PALM BAY, Fla. — Homeowners say streets in Brevard County's largest city are falling apart and they're upset that, instead of fixing the roads, Palm Bay just spent millions on new garbage cans.
To call it the land of a thousand potholes is an understatement; some roads are merely a series of interconnected pot holes. But inside resident Al Green's garage is a brand new, free garbage can.
The city just bought $3 million worth of garbage cans. Some residents asked WFTV to find out why money went to the cans instead of the roads.
"This is tearing up everybody's car. Look at this thing over here. This isn't even a road, this is like, it actually has a name, but what is it? Looks like a dirt trail," Green said.
It's called Lowry Boulevard and it's covered in potholes. In fact, it's so bad that dirt roads have actually developed on either side of the pavement.
City leaders hear the complaints, but say garbage cans and road repairs can't be compared when just filling potholes costs $2 million.
"We have over 900 miles of roads that have to be maintained, but we don't have the tax base. So the only alternative is special assessment, which was offered to the voters twice and twice it was rejected," said Yvonne Martinez, city of Palm Bay.
Voters said no to funding road paving, and those new trash cans are paid for with trash collection fees, an optional service for homeowners.
"These roads are horrible," resident Hope Hobgood told WFTV.
Hobgood is a traveling nurse. She's forced to drive the streets, calling them the worst in the county. She can only laugh at the bumpy ride that she knows is hard on her car.
"I just find it amazing that it looks like this. I'm surprised, but I guess with this economy it happens," Hobgood said.
But when taxpayers vote down the funding, there's nothing city leaders or anyone else can do about the problem.
The city took out a loan for the $3 million in trash cans, but they say the loan and the interest will be paid by future utilities fees.