The Ties That Bind

High speed internet service, as offered by one of America’s most hated companies, goes down in Astoria on a fairly regular basis. Stop by any taverna or saloon and mention the name of a certain corporate giant which has enjoyed a de facto monopoly over cable internet and TV in NYC, and you will be greeted by a litany of curses and witness people spitting.

Given the international “flava” of Astoria, some of these utterings are actual curses invoking for and asking for the intervention of supernatural entities. It’s not just one company at fault here, although they are really, really bad at what they do – a lot of it can be chalked up to observably bad wiring.

You’ll notice this sort of horrid utility pole clutter all over western Queens. A hodge podge of wires leading to and from building to pole. In many ways, its reminiscent of the sort of historical photos you see of lower Manhattan at the beginning of the 20th century, when telegraph wires were strung across intersections. If you’re on the phone with a provider of high speed internet access, this mess is probably the reason why.

Everywhere you look, sagging utility poles carry a staggering amount of wiring. This is cable TV, electrical, and telephone wire which has accumulated over the years and a lot of it isn’t connected to anything anymore. It creates a visual nightmare, clutters up the street scape, and reveals the dream of turning Western Queens into a “tech corridor” as something of a joke. Think Google or Facebook want to plug into this?

Have no doubt about it, high speed access to the web is a business necessity, and is no longer a “first world problem” or luxury enjoyed by the well off. During storms, these wires start whipping around and the utility poles quiver under the stress. It doesn’t look this in Hunters Point, those wires are underground. It doesn’t look like this in Sunnyside either.

The particularly egregious example offered above is found at Welling Court, a short street which hosts several two and three story row houses in the heart of Astoria. An infrastructure issue which deeply affects the neighborhood around these parts, outages of the data networks and poor quality of cable tv reception is a common complaint, one which most folks in the neighborhood just shrug their shoulders at.

What can you do about it, they’ll ask. Fight City Hall?

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.