Verizon Fios installation underway in North Lakewood CA

Verizon has finally started doing Fios installations in North Lakewood, the part of the city north of Hardwick St. that is controlled by the Bellflower Central Office on Oak St. LAAG has spoken with "Curt" the Director of "Verizon's FTTP Program, West Coast Region" in Newbury Park, CA. He advises that Fios will be ready for sign ups by Oct-Nov 2008 in both the SW quadrants (west of Bellflower Blvd. north of Hardwick, east of Lakewood Blvd and south of Flora Vista St.) and SE quadrants (east of Bellflower Blvd. north of Hardwick, west of the San Gabriel River and south of Flora Vista St.) of Lakewood (but likely only a small percentage of homes in those quadrants). At this point it looks like the SE quadrant will be the first quadrant wired. We spoke to Verizon engineers "on the ground" near Eastbrook and Allington on 5/29/08 and they confirmed placement is starting in that location and should be available within 2 months to homeowners in that area around Allington and Eastbrook. There is no orderly progression as to how the fios installation flows. It is based on permits and where engineering tells the installers to go. It does not necessarily run east to west or north to south or in any contiguous or progressive fashion. The first sign that you will be getting fios is the cable stringers that go behind your property to string the fiber under the existing copper cables. Once they string that "dark fiber" it then needs to be hooked up to trunk lines. Then they install the beige metal boxes on the street and hook it up. Hooking up to the boxes at the ends of the block seems to be the last step before they turn on your service and offer you a 'drop" to your house. (They place a door hanger on your door to tall you its available to you)

In addition Curt also advises that the Bellflower Central Office will be the better GPON technology. Their current BPON technology splits 622Mbps downstream and 155Mbps upstream among 32 users. GPON technology will allow Verizon to offer 2.4Gbps downstream and 1.2Gbps upstream among 32-64 users (eliminating ATM, making it also more efficient). Read more on that here.

For a map of the quadrant boundaries and installations so far click here. Please email us if you see verizon fios installations underway or if you have fios up and running in Lakewood and you are within the SE and SW quadrants outlined above.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Sen. Feinstein wants perchlorate polluters to pay

I really don't think this is going to get anywhere. Like most mass pollution cases one company will blame all the others nearby. Still no one at EPA is looking at the spent residue washed off the street after the "safe and sane" fireworks are used. That is a possible source of perchlorate contamination as well, at least in the coastal waters where we have all the other run off pollution problems. That is also not even mentioning the horrible air pollution problem for the days surrounding July 4th due to legal "personal use" fireworks. It seems people that peddle fireworks get a free pass on air pollution (due to its "fund raising" factor) while everyone else runs out and buys a Prius and gets compact florescent bulbs to save the air. Politics.

Senator on the alert
Feinstein wants suspected polluters to pay up now
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/25/2008 10:46:13 PM PDT

RIALTO - Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants companies suspected of polluting the city's groundwater to pay for safe drinking water while a final cleanup strategy is devised.

"Given that identifying and implementing a final remedy will likely take several years, it is appropriate for the responsible parties to assume the burden of providing clean drinking water in the interim," the influential California Democrat recently wrote in a letter to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.

The water is contaminated with perchlorate, a chemical used to produce explosives like rocket fuel and fireworks.

"Seven years have gone by. The residents are squeezed to the limit," said Barry Groveman, a lawyer for the West Valley Water District, which provides almost all of the city's drinking water along with Rialto's water department.

The perchlorate and a toxic industrial cleaner have spread into underground water, though contaminated water is not served to residents. Perchlorate can interfere with the thyroid gland, which plays a role in metabolism and mental and physical development.

Rialto customers have a perchlorate surcharge on their water bills, and it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to operate the treatment systems.

Groveman said the suspected polluters - Rialto has identified more than 40 - will be less likely to employ creative delay tactics as the state and EPA try to make them clean up the contamination if they must pay to provide clean water in the meantime.

In March, Feinstein wrote a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson saying the agency should order suspected polluters to provide replacement water.

The replacement water is particularly important as Rialto tries to build new residential developments that need water services, said Rialto City Councilman Ed Scott.

"We have to have drinking water for the city," he said.

EPA officials have said they would like to use their resources to develop a cleanup plan, not to fight for replacement water.

"It's a question of priority and a question of what they would accomplish," said Wayne Praskins, the EPA project manager assigned to Rialto.

On May 13, Feinstein sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a letter saying any settlement between state agencies and suspected polluters should include providing clean water.

The calls from Feinstein and Groveman for replacement water come amid rumors an agency is nearing completion of settlement talks with three of the suspected polluters.

The Riverside-based Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board is conducting the talks.

Kurt Berchtold, the board's assistant executive officer, would not comment on whether negotiators are seeking replacement water from the suspected polluters - Goodrich, the Black and Decker entity Emhart and Pyro Spectaculars.

But he did note that an earlier draft order from the board's staff included a call for replacement water at some wells.

Berchtold said he does not believe the board can order replacement water for wells contaminated with levels of perchlorate below the state standard of 6 parts per billion. Most of the West Valley wells are contaminated below that standard.

Groveman, the author of much of the relevant water code, did not concur.

"I respectfully disagree. These are more bureaucratic reasons not to do things," he said.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email