The current slurry seal projects in progress on Fountaingrove and Oakmont streets got under the skin of Press Democrat columnist Chris Coursey. Here’s how he describes them in this morning’s column.

Let them eat cake. Out of potholes.

That’s the unfortunate message being sent by Santa Rosa’s street maintenance program, described on this morning’s Page 1 by staff writer Kevin McCallum. In a form of triage where pavement takes the place of patients, the city has decided to save the healthy ones, and let the sick ones die a not-so-slow death.

Not surprisingly, the healthy streets getting treatment under this program are in the relatively wealthy neighborhoods of Fountaingrove and Oakmont. The old, sick streets getting neglected are, naturally, in older, less wealthy neighborhoods. 

You can read the full column HERE, but here’s a question for you. Is it better to do preventative maintenance of new streets or reserve that money for future repairs needed on badly maintained roads?