‘We pay $300 a month for these roads’: A woman told an Arizona road worker to leave, so he asked why the city was paying him

An Arizona road crew was just trying to get through a repair job when an older woman from the neighborhood walked up and would not let the confrontation drop. According to The Nerd Stash, a road worker who goes by elcompa_duchy can be heard in footage he shared telling the woman he’s “just going to be here a couple of minutes” while he gathers his tools.

He can also be heard saying, “I’m not blocking your driveway. I’m not blocking anybody’s driveway,” as she continued pressing him to stop and talk. He later said he did not like how she approached him in the first place, and claimed that at one point she put her hands on him. The woman, for her part, told him, “I didn’t like that you walked right by me when I stopped you because you weren’t gonna talk to me.” From there, the disagreement shifted to who had the right to be working on the street at all.

She insisted, “These are not city streets. This is private.” The worker responded by laughing and explaining that the city owns the road, though she was not convinced. She kept pushing back, telling him, “We pay for these roads to get asphalt. Everything. It’s private. It’s not a city road.” He asked, “How come the city is paying me to pave the sidewalks, then?” She answered, “Not here! We pay $300 a month for these roads!”

Is her private road claim actually onto something?

Her claim is not necessarily as far-fetched as it sounds, at least in general terms. Under Arizona law, ownership determines whether a street counts as public or private: cities and counties own and maintain public streets, while private roads inside planned communities are typically owned and maintained by the homeowners association itself, often funded through monthly dues.

A state law passed in 2023, A.R.S. § 33-1818, even bars HOAs from regulating streets that are actually owned by a government entity, which shows how often the distinction gets contested. None of that confirms which category this particular street falls into, but it does mean a $300 monthly charge for road upkeep is plausible if the street genuinely is private.

Per The Nerd Stash’s account of the video’s reception, the clip has drawn considerable criticism, particularly after the worker indicated in a follow-up post that the woman had allegedly made physical contact with him. The outlet reported one response reading, “She put her hands on him because he wouldn’t stop and talk to her???? That’s crazy,” which the worker liked, along with another remark suggesting the woman did not seem to realize the city had contracted him for the job.

The worker also said he told the woman she was free to call the police herself if she believed something had actually happened, and claimed she declined to do so. Neither the woman nor any local authorities have publicly responded, and the claims described here have not been independently verified.

A similar dispute played out recently when a homeowner accused a contractor of working without a license, which also ended with the worker claiming he had been struck during the argument.