The Unkept Promise of Walla Walla's Telephone Wires
City council is urged to enforce a year-old franchise agreement requiring the telephone company to bury its unsightly street-level wires.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It will be remembered that not long ago the general manager of Walla Walla's telephone system appeared before the council, made application for a franchise, and solemnly promised that its company would put all the telephone wires on Main and Alder streets and connecting streets underground and remove the present high and unsightly poles. This was more than a year ago. The company purchased a site for its central office, has built a very pretty building thereon, and has put a lot of wires in underground conduits, but so far has not removed a single one of its many tall poles. It looks to an outsider as if the company meant to keep both underground conduits and poles—having the use of the streets above and below the surface, thus 'double-shooting the turn' and keeping all the unsightly superstructures in constant use. This was clearly not the intention of the administration which granted the extension of the telephone franchise. The poles should be removed, and the council should see that this is done in a short time.
“It looks to an outsider as if the company meant to keep both underground conduits and poles—having the use of the streets above and below the surface.”
A century later, cities still struggle to force utility companies to adhere to franchise agreements that require the removal of obsolete infrastructure. The tension between corporate profit-seeking and municipal aesthetic standards remains a constant in urban planning.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.