Sign in and be yourself
Sign in and let others know who you are and what you think. You can sign in now or after you submit your response. You'll be able to read your response on this website and change it if you change your mind.
Read more about privacy >
Sign in and be someone
Sign in and let others know what you think. Only OpenGov will know who you are. You can sign in now or after you submit your response. You'll be able to read your response on this website and change it if you change your mind.
Read more about privacy >
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Be anonymous
Even though your response will be shared with staff, it won’t be shown on this public website so other community members won’t have the opportunity to see it.
Concerned about sharing your contact information with OpenGov?
Read more about privacy >
Read more about privacy >
Please see the City's
Social Media Policy for more on statement standards. The section on content standards are below:
Any City social media site that elicits or allows comments from the public shall be designated as a limited public forum for First Amendment purposes. As such, and in order to promote the City's goals articulated above and remain in compliance with other laws, City social media site content shall not contain any of the following.
1. Profane language or content;
2. Sexual content or links to sexual content;
3. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation; or other protected characteristic
4. Solicitations or commerce;
5. Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;
6. Information that may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems
7. Libelous or defamatory comments;
a. Libel is a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy, or other fixed representation to the eye, which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes a person to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure a person in his or her occupation.
8. Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party;
9. Private or personal information published without consent
10. Comments not topically related to the particular social medium article being commented upon
These guidelines shall be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink on all City social media sites. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained, including the time, date and identity of poster, when available. If the comment cannot be removed due to the social media platform where the post originated, the department may choose to address the post by monitoring the activity of the commenter, sending a direct message, muting, blocking, or reporting negative activity to the social media platform where it originated. Users posting to the City's social media sites shall be informed that the City disclaims any and all responsibility and liability for any materials that the City deems inappropriate for posting. Daily maintenance and monitoring of these social media sites is the responsibility of the applicable City Department.
Speak Up San Mateo! has two participation channels:
- The Registered Channel: Sign in before or just after you submit your response. Either way, Community Feedback will show your response on this website.
- The Unregistered Channel: Don't sign in and remain anonymous. Community Feedback will just share your response with San Mateo staff.
Note: The first time you sign in, you'll need to register (establish an account on Speak Up San Mateo!). Registration is free.
The City of San Mateo has contracted with Community Feedback to monitor responses shown on this website.
- To prevent any single user from dominating the forum, the City of San Mateo restricts the number of responses any one user can post on selected topics. Registration helps Community Feedback enforce this restriction.
- Users, staff and government leaders often want to know the neighborhood from which a response is posted. Community Feedback uses registration to show the neighborhood next to each response (not the address).
- If a user posts a response that does not meet the City of San Mateo guidelines for civility, Community Feedback uses the user's email address to invite the user to resolve the issue.
Community Feedback will get your contact information. The company is under contract with the City of San Mateo to hold it in strict confidence per their privacy policy.
- Since you'll see your own response on Speak Up San Mateo!, you'll be able to confirm that your response was posted as you intended.
- You'll be able to change and/or delete your response as long as the topic is open.
Yes. Sign out, then set your privacy preference to be "No - just show it without my name to staff". You won't need to register.
While no authentication procedure can perfectly detect every fraudulent registration, Community Feedback is able to secure the registered channel against systematic fraud: cases where users submit enough statements with fraudulent registrations to sway the overall interpretation of the feedback.
Community Feedback is unable to secure the unregistered channel against systematic fraud, because unregistered users are anonymous.
Neither the registered nor the unregistered channel represent a certified voting system or ballot box - and that caveat is footnoted on every page of feedback. Instead, both are additional channels for feedback to government.
Users can participate on the registered channel (by signing in) or on the unregistered channel (by remaining anonymous). The City of San Mateo offers both channels in order to broaden participation and maximize decision makers' insights.
The registered channel enables users to assure decision makers that their feedback comes from a real person in a specific neighborhood. It also enables users to participate in a public discussion on the website, as well as manage their own response after posting it.
The unregistered channel is for users who want to provide quick feedback without registering, and/or whose privacy concerns would prevent them from participating if required to register. Because many users with valuable insights will only share them anonymously, this channel gives decision makers the option to consider those insights in their deliberations.
OpenGov is a non-partisan company whose mission is to broaden civic engagement and build public trust in government. The City of San Mateo has contracted with OpenGov to administer Speak Up San Mateo!.
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Please see the City's
Social Media Policy for more on statement standards. The section on content standards are below:
Any City social media site that elicits or allows comments from the public shall be designated as a limited public forum for First Amendment purposes. As such, and in order to promote the City's goals articulated above and remain in compliance with other laws, City social media site content shall not contain any of the following.
1. Profane language or content;
2. Sexual content or links to sexual content;
3. Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation; or other protected characteristic
4. Solicitations or commerce;
5. Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;
6. Information that may compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems
7. Libelous or defamatory comments;
a. Libel is a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy, or other fixed representation to the eye, which exposes any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes a person to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure a person in his or her occupation.
8. Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party;
9. Private or personal information published without consent
10. Comments not topically related to the particular social medium article being commented upon
These guidelines shall be displayed to users or made available by hyperlink on all City social media sites. Any content removed based on these guidelines must be retained, including the time, date and identity of poster, when available. If the comment cannot be removed due to the social media platform where the post originated, the department may choose to address the post by monitoring the activity of the commenter, sending a direct message, muting, blocking, or reporting negative activity to the social media platform where it originated. Users posting to the City's social media sites shall be informed that the City disclaims any and all responsibility and liability for any materials that the City deems inappropriate for posting. Daily maintenance and monitoring of these social media sites is the responsibility of the applicable City Department.
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