Local resident Shari Angarano said the project manager told her the crew felt 'unsafe' in the area
Oakland County sheriff says Chilean gangs are back, targeting upscale homes for break-ins
A Chilean crime ring is robbing homeowners in one of Michigan's wealthiest counties while they go away on vacation, the Oakland County sheriff announced earlier this week. (Credit: WJBK)
An East Oakland community's roads remain mottled with gaping potholes after safety concerns led a construction crew to abandon their repaving project, according to a local report.
"He essentially said that the work was suspended and he couldn't tell me the time frame when they would return because the contractor halted all the work because they felt unsafe," Shari Angarano, a resident of the Sobrante Park area, told the Daily Mail of her recent call with the project manager.
"They were not going to restart the project until the City of Oakland could guarantee a safe work environment for them," she added.
KAISER TELLS OAKLAND WORKERS TO STAY INSIDE, AVOID EATING OUT OF OFFICE DUE TO CRIME: REPORT
Residents in Oakland's Sobrante Park area are concerned that bad road conditions could cause damage to their vehicles. (Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
Residents in the community insist nearby road conditions are dangerous and put their vehicles at risk of damage if they aren't repaired soon.
Angarano spoke on camera with KRON 4 San Francisco where she said the existing pavement was ripped up last month to prepare for the repaving, but the day the crew was slated to repave the roads, they never showed up.
"There's more and more gravel and rocks being kicked up every day, every time the bus passes by," she told the outlet. "I did pose that question to the project manager… what happens if my tires get popped? All he could do was tell me to submit a request to the city for reimbursement."
"I called and the engineer with the City of Oakland said that contractor pulled out because the crews didn’t feel safe," Angarano told KRON.
FED-UP OAKLAND BUSINESS OWNERS CALL SOARING CRIME ‘ANOTHER PANDEMIC’
Oakland crime even garnered the attention of Gov. Gavin Newsom who, in February, supplied the area with 120 California Highway Patrol officers. (Fox News)
She added that she would like to see the streets repaved "as soon as possible."
The outlet said Oakland’s Department of Transportation, when contacted, confirmed the project is slated to resume soon and should be finished at some point this month.
Oakland has faced another exodus of late as some residents and businesses leave due to their own safety concerns. As the coastal California city grappled with relentless crime, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom felt compelled to intervene in February and sent 120 California Highway Patrol officers to the area to mitigate the crisis of rising thefts and violence.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA'S ONLY IN-N-OUT RESTAURANT CLOSING DUE TO CRIME
An exterior view of an In-N-Out in Hegenberger Court in Oakland, California on Friday, March 15, 2024. The restaurant, along with Oakland's only Denny's location, closed due to safety concerns. (DWS for Fox News Digital)
"What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable," his office said in a news release at the time.
Denny's shuttered its only Oakland location after 54 years due to crime in January. In-N-Out also shuttered their only location in Oakland earlier this year, citing the same issue.
Last year, a number of residents told CNN that they no longer feel safe enough to leave their homes. One lifelong resident of Oakland told the outlet he planned to flee the city.
In February, an Oakland restaurant owner told Fox News Digital that the city's crime problems were the "worst I've ever seen."
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
