May 3, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 18

Bumpy pavement is creating a rough ride for motorists — and two councilman say the city has to crack down on the people making the potholes.

James Oddo (R–Dyker Heights) and Simcha Felder (D–Boro Park) want the city to enforce existing rules that require contractors who damage pavement to provide a full curb-to-curb repair.

“Cutting up city streets may be a necessary inconvenience, but the potholes and sink-ins that result from careless repaving should not be,” Felder said. “The city needs to hold people responsible for sloppy work.”

The other day, with Felder in tow, Oddo showed off two streets in his district. One, a ragged section of Rockland Avenue, was all cut up. Later, the pair went to a smooth part of North Railroad Avenue — which had been repaved properly, according to existing city law.

“Despite promises that changes would come, we still see streets dug up and incompletely repaired by contractors,” Oddo said. “This is unacceptable and it is a quality-of-life issue for all New Yorkers. The streets of New York might not be paved with gold, but they are paved with taxpayer dollars. This requirement would ensure that taxpayer dollars do not go to waste.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation said the department did issue nearly 1,500 violations last year to companies that failed to properly repave streets.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper