• Thread starter Suicidal Gingerbread Man
  • Start date
All I see is the wood utility pole. <sigh> We can't have nice things...

(...and the Jersey barriers)
The strange thing is that this is one of those rare cases where the wood utility pole did not precede everything around it, and it only demostrates that somehow our city has gotten less organised over time.

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The strange thing is that this is one of those rare cases where the wood utility pole did not precede everything around it, and it only demostrates that somehow our city has gotten less organised over time.

View attachment 574360
This wooden pole was erected as a temporary pole for traffic lights when someone was working on stuff at this intersection (there used to be others at other corners.) . It apparently belongs to Hydro and I have been talking to them about it for several years (yes, really). They cannot remove it until the wire that some other utility (or City?) has attached to it. I reminded my contact there again yesterday so some month it may finally go. The mechanisms for utilities to remove their wiring from old poles owned by others is clearly VERY poor as there are many examples of old poles beside new ones - King west of University is a good/bad example where TTC put up new poles by THSL has not moved their lights from old poles and we see duplicate poles. There seems to be no way for utility or City to give its 'pole tenants' a deadline to move their wires/equipment and that kind of thing is clearly nobody's top priority - except UTers!!
 
This wooden pole was erected as a temporary pole for traffic lights when someone was working on stuff at this intersection (there used to be others at other corners.) . It apparently belongs to Hydro and I have been talking to them about it for several years (yes, really). They cannot remove it until the wire that some other utility (or City?) has attached to it. I reminded my contact there again yesterday so some month it may finally go. The mechanisms for utilities to remove their wiring from old poles owned by others is clearly VERY poor as there are many examples of old poles beside new ones - King west of University is a good/bad example where TTC put up new poles by THSL has not moved their lights from old poles and we see duplicate poles. There seems to be no way for utility or City to give its 'pole tenants' a deadline to move their wires/equipment and that kind of thing is clearly nobody's top priority - except UTers!!
Does the city not keep a list of all these "relatively small fixes that would make Toronto look less junky"? Would it help if we started a thread to report these pole issues, the asphalt patch issues, etc? Like a one-stop-shop for those city workers who check here. We could post updates and congrats when they are fixed too.
 
Does the city not keep a list of all these "relatively small fixes that would make Toronto look less junky"? Would it help if we started a thread to report these pole issues, the asphalt patch issues, etc? Like a one-stop-shop for those city workers who check here. We could post updates and congrats when they are fixed too.
It is called 311 but things like this pole are actually NOT a City fix and in this case Hydro are well aware. The City also has a database of utility cuts and tries, with varying success, to get utilities to repair them properly within 2 years. The utility cut database is at https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/utility-cut-permits/
 
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It is called 311 but things like this pole are actually NOT a City fix and in this case Hydro are well aware. The City also has a database of utility cuts and tries, with varying success, to get utilities to repair them properly within 2 years. The utility cut database is at https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/utility-cut-permits/
Apologies, I thought you said Hydro was waiting for someone (potentially the city) to remove an attached line before they could do anything. I'm aware of 311, just thought visual reminders and celebrations might be nice and useful too, as well as everything being in one spot (i.e., random complaints that might not even currently be the city's responsibility could go there too, maybe as "wishlist" items like you do with IT programs). Anyway, this is why I asked before starting a thread myself - apparently there's no appetite for it. Thank you for answering and providing the database link!
 

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