Our administration’s North Star has always been building a safer, more affordable city for working-class New Yorkers. Sometimes, that means delivering on big, generational projects that will build neighborhoods and transform boroughs. And sometimes, that means taking care of the fundamentals — the things we take for granted until they don’t work. In this administration, we’re doing both — and this holiday season, that means fewer potholes on our streets, fewer garbage bags on our sidewalks, and a historic plan to transform Fifth Avenue.
This week, we will celebrate the record speed at which we’re filling potholes — and the investments we’ve made in preventing potholes from forming in the first place — as we fill the 500,000th pothole in our city streets since the start of this administration. In the three years of our administration, we’ve received less than 90,000 311 complaints about potholes; during the first three years of the previous administration, they received nearly 150,000 pothole complaints. We are filling potholes faster than ever before, closing 311 complaints in less than two days, so that New Yorkers don’t have to spend their valuable time on the phone calling again and again about the same problem. Had we not taken action, we would have had more to fill — but with better repaving, we now have fewer potholes to fill. We also understand that consistent investment in paving is the best way to prevent potholes, which is why we’re averaging nearly 1,200 new lane-miles of paving each year. So, if you see a pothole — which there are always more of in the winter — call 311, and we’ll get out there as soon as possible. And if you’re on the road and you see one of our crews at working, take it slow, so they can get the job done safely.
