Jersey City mayor blames PSE&G for patchy, bumpy roads

JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- Jersey City is halting PSE&G work, accusing them of shoddy work and ripping up roads.

The mayor blasted the utility company saying that its sloppy work in urban areas is unacceptable and they wouldn't dare pull the same moves in affluent areas.

Drive around downtown Jersey City, and the signs of recent utility work are pretty much everywhere. The freshly covered trenches are a little bumpy, though it's hard to find locals who are all that worked up about it.

"I'm used to patches. As long as it doesn't break your tires I'm ok. I'm a city person," said Paul Appel, a resident.

"It's a city. It's a city street. What are you going to do, pave the whole street? Come on," said Jimmy Cardinali, a resident.

Actually that's exactly what Mayor Steven Fulop wants, and Monday he threw down the gauntlet at the power company responsible for most of the work.

Monday night, he sent Eyewitness News a video news release lambasting power company PSE&G for destroying his city's pristine streets.

The mayor revoked the utility's permits for seven ongoing projects until it ponies up for more than a simple patch.

"PSE&G has shown an utter disregard to urban areas, you can see here what they've done and what they deem acceptable, which is a reflection on not only Jersey City but every urban area throughout the state of New Jersey," Fulop said.

The most egregious example, he says, are the crosswalks on Columbus Boulevard where work crews patched over bricked crosswalks, though they date to 2011 and may be among the newest streets here.

"It's important that he focuses on the roads. I don't know if PSE&G is the problem, and I know they're just trying to do their job, and maybe there need to be another solution, maybe that's the city's solution or they work with PSE&G to get the roads fixed, but the roads need to be fixed by somebody," said Dana Hall, a resident.

In restoring roads, PSE&G said in a statement, "We don't treat urban and suburban towns differently. While this work may be inconvenient for people, we are making Jersey City's infrastructure more resilient and reliable following severe weather like Sandy."

"Have you seen the roads in New York? It's like driving on the moon," a resident said.