KEARNY –
Coming or going, there’s a commuter special available on potholes waiting for you at the Kearny Walmart Supercenter.
Mayor Alberto Santos wants no part of it.
And he’s delivered the message to the management.
Because the property occupied by the main vehicular entrance/exit for the shopping center on Harrison Ave. is owned by Walmart, responsibility for its maintenance is the company’s, “not the county’s, not the town’s,” according to Santos.
“Cars are bottoming out and some have lost tires,” the mayor said. “Dozens” of vehicles have been damaged, he added.
Last week, Santos put the Walmart CEO on notice about the situation, writing, “As mayor of Kearny, this has been the source of most of my incoming calls for the past week (the entrance has been in this deteriorated condition for over two weeks).
“We’ve reached out to the local store manager and district manager earlier in the week so that – at the very minimum – the holes are filled with crushed stone until a more permanent repair is completed.
“Unfortunately, no action has been taken by Walmart. I am asking for your immediate assistance in eliminating this very hazardous condition.”
Last week, Santos told The Observer that, “The entrance/exit has had potholes for several months but about two weeks ago they deteriorated and became deeper and wider.
“The weather the last few days (rain) has made them even worse; cars are no longer able to go around them – instead, you have to pick which pothole to risk with your car and go over it.”
Santos shared an email response he received last Thursday from John Katzer, Walmart senior director of facilities maintenance, thanking him for the notification.
“I am in discussion with my team about this matter currently. We have a proposal in hand from our contractor and will be coordinating the completion of this work very soon. … I apologize for any inconvenience that has been caused to you or the residents of Kearny,” Katzer wrote.
On Friday, Katzer alerted Santos that, “repairs to the intersection were made this morning to address the immediate concerns. We have a proposal to make more extensive repairs when the temperature allows, but the repairs made [today] should eliminate the concerns regarding further vehicle damage.”
Walmart began seven-day-a-week operations at its Kearny facility with 350 new workers in June 2006 and, seven years later, expanded with a 40,000- square foot addition featuring a grocery and fresh produce wing employing 80 more people.
While the business has brought in additional ratables to the town, it has also, unfortunately, generated more headaches for local gendarmes, who’ve been called to the facility at an increasing rate each year to handle shoplifting and other criminal complaints.
– Ron Leir
