As previously reported, a Board of Supes vote on AT&T’s controversial plan to install 726 surface utility boxes for their U-verse service has been delayed for months by the Board of Supervisors. While next week might be the week they finally cast their votes, today, one Supe is expected to use the issue to demonstrate a lack of consistency within city departments.
As the Chron reports, next Tuesday, July 19th, marks when the Board of Supervisors are next scheduled to decide whether or not the company needs an Environmental Impact Report to implement its opposed-by-many plan.
AT&T says they have a proposal in the works to make the boxes more neighborhood friendly, including potentially lowering the number of boxes, planting trees and shrubs around them, and removing graffiti on them for residents, as well as hiring local and union workers.
Supervisor Scott Wiener says he has been has been meeting with both sides and now sees the issue as not only one of environmental impact but of how two city departments just aren’t communicating with each other.
As Wiener tells the Chron’s Andrew S. Ross, “It became very clear that there’s not a lot of clarity in how the city manages its sidewalks and what it puts on its sidewalks. Along comes a proposal to put 726 boxes on the streets, and there’s no overall policy or plan for the city on this kind of thing, especially when it comes to implementing the city’s Better Streets Plan.”
Weiner is expected to bring up this conflict between city agencies at today’s Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee meeting. The full Board is scheduled to vote on the AT&T proposal next Tuesday, July 19.
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