After 3 months without fix, Missouri man throws birthday party for pothole

Credit: Asif Akbar/FreeImages

Credit: Asif Akbar/FreeImages

When city officials let potholes go unfixed, one Missouri man decided to draw attention to the road hazards in an unusual way -- by throwing a pothole on his street a birthday party.

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Frank Serano, of Kansas City's Waldo neighborhood, told local media that he had been contacting the city about the pothole on his street since March. Recently, he had had enough.

"Everyone is always complaining about the potholes, but complaining doesn't seem to be getting anything done," Serano told WDAF-TV. "So I said, I want to keep it top of mind. I know my fellow Waldo neighbors are just as disgusted as I am, so I said let's just celebrate its birthday. Its third birthday."

So Serano brought the pothole a piece of cake, complete with a candle shaped like the number "3," and snapped a picture. It was too hot to sing "Happy Birthday," he told KCTV-TV.

Serano posted the picture to Facebook. Within days of the celebration, the public works department filled the hole, CNN reported.

Serano said he's seen more and more potholes in his neighborhood in recent years. He told WDAF-TV he thinks more money should be allocated to road repairs.

Maggie Green, of the Kansas City Department of Public Works, said the weather often poses a challenge to getting potholes fixed. Since the beginning of the year, Kansas City's 311 Center received around 15,000 reports of potholes, Green said. So far, about 10,000 of the potholes have been fixed.

Serano told CNN he doesn't want to have to throw another pothole party.

"It's great that they came and fixed it, but my gosh, if this is what it takes to get potholes fixed, we'll never get anything done," he said.

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