Long Island Power Authority charges town for pole rental
Claiming they “have no choice” the Long Island Power Authority is charging the town of Shelter Island for hanging American flags from power poles during a memorial parade for one of the community’s fallen sons, according to the local Fox affiliate;
“I was pretty shocked,” said Peter Reich, a councilman in the Long Island community of Shelter Island. “It’s the most ludicrous thing.”
The flags were hung last year for the funeral of Army 1st Lt. Joseph Theinert. The Shelter Island native was killed while on active duty in Afghanistan. He sacrificed his life to save his platoon and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart for his actions.
Last week, Theinert’s platoon gathered in Shelter Island for a reunion. To welcome the troops, the American Legion, along with the owner of the local hardware store, decided to once again line the parade route with American flags.
Local residents donated the $8,000 needed to purchase the flags, and the town’s superintendent of highways posted them on the utility poles. But someone from the power company reportedly saw a story about the flags in a local newspaper and informed town officials of the $5-per-flag fee.
A spokesperson for the Long Island Power Authority did not respond to repeated requests for a comment and instead demanded to know, “Why is this a story?”
Um, because you’re a member of the community that Lt. Joseph Theinert died protecting, too?
To his credit, the LIPA COO has offered to pay the fee out of his own pocket, but the community says it’s not about the money, it’s the principle of the issue. Apparently, they also hung flags from some poles owned by Verizon and Verizon has decided they’ll waive the fees they normally charge. Seems simple enough, doesn’t it?
Thanks to TSO for the link.
Category: Shitbags, Support the troops
Lemme ask the assclown from LIPA (not that I’m expecting an answer) a couple of questions:
1–What is the exact cost of placing flags on these poles?
2–How much of that was incurred by you in the form of crews, linemen, etc?
3–Assuming the answer to #2 was ZERO (which according to the story, it was because the town placed the flags), what exactly are you charging ANYONE for?
4–Why is it you don’t have a policy regarding national holidays, etc., where towns can put flags up on poles as long as they’re taken down within a reasonable timeframe?
And a question for the union who represents LIPA workers:
1–I thought you guys were all about “supporting the troops”–at least all the commercials I see from unions around here love to tout that little tidbit. Any word from your leadership to management regarding this bullshit?
To paraphrase a favorite quote of mine:
There are two things that are difficult to control: Curiosity, and greed.
There isn’t too much the power companies are curious about.
Tell the poser company to fuck off, and then charge them 10.00 per day for the right to have the poles on county/city property. Assholes.
Tell the power company to fuck off, and then charge them 10.00 per day for the right to have the poles on county/city property. Assholes.
I think I see the problem here, it is a Power Authority. They probably have rules about protecting public funds, so they must charge for this by law. While they waste public funds on take-home SUVs for part-time board members.
Non-story. Due to being a government entity (unlike Verizon) they can’t waive fees like that. The CEO/COO offered to pay out of pocket instead.
People should be saluting the CEO/COO, not demeaning him.
Yo, fuckstick–nobody was demeaning the COO (not CEO. RIF, junior.) Most of the derision was directed towards the, “I don’t have to answer to YOU” assclown, if anyone.
And perhaps if the state of New York weren’t run by a bunch of spendaholics shitstains (one word), they wouldn’t be trying to collect $5 per flag for something that they shouldn’t be collecting a dime for in the first place.
And you consider yourself smarter than us? Pretty low bar you set there, scooter.