Opinion: Millbrook's Potholes Are a Metaphor for Everything Wrong With City Hall

MILLBROOK, June 3 — I want to tell you about a pothole. Specifically, the one at the corner of Asher Boulevard and 14th Street that I have personally reported to the city's maintenance hotline four times since February. It started as a modest nuisance. It is now, conservatively, the size of a standard kitchen sink. My neighbor Phyllis hit it last Tuesday and lost a hubcap. The city's online portal still lists the repair status as "scheduled."

A Budget That Keeps Shrinking

Here's the thing — this isn't a staffing problem or a supply chain issue. It's a choices problem. The council has raided the infrastructure maintenance fund three budget cycles in a row, each time to cover overruns in other departments rather than make the harder call of raising the municipal vehicle tax by the three dollars a month it would actually take to keep our roads in working order. Councilmember Greta Sandoval proposed exactly that measure in March. It died in committee without a recorded vote — which is itself a small scandal. When elected officials won't even go on record, you know the politics got loud behind closed doors.

• Millbrook's road maintenance budget has dropped 22% since 2021
• The city received 1,847 pothole complaints in 2024 — up from 603 in 2022
• Average repair response time is now 34 days, up from 11 days three years ago

I'm not here to tell you this city is broken. I've lived in Millbrook for 26 years and I believe in the place. But a city that can't fix its streets isn't just inconvenient — it's telling you something about its priorities. The next municipal budget hearing is June 18th at the Civic Center. Show up. Make noise. And watch where you drive on Asher Boulevard.