How to win a taxpayer's heart: Just fill the potholes

Every town has its share of potholes. And the recent ice and snow aggravated the little holes, as cold water seeped into the asphalt through cracks and pushed chunks of rock apart.

In Auburn, to tackle this simple and basic hole-filling mission, the city set up a hot line for residents to call and report potholes. And people are calling. In the hot line's first week, two two-person crews filled 150 holes, contrasted with a previous average week of 20.

"It's just one of those common-sense things," said Mayor Pete Lewis, using the opportunity to refer to his town, again, as "the smallest big city you've ever seen."

Lewis dreamed up the pothole hot line.

"He was driving around probably bouncing through a couple of them himself," said Fred Sears, the city's maintenance and operations manager, who oversees the new hole-filling effort.

"We do have problems with potholes," Sears said. "One pothole's too many."

Auburn isn't the only city with potholes, and Pete Lewis isn't the first mayor to see an opportunity in the pockmarked pavement.

When Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels took office two years ago, it became clear to him that people had lost confidence in the government's ability to take care of basic things, such as public safety or fixing the roads. Nickels launched a 100-day agenda, focusing on doing the basics, and that meant filling potholes. Although Seattle's Pothole Rangers had been around for a while, filling potholes wasn't a priority.

Nickels said he wanted all potholes reported to the city filled within 48 hours. "Drill 'em and fill 'em in 48 hours," he promised. Seattle residents call 684-ROAD to report potholes.

Since Nickels took office, 51,504 potholes have been filled. More than 97 percent of the potholes that were reported were filled within 48 hours.

"Once the public has confidence that we can fill a pothole efficiently, we can move on and focus on bigger things," said Marianne Bichsel, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

There are so many pieces of a local government its constituents do not see. Unless a resident attends City Council meetings, or combs through the city budget, or submits plans to rezone a piece of property, there are few chances to clearly see tax dollars put to use. Few chances to see, as it were, where the rubber hits the road.

The pothole, it would seem, is the ultimate demonstration that a city is working for its residents.

And besides, Lewis said, it's plain good fiscal policy.

"Auburn's never been a rich city. We don't have money to waste," Lewis said. "The earlier you catch a pothole, the longer that pavement will last. People here are concerned with saving money. This is one way to save money."

The residents are the city's eyes, reporting potholes quickly. And Lewis has vowed to address all problems called in to the city's hot line in no more than two days.

"They came right out the very next day," said Gene Golden, who called to report a rash of potholes on a dead-end street in front of a storage facility for which he is caretaker. "They asked me how many holes there were, and I said 'Well, I stopped counting at 18.' "

Golden wasn't holding his breath when he called in, understanding that he wasn't on one of the city's thoroughfares.

"But they were great. They came right out and filled most of them," he said, insisting, however, that "really what we need is a new street in there."

Sears agrees. "Potholes are a symptom of a bigger-picture problem," he says, alluding to budgetary concerns that preclude his department from implementing the TLC this city's roads need.

Usually, Jean Carkin prefers to stay off the busy roads altogether. But she happened to be on Auburn Way recently and noticed several potholes.

"They weren't real big ones," she said, noting, however, that the road is one of Auburn's most-traveled and should be taken care of. The city has filled the holes, but Carkin hasn't driven that way since.

"I try to avoid that street," she said.

The Auburn pothole hot line number is 253-931-3048.

More headlines and info from Auburn.

P-I reporter Kathy Mulady contributed to this report. P-I reporter Jeffrey M. Barker can be reached at 206-870-7852 or jeffreybarker@seattlepi.com

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