Press Room

Alderman asks for English speaker at job sites

By Nicole Young
The Capital

February 9, 2008

Residents in the Ambridge community were left without electricity, telephone and cable for days after a non-English speaking utilities crew accidently cut through the lines.

Lack of communication left many residents in the dark as much as the loss of utilities, because no one on the subcontracting crew for Verizon could speak English, and therefore could not explain what had happened.

"It was just chaos," said Robin Maisel, president of the Ambridge Homeowners Association, describing the few days the residents went without their utilities.

Alderman Sam Shropshire, D-Ward 7, said he wants to quash the problem immediately, and introduce a bill Monday night at the City Council meeting. The bill requires at least one member of any underground utility construction crew be fluent in English.

He called the bill a "no brainer."

"It's just a matter of public safety," he said. "What if they'd had cut through underground power and gas lines simultaneously?  It could have blown up the entire neighborhood."

The bill already has the support of the majority of council with co-sponsors Aldermen Fred Paone, R-Ward 2; Classie Hoyle, D-Ward 3; Sheila Finlayson, D-Ward 4; David Cordle, R-Ward 5, and Julie Stankivic, I-Ward 6.

Business owners who fail to follow the proposed bill would be subject to a $100 fine per day for not having an English-speaking worker on site.

Ms. Maisel said the incident left more than half of the 55 homeowners in the neighborhood without phone and cable for days.

She said she received 16 calls from neighbors wondering what had happened with their utilities service.

"It was just a huge inconvenience to everyone," she said. "No one knew what was going on and we couldn't communicate with people. People were calling me very, very, very upset and I was upset."

Ms. Maisel said the neighborhood had been informed that the installation of the company FiOS cable lines were going to be installed. But they would have liked to have had a crew member go door-to-door, introducing themselves and letting the residents know what's going on.

Sandra Arnette, a Verizon spokesman, said the company took corrective action by suspending the subcontracting crew. She noted Verizon's own policy that requires that at least one English-speaking crew member to be on site at all times.

"Supervisors are normally the ones who speak English and are identified with 'supervisor' on the back of their safety vest," she said.

Ms. Arnette said a representative from the company was also sent out to meet with the homeowners group.

Mr. Shropshire said the bill does not target illegal immigrants and is strictly based on public safety.

A staff paper on the bill, prepared by John Spencer, said that because the bill is so narrowly tailored to apply to only the under-grounding of utilities, and because it requires one person on the crew to be English-speaking, it should withstand legal challenge.

"I've had some complaints before, but nothing this major," Mr. Shropshire said. "It's just frustrating for the community leaders when they go out and there is no way to communicate with the crew."

Published Feb. 9, 2008, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2008 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.