Tired of rumbling over the pothole-riddled streets of Montreal, two local entrepreneurs decided they would stop waiting for the city to fix the problem and started filling the holes themselves. They claim they’ve patched up dozens of streets in the past month.
“I’m doing this first of all for the love of the city and the love for this country,” said Saak Tekiout, who runs a landscaping company along with his friend, Sonny Mannuael.
Global News watched Tekiout and Mannuael volunteer their time to fill multiple potholes in the middle of Robert-Bourassa Boulevard in downtown Montreal.
The pair says that while driving around during the day, they couldn’t help but notice the plethora of potholes afflicting the city this year.
“When I go on social media, everybody is talking about potholes, saying, ‘We need to fix it.’ But why are we waiting for somebody to fix it if I can fix it myself? It’s that simple,” Tekiout explained.
So now they say every day before and after work, they fill three or four potholes. Tekiout says it costs him about $50 to fill each pothole
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“Formula One is coming, all the foreign tourists are coming. When they come to the city and they drive by this, it’s not cool for our reputation,” Tekiout said.
Global News watched several people stop to thank them as they did their work.
“It feels good because people are happy,” said Mannuael.
Mickie Schach, a tourist from San Francisco who walks with a walker, commended their work.
“I think it’s fabulous,” she said. “I have noticed there are so many potholes it’s been very difficult to walk. I can’t look up walking, I have to look down walking.”
The city admits the state of Montreal’s roads is discouraging but doesn’t seem thrilled that the entrepreneurs are doing the work themselves.
“While we commend these citizens for taking the initiative, it’s not normal that they have to fill potholes on their own,” said Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada.
“We’re stepping up our efforts to prevent this kind of situation and finally give Montreal streets that are in proper shape.”
The city recently hired 24 new blue-collar workers specifically to address the colossal number of potholes. Martinez Ferrada puts part of the blame on the previous administration for letting the roads descend into such poor condition.
Lawyer Eric Oliver says if a police officer or city inspector wanted to, they could give the men a fine.
“Whenever you’re working on the public domain, there are some bylaws and some security rules that you have to follow,” he explained.
Oliver pointed out the entrepreneurs could be confronted for illegal occupation of the public domain, diverting traffic illegally, and not following proper regulations for cordoning off a work site. Someone, however, would have to actually enforce those rules.
“Is there a law that says that a citizen cannot fix a pothole? No, there’s not. But there’s the concept of property and there’s the concept of permits,” he said.
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