Time Warner Cable chalks markings up to bad communication
Community members found blue markings on the Esplanade and around South Redondo on July 5. Photo provided by the City of Redondo Beach.
Councilmember Steven Aspel was awakened early on July 5 to phone calls, text messages and emails about strange markings around his district.
The blue markings found on sidewalks around South Redondo and the Esplanade advertised a Time Warner Cable WiFi rollout throughout the city.
The citizens were mad and the city was confused. Earlier in the year the city and Time Warner Cable had discussed the proposed WiFi rollout, but the permits for the service had not yet been approved. More importantly to the citizens of Redondo Beach, the markings, which turned out to be chalk, were illegal. Also, the WiFi boxes that were installed were not approved by the city yet.
“We were surprised,” said Marissa Christiansen, Assistant to the City Manager at last Tuesday’s city council meeting. “[It was] not something the city has authorized.”
WiFi boxes from Time Warner Cable. Photo provided by the City of Redondo Beach.
Time Warner Cable, under the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 is allowed as a state franchise to provide cable services to their customers. However, the act does not allow them to provide other services to the public like WiFi, 3G or 4G services.
“I do apologize on behalf of Time Warner that this was put out there,” said Time Warner’s Director of Government Relations, Steven Sawyer. “[It was] our understanding it didn’t violate any codes, but I guess that’s yet to be determined.” According to Sawyer, the people involved in the discussions and the implementation are currently on vacation.
City Attorney Mike Webb had to remind the council and the Time Warner Cable representative not to discuss the markings because there is an active criminal investigation going on about whether the markings are graffiti or a violation of a city municipal code about markings on a public sidewalk.
“Whether it’s legal or not I hope it doesn’t happen again,” said Aspel. “It really pissed me off and everybody in the neighborhood too… please have your company never do that again.”
According to Aspel, at the time, nobody knew the markings were chalk.
“People are passionate about various things…” said Aspel. “In that little corner of the world they’re very passionate about their Esplanade sidewalk.”
Community members found blue markings on the Esplanade and around South Redondo on July 5. Photo provided by the City of Redondo Beach.
City Manger Bill Workman said that during their previous discussions, Time Warner Cable was supposed to obtain the proper licenses and permits to be able to hang the WiFi boxes within the city. In return, the city was supposed to receive a certain number of services.
“When we saw the markings on the sidewalk and put two and two together, that it had all gone on without all the things we had discussed in those meetings, we were very upset,” said Workman.
Councilmember Matt Kilroy, who had been a part of the previous discussions, also felt “backstabbed” by the early rollout and markings.
“I kind of felt like a fool quite, frankly, to find out its already been installed some months later without any further discussions,” said Kilroy. “It’s left a kind of sour taste in my mouth, sitting across the table with city staff talking about this and six months later boom, blind sided, it’s already there.”
The markings were quickly removed by Time Warner Cable and an investigation is currently underway about the legality of the markings and the WiFi boxes.ER