The new rule is that there can be no attachments on lampposts anymore. No signs, no ropes for banners, no staples...nada. BEL says it damages the lampposts and creates safety issues for consumers and linesmen. But the UDP has gone around that. On Friday of last week, lampposts along Vernon Street, Cemetery Road, and up the Western Highway were painted red with a bare UDP stenciled on.
And of course, BEL isn't happy. Corporate Communications Manager Dawn Sampson said that her company met with both parties and offered a compromise: they could glue posters to the lampposts below the power-lines but that's it. Well this new effort, isn't glue, it's paint, and Sampson says that it was done without permission - and even if they were asked BEL would not have given permission to any party because it has to remain neutral.
While it does not damage their poles or raise safety issues, Sampson explains that the poles are BEL's property and to paint them without permission is illegal. And though BEL isn't happy, that's as far as it goes. Sampson says BEL will continue to appeal to reason and continue to talk to the political parties.
