Montreal tells vigilante pavers to stop patching city potholes

Montreal’s potholes have gotten so out of hand that vigilantes are now taking to filling them themselves.

In recent days, two people have gained notoriety because they have patched dozens of potholes on their own time and with their own supplies and money. Both resorted to repairing craters after breaking parts of their cars on potholes.

In recent days, two Montreal paver vigilantes have gained notoriety because they have filled dozens of potholes on their own time and with their own supplies and money. Both resorted to repairing craters after breaking parts of their cars on potholes. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

Earlier this week, downtown resident Saâd Tekiout became an Instagram hit after videos of himself filling potholes around the city were shared widely.

Tekout, who owns Marquize Paysagement, said he was frustrated after he busted a tire while running over a pothole in Laval. After a friend got a flat tire on the same pothole, he decided enough was enough and he repaired it himself. Little by little, family members, friends and now strangers contact him to ask him to patch potholes everywhere around the city. He’s now up to three per day and has been doing so for about a month now — that’s close to 100 potholes filled.

“People are really happy when I do this,” he said. “It gives a sense that we’re all in this together as a community.”

Tekout gets asphalt and shovels it out from his truck as cold patches, which he said will stay in place for about two years.

“This isn’t really my domain, but I’m doing this for the love of my city,” he said. “I think we deserve to have better roads.”

Another vigilante worker is also getting into the act. Anthony Khan, 38, the owner of Pavage Milan, is reaching out to the city’s mayor in hopes city crews can learn from his technique of filling potholes.

Khan, a Laval resident, said he has often fixed potholes as part of his day-to-day work as a landscaper.

“If we pave someone’s driveway, and there’s a pothole there, I’m going to fill it in,” he said.

In recent months, Khan has picked up the pace and figures he has fixed between 10 and 15 potholes since the beginning of the year.

Khan said he has specialized equipment that can produce hot patches with a technique he claims is better than that used by the city’s crews.

“Nobody is saying that city workers don’t work hard, but with the equipment we have, we are faster,” he said. “I could do between 500 and 1,000 patches per day easily.”

Both Khan and Tekout say their goal isn’t to gain notoriety, but rather as their part to make the city safer.

“I got three cracked mags, and I have three kids that I drive around. I see people swerving next to me, and it’s dangerous,” Khan said.

However, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada is discouraging people from repairing the streets themselves. She commented on Tekout’s Instagram account to tell him to leave the street repairs to the city’s professionals.

Khan said with the state of the roads as they are now, there has to be a better way to manage the situation.

“Maybe they should reach out and try to figure out how they can work with us,” Khan said. “I’m hoping she’s going to make me a deal to pay me by the day, or pay me by the ton of asphalt.”

However, while both pothole vigilantes are being lauded with positive comments, they should be aware even though they are helping to improve the city’s streets, their actions are illegal, said lawyer Avi Levy, the co-founder of Ticket 911, a law firm that helps people fight tickets.

“The potholes are pretty crazy; there seems to be a lot more and they seem more dangerous,” Levy said. “But filling potholes yourself is illegal. It’s basically modifying a public infrastructure, or doing unauthorized work on city property.

“They can get a fine, or they can get sued. It’s all fun and games until they get caught and ticketed.”

Levy said this could become a legal nightmare for the city, because it doesn’t take long to fill a pothole, so crews can repair a hole before an inspector can be alerted to the work they are doing.

However, in the case of Tekout, having stated his name and showing himself on video patching roads without authorization gives city inspectors everything they need to issue a fine.

“There is a process to work for the city,” Levy said. “You have to have a bid. You have to quote, and specify what materials you’re going to use. It’s not just, ‘the city should call me and I’ll fix it for them at a better price.’ It just doesn’t work that way.”

A spokesperson for Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada didn’t return The Gazette’s request for comment.

Jason Magder

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