A Bronx Distinction: The Mother of All Potholes

By Krystal Wilson

It’s been there as long as the locals can remember — a pothole smack in the middle of Young Avenue covered with warning cones. But this isn’t your ordinary street hazard. This may be the Bronx’s (if not the entire city’s) Mother of All Potholes: FOUR FEET wide and SEVEN INCHES deep.

“I don’t park my car here. I don’t want anyone hitting my car trying to avoid that hole,” says Joseph Macchirola, 50, whose girlfriend’s home has the crater right out front, a dubious landmark.

A water-main break created the chasm, and instead of laying new pipe, the city patched up the old one and filled in the pit with macadam… then filled it again… and again, said a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although there haven’t been any recent accidents reported on the stretch of Young between Mace and Allerton Avenues, several residents said they’ve seen more than their share of close calls — even with the collection of cones intended to steer people clear.

 “It sometimes backs up traffic,” said Gisela Fleary, 36, a concerned Pelham Parkway resident.

What’s it going to take to have this pit permanently repaired, so that residents no longer fear it will re-open?

“If the city wants to avoid lawsuits, they need to replace the pipelines,” says one resident on the block. “If not, the pipes are going to continue to leak and everything is going to turn into mud, more holes are going to open up and people’s houses are going to began to sink.”

Jennifer Rivera, the director of operations at City Councilman James Vacca’s office, tried contacting the city’s Department of Environmental Protection several times after The Bronx Journal called. As of June 1, there’s been no response.

Rivera promised, however, that she will keep at it until she has an answer.

Esther Diaz, 20, for one, isn’t waiting. She’s begun calling the city’s 311 information line with complaints, while urging her neighbors to do the same.

Stay tuned….