(12 Jun 2014) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus012023
VOICE OVER:
[NAT SOUND: Wire brush on mosaic]
A GUY CROUCHED OVER, FIXING A CRACKED, ERODED PIECE OF PAVEMENT �
HE'S A HERO TO DRIVERS, FOR SURE.
[NAT SOUND: Glove wipes mosaic]
BUT SOMETHING'S DIFFERENT HERE ON THIS CHICAGO STREET.
SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist: "Potholes are universally ugly."
[NAT SOUND: Another glove wipe, after detail of mosaic revealed]
SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist:" Nobody likes them. I mean, NOBODY likes them. And I just think it's fun to add that little bit of spark into a issue that people moan about and there's really nothing you can do about."
[NAT SOUND: Tires roll over pothole on Chicago street]
SO -- ARMED WITH ORANGE VESTS AND CONES -- AND GOOD HUMOR -- JIM BACHOR AND HIS CREW ARE ON THE CASE.
[NAT SOUND: Broom on asphalt]
[NAT SOUND: Mud mixing in bucket]
BUT BACHOR IS NO CITY WORKER.
HE'S A MOSAIC ARTIST ...
[NAT SOUND: Van speeds by]
� A DETAIL OFTEN LOST ON THOSE WHO SPEED BY.
SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist: "Or if they happen to be going by very slow, they'll just do a second take."
[NAT SOUND: Mosaic slides across pavement onto pothole]
BACHOR'S MOSAICS ARE MADE WITH THE COLORS OF CHICAGO'S FLAG.
� BUT WHAT DOES THE CITY HAVE TO SAY?
SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist: "They didn't say no�."
[NAT SOUND: Boot pats muddy mosaic]
SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist: "� They didn't say stop doing it, but it was just kind of like, you know, 'Leave it to the professionals. But we think it's kind of funny.'"
[NAT SOUND: Bachor's assistant as passerby Gerry Shaheen stands nearby: "How long will the whole state take? He wants to know." Bachor laughs.]
Gerry Shaheen, curious passerby: "I thought they were just filling a pothole, and I thought it was kind of inefficient, but now that I know what they're doing, we'll take any pothole repair we can get -- and if it's art? Fine. So be it."
26. SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist: "There are hundreds of thousands of potholes in the city, you know, and I've tackled (pauses and smirks) seven."
[NAT SOUND: Water sprays]
SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist: "So my effort is the tiniest of percentages. It's a miniscule solve to the problem."
[NAT SOUND: Scrubbing]
AFTER A DAY DRYING, BACHOR CLEANS UP THE MOSAIC �
[NAT SOUND: Water splashes on mosaic]
[NAT SOUND: Bachor: "Oh, yeah -- WORLD of difference."
WITH A NOD AND A WINK, HE'S ASSIGNED THIS ONE NUMBER "21-THOUSAND-NINE-HUNDRED-14."
SOUNDBITE: Jim Bachor (pronounced BOCK'-er), mosaic artist: "That idea of permanence just, to this day, blows me away. I just love that whole idea."
AND SO, HIS MISSION CONTINUES �
[NAT SOUND: Tires roll over new mosaic]
ONE POTHOLE ...
[NAT SOUND: More tires roll over new mosaic]
� AT A TIME.
MARTHA IRVINE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, CHICAGO
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