Community Watchdog

Antoinetter Ghiradella contacted us about a utility pole in front of her home in Valley Stream. She wrote: A few years ago, LIPA placed a new pole in the front of my home. They said the old pole was not in very good shape. All the wires were moved except AT&T. LIPA notifiedd them many times to move their wires and remove the pole. Never got any kind of response. I also called them with no luck. Not too long ago, I called Verizon and explained the situation to them, only to be told that because I was not one of their customers, they could not help me. I don't know who else to turn to for help. Meanwhile, the pole is tilting more and more. Thanks, I hope you can help me."

We called Ms. Ghiardella and explained that even though her phone seervice is with AT&T and not Verizon, Verizon is responsible for the phone wires because AT&T only leases them. Whenever phone service on Long Island is needed, Verizon is the company to go to.

We gave her Verizon's hotline number, 800 483 7988, last Monday, Aug. 18. Today, we received a card from Ms.Ghiardella:

"Thank you so much for the phone number for Verizon," she wrote. "I spoke to you on the 18th, called Verizon the same day. A very pleasant "Gent" called me on the 19th. Today, the 20th, they came and moved wires and the pole. Thanks again."

We're glad Ms. Ghiardella had better luck with the customer representative she spoke to on Aug. 18 than the one who said the company couldn't help her because she wasn't a Verizon customer.

We're also happy to hear that Verizon acted quickly and did the right thing. So kudos to Verizon and the customer service representative who took the time to straighten out a problem for someone who's not even a client. We need more companies to take responsiblity and address issues that affect our quality of life.

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:

Richard Fiorentino says the utility wires in his backyard need to be more taut so they don't hang so low to the ground.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

I have been trying to have something done about the utility wires in my back yard for many years. The lines hang very low and I think they are dangerous. I have contacted LIPA, Cablevision and Verizon and all say it’s the other’s problem. There is also a problem with a circuit breaker in my yard that blows several times a year, causing a loud explosion and loss of power to the whole neighborhood.
--Richard Fiorentino, Hauppauge

Cablevision sent out a crew after we called and they confirmed the problem wires belong to Verizon.

After we described the problem to Verizon, a manager was sent to the Fiorentino home. “We did see that it was our cable that was drooping,” spokesman John Bonomo said.

The cable would be lifted to make it taut. “Hopefully that will be to his satisfaction," Bonomo said. "He was very appreciative that we were there today.”

Anyone with similar problems should call Verizon’s general repair number at 890-6611. No area code is needed in New York.

LIPA responded to the outage problems by sending workers house-to-house to determine the cause, spokeswoman Elizabeth Flagler said.

They decided there could be too many homes on one circuit and a solution would be to put half the area customers on another circuit. “That should take care of the loss of power,” she said.

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.

Many of you email or write to us about the kind of problems we’ve addressed in our Community Watchdog column published in Sunday's Newsday.

We try to give a phone number or email address where you can write or call if you have a similar problem (sometimes it's town-specific).

For instance, whenever we feature a problem regarding a telephone pole, we get people who write in about a problem they’re having with a pole.

If your problem involves a Verizon pole, the number is 800 483 7988. Call and get a work order number from them and then follow up a couple of weeks later if the work hasn’t been done.

It pays to make sure it’s a Verizon problem. If it’s really a LIPA problem, there’s a good chance Verizon workers won’t tell you unless you ask them when they’re there.

We try to have a variety of different issues in the column, so it's unlikely we'll do a pole complaint every week.

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