“Pothole Gate” Has Spurred Vallejoans To Take Things Into Their Own Hands, But The Idea Is— Forgive Me— Riddled With Holes
Photo: “Pot Hole City” by caribb is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Vallejo resident David Marsteller, Jr. has taken crappy road conditions into his own hands, much to the delight of many Vallejoans. His DIY pothole filling has gotten the attention of KRON 4 and Univision news outlets, along with “hurrahs!” from residents fed up with gaping abysses around town.
Marsteller set up a GoFundMe and soon had hundreds of dollars.
For many residents, potholes are a default setting for complaints— any time City money goes to something like staff raises, a new house near the water plant, or even homeless services, a festoon of fiery F words appear in comments on social media, along with “Yet they can’t fill the pothole on [fill in the blank street].”
Potholes are a great representation of why government sucks, for some, and how bureaucracy can take something simple like a street repair and turn it into a year-long series of meetings, studies, surveying, and ultimately inaction.
‘Tis a noble cause, indeed, but as soon as I saw the groundswell of support for the DIY patching, I couldn’t help but wonder what the City would have to say about it. I’ve sat through more than my share of city council meetings about street repairs, and I think only the human genome sequence is more complicated. Put plainly, it’s not about making your own cement and simply filling a hole with it. The materials used are complex, there’s environmental issues to think about, your ass could get run over in the process, your ass could get busted by the City, and your ass could get sued if someone busts their axels on your handiwork. It’s sad but true.
City of Vallejo Spokesperson Christina Lee responded to my request for comment on the issue, and I’m going to post it in its entirety here:
There is an overall plan to repair the roadways with allocated funding and our biggest challenge is the lack of staffing to keep up with the workload.
The City discourages private members of the public from filling potholes on their own for a variety of reasons.
Here are some important points that residents may not be aware of:
- All improvements made in the Public Right-of-Way require an approved Encroachment Permit pursuant to the Vallejo Municipal Code. Failure to obtain the required permit prior to performing any work is an infraction under the municipal. Penalties and fines apply to infractions.
- Any work in streets requires an approved Traffic Control Plan by a Traffic Engineer for the protection of both people and motorists. There are significant liability issues if a person or a motorist is injured as a result of work being done in the right of way.
- There are specific materials, tools, and equipment needed to fill potholes appropriately. The materials themselves are classified as hazardous materials and must be handled with appropriate training and supervision.
- Potholes filled in during wet weather will not result in a successful patch.
- Potholes filled without oil binding will pop back out as there is nothing to seal and bind the asphalt.
- If appropriate compaction is not met, or the tools and equipment are not appropriate, the material will pop back out of the pothole and could potentially cause further damage to the pothole and surrounding areas and create a dangerous condition.
- Loose materials have the potential to enter the storm drains during rainy weather, becoming an illicit discharge by the City under our NPDES permit. Such discharge subjects the City, and potentially people performing work, to fines and penalties.
- Loose materials can be spread and be a hazard to pedestrians and motorists, again leading to potential liability.
- Any material that does not adhere appropriately will need to be removed by Public Works Department staff, thus taking away staff from other necessary daily duties and increasing costs.
I will include a response from Marsteller and others when I have it.
