City of San Luis Obispo, CA

The numbers are in! Last year, community members submitted 3,566 requests to the City of San Luis Obispo via Ask SLO, the City’s community engagement platform.

Ask SLO has become the go-to method for community members to request services and report issues, says Scott Collins, San Luis Obispo’s Assistant City Manager who oversees the Community Services Group, which responds to most Ask SLO requests.

The City’s Community Services Group includes the Public Works & Utilities Department, Parks and Recreation Department, and Community Development Department.

“San Luis Obispo is an amazing place to live because community members really care about it,” Collins said. “The City may not know about an issue until someone reports it. That’s what makes AskSLO so helpful: Community members can report issues or request services, like sidewalk repair or park maintenance, and that request goes directly to the staff who can address the issue. It doesn’t matter who submits the request; we quickly respond to all requests as they come in and do our best to address them.”

Top 10 Requests in Ask SLO in 2025 
From January 1 through December 31, 2025, the most common requests included parking and street-related concerns, tree maintenance, park maintenance, sidewalk safety, and Community Development questions. Here are the top 10 topics:

1. Illegal parking (719 requests)
2. Illegal dumping (398 requests)
3. Street maintenance (268 requests)
4. Traffic signal issues (156 requests)
5. Community Development Department front counter (155 requests)
6. Street & park tree maintenance (153 requests)
7. Parks maintenance (151 requests)
8. Sidewalk/parkway damage or trip hazards (143 requests)
9. Camping in parks or roadways (137 requests)
10. Abandoned shopping carts (123 requests)

Customer Satisfaction is High 
The City launched Ask SLO in 2022 as both an online service and a mobile app, providing community members with 24/7 access to the City. Since then, the City has received thousands of requests for service or reports of issues every year.

When a community member submits a request through Ask SLO, that request is then routed directly to the City staff who can address the issue. Community members also get the status of their request through updates from City staff either via email or the app itself.

In 2025, most community members who submitted Ask SLO requests were asked to take a survey. Of 399 surveys filled out, most respondents (about 72%) said that they felt employee effectiveness, time to respond, and employee courtesy was superior or good, and most respondents (again about 72%) said staff met or exceeded expectations.

“We pride ourselves on offering top-quality customer service and responding quickly to Ask SLO requests from community members,” Collins said. “However, sometimes we are limited in what we can do. We know it can be frustrating when someone requests a service we can’t provide or asks us to do something we legally aren’t allowed to do. We really appreciate the community engagement and will continue to respond quickly to Ask SLO requests to the best of our ability.”

Anyone can report issues or request services by downloading the mobile app via the Apple App Store or Google Play, or by visiting www.slocity.org/Ask.

When reporting an emergency, please call 9-1-1. If other non-emergency police or fire services are needed, please call the City’s Non-Emergency Dispatch at (805) 781-7312.

For more information, or to sign up for e-notifications, visit www.slocity.org/News.

Media Contact: Whitney Szentesi, Public Communications Manager, wszentes@slocity.org, 805.783.7716