Maple Ridge shoots self in foot

[sgrizzle]

http://tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070809_1__Facin42121

quote:
PSO pulls the plug on plan to bury power lines in Maple Ridge


By STAFF REPORTS
8/9/2007  5:13 PM

Facing an organized "Stop the Box" campaign against plans to bury power lines in people's front yards, officials decided Thursday to not bury the lines at all in Tulsa's historic Maple Ridge neighborhood.

Homeowners had been asking the power company to bury the lines in their back yards, where the above-ground transformer boxes wouldn't be visible from the street. But officials said the idea wasn't possible.

Now the lines won't be buried in front or back, at least for the foreseeable future, said Ed Bettinger, a spokesman for American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

"We've decided not to go forward with the project at this time," Bettinger said.

Some Maple Ridge residents wanted PSO to run powerlines around houses, under pools, under sheds and run them through the backyards which would not facilitate trenching or any other heavy equipment. Apparently PSO does not yet have "magic fairy dust" technology that allows you to bury the lines without affecting the structures around them. All this to avoid something like 12 transformer boxes in the front yards.

I'm sure everyone who doesn't have buried lines yet is glad MR made it into such a fiasco.

[RecycleMichael]

I guess I didn't think the green boxes were too ugly. Yes, they would be weird to have in the front yard, but couldn't you landscape around it...hide it with a bush?

[Renaissance]

If I'm a homeowner with a $400,000 investment in a beautiful property, I'm not letting you put a big green box in the front yard without a fight.  Whether it's ugly or not, landscape-able or not.

I think it's unfortunate that they couldn't figure out a way around it.  But I mean, honestly, isn't the point of buried power lines to improve the aesthetics of a neighborhood?  And how is it improved with 3'x3' green metal cubes in every fifth front yard?

[Wilbur]

Those folks also used their money stroke and wouldn't allow the city to widen Peoria between 21st and 31st when it came up for repairs.  So, instead of a wider, safer street, all Tulsan's ended up with an expensive, and still unsafe,  overlay.

Safety be damned!

[pfox]

Michael...you are exactly right.  Those boxes are ALL over south tulsa, and you never notice them because they have been landscaped around them.

Here is my question...what was to happen to the phone and cable lines?  Weren't they going to remain on poles?

[patric]

quote:Now the lines won't be buried in front or back, at least for the foreseeable future, said Ed Bettinger, a spokesman for American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

But this is what AEP wanted all along, isnt it?
Cheap and easy overhead lines instead of investing in a more reliable buried system?

Doing a job you were forced to do as poorly as you can in retaliation is the logic of an eight year old child.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by Floyd

If I'm a homeowner with a $400,000 investment in a beautiful property, I'm not letting you put a big green box in the front yard without a fight.  Whether it's ugly or not, landscape-able or not.

I think it's unfortunate that they couldn't figure out a way around it.  But I mean, honestly, isn't the point of buried power lines to improve the aesthetics of a neighborhood?  And how is it improved with 3'x3' green metal cubes in every fifth front yard?

No, that is NOT the point if burying lines. The point is to increase reliability. As stated before, just because PSO buries a line has little or no effect on whether the poles go away. No neighborhood should get special treatment. If they want something done differently, it should be on their dime.

This same group and mentality is the reason a lot of stuff gets spoiled in this town.

[Conan71]

No, seems like the boxes in South Tulsa are in backyards- not the front.  Somehow I've managed to live at two different houses in planned neighborhoods with U/G power and wound up with the big green box in my backyard.  It was in the next door neighbor's yard at another property.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

No, seems like the boxes in South Tulsa are in backyards- not the front.  Somehow I've managed to live at two different houses in planned neighborhoods with U/G power and wound up with the big green box in my backyard.  It was in the next door neighbor's yard at another property.

They are in the backyards in many neighborhoods because they predate the houses. Those boxes generally require a backhoe and a crane to install. See what the Maple Ridgers think of driving a backhoe through their bckyard.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by pfox

Here is my question...what was to happen to the phone and cable lines?  Weren't they going to remain on poles?

Yes.  I have changed my mind about the "green boxes" for my neighborhood (26th & Yale area.)  At first I wanted none of it, but now I don't think it would be that bad.  But the poles, cable and phone lines would remain.  Why go to all the trouble and expense, which we utility customers will all pay for in the long run, if they don't bury all the lines at the same time eliminate the poles entirely?  Until they do this, I will oppose burying the PSO lines in my neighborhood.

[Breadburner]

I will welcome the green boxes with open arms....PSO come on over.......I have been waiting for this shoe to drop....Good for PSO to push on....What a bunch of numpty's in that area with there "Stop the Box" signs.....

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

quote:Originally posted by pfox

Here is my question...what was to happen to the phone and cable lines?  Weren't they going to remain on poles?

Yes.  I have changed my mind about the "green boxes" for my neighborhood (26th & Yale area.)  At first I wanted none of it, but now I don't think it would be that bad.  But the poles, cable and phone lines would remain.  Why go to all the trouble and expense, which we utility customers will all pay for in the long run, if they don't bury all the lines at the same time eliminate the poles entirely?  Until they do this, I will oppose burying the PSO lines in my neighborhood.

When you get walmart, target and food pyramid to all sell milk for 50c a gallon, then pursue this.

Since the city isn't paying the utilities to bury, what motivation do the other utilities have to follow suit?

[Conan71]

The green boxes do end powerlines being downed in neighborhoods during storms, but they are not impervious to failure.  Water would get into one of them in a neighborhood I lived in and would knock a few blocks off the grid everytime we got a good thunderstorm.  After numerous calls, PSO finally sent a backhoe into someone's back yard to fix the problem.

[iplaw]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

The green boxes do end powerlines being downed in neighborhoods during storms, but they are not impervious to failure.  Water would get into one of them in a neighborhood I lived in and would knock a few blocks off the grid everytime we got a good thunderstorm.  After numerous calls, PSO finally sent a backhoe into someone's back yard to fix the problem.

Sounds like the green boxes get the "Belvedere" treatment when it comes to waterproofing...[:O]

[waterboy]

Numpty? Thats a new one for me.

If it doesnt' get rid of the poles then why the fuss? As one of the more modest homes in the hood I'm sure I would get the honor of landscaping around the box.

We haven't lost juice here since PSO did some long needed trimming. Did it piss people off? Yes. Like thats something new and different with any move. I think asking to put them in the back yard was never feasible and if we put green boxes in the front, why not silver gas meters?

The decision was fine with me.