Great Pacific Street Crater Opens & Closes...

The monster car-killing hole on Pacific Street between Bond and Nevins opened wide again yesterday for another round of Demolition Derby before being filled up, although it likely to come back to life as some sort of underground collapse or leak is causing it. The most recent email from the Boerum Hill Yahoo Group about it is so amusing (in a car killing way) that we thought we'd share. The subject line is "Who Needs a Meteor Crater in Arizona?":

Anyone who always wanted to see meteor crater in Arizona can save the airfare and just come to Pacific street instead. As predicted (you heard it here first) our mid-block sinkhole collapsed again, this time worse than ever before. Cars hitting it basically run into what amounts to a two foot wall of roadway. I put a cone out (my last one) after someone bent his rims and damaged his front end going into it. Another enterprising person put out a garbage can and caution tape to warn motorists.

I've heard from some folks on the block that the city and the original contractor are meeting to figure out how to fix this, but I'm unsure if any progress has been made. I have called 311, as have others, repeatedly, and each time DOT comes to fill it in, fairly promptly, and of course each time it collapses again. I know Yassky's office was called on this as well.

In its current form, any motorist hitting it at 20 to 30 mph at night is virtually certain to get in a serious accident. We're not talking about a normal pothole here.

Now that I am out of cones and since the garbage can and tape approach won't last long( it will only work if five or six parking spots on the south side of the street remain empty), anyone know a way to warn motorists?

Shouldn't the city be responsible for warning motorists somehow since they certainly know about this problem from multiple sources? I just can't believe its up to me and other residents to try and throw something together to warn cars and prevent a major accident. The city should be able to do better than garbage cans and tape.

The Great Hole of Pacific Street was filled again late yesterday, so the question is: Will it reopen today, tomorrow or next week?