It’s the neighbourhood watch of broken amenities.

Torontonians can call, email or tweet 311, the city division for non-emergency services, when they notice signs of urban decay, be they potholes or busted poles. But some diehard city scouts have taken it upon themselves to vigilantly draw attention to the city’s physical ills.

“So many people love this city and they are ready to help solve any problems that pop up,” Mayor John Tory said in a written statement.

“I’m glad when residents spot something they think the city should fix right away on a street, in a park, or anywhere else in Toronto, that many of them let 311 know through Twitter.”

The Star spoke with a group of these tireless sidewalk defenders — from a west-end woman tagging hateful graffiti to a Leslieville man who’s reported more than 16 faulty trash cans this month alone — who make the city better for all of us.

The abandoned bike warden

Nicolas Bello, Garden District

Nicolas Bello bikes to work every day, so when he sees racks taken up by locked, rusted out “skeleton” bicycles, he calls foul, taking to Twitter to see them tagged and removed.

“It looks junky,” he said. He’s reported at least 86 incidents of abandoned bikes to the city since 2016.

“There’s a limited supply of bike parking,” Bello said. “If I see something broke and I figure no one else is gonna do something about it, why not me, right?”

Bello, who volunteers for the city-run Greeters program, which shows off the city to those keen to learn more about certain neighbourhoods, also reports garbage woes.

“You want to show them the best possible city that you can,” Bello said.

He said he sees abandoned bikes every day.

“Kudos to the city for keeping that Twitter channel open and having responsive staff,” he added.

The accessibility avenger

Lindsay Zier-Vogel, the Junction

Lindsay Zier-Vogel takes aim at problems that obstruct the walkability of neighbourhoods; they can throw people who have mobility issues for a loop — quite literally.

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This week, Zier-Vogel was carting her two children in a wagon on St. Johns Rd. near Dundas St. W. when she encountered two blocked sidewalks: one by construction materials; the other by a “huge” pole in the middle of it. She said she was forced to walk onto the road into oncoming traffic to get around, calling it “an unsafe situation.”

“It was not passable, essentially,” she said. “I thought, that’s really not OK.”

She reported it to 311 and was notified that the city was looking into it.

Since 2012, Zier-Vogel has also been tweeting at the city to flag potholes that have the potential to destroy bicycles.

“I feel like there’s someone listening on the other end,” she said, adding she doesn’t always have time to wait on the phone. “There’s a forum for being able to say, ‘Hey this is happening and it’s happening in real time.’”

The garbage bin guardian

Aric Guité, Leslieville

Aric Guité is a dog owner, meaning he walks every day and requires garbage bins. On a recent jaunt, he noticed several waste bins had broken foot pedals.

“I was walking the dog and I had to touch the disgusting little flap thing to put the dog poop into the garbage can, and I didn’t like that. I walked down the street for a couple of minutes and noticed the next one didn’t, then the next one. It seemed that all of them were messing (foot levers) in my area along Queen St. (between Carlaw and Greenwood Aves.),” he said.

Over three days in July, he reported at least 16 broken bins, sending @311 photos of each one.

It’s the type of diligent monitoring he’s been doing for “at least” five years, often reporting road maintenance and other troubles.

“The city can’t fix problems they don’t know about,” he said.

“They’re usually pretty squeezed for resources, so I think they really rely on us to tell them what’s broken. It’s sort of like crowdsourcing the information that they need to run the city, basically.”