RB Residents Hit the Streets Looking for Potholes

Volunteers gathered at the Saturday morning under overcast skies for a Road Repair Rally organized by City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who has made road repair and infrastructure upkeep a priority.

Around 40 people signed up to patrol Rancho Bernardo looking for potholes and other roadway problems, and return to Seven Oaks to report what they found. Members of DeMaio’s staff were on hand to receive reports from volunteers and forward them to city crews that fix potholes.

DeMaio, a declared candidate for San Diego mayor, has released a plan titled Save our Streets that details seven reforms to fund road repairs. He has also made pension reform for city employees a priority, and said the two issues are related.

“The two things that we’ve seen in the city finances, that have been in horrific shape, one is the skyrocketing cost of pensions, and the other is the deterioration of our roads, and they’re related,” DeMaio said. “Offices have been so busy filling the pension hole that they haven’t filled the pothole. They’ve deferred money, in essence, from infrastructure costs to labor costs, to cover pension payments.”

In Rancho Bernardo, DeMaio said he put a priority on Rancho Bernardo Road and Bernardo Center Drive for maintenance, but other roadways also need attention.

“When you take a look at some of our secondary streets and tertiary streets, they are in a significant state of disrepair,” he said.