Closing Bell: Why are There Power Lines in East New York?
I Love Franklin Ave. asks exactly that question—Why are there power lines in East New York? ILFA goes on to write that “unlike much of the rest of Brooklyn, East New York actually has a substantial chunk of its grid above ground. You can find lines connecting bits and pieces elsewhere, but it’s rare to…
I Love Franklin Ave. asks exactly that question—Why are there power lines in East New York? ILFA goes on to write that “unlike much of the rest of Brooklyn, East New York actually has a substantial chunk of its grid above ground. You can find lines connecting bits and pieces elsewhere, but it’s rare to see utility poles on every corner in a major city.” Also, needing an explanation is the shoe-tossing on the power lines. (Is it more than just a gang explanation or just kids playing around?)
So what are the answers to these two questions?
I had size 12 feet by the time I was in ninth grade.
However, I never lived in a neighborhood with above-ground power lines, so there was no shoe-throwing in my area.
‘Also, kids used to do this on the last day of school.’
Those kids have big feet!
Also, kids used to do this on the last day of school.
South Side of Chicago. In the 70’s it was gang warfare all the way.
Where the hell did you grow up, Snappy???
When I was growing up (not in NYC) shoes on a power line marked the site of a death. The shoes of the deceased (usually a gang member shot down) were slung over the lines as a sign of respect and remembrance. When I first came to NYC I was walking around like, “Damn! Lots of gangsters shot around here!” Then someone told me it was now a prank done by bored neighborhood kids.
The shoes go back for many, many decades. I thought from friends who grew up in Brooklyn in the ’50’s and ’60’s that they were just one of the forms of torture that bullies visited on their victims.
We had a corner firebox that worked, at least it did about 10 years ago. I remember an uproar about the fire department trying to do away with them (the ratio of false alarms to actual fires or emergencies is really high)
Whoa! You know, I always noticed all the telephone poles and power lines growing up in ENY, but for some reason never wondered why they were there. It just seemed normal! I can’t believe I learned something about my own boyhood neighborhood from Brownstoner! Amazing. But as Benson says, there are other neighborhoods with poeer lines and telephone poles – St. Albans, Queens (where a few of my relatives lived) comes to mind.
Benson is also right about the sneaker-on-the-wire thing. It’s just one of those things kids in neighborhoods like ENY do for no other reason than to screw around, with the added benefit that the activity leaves a visible marker of the kids’ having screwed around.
Hmmm, maybe those lines in my backyard are all for the phones, not electricity. The cables are pretty thick.