Someone spray-painted a penis on this road to protest potholes

Frustrated about the potholes pockmarking his street, one California resident took things — and a spray-paint can — into his own hands.

Under cover of darkness, he spray-painted his frustration on the street.

He painted “what are taxes for.”

He painted a phallic symbol, too.

“The potholes has been here for a long time, but the penis, that was just put there last night,” neighbor Virginia Gabac told KTXL in Sacramento last week.

She and other residents on Woodridge Court in Placerville told the TV station the potholes have gone unfixed for quite a while. A quick check of Twitter reveals gripes about the rutty toads in this northern California town of about 10,000 go back several years.

The TV station filmed cars bumping and slamming in and out of one pothole after another on the decaying road.

Some of the neighbors know who painted the protest graffiti, but their lips are sealed — unlike the potholes.

“Watched the kid who lives around here, he got a ticket because his front license plate fell off going through here, so they gave him a ticket for not having a front license plate,” neighbor Geof Peabody told KTXL.

Some neighbors vented that the city ignores their roads because they live in a poor neighborhood.

In a newsletter to residents last summer, Placerville City Manager Cleve Morris wrote that “money from the state is shrinking as costs for repairs go up. This makes it extremely difficult to keep up with potholes and other required maintenance for our roads.”

In November, city residents overwhelmingly approved a temporary .05 percent sales tax increase to fill potholes and fix the town’s deteriorating pipes.

Last week city officials refused to comment to KTXL about the spray-paint protest. But city crews removed the phallic graffiti.

They left the potholes.

This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Someone spray-painted a penis on this road to protest potholes."