Long Island city pushes Verizon to expand FiOS

On February 1, Brookhaven, New York held a town forum to tell Verizon to build out FiOS. According to one attendee, 500 people showed up, including local officials and members of CWA Local 1108.

Verizon has denied the Long Island jurisdiction of some half million people the fiber service that it provides to many areas of New York. Instead, if residents want high-speed broadband, they must contend with a virtual monopoly by Cablevision.

Many in the audience told Verizon to bring in FiOS , but one person went further. Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine stood up to tell the company that fines for failure to clean up hazardous telephone poles would begin to incur immediately. Romaine’s remarks are posted on YouTube.

Will Verizon respond? A CWA representative said last month, “We went into this fight knowing we may not win. But if we do nothing about it, we’re guaranteed to fail.”

Brookhaven officials want FIOS expansion (Newsday, Jan. 31, 2014)

Ed Romaine informs Verizon fines begin 2/3/2014 for Double Pole violations (YouTube, Feb. 2, 2014)

Community Leaders, Lobby to have Verizon Build Fiber Optic Services in Brookhaven (The South Shore Press, Jan. 22, 2014)