As an automotive blogger, Zerin Dube loves to talk about cars. But he loves his car even more. That's why it's so upsetting to him what happened as he was behind the wheel of his Audi S4 last week.
"It absolutely ruined my day," Dube said.
As he was heading down Richmond near Hillcroft, he says his car first hit a groove, then a pothole.
"It caused such an impact to the car that it blew out the tire and bubbled the other tire," Dube said.
Now Dube has at least $600 in tires to replace.
"When you've got to replace two, you have to replace four, pretty much," he said.
So $1,200 later, he is not a happy man.
"That's a vacation," Dube said. "Just from the state of the road."
Dube believes the city should do a better job of maintaining the road, and if it can't, warn drivers about the hazard.
"It's not safe, it's not safe at all," Dube said.
A city spokesman says they have seen more uneven roads because of the drought. Patching them is a priority but crews cant do anything unless citizens file complaints, preferably by calling 311, and none, he said, had been filed about this section.
"Well that doesn't help anybody that's just had damage done to their or has to spend anywhere from $150 for tire to $1,500 to fix all four tires," Dube said.
Dube knows he has no recourse, although he'd be happy with two little words.
"Even an I'm sorry would do, an apology would do at this point," he said.
Dube hasn't heard from the city. The spokesman also told us they have been doing repairs on parts of Richmond where the drought has taken its toll and emphasizes the need for motorists to call 3-1-1 to report issues.
