Aug. 2-8, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
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That sinking feeling in Whitestone
Resident calls on city to permanantly fi x a never-ending pothole problem on a local street
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
When Whitestone resident
Joe AngenBroich opens his
front door every morning, the
first thing he sees is a huge
sinkhole on the street, that has
been a recurring problem for
the past 10 years or so on the
block, he says.
The sinkhole, located at
the corner of 17th Road and
Murray Street, is formed every
year during the summer, and
AngenBroich says it’s time
for the caved-in hole to be
permanently fixed.
On July 25, the sinkhole was
filled by a private company that
was working down the block,
AngenBroich said.
“The other day, a woman
hit it and she blew out her tire
and her front bumper fell off,”
AngenBroich said. “I had a
cone on the side of it and by
the time I got home at 3 o’clock,
more of it caved in so the cone
was now inside the hole. Every
single summer, they come,
they patch it, people run over
it. It sinks back in, they come
again and fill it. It’s good
for the winter, then summer
comes and the hole opens back
again because of the asphalt
and heat.”
AngenBroich posted a
video of the sinkhole on the
The caved in sinkhole at at the corner of 17th Road and Murray Street. Inset: Crews came to fix it on
July 25. Courtesy of Joe Angenbroich
We Love Whitestone Facebook
group page, where residents
agreed, saying, “It’s time for
the repairs to be done the
right way.”
Alfredo Centola, president
of the We Love Whitestone
Civic Association, said it’s
the same issue residents have
continuously dealt with every
year, due to the possibility
of a water leak beneath the
sinkhole.
“Sad that after a year the
problem continues and it
apparently is a borough-wide
problem. Do we have to wait
for an accident? Or worse?”
Centola said.
Other residents are
calling out the Department
of Environmental Protection
(DEP), who they say surveyed
the area last year for a water
leak in the sewer. So far, they
haven’t heard back from DEP
about the results of the test.
In a statement to QNS, a
DEP spokesman said, “Crews
made a temporary repair to
the roadway this afternoon
to ensure the area is safe and
engineers are reviewing the
findings of their investigation
and will formulate a plan for a
permanent repair.”
According to AngenBroich,
they have also filed
complaints every year about
the size and depth of the
sinkhole to the Department of
Transportation (DOT).
“We call to file a complaint
because DOT wants to hear
what our complaint numbers
are, but when we complain
about the size of the hole they
automatically forward us to
911, then it becomes an issue,”
AngenBroich said. “This year,
I’ve called at least four times,
my parents have called maybe
five to six times.”
AngenBroich has been in
touch with Councilman Paul
Vallone’s office about the
issue and was recently told
that they’re communicating
with DOT and DEP to have the
sinkhole fixed the correct way,
he said.
A spokeswoman from
Vallone’s office told QNS
that “after being alerted
to the street condition at
Murray Street and 17th Road,
Councilman Vallone asked
the DEP to expedite needed
repairs at the location.”
“On Monday, DEP
confirmed a work order
to repair the sewer was
submitted to DEP Emergency
Construction. Our office will
continue to monitor the issue
to see that the appropriate
repairs are made,” the
spokeswoman said.
Vol. 28 No. 31 48 total pages
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