ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — On Friday, Hackett Blvd looked beautiful amid Spring weather. The only eye sore was the collection of craters in its pavement. Gregory Magee has lived here for 15 years. He says the pothole problem has been persistent since a water main break in 2014. He would like to see this issue in his rearview.
“You’ll see along along that strip it’s pretty bad” said Magee.
He’s talking about the area between Albany Academy and Saint Peter’s Hospital.
“You know if I was a police officer I wouldn’t be able to tell who was driving intoxicated or who was just trying to swerve from the potholes to not damage their vehicles” Magee joked.
Magee claims the problem is so bad that he’s had realignment repairs done to his car. Tom Moore, a Whitehall Road Neighborhood Connection Leader, is just as concerned.
“I think our main concern here for our neighborhood group is to have the streets in good condition so our residents don’t get hurt” Moore said.
Magee says he reached out to the city government but…
“The only person who got back to me was the water commissioner” Magee claimed. “He didn’t even have an answer he basically said their work is not even being installed in the street where it would affect the condition of the streets it would be installed in the grassy mediums” Magee further claimed.
Department of General Services Deputy Commissioner Frank Zeoli says they are constantly fixing potholes. If residents have a complaint…
“They can use the see click fix app it’s on any mobile device” said Zeoli.
Zeoli says residents can take a picture of the pothole and send it to the city through the app. You can also call the office of neighborhood services at (518) 434 2489 to alert them of a pothole.
Magee however says responses haven’t worked for him.
“When you ask to have something done your requesting it may not be valid we may not find something that needs to be done, so it all depends,” Zeoli countered. He says valid requests take time to process.
Albany Mayoral Chief of Staff David Galen says the Department of Engineering is aware of the issue. He says the potholes are created by pools of water that form because Hackett Boulevard is unleveled as a creek was below the street. The city is trying to fix Hackett’s slope so water can flow to drains on the street’s median.