Compton residents fed up with massive potholes throughout the city

COMPTON, Calif. (FOX 11) - Compton residents are fed up with the massive potholes throughout the city. On Thursday, they compare some of their neighborhoods to those of a third world country.

"To be honest with you, it's embarrassing as a taxpayer to see the streets look like this," said one Compton resident.

Candace Leos has lived in Compton her entire life. She said, "I want to see Compton become a place where you can be proud to go home, you can be proud to have people come visit you, right now it's a shame, it's embarrassing."

Residents said city officials aren't just ignoring their complaints, they said through the years, some council members have been downright disrespectful to the community. They pointed at Councilwoman Janna Zurita, who gave a senior citizen the finger during a public meeting a few years ago. On the video you can see Zurita flipping off the constituent and the senior resident saying, "Ms. Zurita please stop giving me the finger."

While reporting on this story in Compton, Zurita stopped by to give her point of view.

This was the exchange:

Zurita: I have never been disrespectful to…
Fox 11's Gina Silva: You flipped a person off during a council meeting.
Zurita: I'm not even really sure if that was a real finger or not if you really enhance the quality of the picture, I don't even believe its a finger, but the lady that…
Silva: We saw the video. You were flipping her off.
Zurita: That's fine, maybe you did but that lady had done so many evil things to me and my family.

An audit by the California State Controller, released in 2018, revealed that Compton City officials mismanaged funds, overpaid themselves and the "internal accounting control deficiencies were serious and pervasive" resulting in a deficit of $42.7 million dollars.

In addition, residents said, "There was a fiscal emergency in the City of Compton and we voted on Measure P to add an additional tax in our sales tax. That money would generate a certain amount of money each year. So that money is available now. It's like where are we seeing it being spent?"

Emails and phone calls to Compton City officials went unanswered but on the city's website, there is a page detailing upcoming street repairs.

Some residents like Jarall Wallace said they'll believe it when they see it.

"It's been like this for as long as I can remember I'm 35 now, and as far as I can remember back to being a child, potholes have been a problem," he said.