The duct tape from the previous fix must have been defective.

Can't we just bury the darn lines already? Palo Alto did it, we can do it too. Plus the sky looks a lot better without wires obstructing the view.

Does this mean every time a squirrel touches a PG&E line I have to pick up my work and go somewhere else for the day? Sigh.

PG&E= Pacific Graft & Extortion

I'm with you Bruno!

Yeah, what my wife Pam said. PG&E needs to squirrel-proof their lines, or put them underground (as Bruno mentioned). But then we need to be concerned about moles and groundhogs...

PLEASE put underground utilities on a priority list! We do not have any underground critters who can get through the conduit to the active components. It might also spare a few squirrels a toasty finale!

Rengstorff was carved up a couple of years ago to put the fiber-optic cables, etc. underground. It would have been great if PG&E could have worked to install their infrastructure at the same time. Duh!

The rational few who think this way never get any input so I hope someone from PG&E reads this!

Possibly this was a large, and the lines are only meant to withstand small squirrels.
Really, no matter where those lines are located, the level of reliability is pretty awful. Nowhere else have I experienced so many outages as here in the supposed world center of technology.

Undergrounding power lines costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 per linear foot based on what the city told me two years ago.

Palo Alto could do it because they run their own municipal power utility instead of using PG&E. I think that it cost each PA resident thousnds of dollars because the city/utility just did the main lines but each customer had to pay to bury the lines from the street to the meter.

Well, why didn't PGE put the power lines undergrown when someone else spent 4 months digging up El Camino Real to lay cable? Kept me up at night and created the worst dust ever. For months. And no one thought to bury the power cabels at the same time?
Could have saved some money as well.
And why do you REQUIRE a neighborhood when you don't supply one!!! It's really annoying - I live in Mt. View, but have to put "other community" to post FIX THE PROBLEM

Just to inform you, very few areas in Palo Alto have underground lines. We have been told we are half way through a 50 year project to underground the whole city!!!

Would love underground power lines, power lines are an eyesore. Would be happy to pay our part of the cost but doubt it will happen in my lifetime.

Another vote for underground lines please

I'm concern that none of these heartless comments mentioned the squirrel.

PG&E is too busy making feel good commercials to spend time making sure we have electricity. Our PG&E payments are going to pay for TV commercials where PG&E employees tell how committed they are to their community.

PG&E - actions speak louder than words!

Fearless Leader says 'Kill Moose and Squirrel'!

I agree with Boris Badinoff, Natasha and Fearless Leader. Why not eliminate the offending pests, squirrels serve no useful purpose, exterminate them. Then we won't have Cuesta Park attack squirrel issues.

Squirrels are pests (OK, cute pests, but pests none-the-less)
They've now caused 3 major power outages (1 was a few years ago).
They've eaten my tomatoes and roses.
Pest Control (Mt. View Vector Control) won't touch them.
They attack children in the park for their food.
They are a non-native, introduced species.
So, no sympathy for the reduction of the overpopulation of squirrels.
But, I do think that PGE should be able to squirrel-proof it's power lines! Vector control says that cayenne pepper works, but so far, they seem to enjoy it when I use it.

I don't like squirrels. The best way to keep them under control is to release cats to roam around and kill the baby squirrels. Our local feral cat rescues do the best they can in that regard, but we can all help by letting our pets roam around outside as much as possible.

A squirrel can kill a cat if cornered. Cats are best at killing birds, especially small song birds. Keep your cat in to prevent this and to save it from being hit by a car, mutilated by a dog, or contracting feline AIDs, or viral feline cancer, from other cats. Indoor cats live something like 5 times longer I'm told.

I've never heard of a squirrel eating tomatoes. Sure you don't have rats? They especially love citrus fruit. And cats don't do very well as rat catchers.

PG&E: Bury the electric lines as each road is torn up for other stuff. I wouldn't mind paying to help get this accomplished. Worth it in the long run. Too bad my street got all ripped apart for new water mains, and yet no electric conduits. It has been years since, and still no final resurfacing, so before that is done, maybe it is not too late. Are you bothering to read this, PG&ER? Probably not...

A squirrel can kill a cat if cornered. Cats are best at killing birds, especially small song birds. Keep your cat in to prevent this and to save it from being hit by a car, mutilated by a dog, or contracting feline AIDs, or viral feline cancer, from other cats. Indoor cats live something like 5 times longer I'm told.

I've never heard of a squirrel eating tomatoes. Sure you don't have rats? They especially love citrus fruit. And cats don't do very well as rat catchers.

PG&E: Bury the electric lines as each road is torn up for other stuff. I wouldn't mind paying to help get this accomplished. Worth it in the long run. Too bad my street got all ripped apart for new water mains, and yet no electric conduits. It has been years since, and still no final resurfacing, so before that is done, maybe it is not too late. Are you bothering to read this, PG&ER? Probably not...

A squirrel can injure a cat, but after breeding season, the juveniles make a nice feline snack. Look on Craigslist. There are lots of cats that can be rehomed FOR FREE! Best way to curb the populations of squirrels and those pesky songbirds.

Perhaps underground wires could save $ spent to trim trees in our backyards. PGE contractors have butchered our backyard tree. Same for neighbors without recourse.

Linda,
Squirrels have eaten virtually everything in my garden (tomatoes, apples, zucchini blossoms, etc). The most annoying thing they do is to take a single bite out of something, then toss it and go back for another. I can't start seeds in the garden as they tear up the ground where I've planted. I've had freshly planted flowers in pots ripped out to find a peanut planted in their place. If I never see another squirrel, I'd be happy. But in Mountain View, it's not just the squirrels - it's also the possums,the raccoons, and the rats. With the amount of wildlife in the area, we might as well be living in the woods.

Squirrels will take out cable service too. And phone. They dont care what drop they are chewing on.

Same as if you let a rabbit loose in your house.

I want to pave over mountain view and push out all wildlife. The only plants should be thirsty green lawns.
Derp.

Here is the solution!

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