Didn't they have a hissy fit about people trying to do their own speed bump on a street?

Besides, when the union got a whiff of CoP farming out parking meter work they sued their pants off on a contractural basis.

If this were Portland, Mayor McCreepy would find a way to shut down the program, take it over himself, and give all the money to his next employer, The Q Center.

Garage Wine: This is being done in portland.

The guy works for a Tigard based company and he lives in the Multnomah area of SW portland.
This is a great idea much better than anything out of creepy's mouth. (look at his idiotic gun proposals to stop gang violence now that he "controls" the police bureau.)

If you read the article, it does mention the legitimate concern of liability for work that is not done to city standards by city staff or approved contractors. That said, isn't this the kind of "public-private" partnership our leaders say is needed to maintain public assets in an era of declining revenues?

The Solomonic thing for Sam to do would be to grant the guy approved-contractor status (he could be even more magnanimous by waiving the application fees) and then let him do his thing with a few key guidelines, such as filling potholes to city standards, not filling potholes in main arterials, etc. Then he could co-opt the positive vibe and tweet about it to his heart's content.

However, like Steve points out, expect the PBOT union to stonewall, even though there's only one pothole crew in the whole city and they can't possibly keep up with the workload.

"isn't this the kind of "public-private" partnership our leaders say is needed to maintain public assets in an era of declining revenues?"

This is what bothers me the most. Street maintenance is one of the most basic responsibilities for a city government, along with the maintenance of other infrastructure. While the work being done by this contractor is admirable and laudable, doesn't it play into the city's plan to hand off basic maintenance to citizens at the citizens' expense, in addition to the taxes we already pay? Maybe the city should provide the services that local governments were created to provide, instead of attempting to engineer society and dictate principles and cater to visionaries, etc.

According to the article it takes the city FIVE DAYS to even get back to you about the pothole and TWENTY DAYS to fix it!! I guess city "work" crews are too busy making new bikes lanes or something.

I would argue the city isn't even doing their job and this potholes for poverty program should be allowed. Portland is such a joke of a city these days. We can lay unneeded streetcar tracks everywhere (and really screw up the roads in the process) but we can't fill potholes in a halfway timely basis.

"Mayor" Creepy needs to go jump off the tram.

The city does a terrible job of maintaining most streets in "outer SW". And the city's pothole patches tend to last 6 months maximum because they do not properly prep the site. They are sloppy and haphazard in their approach to fixes.

What's interesting is that if the city does not maintain your street (well if they think it's not a street they maintain, you can hire someone to fix it)

http://swni.org/book/export/html/496

Check the Expanded Maintenance Options section on the page linked above.

Frankly, I am about to investigate whether one poorly maintained SW arterial is in violation of state code. And if it is, I will probably raise hell because I am tired of the situation.

“On public streets, only permitted contractors and city of Portland crews can do that work,” Hm? I wonder about the intricacies of becoming a "permitted contractor"? You know - who's palm and how much grease? Consider your mayor and this post becomes an Ewwwww, moment.

I look forward to seeing the new "mobile baby nursing trailer" that Coast Paving will have to provide in order to facilitate approved contractor status.

Eric, I hope you aren't considering the "city standards" on street/pothole maintenance as exhibited by the usual Sam's pothole crews. They show up over 2 hours after their start time; patch three holes taking 1 hour; they miss the other holes nearby because their boss hasn't painted white circles around them; then go on a break for 1/2 hours; then clean up their tools and go to lunch for 1 1/2 hours; then patch 2 holes in the afternoon and head to the yard by 3pm.

And have you noticed the "city standards" when some utility digs holes or long trench lines in streets. The patch jobs are either sunken or raised 1 to 2 inches above surrounding surfaces creating another Sam Speed Bump. They, of course, break out even sooner than a professional patch job so that now the repair job becomes a city crew job at taxpayer expense, and not ever the utility that created the problem. Great "Standards".