Cherry Beach potholes seem to be impossible to fix

Here’s an urban legend with some truth to it: Gigantic potholes in the parking lots at Cherry Beach defy all attempts to fill them.

Since 2008, they’ve been the subject of four Fixer columns – not because I particularly like writing about it, but due to the relentless beefing about them.

No wonder people complain. These are not your garden variety potholes.

The parking lots are riddled with deep, yawning cavities that fill with water on rainy days, making it impossible to judge their depth. They are side-by-side in many spots, with some as wide as the cars trying to slog through them.

About twice a year, the parks department arranges for loads of crushed asphalt to be trucked in and used to fill the holes. But it never stays in place for long; within a few months, the potholes are as big and bad as ever.

Cherry Beach has a large off-leash area that draws a lot of dog walkers who arrive in cars and have to bounce through the holes to find a parking spot.

The latest complaint came from recently retired Star photographer Tony Bock, who walks his dog at Cherry Beach and says “the potholes are whoppers.

“This is an ongoing problem. The city grades it from time to time but never does a permanent fix.

“Maybe you can whisper in someone’s ear to get the work done, yet again, before a small poodle gets lost in a large puddle.”

The problem is that the city always goes for the quick-and-easy fix – packing the holes with recycled bits of asphalt - even though everybody knows it won’t stay put.

Sure, the city is hard up for dough, but given the large volume of traffic in and out of the two large parking lots, it would be a good investment to resurface them.

Nobody who uses them would complain.