"Let's Fix Potholes Ourselves Instead of Complaining"... The Story That Made 'Terminator' Embarrassed

Schwarzenegger Fills Pothole Near Home Himself
Turns Out It Was Dug for Gas Pipe Maintenance

Former California Governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, famous for the movie 'Terminator,' recently filled a road near his home by himself, only to find out he would have to dig it up again. It was revealed that what he thought was a pothole was actually a trench dug for gas pipeline maintenance.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, wearing a brown leather jacket and sunglasses, poured asphalt onto the excavated ground and then leveled it smoothly using a shovel.
[Photo by Arnold Schwarzenegger Instagram]

According to the Associated Press and other sources on the 12th (local time), Schwarzenegger posted a video on his social networking service (SNS) the day before. In the video, Schwarzenegger, along with two workers, filled a long hole on a road in Brentwood, Los Angeles, where he lives. Wearing a brown leather jacket and sunglasses, he poured asphalt into the dug ground and smoothed it out with a shovel.

A resident driving by stopped their car briefly, rolled down the window, and thanked Schwarzenegger by saying "Thank you." Schwarzenegger replied, "You're welcome."

He wrote alongside the video, "For weeks, the huge pothole has been damaging cars and bicycles, and the neighborhood people have been angry," adding, "Today, I went out with our team (workers) and filled it." He also added, "As I always say, don't just complain, take action yourself."

Schwarzenegger's spokesperson, Daniel Ketchell, explained that Brentwood residents had been continuously requesting the authorities to repair potholes and road cracks caused by winter storms. The City of Los Angeles reportedly received over 19,000 pothole repair requests from late December last year to the present.

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Photo by EPA·Yonhap News

However, after Schwarzenegger posted the video, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works gave a response completely different from his expectation. What he filled was not a pothole but a trench dug by the gas company for maintenance work.

A city spokesperson told NBC LA, "That is not a pothole," adding, "It is a trench dug with permission by SoCalGas, a gas company, for maintenance work scheduled through May." They further stated, "As with other maintenance work, SoCalGas will fill the hole after completing the maintenance."

NBC LA added that neither Schwarzenegger nor SoCalGas has responded to questions regarding this situation yet.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.