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Candidate For Alderman Says She'll Fill Your Potholes On Demand

By Ted Cox | December 9, 2014 6:18pm
 Bita Buenrostro fills a pothole in a photograph on her campaign website.
Bita Buenrostro fills a pothole in a photograph on her campaign website.
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bitanow.com

NORTH SIDE — A candidate in the wide-open 2nd Ward aldermanic race is boasting she's on the job already — by filling potholes on her own.

Bita Buenrostro has posted on her campaign website a photo of herself filling a pothole with a small bag of quick-mix concrete under the headline: "That pothole wasn't going to fill itself." The photo also says Buenrostro "will do this on request on your block."

"It saves a few rims," said Rich Bradley, Buenrostro's campaign manager. "We can't just sit back and ignore this."

Bradley said Buenrostro has been filling "a few" potholes with quick-dry cement. The Buenrostro campaign says it has testimonials from ward residents grateful for having their potholes filled.

Her campaign post has produced a steady back-and-forth on Reddit, including suggestions the practice — well-intentioned as it might be — could also be illegal. Her liability for any future accidents involving the pothole was also raised.

"We really haven't looked into the liability of it," but that voter response was positive, Bradley said. He said they were doing it "out of the goodness of our hearts."

Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) took matters into his own hands by filling potholes earlier this year. They're usually the assignment of the Department of Transportation.

Mayoral spokesman Adam Collins questioned whether the shot was actually taken on a city street.

"Chicagoans should call 311 to report a pothole for CDOT crews to address," Collins said. "They should not attempt to fill them on their own."

Other candidates in the 2nd Ward race also could not be reached.

They include Brian Hopkins, Cornell Wilson, Stephen Niketopoulos, Alyx Pattison and Stacey Pfingsten.

The 2nd Ward was moved entirely in the city's most recent ward remap from the South Loop to a stretch of the Near North Side running from the Gold Coast along North Avenue to Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village. Incumbent Ald. Bob Fioretti is running instead against Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the February election.

The Department of Transportation did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

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