
The duo is asking neighbors to test the app (hold off on the app store reviews since they’re still working out the kinks). Ruiz said they will be building out the platform throughout this coming summer and populate it with more information, then pitch it to investors.
Ruiz and Ahmad both live in New Haven, Ruiz in the Heights, Ahmad in Morris Cove. Ahmad stayed on in the city after graduation from Southern Connecticut State University, working as a software engineer. Ruiz recently returned after finishing a masters in business administration at Babson College in Massachusetts. Ruiz got his undergraduate degree in psychology from Southern. He said Ahmad was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting because he just welcomed a new baby into his family.
Ruiz said he and Ahmad hope that the app, which you can find in your smartphones application store, will eventually grow to other cities.
“Our intent is to expand and eventually be available everywhere,” he said.
Bravo! What great idea to get young people involved! I spent all morning trying to chase down my parents state rep (GOP district) on a bill - Clean Slate - and when the rep finally called me back he told me essentially it was on life support and would likely not pass. But it took me an hour to chase down who he was, how to reach him, etc. (And I have graduate degrees from some local universities that aren't too bad.) Legal weed looks like a long shot too now, since Lamont is spending all his political capital on tolls.
If someone can at the touch of a button see how many votes a pending bill has, if there legislator is in favor or against and then also at the touch of a button let their sentiments be known, much like I am letting mine known here, I think its a brilliant idea no matter one's affiliation.
Even Yalies lack basic knowledge about what say, and alder does, versus say, the Attorney General. An educative function like that would help, as would links to Consumer Safety and Protection Bureaus, like a See Click Fix, but for shady businesses. A lot of times I see conduct that could arguably fall under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) but its not even worth explaining it to the person lamenting their experience or how to get relief under it. Hat's off to these fine men! A link to the Pardon's and Parole Board wouldn't be bad either, as the DMV and Secretary of State.
And on a bit of a tangent, maybe the state dept of Environmental Protection, so I can know what days the air is bad? They do have a website but an app would be easier and more user-friendly.