Hamtramck church activities disrupted by DTE wooden poles left for months
Hamtramck church activities disrupted by DTE poles
With blades of grass crawling through the wooden poles, it's clear the structures have been on one Hamtramck property for some time. Bishop Arthur Barnes' property to be exact. The poles were placed there by DTE months ago, which prompted a call to FOX 2 Problem Solvers.
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (FOX 2) - With blades of grass crawling through the wooden poles, it's clear the structures have been on one Hamtramck property for some time.
Bishop Arthur Barnes' property to be exact.
The poles were placed there by DTE months ago - but by Wednesday afternoon hadn't been moved an inch. His frustrations reached a tipping point recently, prompting a call to the FOX 2 Problem Solvers.
The faith leader has seen utility workers come and go from there area, but there's no sign of them getting to work on the poles.
"Every day, I come out here. It's embarrassing because I was going to have a tent out here. I can't put a tent out there or anything now," he says from the International Beginning Ministries church.
It was meant to be a space for community events. But the wooden poles, likely intended to be erected for power lines, have stymied any plans for gatherings.
He's gotten offers from friendly Samaritans to just "pull them out," but that really didn't remove the hazard as much as shift it somewhere else. He thought he had made progress a month ago when he spoke to a woman.
But weeks since and the poles were still there.
"So I called y'all," he said, referring to FOX 2. "When I called y'all, something gets done."
Two hours later and a phone call to DTE and the utility said it would move the poles. A photo sent to FOX 2 showed confirmation the wooden poles had been moved.
A DTE Energy spokesperson sent this photo showing the poles were moved just prior to this story airing.
A statement sent from the company said it was sorry for any inconvenience.
"As part of DTE Energy’s ongoing work to harden and modernize our grid and improve reliability, our crews may stage equipment, including power poles, in the area before work begins," said Senior Communications Strategist Dave Akerly. "In this instance, the power poles were interfering with the church’s activities, so our crews are moving them to another location. We apologize for any inconvenience."
For Barne's part, he says he has no hard feelings toward the utility.
"I love DTE, I love them - I just want them to do what they’re supposed to do," he said.