![Flash flooding in a neighborhood where storm drains were blocked by construction debris. (Image: Adolfo Romero)](https://stopthecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Flooding-romero-640x480.jpg)
Flash flooding in a neighborhood where storm drains were blocked by Google’s construction debris. (Image: Adolfo Romero)
Some Austin residents are fuming over the sloppy construction work and eyesores left by contractors hired by Google to install its fiber optic service.
Last year, 254 formal complaints were filed against Google and its contractors, by far the largest compared with AT&T and Time Warner Cable, which are also in the process of upgrading their networks in the city.
The epicenter of construction nightmares for homeowners is on Lambs Lane in Southeast Austin, where last October a flash flood allegedly caused by Google’s construction crews blocking nearby storm drains brought two feet of water into the home of Arnulfo and Dolores Cruz, causing $100,000 in damages.
“We are ruined,” Cruz told the Austin American-Statesman in an extensive piece. “We don’t understand. I don’t know what to do. I don’t sleep at night because I don’t know what is happening tomorrow.”
The Cruz family experienced the worst damage, but hundreds of other complaints cite yard and property damage, trespassing, and construction vehicles blocking access to driveways.
Coral Gables, Fla. firm MasTec, working on behalf of Google, has taken the brunt of complaints. The firm’s insurance company has already paid out $70,000 or more to each of three homeowners whose vehicles or property was damaged by the firm’s work. Several residents were put up in hotels for weeks, paid for by MasTec’s insurer, as repairs were made to their homes after the October flooding. The Cruz family is still wrangling for compensation for their damages.
Other residents cannot get compensation until they find out which of a litany of contractors and subcontractors working in the area dumped giant piles of dirt on their front lawns, dug open holes or trenches and left them uncovered, or used their yards to store construction equipment and supplies without permission. Multiple residents complain that with Google, AT&T, and Time Warner Cable all upgrading infrastructure, it is difficult to determine who is responsible for what. That also makes assigning responsibility for damages very difficult. In some neighborhoods, electric and water lines were severed by construction crews as well. Some residents have even resorted to calling police when crews trespass repeatedly on private property without the courtesy of prior notification or identification.
While a number of residents are complaining, many others consider the mess and inconvenience the cost of progress.
“One thing Austin does best is complain,” one person wrote in the newspaper’s comment section. “People in other cities would literally fight you for the chance at Internet speeds of over 18Mbps download and Google is putting it in the city for nearly free. Google will clean up the mess. It’s called infrastructure and they’ll get to it but it’s a big project.”
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Here’s a map of all the work permits issued to Google Fiber in Austin since they started the work: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/dwcx50xavfw4akq/gftmaps.html It’s an indication of the extent of the work going on to wire Austin up to Google FIber (and they haven’t even started at the north end of the city yet), so it’s not surprising when not everything goes according to plan. That said, there’s no excuse for sloppy workmanship and I hope all those adversely affected are fully compensated for the damage caused to them. Of course, it would be far better if municipalities built and maintained a single… Read more »
They’ve damaged some of the landscaping in our neighbourhood that the HOA now has to arrange to repair. The contractor is covering the costs.
Nevertheless, I still can’t wait to give TWC the boot.
I couldn’t say it better than that newspaper commenter in the article. Austinites are f-ing whining bitches. And not because of the Californians among us. It’s home-grown southern-fried entitlement. I’ll just repeat what I commented on el reg last month: “I’m a long-term Austin citizen with Google Fiber partly installed (the fiber’s not live yet, so they haven’t brought the router out). While I see clues here and there that the subcontractors doing various legwork and digging are a bit detached from the smiley-face Google Fiber cheerleaders, they’ve been very helpful and personable for us. My experience with Texans, Austinites,… Read more »