Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pothole purge saw nearly 8,000 craters filled in a single day – the same number that would usually take New York’s Department of Transport (DOT) a week.
I mean, I do legitimately wonder how he did this when other administrations didn’t or couldn’t. Would like an insider perspective. Like, did he just pay tons and tons of OT? Did he order the potholes filled quickly, even if they didn’t meet the normal standard for quality? Did he crack the whip and say “fuck your union rules!” Or were past administrations just this corrupt/lazy/incompetent?
I’m sure his fanboys will say “obviously it’s the last one - he’s not a corrupt capitalist pig”, or something. And I’m open to that explaination. But I’d like, yaknow, some actual statements from people who were actually involved.
EDIT 2: See Aatube’s comment below for the NYT article link. It’s real.
I mean, I do legitimately wonder how he did this when other administrations didn’t or couldn’t.
I suspect the article is overselling it (the comparison, not the raw pothole number), and they don’t source basically anything they’re saying, so it’s hard to definitively call them on that. NYC had a winter that created an abnormal number of potholes, and this article (using an uncited figure) says: “the same number that would usually take New York’s Department of Transport (DOT) a week.” But is that for filling potholes directly after winter? Is it for the rate of potholes per week averaged across the year (which would be a completely invalid comparison)? I guess I could try digging it up, but Novara Media clearly didn’t give enough of a shit when they said it.
I think it’s cool regardless.
Donate one hour’s wage per month—or whatever you can afford—today.
Dunno, Novara; maybe when you decide to learn how hyperlinks work.
EDIT: I tried to follow one breadcrumb to the NYT using this quote from the article: “According to the New York Times, the incident signaled early on that Mamdani was raring to take on “long ignored street improvements – the kind of meat-and-potatoes issue that some previous mayors have struggled to deliver on”.”.
I can’t find that quote, even trying several different verbatim excerpts from the quote (but the full quote should be findable anyway). Thaaaaaaaat’s really fucking questionable. I could be missing something. @return2ozma@lemmy.world, your thoughts?
Since Mayor Mamdani took office, NYC DOT has fixed more than 50,000 potholes, with an average response time of around two days. Additional pothole blitzes are planned for later this spring. NYC DOT will resurface 1,150 miles of roadway this year, ensuring our streets remain safe for all New Yorkers.
Daaaaaamn. That is some actual work being done. And all it took was electing a socialist. Let that be the lesson.
I appreciate you sitting through all of this for our benefit :)
I wanna see mamdani be successful but I’m wary of putting politicians up on a pedestal as our saviors and hope, as I’m learning from my elder leftists that thats gone wrong a lot of times before 😅
“NYC DOT crews stepped up yesterday to fill almost a week’s worth of potholes in a single day,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Flynn. “Now that the streets have thawed from a historic winter, we’ve ramped up our pothole-filling efforts and are beginning to fully repave streets across the five boroughs. This year, we’ll repave more than 1,100 lane miles of streets — the best way to help ensure our streets are safe and smooth for all New Yorkers.”
Left with no other data (I’m not thrilled Novara treated this press release totally uncritically), I’m forced to assume they mean “average potholes per week per year”, which is a completely bullshit metric to compare against that you’d only use as an empty boast. A day with just under 7x the efficiency of a given other day in the year isn’t all that exceptional when the day is a spring thaw right after a winter that made an exceptional amount of potholes. It’s still very good to be taking care of potholes, but Novara seemingly took a standard press release about fixing potholes and turned it into how Mamdani is revolutionizing NYC.
All that aside: what are your thoughts on the article seemingly fabricating a quote from The New York Times?
Oh, thanks! I did search it in quotes. It just didn’t show up for some reason. I guess Bing just doesn’t like this one for some reason (an example substring I chose):
Super my bad. Amended my comments. Very heavily appreciated. I should’ve tried another search engine to be safe.
The question is, how many potholes do they usually fill in a day? For all we know they fill 8000 potholes every spring, but just don’t advertise it. That being said, letting the people know what you do for them is important.
The first part makes sense. But I think an especially harsh winter would be more the culprit than SUVs. Not that they don’t cause more damage - but the number of SUVs in a city doesnt double in a single year and cause a noticeable increase in potholes. We would expect a gradual increase in pothole development that would only be noticeable with statistical analysis over several uyears.
You’re totally right. I didn’t know it was such a big jump. I assumed this was one of those cases where every administration gets to claim something is the “biggest ever” because the thing they’re bragging about tends to grow steadily with population and/or inflation.
Sure. But a future article or other news source or maybe a former mayor’s aide’s twitter account might have more info, and maybe someone here knows about that
I mean, my question was how it managed to do its job better than previous administrations.
Analysis elsewhere in the thread appears to indicate that none of my hypotheses were actually the most likely scenario. Instead, (and I’m embarassed I didn’t think of this) the most obvious hypothesis is that the DOT is filling potholes at a completely normal rate, and there are just a lot of potholes available to fill. They are comparing filling potholes on the pothole-filling-est day of the year after a harsh winter, versus an average week after average winters in previous administrations.
So, as always, the null hypothesis when a politician says something should be “it’s spin”
I mean, I do legitimately wonder how he did this when other administrations didn’t or couldn’t. Would like an insider perspective. Like, did he just pay tons and tons of OT? Did he order the potholes filled quickly, even if they didn’t meet the normal standard for quality? Did he crack the whip and say “fuck your union rules!” Or were past administrations just this corrupt/lazy/incompetent?
I’m sure his fanboys will say “obviously it’s the last one - he’s not a corrupt capitalist pig”, or something. And I’m open to that explaination. But I’d like, yaknow, some actual statements from people who were actually involved.
EDIT 2: See Aatube’s comment below for the NYT article link. It’s real.
I suspect the article is overselling it (the comparison, not the raw pothole number), and they don’t source basically anything they’re saying, so it’s hard to definitively call them on that. NYC had a winter that created an abnormal number of potholes, and this article (using an uncited figure) says: “the same number that would usually take New York’s Department of Transport (DOT) a week.” But is that for filling potholes directly after winter? Is it for the rate of potholes per week averaged across the year (which would be a completely invalid comparison)? I guess I could try digging it up, but Novara Media clearly didn’t give enough of a shit when they said it.
I think it’s cool regardless.
Dunno, Novara; maybe when you decide to learn how hyperlinks work.
EDIT: I tried to follow one breadcrumb to the NYT using this quote from the article: “According to the New York Times, the incident signaled early on that Mamdani was raring to take on “long ignored street improvements – the kind of meat-and-potatoes issue that some previous mayors have struggled to deliver on”.”.
I can’t find that quote, even trying several different verbatim excerpts from the quote (but the full quote should be findable anyway). Thaaaaaaaat’s really fucking questionable. I could be missing something. @return2ozma@lemmy.world, your thoughts?
Here’s the source
https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/03/mamdani-administration-fills-more-than-7-000-potholes-during-wee
Daaaaaamn. That is some actual work being done. And all it took was electing a socialist. Let that be the lesson.
deleted by creator
I appreciate you sitting through all of this for our benefit :)
I wanna see mamdani be successful but I’m wary of putting politicians up on a pedestal as our saviors and hope, as I’m learning from my elder leftists that thats gone wrong a lot of times before 😅
Still rooting for him though :)
Okay, makes sense; from the press release:
Left with no other data (I’m not thrilled Novara treated this press release totally uncritically), I’m forced to assume they mean “average potholes per week per year”, which is a completely bullshit metric to compare against that you’d only use as an empty boast. A day with just under 7x the efficiency of a given other day in the year isn’t all that exceptional when the day is a spring thaw right after a winter that made an exceptional amount of potholes. It’s still very good to be taking care of potholes, but Novara seemingly took a standard press release about fixing potholes and turned it into how Mamdani is revolutionizing NYC.
All that aside: what are your thoughts on the article seemingly fabricating a quote from The New York Times?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/nyregion/mamdani-pothole-williamsburg-bridge-bump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V1A.e_aT.Ra0vREoZDA0U&smid=url-share#:~:text=long-ignored street improvements — the kind of meat-and-potatoes issue that some previous mayors have struggled to deliver on
It’s right here.
When you’re trying to find a quote, try wrapping the literal quoted text in quotation marks and searching to get exact matches: https://www.google.com/search?q=“long+ignored+street+improvements+–+the+kind+of+meat-and-potatoes+issue+that+some+previous+mayors+have+struggled+to+deliver+on”
Oh, thanks! I did search it in quotes. It just didn’t show up for some reason. I guess Bing just doesn’t like this one for some reason (an example substring I chose):
Super my bad. Amended my comments. Very heavily appreciated. I should’ve tried another search engine to be safe.
I appreciate your thoroughness!
Oh, this is not thorough. But I appreciate your appreciation.
The question is, how many potholes do they usually fill in a day? For all we know they fill 8000 potholes every spring, but just don’t advertise it. That being said, letting the people know what you do for them is important.
1/5 that or so, based on the article
He’s got John Henry on the payroll.
It’s possible they’re all fresh new potholes. The reason there’s more of them is the trend from cars to SUVs.
The first part makes sense. But I think an especially harsh winter would be more the culprit than SUVs. Not that they don’t cause more damage - but the number of SUVs in a city doesnt double in a single year and cause a noticeable increase in potholes. We would expect a gradual increase in pothole development that would only be noticeable with statistical analysis over several uyears.
You’re totally right. I didn’t know it was such a big jump. I assumed this was one of those cases where every administration gets to claim something is the “biggest ever” because the thing they’re bragging about tends to grow steadily with population and/or inflation.
I mean, totally possible. But it looks like he just got a lucky break with the weather this year, lol
He said, asking on Lemmy, where none of those people are likely to exist.
Sure. But a future article or other news source or maybe a former mayor’s aide’s twitter account might have more info, and maybe someone here knows about that
Im just gonna leave this here
“But how is that even possible?”
I mean, my question was how it managed to do its job better than previous administrations.
Analysis elsewhere in the thread appears to indicate that none of my hypotheses were actually the most likely scenario. Instead, (and I’m embarassed I didn’t think of this) the most obvious hypothesis is that the DOT is filling potholes at a completely normal rate, and there are just a lot of potholes available to fill. They are comparing filling potholes on the pothole-filling-est day of the year after a harsh winter, versus an average week after average winters in previous administrations.
So, as always, the null hypothesis when a politician says something should be “it’s spin”