Cable Boxes Send Bad Signal
Posted on: Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 12:00 CDT
By Lisa L. Colangelo, Daily News, New York
Apr. 18--They used to be known as Green Monsters. But some of the Time Warner Cable boxes that dot sidewalks in Brooklyn are just plain eyesores.
One is rotted out on a corner. Others have unlocked doors, revealing a mass of wires and cables.
In at least one case, the doors are held closed just by a piece of hanger wire.
"A little kid can stick their hand in there and grab those wires," said one former contractor, as he watched mothers and nannies push children in strollers past a cable box on DeKalb Ave.
On Fulton St. between Greene and Cumberland Aves., the entire back panel of a cable box's massive pedestal comes loose at a touch, hitting a car parked behind it.
On Clinton Ave. between Myrtle and Willoughby, one corner of a box has rotted away.
And many of the poles installed next to boxes to prevent cars from backing into them are missing the caps they once had.
Time Warner Cable officials insisted last week that the wires are not live and do not pose any danger. Still, they promised to send repair crews out to check the boxes.
"We have a monthly maintenance program," said Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Harriet Novet. "The pedestal at Clinton between Myrtle and Willoughby is badly corroded from dog urine, and was already on the list for repair or replacement. We are sending a foreman out to insure that the boxes are not left open."
The boxes, which house wires that help connect local residents to cable and high-speed Internet service, sparked an outcry in Queens several years ago.
Residents in Jackson Heights complained that the massive green cable boxes were marring their landmarked neighborhood. Time Warner Cable eventually agreed to place them out of sight.
City Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), who heads the Technology in Government Committee, said utilities are consumed with new technology. Phone companies want to provide cable service, and cable companies want to provide phone service, she said.
"They want to provide all services to all people," Brewer said. "We have to make sure they don't let their current infrastructure lapse."
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Source: Daily News
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