When they saw the camera, they took off running.
For the past few years, witnesses say the City of New Orleans has been wasting money and damaging a city road by repeatedly dumping piles of asphalt on a street that’s now a hodgepodge of bumps and humps which makes for difficult driving.
A resident whose business borders Clio Street tipped off local CBS news affiliate WWLTV about the ongoing dump-and-runs. As a news crew showed up at the site to investigate, they came across a city truck dumping asphalt on the same dead-end street. However, once city employees spotted an approaching camera man, they got into the truck and drove off.
“Seen a bunch of scared people running,” business owner Dale Foret told wwltv.com.
Footage from Foret’s surveillance camera shows the city employees taking off as a reporter from WWLTV approaches. Foret said the city’s been dumping asphalt on the road for three or four years and that the piles left behind make for rough driving.
“It’s sporadic. They’ll come and they’ll dump, maybe two or three days in a row, then you might not see them for a few months. Then they’ll come dump again. It’s really sporadic,” Foret said. “The street is so rough right now you can hardly drive down it.”
The City of New Orleans is investigating and so far has reported that the work was never authorized and that those involved will be held accountable.
