Fiber optic upgrade brings cable workers to back yards

From page 1 noted for the Board of Trustees.

At the board’s January meeting Deputy Mayor Tom O’Brien spoke about the questions he received regarding workers’ presence in the area. He said a couple of residents reported seeing “someone unknown in their backyard.”

Administrator Suozzi said Village Counsel Gary Fishberg has been very helpful in requesting Cablevision and Altice USA inform Garden City’s residents of “what they are doing” and to provide the village with content of an e-blast, website or newspaper update on their system upgrade and workers’ activities.

“This serves to contain the information that their third-party utility companies may need. At times if you ask the company a question you can receive 10 different answers, so we asked Altice USA to please identify the project work they are doing in the village. This can involve a lot of work which disturbs the neighborhood so while we informed the Village Board a few weeks ago, the chain of communication is key. I think they can do a better job communicating,” Suozzi told the trustees.

Village Attorney Fishberg said Cablevision’s installations of the fiber optic network utilizes the public rightsof-way since utilities have this legal right. In Garden City many properties have easements in their backyards which allow utility companies to access the lines.

“For example the lighting company and phone companies have easements for the backyard poles. Cablevision for the most part has ‘pole attachment agreements’ with those other companies allowing them to use the same easements. While I don’t think this is in our Garden City agreement, in some of Cablevision’s agreements with other municipalities the municipality specifies that if cable will be installed behind homes, or elsewhere near residences that the utility must locate any equipment within that easement area,” Fishberg said.

Suozzi informed the board that he and Police Commissioner Ken Jackson have discussed GCPD’s responses to inquiries about unknown utility workers, or people who appear to work for utilities in the area.

“Until we had some assurances and verification from Attorney Fishberg we had told residents to call our police and they will treat any suspicion as a trespass. We have moved beyond that initial response but still, we hope to resolve the companies’ communication issue especially for residents,” Suozzi said.

He said the village should not have to “carry the water” for Altice USA and any other utilities, because legally the notification on activities is their responsibility though the village can feasibly assist with publishing information.

Fishberg commented to the board that Altice USA has been “very negligent in informing local residents.” That includes not actively placing door hangers on front doors to inform people that utility workers will be present in communities.

“So residents end up coming home and seeing someone digging in a backyard or rights-of-way alongside their house or on a pole line. They are then frightened and annoyed, so both Ralph and I have had several conversations with the Cablevision representatives about having to improve this situation.

I wrote an email to that Cablevision representative advising that if they do not improve the situation on communicating, the Village of Garden City will have to consider approving a local law or resolution that will require that notice must be given to a landowner and penalties would be imposed if the company does not subscribe to that,” Fishberg noted at the board meeting.

Village Administrator Suozzi said Garden City has many utilities’ structures and cable networks underground, and the municipal offices have good communication with liaisons from the various utilities including PSEG Long Island and National Grid. But the residents are not well-informed by companies.

Trustee Bruce Torino commented that the Cablevision/Altice USA representative responded to him via email, asking what exactly the village would like the company to do. He advised them that the best and most effective outline would be starting with the basics of “who, what, when, why, where and how” of the utilities’ project.

He explained that behind the Nassau

County Supreme Courthouse, Altice USA is staging “similar to the Normandy Invasion” with massive amounts of rolled wires/cables on utility trucks.

“They are going to be here for a while and there’s been a number of our communications to the company. They know they will need to be better neighbors. I reminded them to inform residents clearly, and share that they are providing a service. If you are an employee of Altice or Cablevision working in this community, I see you every day. The company can broadcast to residents what they are doing and how they are trying to do it,” Torino said.

Administrator Suozzi added that he advised the Cablevision/Altice USA representatives that Garden City “may” end up pursuing options for enforcing communication that have not been explored to date, hinting at a possible legal avenue.

He then told the Board of Trustees that the utility’s plan includes laying out junction boxes on poles for the fiber optic network. The fiber optic cables that go up in the local backyards are not clearly wired to the homes as they run with the use of the junction box, similar to use of a splitter.

“It is an investment Altice USA is making along highways because this is the way the industry is trending and they are getting prepared for it now with the fiber optic system, with ways of splicing from the main cable,” Suozzi said.