YOUNGSTOWN Residents slam phone proposal

A social worker said the plan would be a hardship for the elderly who, for security reasons, rely on services such as caller ID.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- If the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio adopts proposed local telephone company regulations, "it is going to do nothing but add to Youngstown's problems," an upset resident said.
"We won't have enough to take care of our families the way this is going," said Calvin Hill Sr. of Youngstown, his voice rising, at a Tuesday town hall meeting on the issue. "It's getting worse instead of getting better. How much pressure can we take?"
Hill was one of about 20 people who attended the meeting at Youngstown City Council chambers called by state Rep. Sylvester Patton and the office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel. The office provides residential consumer utility advocacy.
Services: The counsel has said the proposal, if adopted, would limit the PUCO's authority to regulate and oversee all but the most basic residential phone services. Telephone companies would be permitted to increase rates for services such as caller ID, call waiting, call trace and second phone lines. Basic local telephone service rates would not increase.
Patton and the counsel called the Youngstown meeting after the PUCO had public hearings in seven other towns across the state.
South Side resident Jim Converse argued that the proposal amounts to "an insult" to low-income and minority residents.
"We, as citizens, have a right to expect the law to work for us, not to work against us," he said. "This proposal takes away the protection of law we have a right to."
Rick Hall, a social worker with the Help Hotline Crisis Center, said elderly residents who call a senior line oppose such regulations because they would cause a burden to those living on fixed incomes.
Many elderly, he said, rely on services like caller ID for security reasons and to weed out those who prey upon seniors.
Further, he said, for many frail, elderly shut-ins, a telephone is a lifeline.
Council president's view: Danny Thomas Jr., Struthers city council president, accused the PUCO of thumbing its nose at the Youngstown region by excluding it from its list of public hearing sites. He also blasted the proposal for lacking means for oversight and regulation of telephone companies.
"Where will people go? Who will they turn to when corporate greed takes over?" he asked. "Every time you turn around, they want to get deeper in our pockets. Who's there to stop them? I was hoping the PUCO would be there."
The consumers' counsel will forward testimony from the meeting to PUCO commissioners as they consider the proposal.
While only about a half-dozen speakers addressed the issue, Patton, D-64th, called it a case where "quality was a little better than quantity."
He said there are some positives to the telephone company proposal, but he hopes the commission will restructure it so it does not create hardships for consumers.
The Youngstown testimony will join more than 2,500 letters that have been sent to the PUCO in opposition to the proposal, said Ryan Lippe, OCC communications specialist.
"This is just an example of northeast Ohio's concern, and I think some very valid points were vocalized," Lippe said.
viviano@vindy.com