Frequent readers of our Dallas Hates Pedestrians series may recall the AT&T utility box that was enjoying its life while completely blocking a sidewalk in Lakewood. Councilman Lee Kleinman, the chair of the Council’s Mobility Solutions, Infrastructure, and Sustainability Committee, I think got tired of seeing our ongoing string of photographs and pithy quips about Dallas’ propensity to hand over public right of way to any entity that wants it. He emailed over a photo of a tangle of wires that he took in Vietnam; he likes to joke about that being the future of 5G infrastructure if we don’t manage it right.
Anyway, Kleinman sent a photo of that utility box to city staff. And city staff got to work. In AT&T’s defense, the utility cabinet was installed before any sidewalks were built north of it. It’s been there at least since 2001, and the sidewalks went in around 2007. The city, I guess, just worked around the thing.
Emails show that staff got in touch with AT&T, and the company began drawing up a plan to relocate the cabinet. The company even bid out the design of its relocation and got a contract signed about a month ago. The construction job will be bid out this month and city staff expects the box to be moved by the end of February.
It’s a tiny victory for pedestrians in East Dallas. In March, when you’re walking your dog in the 3100 block of Empire Drive, know that in years past you would’ve had to walk into the street. And maybe there’s a car coming. Who knows? That’s what sidewalks are for. Safety. Now, let’s see about relocating the telephone poles in the sidewalk along Forest Lane. And maybe those city-owned kiosks that live in the middle of the sidewalk around downtown and Uptown.
The full council was briefed on tweaks to the city’s right of way policy earlier this month. Maybe things will finally start looking up.
