The cover page of an audit report on San Diego's Street Maintenance Program says it all: "City Needs to Improve Planning, Coordination and Oversight to Effectively Manage Transportation Assets."
In other words, the city auditor found San Diego's street maintenance program is in bad shape. The audit found, among other things, there was no coordination within the program. There was no oversight. There were efficiency issues.
In some cases, streets were resurfaced, only to be dug up by other city crews or private contractors.
The report presented 14 recommendations, including the reorganization of the agency, and a call to hold private contractors accountable for substandard work on public roads. Audit committee chairman and city councilman Kevin Faulconer said the city would embrace the recommendations.
"The key now will be to make sure those recommendations are actually followed up on," he said. "And that the reality will become the norm. That you don't tear up a street after it's been freshly paved and that departments are coordinated and talking to each other."
Street repair was ranked as the number one spending priority by San Diegans in a recent citizen survey. The city estimates 17-percent of the city's streets are in poor condition.
Next, the audit report will be presented to the full council.
