PG&E finally replaces tilting power pole in Pacifica after months of complaints

PACIFICA, Calif. (KGO) -- Residents of Fassler Avenue in Pacifica have been complaining about a cracked and tilting PG&E power pole since May.

However, neighbors say only after their story aired on ABC7 News last Tuesday, did PG&E finally take down the old pole and replace it with a new power pole on Sunday.

"After your story aired, we had a crew from PG&E come out, the next day, and they started to evaluate it, and then they started marking everything," explains Mountain Taylor, one of the neighbors leading the charge to get the pole taken down.

"It's an early Christmas present! It's great!" he says. He spent part of the day watching crews remove and replace the old power pole.

Taylor has been documenting the pole's tilting with pictures on his phone. The pole sits near his front yard. He believes it moved about two feet over the past few months. He even got the city involved.

"With the (winter) weather coming in, I was concerned it might fall on the house," says Taylor, who lives there with four young kids.

Neighbors first contacted PG&E back in May. Then in August, PG&E marked the pole for removal, even tagging it as dangerous. But despite that warning, the pole stood standing through the first week of December.

"Whether it's the city, PG&E... you have to keep being persistent, phone them. It's just frustrating!" says Robert Becken, who also lives on the street.

In an email to ABC7 News, PG&E says it inspected the pole three times this year and, "determined that the pole remains safe and secure, and is not in danger of falling. However, the inspections showed that it needed to be replaced."

So on Sunday, the old power pole was taken down and replaced with a new one, that residents say looks more sturdy than the old one.

"(It's a) bigger and stronger pole. It's straighter. It's 3 times as big as the old one. It's real steady. So, that's good!" says Janice Becken.

The Beckens says they are relieved that a new, stronger pole now stands on their street, but many residents say the problem isn't fixed.

The Beckens say most of the remaining power poles have been up since the 1960s, and are also showing signs of tilting, and overall wear-and-tear for being so old.

The residents say they will now work towards getting all the power poles examined and even try to get the wires placed underground, like their neighbors have just a few blocks away.

"I was actually discussing that with some of the other neighbors, so I think we may ask about that, just so this doesn't happen again," says Taylor.