Boston Commission Sends Verizon Three-Pole Plan Back Amid Neighborhood Protest

BOSTON -- May 23, 2024, Boston's Public Improvement Commission continued two utility pole petitions amid accessibility and community concerns at its May 23 meeting. Commission Chair Jascha Franklin-Hodge turned aside a Verizon New England petition to install three 40-foot class-two poles on Hartwell and Schuyler Streets in Roxbury, citing narrow sidewalks of five to six feet, an unreviewed mature tree, and conflicting messages Verizon had allegedly sent to residents about underground versus overhead installation. Deborah Bolling, a resident of 18 Schuyler Street whose family has lived on the block since 1955, presented a signed neighbor petition opposing the poles, including from a resident at 11 Schuyler Street, one of the two properties Verizon claimed had requested the new service. Franklin-Hodge called the petition "very unlikely" to pass in its current form and urged Verizon to meet with the neighborhood association before the June 27 reconvening. A separate Eversource Energy guy wire proposal on Carolina Avenue in West Roxbury was also continued to June 27 over sidewalk accessibility concerns. The commission's only approved item was a Cambridge Network Solutions lease of approximately 603 feet of city-owned shadow conduit on Western Avenue in Brighton, which passed without objection.