Residents Upset With Markings; City Says It's The Law
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's not a graffiti problem, but some people are tired of seeing paint markings all over their city's streets and sidewalks.
Don Crawford, of Crystal, says the markings – little fluorescent dashes of red and orange – are all over New Hope.
If the markings aren't made by graffiti artists, who made them? Utility companies.
Why? The red marks designate power and electric lines. The orange marks designate cable lines.
An avid runner and biker, Crawford grew distracted by the eyesore of the numerous markings in his daily travels along Rockford Road in New Hope, Minn.
"This just happens to be the worst I've ever seen," he said. "I don't think the people of New Hope or any other city should have to put up with this type of thing."
According to New Hope officials, the problem is that the mild winter has allowed utility companies to do work in winter that would usually be done in spring. That allowed the companies to mark and re-mark roads and sidewalks. Also, snow would have erased some of the markings.
Paul Coone, New Hope's operations manager, said the markings are required by law.
"[Companies] are obligated by law to do that, we are obligated by law to mark where our facilities are," he said.
Coone says that the markings will eventually fade and that the red markings will turn white.
But for Crawford, that isn't too reassuring. He said he has seen the same problem in other cities and that there is a difference between marks that are white and those that have disappeared.
