Commissioner Fills a Pothole Hoping to Build Support for a Tax

Commissioner Steve Novick was out on the street filling a pothole Wednesday morning.

It was one of more than 7,600 filled in the past year but one of thousands and thousands more that still need to be filled.

Novick is trying to get people to focus on the problems with the streets but also his proposed solution - a heavy vehicle tax.

"With the proposed heavy vehicle tax, heavy trucks will pay their fair share for the damage they cause," Novick said.

Novick said that streets in poor and very poor condition, like the section of NW Everett with potholes filled this morning, are much more expensive to fix than to maintain. Thus it is a better use of public resources to keep streets in good condition.

Streets are not the only thing that needs to be updated apparently.

The press release that the commissioner sent out includes a link to a website for the city's Back to Basics program, which has a goal of maintaining 100 lane miles of city streets each year.

The website appears to have not been updated since soon after the program was established in 2013.