Last weekend's Operation Pothole, an effort to fill 20,000 potholes around Los Angeles, was the largest to date, says Board Commissioner Andrea Alarcón, according to the LA Times. The fight against "asphalt atrophy," was carried out on Saturday and Sunday by an estimated 150 employees and 75 trucks that dispatched to neighborhoods across the city. more ›

Who ya gonna call? Holebusters! 'Operation Pothole' is back, so put your spirit fingers to work and start dialing 3-1-1 to report those car-breaking, neck-aching, swerve-making potholes (or submit a request online). By order of the Mayor, crews will be fanning out across the city over the weekend of June 4 and 5 with a mission to repair 20,000 potholes in two days. more ›

That headline could be for anything, though. Cutting at-risk youth programs could lead to more violence and incidents for police to respond to. Cutting parks operations could leave parks unmaintained, making it more expensive later to fix. Cutting street sweepers could mean less days parking enforcement is able to write parking tickets. Nonetheless, the Daily News today explores the effect of potholes not being filled. more ›

With the budget shortfall--estimates now have it up to $700 million for the rest of this fiscal year and next year--and massive city layoffs--up to 4,000 over the next year--city services will start dwindling. The one we'll feel (literally) the most? Potholes. On Wednesday at the L.A. City Council meeting, Bureau of Street Services director Bill Robertson said 80,000 fewer potholes will be filled, according to the Daily News. That's 300,000 potholes instead of the usual 380,000 (at least they are useful to artists). "We will not be able to be as proactive as we have been," Robertson said. "We will be reacting more to complaints and emergencies than we are able to deal with this in advance." Response times to illegal dumping complaints will also take longer--from four tday to six to seven days. more ›

For Angelenos who are not paying attention to the city's current fiscal crisis, they might start feeling it... literally. We're talking about potholes. Speaking to the urgency of laying off 1,000 or more city hall workers, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa yesterday served up the harsh realities that could be waiting for us. more ›

Looks like our post about potholes turned into art pieces is spreading. Los Angeles Newspaper Group writer Dana Bartholomew catches up with the artists as they parody the Chinese Gruman Theatre handprint ceremony. "'They're everywhere,' said [artist Claudia] Ficca, 28, pointing to the nearly two-foot wide pothole on a quiet residential street in sight of Griffith Observatory. 'For some reason, L.A. potholes are square, or rectangular.' 'See what I mean? This is the classic L.A. pothole.'" Interesting observation. more ›

As powerful as the written word can be, sometimes it takes the extra help of a video and a little push by the "fourth estate" to get things done in Southern California. In today's weekly Road Sage column by Steve Hymon, he features Rich Allen who made a nearly 10-minute video to post on YouTube that highlighted the terrible pothole conditions on the 60 Freeway (video embedded below). more ›

Photo by kpe II via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

For the divorced lady with four cats We love getting comments here at LAist, especially when we can do a follow up. For Laurie of Crazy Aunt Purl (who gets an average of around 70-some comments per post), who commented this yesterday: I just want the Mayor to try to get on the 101 at White Oak each morning for an entire week, and then we can talk about traffic light timing. If you... more ›