In December 2002, an ice storm struck North Carolina and knocked out power for about 2 million customers across the state. Some homes were without power for more than a week. In the wake of the storm, numerous officials at both the state and local levels called for more power lines to be buried instead of strung overhead from poles, and thereby made less vulnerable to ice and falling trees.

A new study by the public staff of the N.C. Utilities Commission examines the costs of burying the lines. The results are far from encouraging.

“To put everything overhead now underground is an impossible task,” Ben Turner, staff director of the electric division of the commission, said to The News & Observer of Raleigh.

The commission’s staff found that it would take 25 years and cost $41 billion to bury all lines. For every $1 billion spent burying power lines, customers would have to pay $2.34 per month. It would cost customers about $95 per month to bury all 68,000 miles of overhead power lines in the state.

Most residential and small businesses would also have to pay about $400 to have their electric meters rewired to accept power coming from lines below ground rather than above. Burying phone and cable television lines currently strung alongside electrical wires on poles would cost extra.

Burying lines in new developments, however, was often cost-effective, the commission staff noted. Such systems experience fewer outages, but repairs take longer when a problem does arise. Some cities, including Charlotte, already require buried lines in new developments. About 75 percent of Progress Energy’s new lines are buried.

The commission’s staff also recommended burying existing overhead wires in areas that are particularly prone to power outages.

City moves to restrict panhandling

Durham City Council has adopted a tough new ordinance that restricts where, how, and what people can sell at intersections in the city. Panhandling is also covered by the ordinance.

The new rules come after four years of on-and-off-again debate about the issue. In 2002, city officials had urged council to ban all sales at intersections as a safety measure. Strong opposition from the Herald-Sun of Durham, whose venders operate at about 20 intersections in the city, prompted the city to adopt a less-sweeping solution.

The ordinance sets 14 specific requirements for sales or panhandling at intersections. A permit is required, which costs $20 per year. The Durham city manager may refuse to issue a permit to anyone deemed incapable of understanding the rules. This may serve as a means to keep at least some mentally ill individuals from begging at intersections.

Sellers and beggars may operate only at intersections with raised or grass-covered medians or on streets with curbing.

Sales at intersections are allowed only of items protected by the First Amendment.

Panhandling at intersections is prohibited from 20 minutes before sunset to 20 minutes after sunrise. Panhandlers may also not operate in work zones. Beggars must wear reflective vests and a photo ID badge and may approach a vehicle only from the driver’s side after it has stopped at a red light or stop sign.

“This is certainly better than what we have now,” said Council member Lewis Cheeks to The News & Observer of Raleigh when the ordinance was adopted. The new regulations went into effect Jan. 1.

Greensboro OKs electric fences

The Greensboro City Council has approved the use of electric fences within the city, the News & Record of Greensboro reports. The move comes after at least 10 business had used the fences for sometime not knowing that they were illegal in the city.

The council heard from one of the businessmen, Mark Whitesell, manager of Grand Rental Station. He had the fence installed after thieves broke into his establishment, loaded up a vehicle with equipment, and drove off through a gap in his existing, nonelectric fence. That prompted Whitesell to install an electric fence, which his competitors did not have.

“They’re still getting hit, but I have not had another occurrence with the fence up,” Whitesell told council.
Under the rules adopted by the city council, electric fences are legal if surrounded by a separate, nonelectric fence. Warning notices are also required every 50 feet. The energized fences can carry only 12 volts of electricity, the same as emitted by an automobile battery.

Asheville towing laws

An ordinance recently went into effect in Asheville which requires that more explicit warnings be posted about towing policies in private parking lots. Parking-lot owners who fail to comply with the new rules face fines of up to $300 per car removed.

The new regulation requires that parking-lot owners in downtown Asheville and Biltmore Village post signs that state when towing is enforced, how much towing fees are, and where people can call to pick up their cars. Those who have their cars towed must be able to retrieve them within half an hour of calling the posted number.

Reaction to the ordinance has been mixed. “I already had signs posted in my lots,” Karen Ramshaw, who manages four downtown parking lots, said to the Citizen-Times of Asheville. “Because the wording doesn’t exactly meet the requirements of the ordinance, I’ve had to spend $1,300 for new signs.”

Sam Moore, who had his car towed before the ordinance went into effect, expressed a different view to the paper. “I was parked illegally, but the sign was hidden behind a bush. You couldn’t even see it. If I had seen the sign I wouldn’t have even parked there.”

Lowrey is an associate editor at Carolina Journal.