That guy who went viral for fixing potholes in Austin stopped after 3 months

I ran into him at a gas station off I-35 last summer and asked why he quit posting. He told me the city threatened to sue him for $12,000 in damages for 'unauthorized road work' and he just couldn't afford the legal fight anymore. How do we stop local governments from crushing people who actually try to help?

3 comments

3 Comments

thea60212d ago

I mean, maybe it's just me but the $12k vs $8,500 thing misses the bigger point. Nobody's talking about how the city of Austin literally has a "pothole bounty" program where they pay citizens $25 per pothole reported but then turn around and sue someone for trying to fix one themselves. It's like they want the reporting but not the actual fixing. My buddy works in the public works department there and even he said the city's own repair backlog is like 18 months long for some streets.

morganmartinez12d ago

Wait, are you sure it was $12,000? I thought I saw in the follow up article it was closer to $8,500 in potential fines and legal fees.

gracethomas8d ago

Hold on, is this really some kind of crazy conspiracy? I mean yeah it SUCKS that they threatened to sue him, but threatening and actually doing it are two different things. The city probably sent a strongly worded letter to scare him off, not a real court date. And that $25 bounty thing sounds like a total joke, but it's also not the same as handing a random guy a shovel and saying "have at it." There's liability and safety stuff, even if the city is slow. Honestly, I think people get way too worked up over a guy filling a few holes - it's not like he was repaving the whole highway.