Massive South LA pothole finally gets fixed

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A pot hole in South Los Angeles bothered neighbors for months before city officials stepped in to repair it.

On Friday, workers removed chunks of asphalt and debris from the sinkhole, including barricades that were supposed to mark the massive missing chunk of the road.

The hole was so big, resident Keith Nash had trouble describing it.

"It is a little more than a sinkhole to me, it looks like a swimming pool," he said.

Ironically, the hole opened up steps away from Firm Foundation Ministries church at 71st Street and Vermont Avenue.

Business operator Javier Gonzalez said the hole had been blocking his business for the last seven months.

Children have also come after school and jumped into the hole for fun.

Resident Brenda Gardner said the city told her officials need to find out which of the many pipes underneath the street leaked before the hole can be filled. But what upset her was what one of the crewmembers told her.

"It is just a disaster waiting to happen. And so he said, 'We can't cover it. We don't have any steel plates,'" Gardner said.

She contacted Eyewitness News and we reached out to Councilman Bernard Parks' office, public works and the mayor.

"It's outrageous. I mean this hole should not be there. I've directed everybody in all the departments that affect our streets to secure that immediately," Mayor Eric Garcetti said.

Within an hour the Department of Water and Power checked and found no breaks in the water main. The Bureau of Sanitation zeroed in and found the problem: a leak in a private line leading to the sewer main.

That type of problem is usually the responsibility of the property owner, but this time the city moved in and said the road repair is a matter of public safety.