Tuesday, December 30, 2008

It's Uncanny

We mention potholes and suddenly, the Tribune is all about potholes:
  • On an average December day at the height of last year's record- and axle-breaking winter pothole season, the city's Department of Transportation logged 300 pothole complaints.

    By late this afternoon, the daily count was 797 and climbing.

  • In the city, an exasperated Chicago Transportation Commissioner Thomas Byrne said many of this winter's potholes are bigger than last year's worst-in-a-decade batch.
Perhaps the poor clearing done by Streets & Sanitation resulted in more snow being on the road to melt and work its way into the cracks to freeze again?

Or maybe the poor salt job this year that previously let the brine work its way into sewer covers and keep them clear for the draining of snow melt allowed way more liquid to stay up on the streets and work its way into potholes,

Or even the more noticeable water main breaks and leaking hydrants indicative of neglected infrastructure going back years, maybe even decades.

It's pretty much all interconnected at some level. Like Chicago, Cook and Illinois politics. And soon, Washington DC.

Labels:

32 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

NO MORE METER VIOLATIONS starting in '09.

Let the private company's employees handle it.

How long till we get our own version of A&E's "Parking Wars"?

12/30/2008 12:38:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

come pay a visit to the 10th ward. you'll see some "real" potholes that never get filled.

12/30/2008 12:43:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The scabs that work for CDOT will suddenly work on Saturday and Sunday for straight time. Very poor union.

12/30/2008 01:57:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Off Topic.........Anyone who was scheduled to work the obama detail (building or house) there was a ton of scamming going on to make people that weren't scheduled actually work. People were sent home and then replaced with the sergeants friends. It happened on all shifts. Check Iclear and see who actually worked and then greive and complain to the union. You will find you will get some free money just for bitching and it will make the guys running the details get dumped for screwing it up big time.

12/30/2008 03:13:00 AM  
Blogger Mary A. Mitchell said...

Like reporters from the local newspapers don't read your blog SCC? You would be surprised to see a complete list of who reads your blog buddy. Even a left wing liberal person such as I read your blog.

12/30/2008 04:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The potholes are horrendous throughout the city this year. If it is this bad now, can you imagine what it will be like in March???

12/30/2008 07:10:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The northbound bridge on Central Ave. over the Kennedy has fuckin foxhole sized craters! Avoid at all costs. It seriously looks like a structural collapse waiting to happen.

12/30/2008 07:49:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Mary Mitchell...If you do indeed read this blog I'd like to be the first to tell you to GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU LIBERAL PIECE OF DOGSHIT! I feel so much better now!

12/30/2008 08:35:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The answer is a real simple one, USE CONCRETE. Prior to this job I worked road construction and I will tell you one thing the politicians up here hate to use concrete. Why? Because it does not fail as quickly as asphalt. I asked a state engineer one time why we use asphalt and his repy was that it holds up fine and is a nice solid base. My response was concrete is better and would last longer. His reply to that was that asphalt is strong and structuraly sound. then I asked him if he would have his house foundation comprised of asphalt instead of concrete and that pretty much ended that conversation, with no response and quite a bit of laughter from the guys around us.

Needless to say it would put too many people out of work that is why they won't do it. I mean hey what would Monarch asphalt company do for business. Monarch asphalt is actually a Palumbo Bros. business, the same company that is banned for LIFE from biddding or having anything to do with state contracts. But hey Dick Daley probably knows the old man. The CHICAGO way I tell you.

12/30/2008 08:45:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's all about the substandard work done today. They do repairs? in many city buildings and it just falls apart or the leak returns. Isn't there a warranty with the work done by these contractors? If they did a roof job on my house, and it leaked. I'd be calling them back pronto.

12/30/2008 09:07:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

(tiny) Tom Byrne sucked his way up to Shortshanks to his level of incompetency in his present assignment. Thank God he left the CPD. We have enough ass-kissers as it is. Silly, really silly. Just silly.

12/30/2008 10:15:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Which will be more in Chicago, homicides or pot holes....one more day...

12/30/2008 10:58:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would someone please explain to me (I'm being sarcastic here) how we have nothing better or more durable out there to pave our roads with than asphalt? I mean, every year this shit is laid down, then it either bubbles, cracks, sinks, or just erodes to shit, then we have to repeat the cycle all over again. Whose ass needs to get kicked before this ass-backwards city starts using products that perform better and give us tax-payers a better long-term bang for our buck?

12/30/2008 11:11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OT Yeah that Obama thing happned to me and I have grieved it. Scc why don't you do a post on this and blow it wide open. Maybe the media will read it on your blog and run with it.

12/30/2008 11:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sun Times reports an actor from Blue Man group was arrested with an assistant principal of Maine South for public indecency. Wonder who was "Blewing" who.

12/30/2008 11:33:00 AM  
Blogger TheChicagoSyndicate.com said...

Right on with your comments about the potholes.

I was in Chicago last week for the holidays and I swear that we have some gravel roads in the backwoods of Tennessee that are smoother than some of the city streets this year.

12/30/2008 03:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You can't blaim the condition of the roads and all the pot holes on the City.

It is the citizen's fault, after all they are the ones who use the roads.

If every citizen did thier part and took a snow shovel and filled the pot holes near thier house we would not have all these complaints.

signed;

King Daley

12/30/2008 03:47:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's all about the asphalt industry. Reporter's, who owns the suppliers? Who do they contribute to? What politicians, what contractors, road builders? That's why we don't have cement highways that last more than 18 months!

12/30/2008 04:11:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In Germany the highways (Autobahn)are composed of concrete; not soft asphalt, like Illinois highways.

The cost of concrete highways are roughly double what asphalt composition highways are, but they last 30 years on average. Asphalt composition highways last five years on average.

Why are we building all of our streets and highways with asphalt?

Answer, due to corruption and the political kickbacks that firms like Orange Crush, formerly Palumbo Construction yield to corrupt politicians.

Why do we tolerate this blatant corruption and aggravation???

Don't you love the annual front end alignments and damged rims and tires?

12/30/2008 05:51:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if you ever watched the city crews fill a pothole, they just threw the asphalt into the hole and let the passing cars tamp it down, so not its uneven and the plows tear it up again. It should have been rolled flat or at least tamped down with a special tool.
I spoke to a city worker about this, he said the city wants lots of holes filled, they don't care how many times they have to fill the same one.

12/30/2008 05:58:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who writes meter violations anyway?

12/30/2008 08:39:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Laborers Union agreeed to work seven days a week for straight time to fix potholes.

No overtime!! Is this even legal?

Now what will Shortshanks expect out of us????

12/30/2008 08:59:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

POT HOLES,

I drove through four subburbs and did not see one pot hole with the exception of an old bridge. Started in Burham IL. through Calumet City, Lansing and then into Munster Ind. Not one pot hole, not even a repared pot hole. Now the bridge don't count because the entire bridge is crumbling and is the states responsibility.

The reason, these small tows mantian the streets. And when it gets bad they do a proper repare or replace it.

The Shity maintains nothing, the would not know how to do a proper repare if our life depended on it.

Ever watch the city crews repare a pot hole? Truck with 6 clowns in it pulls up, 5 of them are sleeping. Dude gets out dumps cold patch (garbage) into the hole and they leave. this repare last several days, and the crew comes back in a month and does it again.

The hole they just patched is full of loose stones, debis and about 6 inches of water, snow and ice. Why would they expect the cold patch garbage the Shity buys to stick and hold in that hole.

Answer, They don't! And they don't care. Nor do they care about the accidents the holes cause or the damage to your car.

Any ten year old kid knows if you are trying to bond one material to another material the surface must be clean, dry and free of loose particals to acheive a proper bond. Then put your school book on top of it til it drys.

Not the Shity they do it wrong from the word go and then complain that its the weather causing the holes.

12/30/2008 11:05:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the last couple of days on the way to work i thought i was in a down hill slalom event i was dodging so many pot holes. can't totally blame the shitty on this one. mother nature struck us a cruel blow this december. happy new year to all.

12/31/2008 03:05:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why don't the Feds look into the ties between the City Hall cabal and the Chicagoland Paving Companies and the obvious Pay to Play,and kickbacks, the mob connections, and the decades of using inferior materials on Chicagoland roadway, made to fall apart?

12/31/2008 11:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why can't we have convicts from the Il. Dept of Corrections or community service CC Jail offenders fix the potholes? With the right equipment and supervision, a child could do it. Fill the hole with hot aspault, pack it down, smooth, and next pothole. I'd bet Sheriff Joe from Maricopa County, AZ. would have those potholes fixed by inmates.

12/31/2008 12:02:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

potholes are also a safety factor as well as a vehicle damage problem, so oce again the public safety is ignored and taken for granted by Shortshanks and Co.

12/31/2008 12:05:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Why can't we have convicts from the Il. Dept of Corrections or community service CC Jail offenders fix the potholes? With the right equipment and supervision, a child could do it. Fill the hole with hot aspault, pack it down, smooth, and next pothole. I'd bet Sheriff Joe from Maricopa County, AZ. would have those potholes fixed by inmates.

12/31/2008 12:02:00 PM

but sheriff joe is not a pussy like tom dart 19th ward hack!

12/31/2008 09:32:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Off Topic.........Anyone who was scheduled to work the obama detail (building or house) there was a ton of scamming going on to make people that weren't scheduled actually work. People were sent home and then replaced with the sergeants friends. It happened on all shifts. Check Iclear and see who actually worked and then greive and complain to the union. You will find you will get some free money just for bitching and it will make the guys running the details get dumped for screwing it up big time.

12/30/2008 03:13:00 AM

They did it to me had a cadet call me and tell me next month I was canceled! But since I have seniority I should of been rescheduled on another day I requested, wonder if theyw ill fill this with friends of the sgt! Hey flop look into this please after you sober up from new years eve!

12/31/2008 09:35:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Off Topic.........Anyone who was scheduled to work the obama detail (building or house) there was a ton of scamming going on to make people that weren't scheduled actually work. People were sent home and then replaced with the sergeants friends. It happened on all shifts. Check Iclear and see who actually worked and then greive and complain to the union. You will find you will get some free money just for bitching and it will make the guys running the details get dumped for screwing it up big time.

12/30/2008 03:13:00 AM

The number to call and bitch is 312-745-6308 officer mendez or call 312-745-6305 officer Tapia they do all the scheduling and need to be held accountable! Or ask for the LT Liace pronounced li-ach-ee at 312 745 6305 someone has to be accountable,before all the grievances are filed!

12/31/2008 09:37:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

things would be so much better and smoothly run if harley schenker were supt,

1/01/2009 12:34:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These potholes are ridiculous!!...I thought I was participating in a damn obstacle course while driving to work and home. I can't believe that I wasn't swallowed up into the street. Some are unavoidable. Just trying to avoid a pothole is dangerous in itself cause on several occasions I found my self facing on coming traffic.
Thanks Daley I see my tax dollars at work.

1/01/2009 05:17:00 PM  

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