Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: I love the smell of asphalt in the morning!
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office put the word out over the weekend: The city this morning will fill the 1 millionth pothole since he took office in 2005. Who is keeping score, you might be wondering.
Answer: the city of Los Angeles.
The offending pothole is at the corner of Valley Spring and Strohm in the Toluca Lake area. From a political perspective, that's a great area. It allows Councilman Tom LaBonge to show up at the news conference, because it's his district and he loves, loves, loves news conferences.
It's also just east of the district represented by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who is also the chair of the City Council's transportation committee and could use some TV time: She's running for city controller in March, and if she wins -- a good chance, because she's unopposed -- she will be leaving the council in mid-June, forcing a special election to fill her seat. One big question: Will the city get to another notable pothole milestone before that happens?
And, of course, there's the mayor. His last big pothole conference came in the spring, also on a Monday morning. Why Monday mornings, you ask? Because the TV news folks are just starting their workweek and it's nice to have a staged event like this one waiting for them with easy visuals -- the mayor filling a pothole.
I'm curious what readers think. Does it feel like 1 million potholes have been filled in L.A. since summer July 2005? Or do you believe the roads in Baghdad may be better?
The comment board is open for business and Bottleneckers know the only thing more fun than filling a pothole is filling the board with nuggets of wisdom.
The news release is after the jump.
MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA TO FILL THE CITY'S 1,000,000th POTHOLE
Operation Pothole, the nation’s single largest pothole repair effort,
has filled 1,000,000 potholes citywide and continues to improve the
roadways, traffic conditions and quality of life for residents and
motorists in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will join Councilmember Tom
LaBonge, Councilmember Wendy Greuel, Board of Public Works President
Cynthia Ruiz, Bureau of Street Services Director Bill Robertson and
members of the City’s Operation Pothole Patch-Up Squad at a news
conference to announce the completion of Operation Pothole’s
1,000,000th pothole repair, Monday, October 27, 2008 at 10:15 AM at the
corner of Valley Spring Lane and Strohm Avenue Los Angeles, CA 91602.
Following the news conference, Mayor Villaraigosa will roll up his
sleeves, don a Bureau of Street Services vest and boots, operate a
patch-up machine and repair the 1,000,000th pothole of the Operation
Pothole program.
In just 3 years, Operation Pothole and the Pothole Patch-Up Squad have
repaired a total of 1,000,000 potholes, street cracks and eroded streets
citywide. Operation Pothole, the nation’s single largest pothole
repair program initiated to fix the City’s bumpiest roads and
pothole-heavy streets, has aided in making Los Angeles’ roads safer
for commuters and has created a smoother driving experience for the
City’s motorists.
WHO:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Councilmember Tom LaBonge
Councilmember Wendy Greuel
Board of Public Works Commissioner Cynthia Ruiz
Director of the Bureau of Street Services, Bill Robertson
Members of the Operation Pothole Patch-Up Squad
WHAT:
Announcing the completion of 1,000,000 pothole repairs
WHEN:
Monday, October 27, 2008 at 10:15 AM
WHERE:
Valley Spring Lane and Strohm Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 91602
VISUAL:
Mayor Villaraigosa will fill the 1,000,000th pothole
1 million potholes filled, really? i have not been there to actually count the 1M, also are we making sure the job is done well with a new more durable asphalt?
What about the million trees to plant? i hear rumors:pretty late on this one. Villar is NOT green
What about the millions of illegals to remove from LA streets to make it livable again? I'm afraid Villar wants to keep the 'sanctuary city'. Shame to the pro-illegal defender.
Posted by: VillarMustGo | October 27, 2008 at 11:35 PM
As usual our politicians have it backwards. They should be ASHAMED that they allowed things to slide for so long that there were one million unfilled potholes in the first place. I guess nowadays actually finding the Mayor doing is job is a news event.
Posted by: Phred | October 27, 2008 at 03:35 PM
At four feet average distance per pothole...that's what...750 linear miles of pothole filled in San Antonio's tour of duty.
During that same period of time, how many miles of Bike Lanes have been striped? How many miles of Safe Routes to School sidewalk has been poured? How many miles of Bus Only Lane has been configured?
Better yet, how many trees gave their lives for these silly press releases announcing more bandaids instead of cures?
Posted by: SoapBoxLA | October 27, 2008 at 02:03 PM
So if a politician issues a press release, does that make it so? A million potholes? The tendency to hyperbole and governance through press conference with this individual leaves me less than sanguine that there is even an approximation of truth to that number. Do actions speak louder than press conferences, or is it so just because it's said?
Posted by: BOB2 | October 27, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Mr. Villaraigosa should ride a bus (either the 20, 720 or 920) down Wilshire Blvd. and then see if he is still willing to pat himself on the back.
The fact that buses were breaking their frames on Wilshire Blvd. speaks to the fact that not much has changed.
Posted by: M | October 27, 2008 at 10:14 AM
About 4 years to fill in 1 million potholes? Not bad. But why do we have to until 2010 for bus lanes on Wilshire? Is that so much harder than filling in a pothole?
Posted by: Tony Fernandez | October 27, 2008 at 09:05 AM