Last November, a Queen Anne family was walking their dog Sammy on the sidewalk when the pet stepped on an electric plate near a lamp post. A jolt of electricity shot through the animal. Sammy died instantly.
QueenAnneView.com editor Thea Chard posted the heartbreaking story, which rocketed around Facebook and Twitter and tallied up dozens of comments. Soon, Seattle TV stations and news sites were on the story. Seattle City Light warned residents about a potentially widespread problem and launched a citywide inspection of more than 37,000 metal streetlight poles.
The inspection is now complete, and Seattle City Light says they’ve identified 56 sites that were found to have “elevated voltage” — some of them dangerously high. The city has also notified every business, institution and government facility about the need to check light poles on private property.
Kudos to Thea for breaking the story and to the dog’s owner, Nancy Bostdorff, who was willing to bring the tragic story to the community’s attention.
[...] year, PhinneyWood.com won a national journalism award for deadline reporting, and QueenAnneView.com broke a story that spurred a city-wide investigation. We added four new neighborhood sites, launched [...]