Revere councilors vent frustration over condition of double poles throughout city

REVERE – Double utility poles owned and rented by Comcast, Verizon and National Grid formed a serious bone of contention for the Revere City Council Monday night.Tim Kelly of Comcast, himself a Revere resident, was on hand to address the issue but there was no representative from Verizon, which owns the majority of the poles in the city, angering many of the councilors.?I am very disappointed that Verizon isn?t here to face the music but we will get them here soon,” Councilor at Large Anthony T. Zambuto said.?It?s not your fault solely,” Ward 3 Councilor Arthur F. Guinasso told Kelly. “Collectively, it is your fault.”The main problem the councilors have with the double poles is that they stay up too long and are not aesthetically pleasing. Guinasso stated that there are 17 doubles poles on Cushman Avenue and eight double poles on the street where he lives, a small side street.?This is serious. There are ugly poles all over the place,” Guinasso stated. “If you live here you would be fighting for the same thing.”Councilor at Large Daniel Rizzo agreed with Guinasso. “It?s a safety issue. It?s an aesthetic issue.” Rizzo said. “It is Verizon?s problem. They own the poles. They should be responsible.”Ward 1 Councilor Richard A. Penta believes there is a “communication gap” between the companies that oversee the poles.Kelly stated that Verizon, National Grid and the Revere Fire Department recently had a meeting but that Comcast was not invited. “This is my first invitation to talk about the double poles,” Kelly said. “I take this quite seriously.”Ward 4 Councilor Stephen Reardon suggested that the councilors ask the mayor to arrange a summit between all parties, preferably on a Saturday, so they could straighten out the issue. “We need every one here so we can sit down and make some real decisions,” Reardon said. “We can?t keep spinning our heads over this.”Penta agreed. “I think every councilor up here at some point has made a motion about doubles poles,” he said. “Something has to be done.”Councilor at large John Correggio suggested that all parties meet once a month to discuss the poles like they do in Lynn. “Lynn doesn?t have any double poles,” Correggio said.Some of the double poles have been up so long that they are beginning to rot. Council President and Ward 5 councilor John Powers mentioned a rotten pole that fell in Revere 10 days ago.?God forbid if somebody was standing under it,” Powers said. “It didn?t fall because anyone hit the pole but because it was deteriorating.”Sara Brown can be reached at [email protected].