For those curious

For those of you who have been curious as to why my regular posting seemed to have suddenly dropped off, it was because recently, I have been battling Verizon. There is a utility bridge at the end of my street. For those of you that aren't sure what that is, don't feel bad, Verizon didn't know either. It was built in the first half of the 20th century, probably in the 50s, by the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia (C&P). C&P was later absorbed by AT&T's Bell Systems, which was broken up by the anti-trust suits in the 80s and became Bell Atlantic. Bell Atlantic was then absorbed into Verizon. All along this little bridge/conduit rode along, forgotten by all but us. When it was built, it had barbed wire on each end and a steel barrier on the end by my street. More recently, it has been covered in gang-related graffiti and has been used to traffic drugs and get away from the police. In the late 90s, we got them to put up a secondary steel barrier after the barbed wire had been torn down. That only lasted a few weeks. A few months ago, I started calling them again. I talked to Customer Service. I talked to Real Estate. I talked to Escalated Customer Complaints. I emailed the Director of Customer Relations. I finally got people to start coming out to see it. They painted the steel barrier and put up a no trespassing sign. Then they told me it was all they could do; told me that it was city property and not theirs. Wrong thing to tell me. I went downtown and got a copy of the original Plat from the Planning dept. It clearly says that the bridge/conduit was the responsibility of C&P Telephone Co. and the lady at City Hall tells me that the ownership follows the property all the way to Verizon. So the 'Verizon Guy' came back out, this time with an engineer and his Director. They took a look at it and said they'd get back to me. Now I am waiting.
But, that is what has been consuming my time. If anyone happens to have anything that might help me out, please let me know 757hamptonroads[at]live.com