Riverside Place: Sinkhole At Silver Lake Ave Patched - Sort Of *Correction

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 18, 2014.  At some point, a pothole became a sinkhole at the large stormdrain at the corner of Riverside Place & Silver Lake Ave.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Not only is this a very large storm drain, there's quite a bit of water on the street when you consider there are no lawns, no front yards to speak of, and we had bone-dry weather for 3 days.   

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 18, 2014.  It is risky to walk across the street at this corner.   It's going to be dangerous to drive through in the rain, since the hole will fill with water and you won't be able to tell how deep it is.  From the looks of the surrounding pavement, it looks like it will only get worse. 

Word from a Riverside Place neighbor is the DWP fixed a broken water main just around the corner on Silver Lake Ave in 2009, that may have contributed to the decline of this sinkhole. 

Photo: Riverside Place Neighbor, November 18, 2014.  Around 4 PM yesterday, I submitted a photo to MyLA311, the City's service request app.  By 5:30 PM, a neighbor sent the above photo of a partially patched now barricaded pothole.  I've never seen such a quick response from the City.

(Enlarged from previous photo.)  At first I thought Bureau of Street Services had just put the safety marker up.  Closer examination reveals they did a an old minimal patch on the pothole, while leaving the degraded asphalt surrounding it, which should will only perpetuate the problem with each passing vehicle and every rain.

There are a number of elderly people who live within a few houses here - this is not exactly safe for anyone, let alone someone unstable on their feet.
  

Related stormdrain note: more than 10 years ago, Elysian Valley activist Rey Dominguez & I toured some international landscape architecture students through the area as part of an LA River design charette.  When we reached this stormdrain, one of the students from Japan stopped us & pointed out they had never seen stormdrains so large as ours in residential neighborhoods.  They took photos of this one in particular, blown away over the amount of storm runoff we must have warranting such large stormdrains.  (This one has since been obstructed by repaving.)  Yup, when it rains in Los Angeles - it pours - a lot.  Whatever the  BMPs (best management practices) are for stormwater runoff - triple it in this hillside neighborhood.