Dear Neighbors:
As many of you may know, our civic association has been waging a battle for more than two years now over hazardous, open Comcast utility boxes placed on public rights-of-way. We sent many of you an e-mail message on April 14 about the latest dangerous situations we have encountered. As of yesterday, April 23, nothing had been done over NINE whole days to correct any of the serious problems we reported to the County on April 14.
For example, these are before and after photos of a very dangerous open electrified utility box at 17600 SW 112 Avenue.
Thursday afternoon, after various complaints to Miami-Dade County by our association and by residents who live west of SW 112 Avenue, we finally received the below e-mail message from Comcast corporation management.
Please assist us with this hazardous utility box situation!
If you see an open or vandalized box on a right-of-way (they are lime-green or greyish-green, like in the photo), please use the Internet link specified below to report it to Comcast.
Also, we have received information that these Comcast boxes are being vandalized or broken open to steal expensive backup batteries from within. If you witness anyone in the process of breaking into one of the boxes, call 9-1-1 and report “crime in progress.” If you have any other information about theft or vandalization of the boxes, please report it to Comcast at the Internet link below.
Thanking you for your help!
Colonial / Fairway Estates Civic Association, Inc.
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From: Casas-Celaya, Marta <Marta_Casas-Celaya@comcast.
Date: Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 5:20 PM
Subject: Comcast Utility Boxes
To: Colonial / Fairway Estates Civic Association
Dear Colonial / Fairway Estates Civic Association Members:
Thank you for submitting various reports about the Comcast utility boxes. All of the reports have been forwarded to Comcast by the respective county representatives who you contacted.
In the future, a Comcast representative is available to assist you 24/7 by going to https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/report-issues-xfinity-services and clicking on the “Chat With Xfinity” button. This is the quickest way to report any issues to Comcast.
Rest assured that the restoration of the boxes and safety issues are being addressed. We regret any delays and are working as quickly as possible to complete repairs.
Marta M. Casas-Celaya, APR
Director, External Affairs
COMCAST
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Below is just a sampling of some of the previous correspondence we have had about this Comcast matter:
April 14, 2020
To: 3-1-1, Comm. Dennis Moss, Comm. Daniella Cava, County Mayor
And here we go again– another open electrified Comcast box on public r.o.w. (see attached photos). This one has trays full of rainwater — prime opportunity for ELECTROCUTION — 17600 SW 112 Ave
Also opposite 10790 SW 160 St, adjacent to elementary school, there was empty Comcast box with badly deteriorated sharp metal hinges.. good to slice some kid’s hands off,, we had to tape it closed, but the whole damn box needs to ***GO***. This is the fourth time we have done tape repairs on this one…
This is the very last time we are going to nicely ask for this company to take proper care of its equipment (much of which is obsolete and nothing BUT a hazard to our community).
Next time we see one of these atrocities, we’re penning a national PETITION drive to get proper attention to this matter.
Colonial / Fairway Estates Civic Association, Inc.
To: 3-1-1, Comm. Dennis Moss, Comm. Daniella Cava, County Mayor
FYI
Again, we have another instance of an electrified Comcast utility box being wide open to passersby on a busy main street (the 10100 block of SW 160 Street).
This is at least the third time we have found this same box open with the cover lying on the ground. Apparently employees of this company cannot see fit to lock down the covers after service, OR someone has figured out how to jimmy the box locks.
Again, as we noted in the below recent message, if this company cannot keep its equipment in good repair, then we do not want it to be allowed on public property!
Photos attached
colonial/fairway estates civic association, inc
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Feb 19, 2020
To: 3-1-1, Comm. Dennis Moss, Comm. Daniella Cava, County Mayor, Major Charles Fernand, MDPD
FYI
we seem to have a flurry of vandalizing to ComCast boxes in our area. Two of the obvious forced entries to boxes are depicted in attached photos
locations: 9500 blk SW 163 St
10100 blk SW 160 St
Of the two, the one on SW 160 St looks the most worrisome appears to be electrified and “hot”
we are continually having to close or tape up broken doors on these boxes all over the area… many seem to be empty and of no use to anyone — just bait for vandals and graffiti artists
There is no reason for most of these boxes to be allowed on public property THEY ARE EMPHATICALLY A ***MENACE***
colonial/fairway estates civic association, inc
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Posted to our website 2-15-2018:
COMCAST CABLE HAZARDS IGNORED BY ITS MANAGEMENT
It’s truly fitting that our first news story on our new updated website might well have been about corporate irresponsibility. That’s pretty much the way it was when we launched our old website way back in May 2005.
The Association has spent the last FIFTEEN days trying to get the Comcast Corporation to repair five different hazards (or certainly what appeared to be hazards) on our public streets.
The last two of these (finally accomplished late this afternoon) certainly did not require rocket science. They involved securing some open metal doors with metal screws. Fifteen minutes’ work at best.
We have been met with every possible diversion and excuse one can imagine, from inappropriate company telephone numbers given to Miami-Dade 3-1-1, to witless Comcast call-takers who demanded that we give them a Comcast Account # and our partial social security number before we were allowed to report an electrical hazard, and to their “repair personnel,” who we guess just can’t read a city map.
The last few days, we made repeated calls to Comcast’s so-called Public Relations Department. at 1-855-820-5946. No one there ever answers the phone, no one returns calls. Our Comcast complaint ticket # ESL03185280 went unanswered despite numerous attempts to redress this situation by Miami-Dade RER, Miami-Dade Public Works, and (bravo!) staff of District 8 Commissioner Daniella Cava.
Still unresolved— we inquire of our Miami-Dade County government– why, pray, is electrified Comcast equipment in public places not labeled with a company name and an emergency telephone number like the equipment of other utilities?
