ST PAUL, Minn. — Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter continued his push to fix potholes in the city during a press conference Thursday.
At the Saint Paul Asphalt Plant, he laid out his plan to add a 1% local sales tax to pay for street repairs and city parks.
The new tax would raise nearly $1 billion across 20 years.
Public Works officials say this is the worst year they've seen for potholes.
The city said in all of last year, they received 85 pothole damage claims. In the first few months of this year, they've already received 250 claims.
"A generation of disinvestment of underinvestment requires a generation of investment," said Carter.
He wants the state legislature to approve his big plan, which would eventually go to the voters.
"The bad news is that we're at a point when the streets are failing faster than we can fix," said Sean Kershaw, Saint Paul Public Works director.
City leaders want to repave and restructure the city's roads, starting with the worst areas.
Carter said 75% of the proposal will go straight into rebuilding streets. The other 25% of it would go into helping to rebuild park spaces.
The Capital City Station on Shepard Road has a great view of the problem.
Owner Todd Knudten has watched the can be kicked down pothole-filled roads for years.
"Customers who used to stop in take a different way to work because of the damage this road causes to their vehicle," said Knudten. "So it hurts my business."
His customer, Robert Orth, lives nearby. He said the sales tax idea should have been implemented years ago.
"These potholes have been a reoccurring nightmare that has not been addressed," said Orth.
Todd, on the other hand, doesn't think taxpayers should pay for the city's neglect.
"That's one of your basic functions," he said. "Roads."
But he'd like would like to give up his view of hubcaps and holes for a safe street.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: