A group of Turlock residents are calling on the Mayor to make good on her campaign promises to fix their road.

Residents of Wayside Drive have been writing letters, reaching out to City staff and City Council members about the poor condition of their road for decades. Desperate, a few residents have decided to post yard signs begging Mayor Amy Bublak to help them.

At least four properties on Wayside Drive have the yard signs that read “Mayor Bublak Wayside Drive Needs You!!”

“When the Mayor was running for office, I spoke to her regarding our problems. I let her know that a handicapped woman got stuck in a hole in the road heading to the store.  The temperature was over 100 degrees.  Her wheelchair was not movable and cars were going past her in both directions. I pulled her and her chair out of the hole. The possibility of that happening again with far grimmer results is a constant danger. There are many people in wheelchairs and with other assistive transporters due to the apartment building on Wayside that is designated for elderly and handicapped adults. I explained the wear and tear on our bicycle and car tires,” Wayside Drive resident Julie Bradford told the Journal.

Bradford said that Bublak assured her that Wayside Drive would be paved, saying it would be done in conjunction with the widening of Olive Avenue.

While work has been on Olive Avenue, there are no current plans to repave Wayside Drive.

At the Sept. 10 City Council meeting, two other Wayside residents expressed their frustration with the lack of work done on their road, which runs east to west between Pioneer Avenue and Geer Road.

Sam Regulado told the Council that he’s been living near Wayside Drive since 1988.

“Since that time (1988) not a single time has the street been properly paved. As best I know, that’s been the circumstance since the early 1970s. Such lack of attention has been shameful at best. At worst, your predecessors failed the taxpayers of our community. The question is, will the current City Council follow suit or will you be different? Thus far, any action on Wayside has been absence and I have seen no demonstration of any change on the street or in the Council minutes, which I have been reviewing since April. Right now, I think we’d settle for cobblestone.”

John Bellison echoed Regulado’s comments.

“I moved down here from Oakland 33 years ago. I fell in love with this town. I bought a home in this town. I watched this town grow. Now, I’m watching it deteriorate. And, it’s deteriorating badly,” said John Bellison.

Mayor Bublak said that the City Council will hold a roads workshop this month and that her and Council member Nicole Larson will be filling potholes on Wayside Drive next week.

“There are many streets that need our attention still,” said Bublak.

The measurement system used to gauge the condition of the city's roadways, the Pavement Condition Index, ranges between 0 (very poor) and 100 (excellent). When the City of Turlock first surveyed the streets in 2013, the average PCI was 67. The newest survey, as of January 2019, has the city at an average of 56 PCI.

Wayside Drive is one of Turlock’s worst roadways, scoring a “poor” condition with a 0-49 PCI.