May 11, 2010

Pothole claim to be paid after all

The city finally put a controversial pothole claim behind it tonight.
Councilors voted 5-2 to pay the $266 claim despite arguments that the driver who hit the pothole was at least partially at fault.
City Councilor Kate Matthews said paying the claim "says a lot about our credibility."
Read the entire story in Wednesday's Bristol Press.

*******
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!

That will surely bust our budget.

Anonymous said...

Where do I file my claims for hitting 4 potholes and blowing out my tires, and rim bent?

Hey Ward - great leadership - NOT!

Anonymous said...

Nobody ever wins these claims, heck hardly anyone even knows you can sue the city for this, but naturally City workers know this (the unions probably give them a list of all the things they can do), and naturally a City worker wins this claim. Big surprise! This driver was negligent and should be responsible for the damages she caused to her car. More reason to be disgusted with City government.

council courtroom said...

kate questions the process? maybe she should start doing her job as a councilman instead of using the meetings as a court room.
how does she know that the person was speeding or not, was she riding with her?
get busy with something that means something rather than showboating and trying to make the rest of the council look like your stooges.

Anonymous said...

the claim shouldn't have been paid. apparently this woman didn't meet the four criteria that are required in order to pay a claim. end of story. claim shouldn't be paid. again, just pandering to the public for votes come election time instead of following the laws that are in place. why have laws if you're not going to follow them? opens the door to lots of other claims costing the taxpayers more money. until public works gets the proper amount of money to fix things, you'll be seeing lots of unfixed potholes. start paying attention to where you're driving, folks!

Anonymous said...

A similar situation happened to me. I was the first one to hit a pothole which took out my tire and my rim but it was in another town. When I put in a claim to have the city pay for the damage, I was told that I had been the first one to hit the hole which didn't allow for me to be reimbursed. Had I been the second person and the hole had not been fixed within a reasonable amount of time, I would have been reimbursed. I hit it first thing in the morning, around 9 a.m. When I left work that evening, 5:15 p.m., they were there fixing the hole. They said that eight hours was sufficient time to fix the hole. So for Mr. Cockayne to expect the city to run out there as soon as it's reported is absurd. They are not going to drop everything to fix one pothole and who knows when it was even reported. Ms. Matthews was right to deny the claim. You have to put your foot down at some point and say enough is enough. What ever happened to personal responsibility? Oh, yeah, I forgot. That went the way of paying your own way instead of relying on the government for everything. The outstretched hands just keep on coming!

Anonymous said...

Where's the personal responsibility on the part of the city for fixing (or in this case, not fixing) the pothole? Heck, it wasn't even marked. Blame someone driving in rain at midnight for hitting a pothole?? Get serious!

Matthews is in over her head. Bristol made a mistake electing her.

Anonymous said...

Mistake to pay. Plain and simple.

Anonymous said...

9:37:

A claim was filed, a vote was held and a decision was made. No problem with leadership here.

The real problems are your anger and insecurity issues, as evidenced by your constant, anonymous, pointless whining...

Buck up though...I hear they're having excellent results with Prozac!

Anonymous said...

THE CITY PROTECTS CITY WORKERS SCREW EVERYBODY ELSE.

Anon said...

The claim should not have been paid. Whether or not it was raining, or dark, or both, the driver has the responsibility to drive according to conditions and be aware of any hazards. There was a cone in place; not the best method of warning the public but it should have been enough. Kate was correct in questioning the speed of the vehicle.

The city cannot be held liable until it is notified of the problem and it fails to correct or identify it in a reasonable time. You could be the 2nd or 10th victim but if no one notifies the city, the city is harmless.

There is no way to repair a pothole when it is raining, no matter how much money Public Works has.

Cockayne is grandstanding, unless he feels it is prudent to have a cruiser sitting there until the rain ends and Public Works makes the repair.

Anonymous said...

I saw on tv that a cone was in place. So somthing was done to warn her and she said she did not know if she hit the cone or the pot hole. If sticking up for not wasting taxpayers money of any amout is over her head then I say good for her to stand up

Anonymous said...

The pothole was clearly marked with a cone while it was still raining out because you can't fix it in the rain, that's when she hit the hole (or claims to, do we even know she hit the hole for real?) I hope hundreds of people now file similar claims.

Anonymous said...

Glad a pothole consumed so much of everyone's time. It is not like there are any other important issues like raising taxes, over paid school administrators, spending out of control, etc. that these folks should be working on.

Anonymous said...

FIX the POTHOLES!!!!

Anonymous said...

At what point in time does the cost of paying claims start to justify initiating a realistic repaving program?

Anonymous said...

Wow....Matthews is posting all over this blog.

Matthews how about doing some real work, instead of TRYING to impress everyone that your a lawyer. Your way in over your head and don't have a clue.

Anonymous said...

well my claim was denied think ill file a suit claiming unfair parctice hmmmm

Anonymous said...

Suggestion for Mayor Ward:

Put signs throughout he city warning of bad roads and indication that you pass at your own risk.

That way you avoid liabilty and it would be cheaper than properly maintaining the roads.

Anonymous said...

Suggestion for anonymous pinhead at 7:42 PM:

Here's a thought...why don't you try and focus on some of the POSITIVES (yes there are plenty) happening in our hometown instead of constantly fixating on the damn potholes?

not likely said...

if kate were in court, I wonder if she would question, out loud, the "credibility" of the court if they didn't agree with her? totally, totally bad taste.

Anonymous said...

12:16

Because the POTHOLES tell a story all by themselves: failure to manage, failure to understand what is happening, failure to make the tough decisions.

Anonymous said...

3:28 PM

POTHOLES tell a story??? LMAO!!! At best, they tell us we had a tough winter.

The failure to understand is exactly what's happening...on your part. Get over it already.

Anonymous said...

4:42

Winter is over: what are they doing about it?
Except not providing adequate resources?

Only gonna get worse.

And worse.

Anonymous said...

6:45: Winter is over (that part you got right...good for you!). Now, it's time to start repairing those nasty potholes, which is exactly what they (and the rest of the cities in New England) are doing.

The only thing getting worse is your whining about it. Why not give it a rest?

Anonymous said...

8:44

I won't stop, until Ward starts doing something!

He is just a Nicastro clone!

Craig Minor said...

I was so glad when I got enough seniority to get off the Claims Committee. A totally thankless job. And it's amazing how many otherwise rational people think that government exists to fix their self-induced problems.

My favorite story is the Bristol woman who was on the phone with a friend when she had a coughing fit and hung up suddenly. It cleared up a minute later so she left to go shopping. Meanwhile, her friend thought she had a heart attack so she called the fire department. They responded, pounded on the door but got no answer, so thinking that she was unconscious, they broke down the door to "rescue" her. How did she show her gratitude? She filed a claim against the fire department for the cost to repair her door. We rejected it, of course. Or maybe not "of course".

Anonymous said...

Maybe this is what Ken Johnson meant when he said that he thought "Bristol poliitics were amusing".

Or is this just ONE example?

Anonymous said...

11:20 AM:

If Ward cured cancer and stopped global warming, you'd still find something to whine about. It's what you do best.

Anonymous said...

Minor - shut up already!

Anonymous said...

But he HASN"T cured cancer or stopped global warming.

Actually he HAS done NOTHING!

Anonymous said...

9:30 PM: As usual, you've missed the point.

Anonymous said...

Where is Ken Johnson???

Anonymous said...

Don't drive on Falls Brook: you'll probably want to put in for a new car!

Anonymous said...

Where is Mary Alford?

Anonymous said...

There has been an Orange cone in front of Mayor Wards house for about 4 weeks.

Does it mean anything?

Or is it just to let the people know where the mayor lives?