Fiber deprived

 

THE CITY 

Dr. Ida Messana, a Queens internist specializing in geriatric medicine, started experiencing internet, fax and landline phone issues in her Forest Hills office last summer and noticed a concerning side effect.

Many of her elderly patients, who depend on phone calls and faxes, as opposed to emails and texts, stopped coming because they could not reach her.

“We lost dial tone on my fax line, so I couldn’t receive or send any faxes. Imagine my patients waiting for their CAT scans, X-rays, their reports of blood, all different kinds of things,“ she explained.

Turned out her fax machine was working, but the line was out. She also relied on the line for DSL internet service to her office.

While her connectivity problems were resolved five months later, Messana fears future service outages. A Verizon technician told Messana that her phone lines are copper, which the company phased out in favor of fiber optic wires.

Most telecommunications companies these days tout their high-speed fiber optic lines, which send light down thin filaments of glass, but copper wires are still in use for some households.

When those metal wires corrode without proper upkeep, New Yorkers who rely on them are left without service.

Glendale plaza construction hurts small businesses

From the Queens Chronicle:

The city, area elected officials and community leaders have reached a deal they hope will alleviate some of the burden pedestrian plaza work had placed on a number of Glendale businesses.

According to Department of Design and Construction representative Ian Michaels and Community Board 5 Chairman Vincent Arcuri Jr., the project at Myrtle and Cooper avenues hit a snag recently, as it was discovered underground Verizon infrastructure had to be moved in order for the project to continue.

But even before the issue with Verizon occurred, a number of area stores had said the restricting of traffic flow and the loss of parking in the area was resulting in declines in sales and customers.

Elmhurst building facade peels away

From PIX11:

A portion of a Verizon building in Queens came crashing to the ground during a powerful overnight storm that downed trees and power lines across the area.

It happened at Vietor Avenue and Broadway in the Elmhurst section of Queens.

Images from the scene show a chunk of the building as tall as an SUV crumpled in the middle of Vietor Avenue. Debris could be seen on top of several cars parked along the side of the road, and at least three vehicles appeared to sustain severe damage.

Residents reported hearing a loud crash in the middle of the night, then seeing a portion of the building -- about 20 feet by 60 feet sheet of bricks -- on the ground. No one was hurt.

Bill may force utilities to repair streets they destroy

From the Daily News:

Utility companies that trash streets while doing underground work would face jacked up fines under legislation being introduced in the City Council.

When companies like Con Ed, Time Warner and Verizon tear up streets to do utility work, they’re required to repave the road and leave it in good shape.

But Councilman Dan Garodnick said there are frequent complaints that streets are left unevenly paved, marred with potholes, or strewn with debris.

The bill he is sponsoring would double fines from $5,000 to $10,000 for violations like digging up a street without a permit, repaving a street improperly, or blocking a fire hydrant or bus stop.

Fines would jump from $1,000 to $5,000 for improperly installing curbs, failing to remove debris, and similar violations.

How did Laurelton stop a cell tower when other neighborhoods couldn't?

From the Times Ledger:

Laurelton residents and officials have stopped the metal giant.

Residents and area officials celebrated their victory over Verizon’s plans to install a 60-foot cell-phone tower on 229th Street and Merrick Boulevard Tuesday. The company claimed that the tower was needed to provide reliable service for its customers in the New York City area, but residents complained that the tower would ruin the character of the neighborhood.

Some even worried that radiation from the tower would cause cancer, but there is no research to support this claim. According to the American Cancer Association’s website, “there is very little evidence to support” the notion that living or working near cellphone towers might increase the risk of cancer or other health problems.

“This is a community that stands together,” said Franck Joseph, a spokesman for Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton). “It wasn’t about fighting a corporation, it was about challenging them to be better neighbors.”

But Dwight Johnson, the president of the Federated Blocks of Laurelton, warned that the struggle might not be over.

“We still have to be vigilant,” he said, “and see what comes next.”

While Verizon backed off from the plans for the tower, there still might be tower installations in the future, Joseph said.

The company, he said, is looking for other options in the area and it might choose to install smaller, less obtrusive towers.

Large cell tower proposed for Laurelton

From the Daily News:

Residents are speaking up against the 60-foot cell tower that Big Red plans to put up on a commercial strip in Laurelton.

The free-standing tower, proposed at 229-19 Merrick Blvd., would double the network capacity in the congested area, Verizon spokesman David Samberg said.

But concerned homeowners and community leaders say the structure would be sandwiched between homes and would be “unsightly” and “obtrusive,” and could also pose health risks.

“We have nothing in the community of Laurelton that is that tall,” said Bess DeBetham, who sits on Community Board 13.

“It would be obtrusive. The aesthetics, the health hazards — we don’t want or need that.”

Samberg said that the commercially-zoned proposed location was the least residential option.

Verizon workers stop rape in progress

From the Queens Courier:

Three Queens-bred heroes thwarted a rape in Flushing last week by chasing, catching and sitting on the attacker until cops arrived.

Verizon technicians Michael Popowich, Anthony Howley and John Gilday were finishing up a job at 150-24 Northern Boulevard on October 30 when they saw a man lurking across the street around noon.

They said the alleged assailant, identified by police as 53-year-old Young Song, ran up to a woman who was leaving a corner café and put his hand on her waist.

But then the man “got a lot more aggressive and physical with her” and allegedly pushed her down to the ground, they said.

“She had a skirt on. He put his hand up her skirt and proceeded to pull her underwear down,” Popowich claimed. “No one did anything.”

The three technicians shouted, but the noise did not scare him off, said Gilday, 53, of Douglaston.

The trio sprang into action and chased the man, who ran onto the street. They caught him and brought him to his knees, they said.

“The three of us manhandled him back onto the sidewalk,” Popowich said. “We sat on him with all of our weight until the police showed up.”

Song, a Flushing resident, was arrested and charged with rape, sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment, police said. He did not know the victim before allegedly attacking her, the victim told her rescuers.

Timber!

Made me think of this...



But if someone doesn't act soon, the result won't be so funny.

The leaning pole of Little Neck

From NY1:

A leaning electric pole in Little Neck, Queens looms large over homeowner Yoon Suk Kang, who has seen the pole fall many times.

It happened not once or twice, but three times.

That means little sleep for the tired homeowner, who has been pleading with Verizon and Consolidated Edison to not only fix the pole but to also get to the root of the problem and raise the wires so large trucks will not hit them.

"Con Edison and Verizon, they came they reinstalled a new pole here and a second one and they promised me [it would] never happen again," says Kang.

But sure enough, last week it did happen again.

The force of the fall was so strong the cables brought down Kang's meter box and now Con Ed is saying he is responsible for fixing it.

Mr. Telephone Man, there's something STILL wrong with my line...

From the NY Post:

About 1,000 more Queens households than usual still had no landline phone service 10 days after storms tore through the borough, officials said yesterday.

Verizon estimated that 2,000 Queens customers had no working landlines. That's about double its normal number of outages.

The officials attributed the delay to downed trees and phone lines still hampering restoration.

Verizon normally has 1,000 landlines down in Queens? Sheesh...

Photo from the NY Times

Guy caught stealing Verizon van

From the Daily News:

A Verizon worker helped cops catch a man who stole his company van in Queens - chasing him down and using the suspect's abandoned cell phone to get him arrested.

Alphur Willock, 38, was driving on Northern Blvd. about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when a warning light flashed on the dashboard showing the back door wasn't closed. He pulled over, got out of the van to check on the door and then stared in amazement as the vehicle started rolling away.

Willock sprinted down the middle of the road near Parsons Blvd. and reached the van as it was stopped at a red light less than a block away. "I open up the door, and this guy is there, changing the radio station," he said. "I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out."

The two scuffled, but the suspect, identified by cops as Andrew Scudiero, 48, slipped away. He ran into a nearby Staples store, and Willock chased him. Scudiero got away - but not for long.

The Verizon technician found the suspect's cell phone in the van and took it to the 109th Precinct stationhouse in Flushing. Detectives punched in his recently dialed numbers, which led them to his father's office. That's where cops made the arrest.

Verizon & Con Ed both pass the buck

From the Times Ledger:

Community Board 7 member John Barone said a finger-pointing match between two of the largest companies in the country has started over electrical damage to his home, but thus far he has had to foot the $3,000 bill.

Barone, who lives at 14-57 157th St. in Whitestone, said the trouble started in mid-July when his lights began flickering during a thunderstorm. The problem persisted and Barone, unable to locate the cause of the problem, called an electrician.

“What had happened is this telephone pole outside my house has been leaning away from the house towards the street,” Barone said. “It pulled the wires on top of my house so tight that it pulled the pole holding them off the house and it cracked a water drainage pipe.”

The result was water funneling into his home’s main circuit box, which quickly became rusted and began to short out.

Barone said the repairs cost him $3,000 and when Con Edison workers initially responded to the scene, they told him the utility would pay for the repairs if he filed a claim.

But shortly after doing so, Barone said he received a call from Con Ed’s utility department, informing him that while the wiring was theirs, the pole itself belonged to telecommunications company Verizon.

“So I called up Verizon and they told me that it’s the wires that are pulling the pole to the side, so it’s Con Edison’s responsibility,” Barone said.