City of Cedar Rapids mobile app is a hit, despite awkward name

You can't pay for this kind of advertising. It's priceless.

That's the thought here at City Hall about the buzz that the city's new application for smartphones is getting as followers of City Hall goings-on see the application provided free of charge on the city's webpage at http://www.cedar-rapids.org/Pages/home.aspx

The webpage icon for the application features the letters CR App -- pronounced by some as CRAPP --on a green background.

Cassie Willis, the city's communications liaison, says City Hall abbreviates Cedar Rapids as CR in many city projects such as the CleanUpCR initiative, the CR NEWS NOW texting service and the CR City Source e-newsletter. The same is the case with CR App, she says.

As for CR App, she reports that the city has recorded 1,000 downloads of the mobile application in the first month of the application's launch.

"We have no intention of changing the name of the app," Willis adds. "It is the Cedar Rapids App. If the nickname gets more people to download and use it, that's great."

In announcing the mobile application in December, City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the application provides fingertip access to city services. It allows users to submit photos of spots in the city that need cleaned up, provides a contact list to get questions answered, shows the city's latest news releases and more, he said.

One comfort: Once downloaded, the mobile application's icon appears on a smartphone as Cedar Rapids, not CR App, as it appears on the city's webpage.