Hey, Verizon: Send help immediately, she can't hold that thing up much longer!

The kidlet struggles to keep holding up the telephone pole at Beech and June streets in Roslindale that the repair crew swore they'd be right back to remove.

Thanks to the cheap bastards who run our local phone and power monopolies, Roslindale and other neighborhoods are being overrun by "double poles." Rather than replace old utility poles, which would take actual work, Verizon and NStar just bolt or wire new poles to the old ones - sometimes in bizarre configurations in which parts of the old ones are cut away, leaving these weird stumpy things.

In 2004, Verizon actually agreed to a plan to ensure that by mid-2007, there would be no double poles older than 90 days anywhere in the entire state.

They lied.

At first, it was easy to hold up the old pole:

Earlier:

Optimistic homeowner thinks Verizon will transfer wires to new pole.
The triple poles of Dedham.