Wednesday, January 28, 2009

One more minor civic mystery

Out in our neighborhoods, city and utility workers use assorted methods to communicate with one another . A prime message originator is the civic graffiti chap who sprays multi-colored intel about what's under the streets. Pink ribbons are another signal, usually tied to trees that utilities have deemed a danger or inconvenient and thus decreed to be lopped. And so I scratched my head when I saw the pink flying from guy lines that presumably were helping to stabilize a tall electricity pole in a local alley. Are they scheduled to be lopped like an overgrown oak tree? Or does it turn out that the pink ribbons are merely a suggestion that there's a problem and that Something Needs to Be Done, You Figure It Out. Maybe its time that I pass that way in alley once more to see if the problem has been solved.

8 comments:

Omegadad said...

Well... I know it's too hopeful a thought... but wouldn't it be cool if the utility workers were showing their support of finding a cure for breast cancer?

Anonymous said...

When I first saw them I had the same thought about breast cancer as did Omegadad above.

Anonymous said...

A little research on support cables aka down guys produced this:

"Any looseness in the connections between those cables and the metal rods that anchor them to the ground could generate sparks – especially when winds increase the friction – potentially igniting nearby weeds and brush."

Maybe the pink ribbons is a tighten the cables instruction to workmen.

Ron Bloomquist said...

I think they are a "heads-up" for anyone who walks under them or drives under them (alley way?)

I usually tie a ribbon on my tent stays so I don't trip over them! Orange ones work but pink would be fine. Anything to grab my attention. :-)

Granny J said...

od/sil -- I'd like to think you're right, but I do indeed suspect that it's something else.

steve -- see above

az -- could be

ron -- another good possibility.

Anonymous said...

Let us know as soon as the mystery is solved.

~Anon in AV.

Linda G. said...

I don't have a clue as to the meaning of these pink ribbons. Sometimes you see one dangling from a bush or fence in an unlikely place, and those are often placed there by surveyors, but these...

Just wanted to let you know I'm back online and have posted briefly on the Prescott blog. If you want to check it out, you can access it from my OAW post I'll get it onto my sidebar.

Granny J said...

anon av -- will do, if I ever find out!

LindaG -- I've been waiting for your new blog!!! Everybody else: just click here for Prescott Past.

 
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