Hawaiian Telcom and Oceanic Time Warner Cable responded to my e-mails regarding this serious utility pole issue here in Kona. It seems neither entity wants to deal with it. I’ve posted these e-mails below, along with my responses.
Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s response:
“Aloha Aaron,
Yes, I received your email and forwarded to my engineering department and asked that they make contact with Hawaiian Tel. He made contact with Hawaiian Tel, as they are the owner of the pole and passed on your message. However, as an FYI, when you made contact with us last, OTWC construction manager Robert Moeller trimmed around the lines and tried to get to the root of vines/brush at the base of the pole.
May I once again ask that you make contact with Hawaiian Tel.
Mahalo
Lorene”
My response :
Dear Ms. Hough,
I’ve tried to talk to Hawaiian Telcom about it. But they’ve refused to deal with this issue. They claim its the responsibility of the landowner to fix it. Nonetheless,this problem is not going to go away.
I’m not going to pursue this further.If this vine causes a service outage in the future, I won’t lose sleep over it. However I’ll point out neither Hawaiian Telcom, or Oceanic wanted to lift a finger to fix this obvious problem.
Aaron
Hawaiian Telcom’s response :
“Hi Aaron,
Yes. Thank you for bringing this to our attention again, but please understand as we’ve explained to you previously that the responsibility for cutting overgrown brush lies with the owner of the property from where it originates (unless a specific agreement was made between the parties). Is this the same location where you contacted the property owner?
Please understand that while we appreciate you notifying us of potential issues that may occur, we must focus first and foremost on serving our customers, which means fulfilling current orders and fixing areas where trouble is now occurring.”
My response:
“Dear Ms. Nishida,
I think the e-mail I forwarded you that I sent to Oceanic succinctly covers my response to your e-mail below.
They insist its Hawaiian Telcom’s responsibility to fix this issue. Nonetheless, it seems HT doesn’t want to take responsibility for this either. Thus I’m not going to pursue this further. If this issue causes a service outage, I won’t lose sleep over it.
BTW: I’m not even 100% sure who is the landowner. It could be Palani Ranch Ltd.
Aaron”
I e-mailed James Greenwell, president of Palani Ranch Co. and Lanihau Properties tonight in regard to this issue. Palani Ranch owns the land where the utility poles traverse.
“Dear Mr. Greenwell,
There is a issue with utility poles that cross Palani Ranch Co Inc’s land at the junction of Highway 180 and 190 in Kona. Oceanic Time Warner refuses to deal with it. They claim its Hawaiian Telcom’s responsibility.Hawaiian Telcom has told me it’s the landowners responsibility.
This is why I’ve e-mailed you regarding this issue. The vine has literally covered up the poles and the wires. Thus I’m really concerned that this will eventually cause a service outage.
Thank you for your time in this matter,
Aaron Stene”
