More Than We Can Bear

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There’s so many bad streets in Los Angeles that the city is starting to get a reputation as a third-world country. We’ve encountered ruptured roadways, potholes, alligator cracks and inadequately repaired utility trenches at so many locations that it’s almost fruitless to list them; but we’ll try. Here’s some in Hollywood:

Intersection of Franklin and Whitley (several potholes)
Santa Monica Blvd. between La Brea and Vine
Willoughby and Wilcox
Willoughby and Cole
Las Palmas between Santa Monica and Willoughby
Seward and Fountain
Santa Monica and Vine

More to come in a future post.

We recently sent off a missive to Hollywood’s L.A. Councilmember Tom LaBonge about these bad streets and though his Field Rep was sympathetic and passed on our complaint to the proper authorities, nothing has been done. So we fired off another e-mail:

Unfortunately, nothing has been done about any of the streets, in particular the intersection of Franklin and Whitley (several potholes and dips), which is quite nefarious because it is a busy intersection and if one slows down to navigate the potholes you run the risk of being rear-ended.

In addition, lately I’ve noticed several streets buckling; I wonder if that might be caused by the oversize buses because most of the buckling appears to be in right-hand lanes.

Having said that, there is a terrible mound that has arisen on Franklin between Western and Garfield — in both directions — in the middle of the street. I don’t know if that is in Councilmember LaBonge’s district or Councilmember Garcetti’s district, but it must be taken care of as it is a danger to motorists. There’s a similar mound on Melrose east of Edinborough on the north side (going West).

Also, Alcyona between El Contento and Bryn Mawr is getting worse. Earlier this year when the sewers were updated, utility trenches were dug and filled in with asphalt. The trenches are coming undone, adding to the bad state of the road. In addition, a neighbor had some plumbimg work done on his portion of the sewer between his house and the middle of the street, and more trenches have been dug and filled, causing more dips and ruts. It’s like living in a third-world country. (Disclaimer: I visit a friend here often, so this stretch of road is particularly irksome)

In addition, there are so many streets with “alligator” cracks that I think I’m living in Florida; take a drive on Hollywood Blvd. west from La Brea and the street will knock your teeth out.

As of this posting, the only street mentioned above that has been repaired is Franklin between Western and Garfield. The city repaired the mound and smoothed out the street.

The intersection of Franklin and Whitley (which has been damaged since the beginning of this year) remains a travesty.

Stay tuned.

2 Replies to “More Than We Can Bear”

  1. G-d Damit! I am so pissed off at thesef#cking roads!
    Driving south down La Cieniga from Olympic to Pico there 3 serious construction cuts SMACK DEAD in the middle lane – these GINORMOUS potholes will seriously injure you, your car and others around you. When the f*ck is LOS ANGELES going to take responsibilty for the roads!

  2. In my opinion, the most important responsibities of any city is to provide security and good infrastructure that EVERYONE uses (roads, anyone?) Hollywood Blvd between La Brea and Fairfax is in worse condition than roads in all the third world I’ve been to. How shameful!! Perhaps our mayor should cut all his expensive trips, mostly for his own political ambitions, and use the fund for road repairs. Does anyone agree?

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