Orange & Rockland Announcement

Orange & Rockland O&R TO POLITICAL CANDIDATES: POST NO SIGNS ON UTILITY POLES

PEARL RIVER, NY Sept. 29, 2015 —Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. today issued a reminder to all political candidates and their campaign workers about O&R’s long-standing policy prohibiting the posting of all signs on utility poles.

This policy is grounded in very practical safety and litter control considerations and O&R is asking the cooperation of political campaigns for compliance.

Before anyone ever imagined the Internet, one of the most popular local message boards by default became the utility poles that line many of the community’s streets. The poles were one of the most convenient and accessible methods for hosting a posting. Signs of every shape, size and message sprung up every political season.

Unfortunately, those signs and posters usually are affixed to the poles with staples, tacks or nails, which present a potential hazard to O&R employees working on the poles.

Further, such signs can obscure the pole’s 10-digit I.D. number, hindering customer efforts to determine a definitive pole location when reporting outages or damage.

In addition, signs on poles may impair sight lines at intersections, or otherwise present a visual distraction to motorists. And, once the campaigns have taken place, the outdated signs remain as an eyesore and eventually a litter nuisance.

Announcement