Observator

Prior to Hurricane Ike, I never gave much attention to the power poles all over town. Now that so many of them are leaning I find myself looking at them all the time. A once tolerable eyesore (they're easier to ignore when they're straight) has now become a very large eyesore in my opinion. All over town they are leaning to various degrees. Typically, long sections of them will be leaning together in one direction (this makes sense in a hurricane). Surprisingly, there are also many areas where poles right next to each other are leaning in completely opposite directions. Some poles were leaning prior to the storm, but it has obviously become much worse. I wonder if CenterPoint will ever get around to straightening them? I read somewhere there are approx. 1 million wooden power poles in the Houston area. I wouldn't be surprised if 30-40% were found to be leaning to some degree. It could take them decades to fix this if they simply follow their normal maintenance schedule. Some of the leaning poles are possible hazards, but I'm afraid most of them are simply eyesores and may not get attention. Street lights are also leaning, but I have more hope for them. On CenterPoint's website you can report the streetlight number and choose "leaning pole" (or something like that) on the drop-down menu. I've done this and CenterPoint quickly fixed them. The problem with streetlights is that many are along roadways and no one ever reports them. I hope Centerpoint will fix them all eventually. Does anyone think the wooden power poles will ever be fixed?