Watertown Needs a Fix — And It Starts With the Sunken Manholes

Watertown Post December 30, 2025 3 minutes read

The Watertown Post

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — A fresh city council is about to be sworn in, sleeves rolled up, hands on the wheel, hopefully ready to drive us straight into a Golden Age of pothole-free progress. But before we talk grand visions, business development, arts districts, and whatever futuristic quantum-timeline project comes after roundabouts — there’s one simple, obvious, forehead-slapping issue that should top Day One:

The sunken manhole covers.
The ones eating rims, tires, suspension systems, wallets, and dreams.

If you’ve driven Arsenal Street lately, you know the sensation — thud, crunch, wallet crying softly in the distance. Local drivers are treating the road like an asteroid field from Star Wars, swerving left and right as if avoiding taxation. Personally? $1,600 in repairs. That’s not a pothole problem — that’s an economic policy.

And here’s the kicker: when it rains, freezes, melts, refreezes and repeats (also known around here as Tuesday), the rims of those manholes break down even faster. Soon, those craters will grow into full-scale, vehicle-eating sinkholes. You know who’s gonna foot that bill?

Every single taxpayer.
(But hey, at least we’ll all bond over it at the mechanic’s office.)

Now the city will say, “Well actually, Arsenal Street is a State road.”
Sure. Fine. Great. Totally understood.

But here’s where leadership matters.
Here’s where phones exist.
Here’s where the city manager earns his keep.

All that’s required is one call to our friends at the New York State DOT:
“Hey guys, fix the manholes. Yesterday would be great.”

That’s not a moonshot. Not quantum entanglement. Not a warp-drive budget maneuver.
Just coordination — which, conveniently, is the job.

Hard to believe he hasn’t bent a rim on his way in or out of town — though rumor has it, it’s harder to hit a pothole when you don’t live here anymore. Call it professional distance.

As we head into 2026, Watertown deserves roads that don’t double as terrain trials. A city council that hears residents. A manager who calls Albany like it’s his ex on a Friday night. Let’s fix what’s right in front of us so we can focus on the big stuff — growth, business, downtown revival, jobs, Trump 2025-style infrastructure glory, the whole package.

Fix the manholes first.
Then build the future.

Because Watertown’s Golden Age can’t begin if everyone’s car is at my mechanics in Dexter.