After driving into a massive pothole at Clifton Boulevard and West 117th Street last week, Lakewood resident Harold Dreifer has now begun to live there. He tells Scene, “There was just nowhere else to go. It was a long fall down here; I decided that I may as well set up shop.”
Drivers have reported growing concerns at that intersection, citing potholes that dwarf the valley of the Emerald Necklace. Intersections further south along West 117th have gained similar reputations for their car-eating canyons. Commenters in an increasingly popular reddit thread lamented over the weekend that the potholes around Cleveland are worse this year than at almost any other point in history.
Dreifer, unable to latch onto Twist Social Club’s Wi-Fi, hasn’t had a chance to add his thoughts to the reddit page. Rather, he shouts up from his underground dwelling and remarks that, “Yeah, these suckers are probably bigger than any I’ve seen. I mean, I’m now living in one of them.”
The official word from the city of Cleveland couldn’t be any more milquetoast: “According to The Division of Streets, this is an average year for the number of pot holes, though it may seem higher compared to the low number from last year’s milder winter.”
Over the weekend, we brought out the official Scene spelunking gear and dropped into Dreifer’s humble abode. After only a few days, he has already accrued what seems to be a fairly middle-class lifestyle. Fletcher, his two-month old Schnauzer, bounds across shag carpeting. There’s a hearty serving of Uncle Ben’s rice boiling on the stove. A stack of Crain’s back issues adorns a nearby coffee table. “Hey,” Dreifer says casually, “I’ve still gotta follow the trends. Buy low, right?” He chuckles.
Though Dreifer’s transition to underground life came accidentally, some Clevelanders are now considering purposefully moving into potholes in other parts of town. South Marginal Road, Fulton Road, and various points along Detroit have all come up in recent tips to Scene. Cleveland resident Lois Shuppel says it might be nice to have a little vacation spot in town; Florida’s a bit too pricey for now. Likewise, Art Tandoni, a lifelong Collinwood-er, says that pothole life sure can’t be any worse than fighting through Waterloo Road construction all day. He tells Scene that he spent a brief stint last fall living inside a bulldozer. “It’s not like anyone was ever out here using it,” he says.
But Dreifer cautions the uninitiated that moving into a pothole comes with its own set of hassles.
“Listen, it’s not for everybody. It’s really not for anybody. But once you’re down here, hey, life’s not so bad.” Dreifer cracks open a Fresca and makes an idle remark about catching up on the new House of Cards season as we depart and climb back to Scene HQ, safely above ground.
***
Per the request of commenters, information on compensation claims for pothole damage in Cleveland is available online.
Note the fine print, though: “The City is not responsible for damages caused by potholes if it did not know about the potholes and have a chance to fix it before the damage occured (sic).”
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2014.
I suspect that the official Scene spelunking gear includes 100 ft of bungie cord and a case of beer.
Unfortunately, it will take the personal vehicle of a Cleveland administrator or councilman to receive heavy damage from one of these growing pits for the serious issue to emerge out of the juvenile nonsense penned by some paper-shuffling hack in the Division of Streets.
Curious, is one a tenant in a pot hole and to whom does one pay rent? Or, would one be a squatter, claiming squatter’s rights and eventually hoping to gain a deed as a homesteader? This could be a lucrative business – Posh PotHole Condominiums. Somehow, though, I think perhaps renter’s insurance might be on the expensive side.
everyone associated with the division of streets should be fired immediately. these potholes are an embarassment to the city. i live near this intersectionand use 117th all the time but i’ve had to find alternate routes since certain spots on this street are nearly impassable. and i’ve seen zero attempt to at least fill them in or patch them up. the least they could do is put down metal plates to cover them. or use the lard from all the fast food joints on 117th to plug em up
Wtf?
For an even lower cost of living, i heartily recommend the many available potholes on W.130th. Not only are they plentiful, but they give you much more bang for the buck.
These are not just pot holes that have spread across the streets of Cleveland , but actual micro black holes that engulf any size vehicle that has the misfortune to be sucked into them. And since the local goverment denies anything out of the norm this confirms my suspicion of a trans-dimensional invasion. To much?
to anyone that cares…..i did hear that if the potholes are messing up your cars, you can be compensated for if the city knows of that area having potholes. check into it.
Where do we go to get this compensation?
I think years ago they changed the name of Riverside Drive to Rocky River Drive to be more in line with crevasses in the street. This year they will rename it yet again…to simply Rocky Road…
It’s not just Cleveland. It’s Canton, Canal Fulton, Akron, Warren, Barberton, Youngstown, etc.. It’s pretty much all of Northern Ohio from Columbus on up.
Seriously!! It is winter and you have had a tremendous amount of snow and freezing temps. This is very hard on the streets. Besides, just when would the city repair these pot holes? On the one day every couple of weeks when the temp is above freezing and there is no snow on the ground – at ;east not until the next morning.
I completely destroyed the front end of my truck two weeks ago in this pothole. Hey, it’s job security for the Division of Public Works. I actually watched a city truck pull up in front of our restaurant on Clifton and fill exactly ONE pothole…then they left. Leaving the other 2,000 potholes available for future tenants.
Don’t forget about 237 west park area! We have had enough! I’m driving alternate routes to avoid them and secretly feeling like an angry old person bitching about potholes, but we’ve had some serious tire troubles lately! Get on it Cleveland!!!
If the road contractors would use the proper quality construction materials instead of the cheapest materials then the roads might with stand these cold winters.
What we need is a materials engineer to come up with an asphalt patch substance that can be applied at low temperatures and with snow so that we can get these holes fixed. Public works can’t do jack when it’s cold and wet. Now, that day when it was 50, they should have been on their shit, doling out the OT like it was candy.
Of course, this is not a laughing matter. The danger to cars, to drivers, and to the children who have to sit in these vehicles along with the major potential for injury, is a sad commentary on both Cleveland and Lakewood. Both seem to deny responsibility for the possible casualties to property and people. You need a sense of humor to get to the freeways along here. Wasn’t it the mayor of Cleveland who wanted to lower the speed along the west shoreway with his off-hand comment about “let them (the drivers) stop and smell the roses?” Clearly this shows we can assume his similar position on other issues, including the life-threatening crevasses they call potholes.
They do have something you can patch asphault with in the cold… it called cold patch. I used to worj for a city road department and we used to patch pot holes in the middle of the winter all the time with temperatures well below freezing… though only a temporary fix, it still helps!
Here is the problem, the state of Ohio uses the lowest bidder for road contracts. Regardless that they company that charges 5% more offers a 20 year warranty, they still go with the lowest bidder. Follow the example of Michigan, and require that all road contractors warranty their roads. It has saved Michigan MILLIONS in just the last 10 years.
I want Marvel Studios to come back to CLE to film another movie just so that they’ll again fix the roads they’ve used. The streets Marvel repaired while filming Captain America- Winter Soldier are still in great shape. I wish they could fix all of the roads in town.