A New York man went viral after celebrating when a massive hole in his street appeared to be fixed less than a day after he called out Mayor Zohran Mamdani on TikTok. There was just one problem with his victory lap: weeks later, the hole was back, and it looked worse than before.
TikTok user swiperdm first posted about a couple of holes near his neighborhood in July, calling on Mamdani to address the problem. When he returned later that day and discovered they had apparently been filled, he credited the mayor for the surprisingly fast turnaround. “We love you Mamdani, the [expletive],” he exclaimed.
While the timing made for a viral moment, there is no evidence Mamdani personally saw the TikTok or ordered the repair. New York City pothole complaints are handled by the Department of Transportation, and the Mamdani administration has launched several large-scale pothole repair efforts this year.
A few weeks later, on August 5, swiperdm posted another video showing the hole had returned and appeared even larger, with garbage now collecting inside it. “I can’t make ts up bro,” he wrote. In the video, he asked, “Why is it like this again? Mamdani, the job is not done!”
Some viewers questioned whether the street damage was actually a simple pothole. New York City distinguishes ordinary potholes from deeper “cave-ins,” which can involve problems with underground infrastructure and require more extensive repairs. There is no confirmation that the hole in swiperdm’s video is a cave-in.
It also remains unclear who performed the original repair or whether the first TikTok had anything to do with its timing.
Mamdani Praise Takes a Turn After the Hole Returns
The original apparent repair earned Mamdani plenty of praise online. “That’s crazy work. Real life Spider Man,” one Reddit user wrote after seeing how quickly the street appeared to have been repaired.
The update changed the conversation. Some viewers wondered whether the returning hole could indicate a bigger problem. “That looks like a sinkhole waiting to happen. I would stay as far away as possible from that,” one commenter warned. There has been no confirmation that the damage is actually a sinkhole.
Others found humor in how quickly the apparent repair failed. “Lmaoo they [expletive] speed ran that [expletive],” another commenter joked.
The first apparent repair had swiperdm celebrating Mamdani’s response time. Now he’s back to calling on the mayor, giving him 24 hours to deal with the hole once again. Whether City Hall ever saw either TikTok remains unclear, but one thing certainly didn’t last as long as the viral praise: the repair.
