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I called the city about the pothole on 8th Ave bike lane 11 times and on the 12th they patched it
I used to think calling about bike lane stuff was a waste of time. I figured the city just tosses those reports in a bin and moves on. Then last spring I started keeping a list of every bad spot on my commute, and the pothole on 8th Ave near the school crossing was the worst one. It was deep enough that my front wheel slammed down every single morning. So I started calling. Once a week. Some weeks twice. I got a reference number each time and wrote them all down. Around call 11 a guy on the phone laughed and said lady you are persistent. Two days later a crew filled it. It is flat now and I ride over it without even thinking. I still do not know if it was the 12 calls or just timing. Anyone else keep a running list of bad spots, and does calling actually work for you or is there a better way?
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sanchez.sean17d ago
Twelve calls is a lot of calls, and there is no way to know the patch happened because of you or because a work order finally came up in their system. Plenty of people call once, get a number, and wait months. You might have just hit the week the crew was already assigned to that stretch of 8th. Calling feels like doing something, but the squeaky wheel story falls apart when you look at how these lists actually get worked. The city has a set order for repairs and your pothole probably moved up because of the school crossing nearby, not because a guy laughed at you on the phone. Keeping the list is smart for you, but it does not prove the calls did anything.
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