City starts online program to speed fixing potholes
City launches new way to reach out on roadside hazards, speed patches
The city of Santa Fe aims to fix potholes one tweet at a time. Mayor Javier Gonzales announced the creation of a new Twitter account Thursday that allows Santa Fe residents to use social media to report tire-busting gaps in pavement, a frequent source of complaints.
“Just snap a pic and post the pothole location and photo to Twitter, tagging our new account,” @PostAPotholeSF, a city news release says.
The city promises to fix the pothole “within 72 hours in most cases.”
But Santa Fe residents don’t have to be on Twitter to report potholes in need of repair. They can simply pick up the phone and call constituent services at 505955-6949.
Acknowledging that potholes are an ongoing problem in Santa Fe, as they are in many cities, the mayor and city councilors budgeted $300,000 for on-call street repair and maintenance during the fiscal year that began Saturday.
Thursday’s announcement calls potholes “a fact of life” in Santa Fe, a city with older streets and cold, snowy winters.
“The cycle of freezing and thawing causes new potholes to emerge every year, so each spring, city of Santa Fe crews hit the streets, repairing major potholes on the busiest streets first, then streets near schools and fire stations, before moving on to residential areas and less trafficked byways,” the news release states.
Crews estimate they have repaired more than 1,000 potholes since the spring thaw.
“But we’ve been hearing from folks all over the city who want more attention on repairing unsightly and sometimes dangerous potholes, so this budget year, the city took action, adding money in the budget for an on-call crew of workers to fix potholes as they arise,” the news release states.
The new Twitter account
— which as of Thursday afternoon had only 29 followers so far, including the mayor and city spokesman Matt Ross — is designed to make it easy to request a repair. Those not on Twitter also can tag their photos to the official Santa Fe government Facebook page at www.facebook. com/SantaFeGov.
“We’ve worked every year to build a budget that’s accountable to what our citizens are asking for, and that’s important,” Gonzales said in a statement. “This new account comes from the same idea, and I’m excited about the chance not just to improve our streets, but to show Santa Feans in real time how local government works for them.”