Redmond's veritable neighborhood nuisance - starts with a "V"

OPINION: In my two years of authoring this weblog I've had only one request to "slam" anyone or anything. Smear campaigns are not what this "community gathering place" is about! However, I do have one serious neighborhood complaint and it begins with a "V", as in verizon cable.

Any neighbor or councilmember in Redmond knows the "V" word. With veritable, verifiable, veracity, residents identify this cable company as Verizon, the "Orange Menace". However, when laying cable, Verizon 'buries' their name behind "U.C.C." contractor trucks. (Utility Construction Corporation). *U.C.C. of Bright, Indiana, a 1-horse town, appears but a "shell" operation.

Ground Chuck, the neighborhood Verizon (alias "U.C.C") supervisor blamed their mess-ups and delays on "their utility locator" contractor...the guys that stake the little flags and paint colors to identify the gas, phone, cable and electric lines. "Darn it", Ground Chuck said, "those locators messed up on marking a 3-phase electric line and set our operation way back. " Yeh, you can always blame those locator companies...most always.

Ground Chuck couldn't explain why for over two long years their contractors began sticking their little flags in our lawns - even our back yards - and painting yellow, red, orange and white on our beddings and city sidewalks. We lived with this "V"-graffiti for months on end while we waited and waited for the "V-men" to come. The initial Verizon installation two years ago never took off. In fact, the V-men deployed their locators twice in two years for the same job! And we had to live with it. After numerous ombudsman complaints, Mr. Bill Campbell from Public Works announced on RCTV that we could remove the flags 4-5 days after they were staked. Our street was cleared the next day.

That helped a little, until the fresh graffiti and equipment finally arrived to my doorstep more than a year later. The hammering starts at 7:30am. "Was that an earth tremor!?" The noisy, dusty drilling, sucking, vibrating, jack-hammering, pressure washing, traffic stopping, driveway blocking, car dinging, lawn digging, banging & clanging of the "V"-truck brigade; and ongoing gripes with the "V"-people seemed to go on forever. Just when I thought the V-people had moved to the next community, back they came, and then back again! Verizon has worked hard with city Public Works to re-sod easement damage, filter stormwater, and pour fresh concrete sidewalks. Yet for me, two V-managers could hardly are less about accelerating the cracking to my expensive walkways.

I'm a Comcast user and have been for years. When Verizon - or was it U.C.C.? - finally gets their infrastructure in place they will probably offer the customary "full service value package" and "exciting 6-month introductory offer". Ahaa! A gift card for digital phone would seal the deal!

They pray we will have forgotten; many will not. The cable media business is a monopolistic - oligopoly. Within a year or so the prices will stabilize and equilibrate and new residents will have to choose similar services at similar (& *probably higher) prices. Who is more likely to get the nod by the consumer in Redmond's neighborhoods? hmmm.....If you're not sure, ask a neighbor.

*Side note: U.C.C. (Utility Construction Corporation) Internet presence is a map. No website. Their phone number is: 812-637-1675. Ask for June but don't expect a callback.

I worked for Squibb Diagnostics for 13 years selling expensive radiographic media injectables to hospitals. We had only two competitors; it was an oligopoly. These injectables were the most expensive dollar volume product in hospital pharmacies. Squibb was "the chosen" price leader and prices never fell. Added-value programs, service, new product lines and packaging drove market share. The market was "regulated" only by patent expiration. Should we expect the same from Comcast and Verizon cable?