Blue Skies: First incorporated US village or city to pass a city ordinance that requires all new...

...electric powerlines and telephone lines to be installed underground and all knocked-down or to-be-replaced utility poles to not be replaced with another pole but with underground lines.  [One of the ugliest blights of communities of any size is unsightly powerlines and telephone lines strung between utility poles.  Billboards, posters, and even graffiti (san tagging) at least uses colors and tries to convey a message on a previously blank wall.  Overhead powerlines and telephone lines do not.  They are nothing more than eyesores.  They are like a bizarre malignant black spider web suspended above one's community.  And if that wasn't bad enough, power companies have to trim trees that are under/near power lines and such "trim" work usually leaves the trees looking absolutely ugly.  Moving the power and telephone lines underground will not only help beautify a community but, for those communities where snow falls, reduce the risk of power outages due to ice buildup and the weight of the ice snapping the powerline and making it fall.  Not to mention high winds and falling trees knocking down live powerlines which then pose a deadly threat to everyone around them until their power is turned off.  Add in a rainstorm and that electrocution threat is greatly increased with water on the ground.  Still another benefit is a very significant reduction in power loss to affected communities hit by blizzards, tornadoes, and hurricanes, such as what happened with Sandy the Hurricane.]

Future Challenges: Doing the above, the first US:

1) Incorporated village (population under 5,000).

2) Town (pop. of 5,000 to 24,999).

3) Small city (pop. of 25,000 to 249,999).

4) Medium-sized city (pop. of 250,000 to 999,999).

5) Major city (a million or more pop.).

Additionally, where forests have been cut down to make way for big powerlines, when those lines are put underground, the cleared forest area must be replanted to return it to its former natural state.

6) US County.

7) US State.

8) Major US state (9 million or more pop.).

Having all its powerlines and telephone lines underground (streetlight poles allowed but no powerlines going to them through the air), the first US:

9) Incorporated village (pop. under 5,000).

10) Town (5,000 to 24,999 pop.).

11) Small city (25,000 to 249,999 pop.).

12) Medium-sized city (250,000 to 999,999 pop.).

13) Major city (a million or more pop.).

14) County.

15) State.

16) Major state (9 million or more pop.).

First US broadcast or cable TV network to commission and air during prime-time:

17) An hour-long documentary that follows a single crew of a utility company that is solely assigned to move power and telephone lines underground for an entire US town/city.  [Expect this documentary to feature a lot of fast-forward footage showing entire straight lines of utility poles, some possibly many blocks long, going underground as a way to give the documentary an engaging visual.  Then after it is all done, expect the documentary to show lots of "Before & After" photographs of the community's skyline with and without utility poles and their lines.]

18) A reality TV show that follows a single crew of a utility company that is assigned to move underground power and telephone lines for an entire US state/region.  [Like the documentary, this show will feature lots of fast-forward footage of the process and "Before & After" photography.  Expect this reality show though to pick the most outlandish, humorous, and/or colorful line workers of the utility company and get them all assigned to the same crew for maximum drama and laughs.  Also, expect the reality show to be more focused on the crew and their inter-personal relationships and less about the technical process of moving the lines underground ... with the above documentary likely being the opposite.]  To win this future challenge, the show has to have aired during prime-time for at least three seasons.

First radio talk show hosts to champion this challenge and:

19) Run a prize-awarding contest for the Ugliest Intersection in the radio station's listening area.  To qualify for contest prizes, listeners must take photographs of what they think is the ugliest intersection and send those photographs into the station by way of their cellphones, Twitter, Facebook, or email.  The ugliness restricted to the ugliest collection of telephone and utility poles and lines.  Once submissions start coming in, the radio talk show host must do live broadcasts from some of these ugly intersections.  The photo submissions put on the radio station's website for listeners to view and vote on.

20) Produce their show from the intersection with the ugliest aerial telephone and power poles and lines in their listening area.  Using their radio pulpit to bring attention to this ugliness until the utility companies put all the lines visible from that intersection underground and remove all the utility poles.  This means looking from that intersection down all the streets off of that intersection and not seeing any telephone or utility pole or line in sight.

21) Same as Future Challenge #20 but then moving from one ugly intersection of telephone and utility poles and lines to the next until all telephone and utility lines are underground in their listening area.  To win this future challenge, the host must clean up at least 25 intersections.

22) Start a public campaign to get the Chamber of Commerce of the city in which the radio station is located to get all their business members to put donation cans next to their cash registers and raise enough money to bury ALL the telephone and utility lines in their city.   Once enough money is raised to bury all the telephone and power lines down a street, that's done.  Once a street's lines are underground, the radio station must host a block party with the radio talk show host doing a live broadcast from the party while it is going on.  To win this future challenge, the radio talk show host must succeed in getting their city's Chamber of Commerce to do this fund-raising campaign and get them to sign a legally-binding agreement to keep at it until all telephone and power lines are put underground in their city.  The radio talk show host MUST be one of the witnesses who sign her/his name on the legally-binding agreement.

23) Same as FC #22 but working on one after another city in their radio station's listening area and getting their Chamber of Commerce to do the same thing.  To win this future challenge, the radio talk show host must get all incorporated villages, towns, and cities which have Chambers of Commerce and are in the radio station's listening area to do the same thing.

24) Starts a public campaign to get their state's National Guard to commit to burying telephone and power lines and take down utility poles in the rural areas of their state during their weekend exercises and to publicly commit to such at a press conference where the highest-ranking officer of their state's National Guard makes the announcement.  The National Guard offering their labor for free if the telephone and utility companies provide the materials and equipment.  At the same press conference, all of the state's telephone and utility companies must agree to offer the necessary materials and equipment for the state's National Guard to carry out their mission.  Their state's governor must also to be in favor of this mission and speak at the press conference at the press conference.  To win this future challenge, at the press conference, the governor must name the radio talk show host as the one responsible for making this mission a reality.  The radio talk show hosts must then speak at the press conference.

Discussion:
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