Utility pole, lines moved out of Levittown yard

Watchdog gets many requests seeking elimination of old utility poles -- some leaning, others merely annoying because they remain even though new poles are in place nearby. Here's one that got our attention recently:

Mark McCaw of Levittown wrote after seeing another Watchdog item about a broken utility pole in Massapequa.

The problem was in his backyard, and it involved not only the pole but the utility lines as well; they were sagging so low he could touch them.

Superstorm Sandy had snapped the pole in the corner of a next-door neighbor's backyard. As the angle of lean increased, the pole hovered over a shed in McCaw's yard and the attached wires lost their tension. Worsening the problem: Overgrown vines in yet another yard were pulling the lines down from that direction.

The damaged pole had to remain in place until all lines and other equipment could be unhooked and attached to the new pole nearby. McCaw and his wife, Luz, had called the various utilities and, by the time we spoke, LIPA and Cablevision wires had been moved.

We visited the household on a Friday and reached out to Verizon later that day. Spokesman John J. Bonomo sent an email during that weekend -- actually, it was Sunday morning -- to report that the company's operations staff was on the case.

By the next day, the bulk of the pole was gone and McCaw reported that Verizon had attached its lines to the new pole. But the sagging couldn't be addressed until the other companies moved their equipment higher, he told us.

That took about a week. McCaw sent us photos showing all lines and equipment were raised high enough now that they're out of reach.