Man celebrates pothole's 3-month birthday in hopes of bringing about faster repairs



KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Three months after Frank Sereno called Kansas City's 311 Center to report a pothole, the bump in the road remains.

Rather than getting mad though, Sereno decided to celebrate, throwing the pothole a birthday party.

"I thought, 'What I can I do to have a little fun,'" Frank Sereno said. "Everyone is always complaining about the potholes, but complaining doesn't seem to be getting anything done. So I said, I want to keep it top of mind. I know my fellow Waldo neighbors are just as disgusted as I am so I said, let's just celebrate it's birthday. It's third birthday."

Kansas City's Public Works Department said the pothole Sereno reported is on the list for repairs. A spokesperson told WDAF crews were in that area Friday and said if the work isn't done by Friday night, repairs will happen Saturday.

"The weather is always a challenge," Maggie Green with Public Works said. "I know they got a lot done this week with the good weather. Last week they patched almost 2,000 potholes. Anytime it’s pouring down rain it’s difficult to patch but as long as we have good weather, crews are out there working on that list."

Green said since the beginning of 2019, Kansas City's 311 Center received around 15,000 reports about potholes. So far, around 10,000 of the potholes have been fixed.

Green said she encourages people to resubmit their cases if they were marked as closed, but repairs were not made. She said because of the high volume, cases may accidentally get canceled.

Sereno said he wants to see more money in Kansas City's budget for long term road repairs.