Results tagged “potholes”

Staten Island might be the borough that demands the greatest need for its residents to have a vehicle, but that doesn't mean that drivers there by any means enjoy smooth sailing. Shaolin natives have been sending in reports to the SI Advance saying the roads feel like obstacle courses, have led to blown tires and even cause them to come up with creative directions in order to avoid the many problematic spots. The most horrific account comes from Rich Blazewicz of Great Kills who tells the paper how his ten-year-old daughter Gina "was hospitalized for two days with a concussion last month after she tripped in a pothole on Linton Place while playing basketball. She fell backward and hit her head...and was spitting up blood after the fall." Residents complain that when the DOT does show up, they only provide band-aid fixes that wash away after four or five storms. A rep for the DOT defends their current job performance saying, "Most roads have a 20-year cycle, with the evidence of a lack of investment in their upkeep showing up years—even decades—later."

A court ruling has decreased the city's liability in thousands of sidewalk-injury cases where people have sued the city after stumbles in areas with defects that had already been brought to the city's attention. The ruling says that maps made by a company hired by trial lawyers to denote every bump and bruise that pedestrians have come across will not carry weight in the suits because the maps are inaccurate and unclear. With 5,000 maps a year, each depicting several city blocks marked with hundreds of symbols, the city said they ended up with "700,00 squiggles." This decision further lets the city off the hook after a 2003 ruling moved the burden of injuries over to property owners, a move that has saved the city $13 million a year in lawsuits. Fred Kent, the president of the Project for Public Spaces, said, "Is the pothole guilty for trapping you and making you fall? Or are you guilty for not paying attention?” And lauding the court's decision was the first mayor to suffer an increase in payouts due to the maps, Ed Koch. He told the Times, “Hallelujah for the current decision. The money that’s paid out by such claims, which in my judgment are not worthy in many cases, is what deprives the city of spending money on matters that really are needed for the entire city.”

Mike Bloomberg may end his tenure as the Mayor of Pothole Repair. Under Bloomberg's watch, the city has filled 1.25 potholes since 2002. While anybody that hits potholes with their bike or their car surely thinks the city missed a few, Mayor Bloomberg assures us that they are doing what it can to fix them. In his first public appearance since returning from Asia, Bloomberg said, "Now, potholes are as much a part of city life as hot dog carts and yellow cabs, although that hasn't stopped us from doing everything we can to fix them once they appear."

Former New York City Mayor and Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is finding that his campaign for highest office is foundering in Florida--the state that his campaign has identified as a crucial crucible. The primary vote in the Sunshine State will occur on Jan. 29, and with approximately six weeks to go, Rudy's trailing competitors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. According to a survey conducted by pollster Scott Rasmussen, Romney is tallying 27% support, followed by Huckabee with 23%, and then Giuliani with 19%. Giuliani's organization dismissed the results of the Rasmussen poll as unreliable.