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‘Ugly, bothersome’ utility poles will mar beauty of $34M YSU business building, leader laments
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UGLY LINEUP: Youngstown State University wants Ohio Edison to remove these wooden utility poles from West Rayen Avenue and bury the wires where the university is building its $34.3 million business school, but the electric utility is balking at undertaking the task at the utility’s expense.
By Harold Gwin
If YSU wants the lines moved, it will have to pay for it, a utility spokesman said.
YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University is spending about $34 million to put up a new building between Rayen Avenue and Wood Street, but the modern-designed structure will be surrounded on three sides by some old technology — wooden utility poles.
Some think it would give the entire area around the new Williamson College of Business Administration building a cleaner, more modern look if the utility lines on those poles were put underground and the poles removed.
“It’s really something that’s bothersome to us,” said John Hyden, YSU’s executive director of facilities.
The university and the city are making some big investments in that area, “but we’re stuck with those ugly poles,” he said. “This is probably the right time to take care of it.”
Hyden said the university has addressed the issue with Ohio Edison, suggesting that the utility company pick up the tab for putting its utility lines along Rayen Avenue and Wood Street in the business school area underground.
Ohio Edison isn’t interested, at least not in doing the work at its own expense.
The general practice is that, if a customer wants a line relocated or placed underground, the customer pays for the work, said Mark Durbin, Ohio Edison spokesman.
“Everyone talks about aesthetics, but there’s a major expense involved,” Durbin said.
YSU broke ground on the 110,000-square-foot Williamson building in March, and it is to be ready for occupancy by fall 2010.
There has been some effort to persuade Ohio Edison to move the overhead utility lines along the north and south sides of the project (Rayen and Wood just west of Phelps Street) “but no positive response,” Hyden said. Phelps Street would come later, he said.
He acknowledged that it would likely be an expensive proposition, and that Ohio Edison would have to make a sizable engineering investment just to determine if it is feasible and what it would cost.
Durbin said no such estimate has been prepared at this point.
Moving lines is very expensive, and the cost would be spread among the rest of the utility company’s customers if Ohio Edison picked up the tab, he said. He added that would be a move some customers might not appreciate.
There are other factors to be considered, Durbin said.
Lines other than electrical lines may be attached to those poles, and putting them underground may not be possible, he said.
Further, maintenance and repair is much easier when utilities are overhead than when they are buried in the ground, he said.
The lines along Wood Street include a main feeder line that the utility company would probably never want to put underground, Durbin added.
Ohio Edison could look at rerouting some lines around the Williamson site, but, again, the university would have to pay for any changes, he said.
If the poles were taken away, probably no one would even notice they were gone, but they will be noticeable if they remain, Hyden said, adding that the university will likely take the issue up again with Ohio Edison as the steel begins to rise on the construction project.
If the university had a good estimate on the cost of putting the utility lines underground, it might look at finding the money to do the job, Hyden suggested.
gwin@vindy.com
Comments
Those poles have been there forever.... This is just like the folks who build next to a major airport and then try to get them to fly elsewhere because of the noise....
It's not like the poles suddenly appeared, nor that the architects and YSU administrators involved didn't know about them. Or did they?
If YSU wants to pay for removing the wire, fine.... I'm not happy with OE picking up the tab - my rates are high enough.
The new building probably has some value for YSU, and if the wires were a problem during the design or procurement phases, then funds to deal with them (or a commitment from OE) should have been set up then. Sneaking it in now, with the building half done or whatever, is wrong....
With no poles, where will people advertise? What will the Vindy chain their coin boxes to?
hahahaa
I would think the ugly, bothersome neighborhoods of Youngstown would be more of an issue than the ugly, bothersome utility poles...
Typical. Let's vote ourselves pay raises in the middle of a recession, raise tuition, then scoff at having to pay for utility work on our new $34 million building.
Citizens pay enough for utilities, they should never get shouldered with this expense.
When the YSU administration take a pay cut, and a substantial one, then come back and ask other people to give something to you.
Pigs.
Ah, come on YSU, just add a "Pole Tax" (Fee) to each student's bill; a line item just underneath the Parking Fee. Then Mommy and Daddy can indirectly pay for the pole movement!
A few points:
"Moving lines is very expensive, and the cost would be spread among the rest of the utility company’s customers... that would be a move some customers might not appreciate."
Of course. It is well understood by anyone who's ever been broke that money is like oxygen - when you run out, the need for more is undeniable, stabbing, stark. Like that moment just before you finally exhale and can't take it any more. Just as a choking or drowning person will kill, if necessary, to get oxygen again, people will not give up any more of their money than is absolutely necessary. Understood.
"Lines other than electrical lines may be attached to those poles, and putting them underground may not be possible, he said."
I'd hope the question of which types of lines are running on city poles could be answered rather quickly by the city itself, wouldn't you?
'“It’s really something that’s bothersome to us,” said John Hyden, YSU’s executive director of facilities.'
Yes, his Draco Malfoy-style smugness bothers me, too, but there is a good argument for dropping the poles - good-looking things tend to breed happier people. Pleasant aesthetics really do help make people better citizens; more concerned, more interested, generally happier to live where they live. Nevertheless, reality insists on persisting:
'“Everyone talks about aesthetics, but there’s a major expense involved,” Durbin said.'
Fair point. Which is exactly why, despite the overall economy and the potential hypocrisy of wealthy administrators, we should go ahead with this, because:
'The university and the city are making some big investments in that area, “but we’re stuck with those ugly poles,” he said. “This is probably the right time to take care of it.”'
Probably. So, while we're in the pattern of re-investing, let's say "probably" is all the more any of this is really banking on, and go ahead and take a chip out of the mountain of despair that pervades the rust belt. It's not goin to get better overnight, and it's only going to get better at all if we take a chunk out when and where we can.