Microtrenching threatens city streets

High-tech giant Google, Inc., all over the corridors of San Diego power in its quest to build a new fiber-optic communications system in the city, has been pulling out all the stops, an influence-peddling disclosure report for the company filed July 28 shows. Where underground fiber is discussed, can digging up the city’s already pot-holed streets be far behind?

Google wants “an understanding of City Standards and Requirements for microtrenching,” says the filling, along with “the ability to lease space on several city parcels.” It’s also negotiating for a “mutually agreeable Master Encroachment Permit.” Eight Google staffers have been over to city hall to lobby no less than 12 city officials, including mayoral chief of staff Stephen Puetz and city councilman Chris Cate, which may provide a clue that the first Google presence here will happen somewhere in Cate’s District 6. So far, no terms of the prospective deal have been revealed to the public.

Wealthy Mission Valley development maven Tom Sudberry is a longtime devotee of the GOP Lincoln Club, and with family members last year kicked in a total of $1050 to Anthony Bernal’s city-council campaign fund. But Bernal, backed by the city’s Republican business establishment, lost out to fellow Democrat Chris Ward in this year’s primary. No problem. On June 30, three weeks after the election, the Sudberrys came up with a total of $2750 for the newly elected councilman’s campaign chest.