Cleveland Public Power fixes east side power pole 10 months after request made

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Avvie Johnson has been waiting, waiting since October of 2022 when she said she first reported to Cleveland Public Power that someone had driven into the light pole on the tree lawn of her home on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

We visited with Avvie, first, on August 1st when we went out to her home to look at the damage. The pole had been snapped in half and the top part of the pole and the light was missing.

“I might come home sometime at night and I can’t see on the porch and you got those bushes around my house,” she said admitting that she was frightened at times, missing the security of the light pole.

We called Cleveland Public Power and asked about the status of the light and pole and we were told they would have to check the status.

We also gave them Johnson’s address and stressed that she had been waiting since October to have the light fixed.

Cleveland Public Power suggested that Johnson call the dedicated hotline for light pole outages and she did that, she said, multiple times, and answered all the automated questions.

“Then they are supposed to give you a reference number but they said it so fast that you can’t write it down,” she said.

We stayed in touch with Johnson for 2 weeks after we made the report to Cleveland Public Power and after Johnson had called the automated system and still there was no action from Cleveland Public Power.

We went back out to Johnson’s home on Wednesday and called and e-mailed Cleveland Public Power again, as her frustration grew.

“You should come take care of your property,” she said, “I am way past frustrated, I am mad.”

Finally, Thursday, after another e-mail, multiple C.P.P. crews were out on M.L.K. Jr. Blvd. to install a new pole and light.

Johnson was thrilled.

“I thank Channel 19 for coming and making stuff happen and getting what we need to be done, done,” she said, “I really appreciate it so much because I have been trying since October.”

If you see a safety problem with a Cleveland Public Power pole, contact 19 News.

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