At the Neighborhood Leadership Gathering hosted by the city of Bellevue in October, more than 92 neighborhood leaders identified PSE’s Energize Eastside proposal as the “greatest threat to neighborhood character.” When asked what defined neighborhood character, their top answer was our “natural environment: trees, open space, natural beauty, views.”

I’ve lived in Bellevue for more than 30 years and have witnessed its amazing growth firsthand. Many neighborhoods were forward-thinking by investing in underground utilities, an effort that created the “City in a Park” feeling that characterizes our beautiful city.

Enter PSE, now a foreign, investor-owned utility that is lobbying state and local representatives with campaign funding contributions and waging an expensive PR campaign to erect monstrous transmission poles and wires with little to no oversight from our local, state or federal governments.

An early example of neighborhood blighting is about to happen in the Overlake area. New PSE 100-foot poles and wires will be appearing on Northeast 24th Street and 156 Avenue Northeast. Next, PSE has plans for 80-foot poles along Northeast Eighth Street and along 148th Avenue. This area currently has all underground utilities. After that is PSE’s Energize Eastside — nine miles of up to 135-foot poles with 230 kV lines strung across our city skyline. Where will it end?

In today’s rapidly evolving energy landscape, 19th century energy solutions are bad choices. I hope Bellevue City Council members and staff listen to the leaders who know our neighborhoods best.

Keith Collins, Bellevue