Driving on some of our streets is like driving on
the moon. It's rare not to find a pothole that has been left unfilled
for years. The reason we have so many potholes is because Public
Works doesn't have enough money to fill them all in, while we continue
to build more streets.
In fact, the streets are so bad, that everyday people
wreck their cars driving over these potholes. A car's suspension
can only handle so much bumping. One case that I'm still working
on, involves a resident on Ashburn who ran over a pothole and damaged
his suspension. After I advised him to make a claim for the hundreds
of dollars worth of damage, he got an unusual response from the
City.
City Claims said that potholes were "an unforeseeable
road hazard that are common to Winnipeg streets". I was stunned
to see that the City now considers potholes "common".
In response, I
placed 50 signs on some of the worst streets in our area.
I also wrote a letter to General Motors,
welcoming them to test drive their cars here. Read
that letter. (You'll need Acrobat to open the letter)
This is why I voted against the last two budgets
prepared by the Mayor. Both budgets clearly stated cutbacks in the
Public Works department.
This is also, another reason, why Urban
Sprawl works against the City. Here we are building more streets and
infrastructure while we can't maintain our existing infrastructure.
Even David Asper agreed with me, that Urban Sprawl works against Winnipeg. Read
his letter. (You'll need Acrobat to open the letter)
City Councillor Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre)
is protesting the lack of street maintenance, by putting up 30 signs
warning drivers of the streets in his neighbourhood
that are badly in need of repair.
"We've been having many
people put in claims against the city for damage to their cars because
they're driving on these streets", Smith said.
Smith says in one claim,
the City's claim adjuster responded to one such claim by stating
that a pothole is a "road hazard which is common to Winnipeg
streets".
The signs are the standard
45-inch orange diamond signs, a facsimile of the ones that the
City's
Public Works department uses to warn of construction.
"We are warning citizens
of Winnipeg to drive carefully when travelling on our rock and roll
roads," Smith said.
Smith charges that the
City has neglected the streets for long enough with cutbacks to
Public Works
