Community Watchdog

Business partners and neighbors Doug Wise and Michael Sweeney worked together to get an old utility pole removed from their street in Blue Point.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

We try to help readers who have trouble getting quality-of-life issues resolved despite multiple tries, and who often end up in a bureaucratic tangle.

But Mike Sweeney and Doug Wise of Blue Point didn't need our help to fix their neighborhood problem. Maybe their story will help you solve an issue on your own.

If you’ve been able to solve a neighborhood problem yourself, tell us how you did it. Write to Newsday’s Community Watchdog, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747, or email watchdog@newsday.com with the details.

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It took Wise and Sweeney 40 days to get this damaged pole removed from their street corner.
Photo by Michael Sweeney

Accidents happen. This one was at the corner of Eatondale and Park Avenues in Blue Point a few months ago, when a car slammed into the utility pole by Michael Sweeney’s house.

A new pole was quickly installed but the splintered pole was left there.

Sweeney and his business partner, Doug Wise, who lives across the street, started a marathon of calls to get the damaged pole removed but were stymied.

Sweeney contacted us for help, but ultimately, the two-man team got the job done within 40 days.

“Persistence wore down their resistence,” Wise says.

And they used a non-hostile approach. “We were nice,” Sweeney said, “very nice.”

They’d faced frustrations early. Whenever a repair crew arrived from LIPA, Verizon or Cablevision, workers ended up leaving the broken pole. “They’d say it’s the other’s responsiblity,” Sweeney said.

When a utility pole is replaced, all three companies have to move their wires to the new pole before the old pole can be removed. The last utility company to move its wires is supposed to take away the old pole. But travel around Long Island and you’ll see plenty of forgotten old poles next to new ones.

“Basically, you have to coordinate between LIPA, Verizon, Cablevision and the towns,” Sweeney said. “They don’t talk to each other.”

The partners were polite but relentless. “You gotta be nice. You gotta be persistent - no screaming, no yelling and just don’t give up,” Sweeney said.

Recording information is essential, said Wise. “Everybody I speak to, I make sure I get their names, the correct spellings...I speak to their supervisor, find out what their job entails and what they’re responsible for,” he explained.

When crews showed up, “We made sure we met them here, and we coerced them into doing their job. Had we not been here when they came, the pole would never have been taken care of.”

Related sites on this topic:

Guenter Bier says his European friends laughed at the broken utility pole, but he saw it as a serious problem.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

For several years now, there is a broken pole on the western side of corner Woodbury and Bethpage Roads in Hicksville. The lower part is gone and it just hangs on a piece of rope tied to another pole! Our visitors from Europe took photos to show how much our infrastructure is run down here. Every time we talk, this subject comes up and causes big laughter, but it is a serious matter. Perhaps your help will do something about it because I do not know the owner of the pole.
--Guenter Bier, Hicksville

A few days after we called the Long Island Power Authority, workers removed the broken pole.

“We took care of it,” LIPA spokeswoman Elizabeth Flagler said simply.

We’ve heard from many readers who complain about old utility poles that need to be removed. Like Eugene Murtha of Babylon, who says there are so many old poles that haven’t been removed after new ones have been installed in his community, that they’re an eyesore. But he doesn’t know which utility to call.

And many of our readers say they get the runaround, with LIPA and Verizon pointing at each other.

Actually, there’s a pole etiquette between the two utilities.

“There is an agreement between the two utilities,” Flagler wrote in an email. “The utility that removes their equipment [wires] last is responsible for removing the pole,” she wrote. “To determine responsibility for poles requires a tracking of the work performed on the pole. The best way for homeowners to get poles removed is to call one of the utilities and have them make that determination.”

The LIPA hotline for pole removal is 800 490 0075. The Verizon number is 800 483-7988.

Goldman, Wednesday night, before the streetlight in front of his home was relit.
Newsday Photo by Ana P. Gutierrez

A crew of Verizon workers were working on my block to install buried utility lines and they cut the lines to the street lamp in front of my house, making the area around my house extremely dark at night. My wife almost broke her leg when she came home from work as she tripped walking up my driveway. Verizon says the Town of Hempstead has to fix it. I have contacted the town repeatedly and they say they’re going to do it. That was over a month ago. The street is dark and unsafe.

-- Alan Stewart Goldman, Merrick

The streetlight should be working by the time you read this.

When we talked to town spokesman Michael Deery last week, he said Goldman’s complaint to the town on Dec. 18 was being resolved and that Hempstead officials would meet with Long Island Power Authority workers on Wednesday.

Late this afternoon, Deery said, “a trench was dug, a new cable was laid and LIPA, we believe, has energized the circuit. That would mean the light should be on this evening.”

It wasn’t a simple fix. “We had to go through a process known as ‘one call’ to ensure there are no other utilities in the area, and having them marked so you don’t create further damage,” Deery said.

“It was actually the feed cable, so a trench had to be dug. It wasn’t merely the connection at a light post, which can be done very quickly.”

Town residents with a streetlight problem can call the town's hotline, 516 489-6000 or email the town with details.

Also related to this topic:

*Town of Hempstead Emergency Services for street light outages, flooding and other problems:
*Verizon Customer Support
*South Merrick Community Civic Association
*Newsday: “Neighbors feel unsafe on dimly-lit street” (Dec. 16, 2007)

Photo by Robert Mecea

About two years ago, I came home and a crew was putting up a new utility pole in front of our house. I asked them when they would take the old pole out. They said the way it works, whoever moves their wires last takes out the old pole. After four-five months, we got cable to come and move their wires. That left the phone wires. We called AT&T once a month to have the pole removed but nothing happened. The two poles are right next to each other with a pile of dirt. It doesn't look right.

-- Joseph Cozine, Patchogue

Going, going, gone. Not one, but three old utility poles on Anne and Joseph Cozine’s block were removed the day after we called Verizon. Yes, Verizon. Cozine’s phone service is with AT&T, which leases the network from Verizon. Apparently, Cozine's many complaints to AT&T weren’t passed along to Verizon. A Verizon spokeswoman, Heather Wilner, said the company was never notified about the pole in front of Cozine's home, but removed it and two other poles on the block after we called.

Rodger Neumann, Verizon’s outside plant engineer for the Patchogue and Selden Central offices, said that while the “double wood” poles weren’t pretty, they didn’t pose a hazard.

Generally, if a complaint is made to Verizon’s hotline (800 483 7988) about old poles, “we’re out there within a couple of days” to evaluate the situation, he said. Removal comes a month or two later, or immediately if the pole presents a hazard.

Also related to this topic:

*Verizon repair request
*AT&T customer support