Street Repairs Will Have To Wait

The city recently resurfaced major portions of two streets (Trabuco and Olympiad) and applied patches on numerous others. How will city hall respond as residents add hundreds of streets to the list of those needing repair?

Drivers report that the resurfaced southbound lanes of Olympiad (between Alicia and Jeronimo) started falling apart soon after the work was finished. They say the top layer of asphalt is deteriorating from week to week. Streets with small patches are faring no better, as cracks soon develop between patches.

There are at least two reasons the city won’t adequately fix most of the streets. First, it can’t afford more than patchwork and tar for those that aren’t due for resurfacing in the next cycle. Despite all the happy talk about the city’s $30 million in “discretionary reserves,” less than $500,000 is available for discretionary spending. The rest is obligated, encumbered or needed to pay the bills. Revenue is down, and the financial picture won’t improve soon.

In good times, the number of city employees ballooned to 150-plus, and many of them are engrossed in activities unrelated to essential public services. City hall insiders have said for years that things like the character program “suck up an enormous amount of staff time.” If adequate money were spent on infrastructure – repairing roads and maintaining slopes – funds would evaporate for city staff parties, “free” meals at city hall, poorly attended events and decorative junk along roadways and trails. The city bragged about planting more than 400 trees last year – most of them along Crown Valley Parkway – while telling residents to conserve water.

City employees are busy planning the next flute concert and changing pictures on pillars along Crown Valley Parkway. Photographs in the outdoor “cabanas” at the community center were fading a bit, so new pictures had to be taken, laminated, weatherproofed and installed. And the city’s next big, yearlong anniversary party (No. 25) is only three years away.

Street repairs will have to wait.