Thursday, May 19, 2011

AT&T U-Verse Utility Boxes


After nearly two months of working with the previous Mayor Mark Funkhouser, Councilwoman Jan Marcason, State Representative Jason Kander, City Planning, Code Enforcement, Armour Hills Homes Association, and yes, AT&T, we finally came to an agreement. Thanks to one of the more amicable property owners adjacent to the initial site, and the determination of all of us, we managed to remove a blight and replace it with a fairly well hidden one. We were even able to make AT&T go back to a utility box on 68th and Main Streets and do some required landscaping:


The morale of the story is that with adequate opposition and community awareness, AT&T will pay to make these things go away.

Now that the temporary problem is resolved, we must work to create a permanent solution for the City. Not one mile away in Kansas, all utility boxes are required to be underground. While this sounds simple enough, the Utilities are a powerful lobby, and ultimately the Missouri Public Utilities Commission has the final word. In the end, this right of way is still public land, and the utility easement is sold to AT&T and others (including Water, Sewer, Power, and other basic services) with our permission.

Without oversight, the free market gives us this (not a very nice gateway):