Rubicon’s Chief Strategy Officer, Michael Allegretti, recently wrote an opinion piece for Smart Cities Dive on how keeping city streets clean and clear should be a top priority for any mayor. Here is a short extract from the piece.
Let’s say a commuter is living paycheck to paycheck. She gets up one morning to go to work, jumps in the car, and moments out of the gate, drives over a pothole causing significant damage to the front axle. The result: an unscheduled day off work and a several-hundred-dollar bill to pay for repairs to the axle, a new tire and installation.
Potholes are more than just a consistent daily annoyance. They represent thousands of dollars that commuters, truck drivers and fleet managers otherwise wouldn’t have spent. They represent not being able to physically get to work, losing money and potentially even reducing job security.
They also represent the day-to-day, human element of America’s crumbling infrastructure.
Keeping streets clean is one of the core functions of a well-run city. This means more than just filling in potholes, of course. If you preside over a city that is affected by winter weather, snow and ice removal will also fit into this category. Similarly, on-time trash and recycling pickup is a requirement for every mayor in cities around the world…
