Activists in Yekaterinburg have come up with a novel way to force their politicians to deal with the Urals city's notorious pothole problem.
Under a project called "Make the Officials Work," artists drew caricatures of top officials over some of the city's many potholes during the night of July 23-24.
The effort to shame the politicians -- which targeted Yekaterinburg City Manager Aleksandr Yakob, Mayor Yevgeny Porunov, and Sverdlovsk Governor Yevgeny Kuivashev -- apparently worked.
Photos of the artistically enhanced craters spread rapidly on social networking sites like Twitter, Vkontakte, and LiveJournal.
The Yekaterinburg Mayor's Office initially called the street art "unsanctioned and inappropriate pictures that were polluting the city." But by midday on July 24, work crews were removing the caricatures and filling the potholes. (See YouTube videos here and here.)
Under a project called "Make the Officials Work," artists drew caricatures of top officials over some of the city's many potholes during the night of July 23-24.
The effort to shame the politicians -- which targeted Yekaterinburg City Manager Aleksandr Yakob, Mayor Yevgeny Porunov, and Sverdlovsk Governor Yevgeny Kuivashev -- apparently worked.
Photos of the artistically enhanced craters spread rapidly on social networking sites like Twitter, Vkontakte, and LiveJournal.
The Yekaterinburg Mayor's Office initially called the street art "unsanctioned and inappropriate pictures that were polluting the city." But by midday on July 24, work crews were removing the caricatures and filling the potholes. (See YouTube videos here and here.)
A pothole caricature of Sverdlovsk Governor Yevgeny Kuivashev
A pothole caricature of Yevgeny Porunov, head of the Yekaterinburg City Duma
Employees of the road repair service paint over a caricature of Sverdlovsk Governor Yevgeny Kuivashev