Over the last several months we have heard rhetoric from Duke Power about their commitment to making Greenville a desirable place to live and burying the power lines when it makes sense. Yet along Old Spartanburg, Hammitt Bridge, and S. Batesville Roads when it would be most opportune to bury the power lines Duke is putting in telephone poles, cutting down trees, and stringing above ground lines to service subdivisions with underground power. The only power lines above ground are those along S. Batesville, Hammitt Bridge and Old Spartanburg Roads.

S. Batesville Road between The Parkway and Enoree Road is a great road decorated with a carnival of leaning and bending telephone poles with sagging lines strung between them. And, now Duke is doing it again.

I think it is long past time when the County Government needs to step up and tell the utility how we want the community to look as well as reduce our rates by burying the lines once and eliminate:

The inefficient and costly practice of pruning trees annually;
Having periodic power outages from downed power lines; and,
Paying the high cost of repairing downed power lines after storms.

It only takes a 15 minute ride to understand how foolish and wasteful Duke Power is being in this area. And to think that in a few years when they wake up; they will tear up the new roads to bury their lines.

I believe that Duke should be required to bury all lines along new and upgrade road projects. Especially, when 90% of the lines have already been buried by the developers and homeowners.