Last month, KDKA showed you how patch that the city had used to fill street cracks in Lincoln Place was coming up in gooey clumps – sticking to tires as well as the shoes of the people who live here.

The city’s Public Works Department admitted the job was botched and returned this week to do it right; instead, resident Mark Schneider says they did some work on a nearby street and ignored Cox Avenue.

“I’m done with this. This is ridiculous,” said Barb Pribila, a resident of Lincoln Place. “This needs to be fixed. This needs to be fixed now.”

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KDKA’s Andy Sheehan reached the vacationing Public Works Director Rob Kaczorowski on his cell phone. He said that his crew had patched nearby Cox Place but couldn’t patch Cox Avenue because of parked cars.

Kaczorowski says the crews will return. Over on Cox Place, however, Schenider says the work is spotty at best.

It does appear that the crews filled in some of the cracks with asphalt, but ignored others.

“This is incompetent work. If I did this, I’d be fired,” said Schneider.

He says the department’s $10 million road repair budget is showing limited results.

The issue of streets and street repair is a hot button one, with the Public Works Department saying they’re doing their best with limited resources. However, many city residents are saying it’s just not good enough.

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City Crews To Fix Patching Job In Lincoln Place
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Neighbors say the city did less of a patch job and more of a hack job on Cox Avenue in Lincoln Place.

“It is hot as can be. What, are we going to have to wait for this to all peel up on our cars, shoes, our dog’s feet because we can’t even go outside with this getting caught up on something,” said Barb Pribila, a neighbor who is upset over the patching job.

Public Works Director Rob Kaczorowski admits that crews didn’t properly clear out cracks in the concrete before filling them again. It’s a fairly new technique, one used for about a year or two.

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“Obviously, the emulsion was not going to stick to dirt and loose impediments and the area was too big for emulsion. It should have been prepped, patched and sealed,” said Kaczorowski. “We made some mistakes.”

The material is coming up in chunks, so much so that an entire strip of sealant came up on someone’s tire. There is also a pile of the material that people collected. They say it came up under their tires.

Kaczorowski says crews will go back when rain is out of the forecast to redo the work. He says it is something he hopes won’t happen again.

“They were notified, reprimanded. It’s unfortunate. I apologize and when it’s done properly, it will save taxpayers a lot of money,” said Kaczorowski.

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Pittsburgh Public Works
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