Report a Pothole, Oakland Acts Quickly! (Pt. I)
This Thursday, we added a new feature to our monthly newsletter called Pothole of Shame. I’m not going to rehash what was said in the newsletter (if you follow the previous link you can read it for yourself), but the upshot is that it’s worth reporting potholes and road hazards to the City because they want the information and act on it quickly.
As a test case, I reported this month’s Pothole of Shame, at Grand Ave and Bay Place, last Thursday afternoon before the newsletter went out. I used the online form to report it (instead of the report-by-phone option) and figured I’d receive a confirmation email and get a repair status a week or two from now. I was way off. I got a call Tuesday morning. It took the city only 2.5 working days to get back to me about my pothole request. And not just to say they got it, to ask me for more information about the location of the pothole because they were set to fix it the very next day. I was floored.
It’s not necessary to be on site for the repair; as long as you’ve provided enough information for them to locate the hazard without you, you should be set. In my case, since I reported a pothole someone had described to me (I’d never seen it firsthand) for an intersection that covers a lot of ground, I agreed to meet the work crew on site today. It also gave me the opportunity to see the City’s pothole-fighters in action.
After I located the offending pothole – a circular access cover about twelve inches wide sunk two inches beneath the street – a member of the repair crew cleared out the dirt left by recent rains to reveal the metal plate. He informed me that since it wasn’t a manhole cover, it wasn’t a sewer issue, and they’d report it to the appropriate agency (in case you’re curious, the cover bore the words “WELL”, “OBSERVATION” and “MONITORING” in the shape of a triangle). But here’s the best part: after saying they’d pass the report on, he added that they’d do what they could to patch up the hole in the meantime. You gotta love that. I didn’t stick around to see what happened after that, but once I get pictures of the completed work from today and the final fix, I’ll be posting them here.
The City really does care. So if there’s a pothole or hazard that’s worth complaining about, it’s doubly worth reporting – you’ll get more satisfaction from that strategy anyway. And everyone I dealt with throughout this process – both in person and on the phone – was eager to help, patient and well-informed. So don’t be shy, let the pothole naming begin!