{"id":141247,"date":"2026-03-18T01:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/141247\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T01:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:01:09","slug":"residents-in-philadelphias-frankford-section-see-progress-on-sinkhole-repairs-then-face-new-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/141247\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents in Philadelphia’s Frankford section see progress on sinkhole repairs, then face new setback"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Residents on the 4600 block of Lesher Street in Frankford are still waiting for full repairs to a series of sinkholes<\/a> that formed after a New Year’s Day water main break, despite long-awaited construction finally beginning this week.<\/p>\n

For Arlene Esquilin, the sound of crews working outside her home was a relief after two months of trying to get the city’s attention.<\/p>\n

“As soon as I heard it, I said, ‘Yes, something’s happening!'” she said.<\/p>\n

Esquilin, a mother of two, relies on a handicapped parking space directly beside the sinkholes, but said she was too afraid to use it. Instead, she carried her 65-pound son with special needs to a car parked at the end of the block, where the pavement was stable.<\/p>\n

“This has just been really hard for us,” she said.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO | Philadelphia mother of boy with special needs urges city to fix sinkholes outside home<\/a><\/p>\n

Philadelphia mother of boy with special needs urges city to fix sinkholes outside home<\/p>\n

By the time Action News reporter TaRhonda Thomas first spoke with her a week and a half ago, Esquilin said she had called 311 repeatedly and was even told to call 911.<\/p>\n

The situation changed quickly once her story aired.<\/p>\n

“The story was out. It was less than an hour. There was somebody out here!” she said.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who represents the district, helped expedite the case.<\/p>\n

“The stress that it was causing families on the block, the fact that they had been trying to resolve the issue,” she said, explaining why she intervened.<\/p>\n

Esquilin credited the renewed attention for finally getting repairs underway.<\/p>\n

“If it wasn’t for the help of 6abc and you, TaRhonda, this wouldn’t have happened,” she said.<\/p>\n

But just hours after fresh concrete was poured, a driver traveling the wrong way drove past cones and into the wet cement.<\/p>\n

“What in the world?” Lozada said after being told about the damage.<\/p>\n

The street had been scheduled to be paved with blacktop on Wednesday, but the Streets Department will now have to return to fix the new damage. Esquilin was told that the goal is to have the work done by the end of the week.<\/p>\n

“I’m gonna cry. I’m gonna cry. I’m so frustrated,” Esquilin said, hoping the setback doesn’t leave the project at a standstill.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Residents on the 4600 block of Lesher Street in Frankford are still waiting for full…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64682,69,71,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-141247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-64682","9":"tag-philadelphia","10":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","11":"tag-philadelphia-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}