Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities And Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Utility representative says $18 million in tree‑trimming reduced outages; council urged to press other companies to clean up abandoned cables
Summary
A utility representative told the Shreveport City Council the utility spent about $18 million on forestry work and transmission upgrades that helped limit outages after a winter storm; council members and residents pressed for faster removal of abandoned communications wires and said the city will pursue inter‑utility coordination.
A utility representative addressed the Shreveport City Council on tree trimming and transmission‑line work, saying the company has used roughly $18 million for forestry and right‑of‑way clearing and is pursuing transmission upgrades to reduce neighborhood outages. “We took that very seriously and have a very aggressive trimming schedule… you’ll see contract crews out working six days a week,” the representative told the council. “We will never build a power line over a tree.”
The exchange grew into a sustained discussion about chronic outages and visible, abandoned communications wires attached to utility poles. Council members said some neighborhoods — North Highlands, Highland Park and Cherokee Park — still experience repeated outages when winds blow and asked the utility to evaluate problem areas and provide follow‑up. The representative described a current transmission project to reroute a line from the Fern Avenue substation so it will run up 70th Street and down Line Avenue, which he said will reduce backyard poles and make future removals possible once new poles and lines are in service.
Residents and council members also pressed the city and utilities on “stubbed” or abandoned attachments left by communications companies. “There are probably miles of abandoned cable…that are still hanging on poles,” the utility representative said, calling the attachments “trashy” and noting that pole‑replacement procedures require notifying other utilities and that the last attachments to move are typically communications companies’. Council members asked whether ordinance or enforcement options exist; the representative said there have been past discussions about ordinances but emphasized that pole‑attachment agreements and sequencing of moves limit how quickly another utility’s wires can be removed.
Council members and staff signaled they will follow up. The utility representative said a meeting with multiple utilities is scheduled next week to discuss improved procedures for removing abandoned lines and flagged poles. Council members asked staff to collect specific addresses for repeated outage reports and to report back to the council with results of the inter‑utility meeting.
Why it matters: tree trimming and transmission investments affect outage frequency, public safety and neighborhood blight. Abandoned or low‑hanging communications wires can present safety and accessibility issues and have prompted council members to pursue regulatory and inter‑utility remedies. The council directed staff to pursue evaluations and to bring back findings; a multi‑utility meeting is planned in the near term.
The council took no ordinance vote on pole attachments during this meeting; instead members requested follow‑up information and a report of the utilities meeting.
